Mike Weber felt betrayed.
On Thursday, a day after the Detroit Cass Tech running back announced he was leaving the Buckeyes to take a job with the Chicago Bears. Drayton was a key player in recruiting Weber and persuading him to pick OSU instead of Michigan.
"I'm hurt as hell I ain't gone lie," Weber tweeted.
OSU coach Urban Meyer, attending the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association's annual clinic at a Columbus hotel this morning, said that both he and Drayton have spoken to Weber about the situation.
"There was a talk," Meyer said, via 247sports.com. "I had a long conversation with him, and so did Stan. We've got to move forward."
As far as Drayton's move is concerned, Meyer said: "I don't know if it's official yet, but coach Drayton has been with me a long time. I guess the pro calendar is much different now. He has little girls, where recruiting takes its toll. Every weekend, you're gone. He gets job offers every year. Now we'll go and hire a great coach here."
Was it a callous move on Drayton's part? Did he know he was leaving while convincing Weber to make a difficult decision? Or does he have every right to take a better job?
Here are some media reactions to his move:
• Dan Murphy, espn.com: "It happens everywhere and every year. But how many of the 18-year-olds who signed letters of intent 24 hours earlier knew that it would be happening to them -- that the coaches who, in most cases, spent more than a year connecting with them and convincing them to commit to their teams would be gone the next day? This isn't to make a monster of Drayton. It's not clear when he accepted the Bears' offer or what he told Weber and when. By all accounts in Columbus he's a good coach who genuinely cares for his players, and coaching is a business that forces cold decisions at times. It's the timing that seems dubious. The common practice among college coaches to wait until recruits have locked themselves into already one-sided contracts to announce their departures is a problem.Ohio State has the ability to release Weber from his letter of intent sans penalty, and that would be the right thing to do. Give him the best post-Drayton recruiting pitch you can muster (there is still plenty to sell for the Buckeyes), but give him the option to go elsewhere as well. Same goes for all of the other players who unwittingly signed on to play for a coach who was on his way out the door. The only other deterrent for the practice is losing the trust of your youngest players and the negative recruiting ammo it provides for rival teams in the future."
• Jonathan Smith, Columbus sports radio host (via Twitter): "Yeah, Stan Drayton leaving a day after he helped (sign) a star RB recruit seems more than a little shady. Whatever the reason, that looks bad. If OSU lets him out of his LOI, I think that would be the right thing to do. If it were my kid, I would appreciate the gesture."
• Larry Brown, larrybrownsports.com: "The timing of the announcement is telling. The Buckeyes and Bears only announced the move after National Signing Day was completed, making it seem intentional. Ohio State would have risked losing a lot of commits had the news been announced prior to Signing Day. You also can't help but wonder if there were some broken promises made to recruits, too."
• Ben Axelrod, bleacherreport.com: "Fewer than 48 hours after Weber inked his national letter of intent, the position coach who he figured he'd be playing for and trusted throughout the recruitment process left for the NFL. That won't be lost on Jim Harbaugh, who will go head-to-head with Meyer on multiple occasions throughout the 2016 recruiting cycle and for the foreseeable future. Whether that will yield tangible results for Harbaugh remains to be seen, but in recruiting, every edge can make a difference. Which is why the timing of Drayton's departure doesn't seem coincidental, as it very well could have resulted in a different choice for Weber on Wednesday."
• Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland Plain Dealer, pointed out that Drayton has had some uncertain times at OSU, too, having already worked for three coaches there: "There are many other reasons to play at Ohio State. Just like there were many to play at Michigan. No player should pick his college based on just one factor. But don't pretend personal relationships aren't part of this.
"Drayton is a fine coach who made a good move for his career and his family. That he left the day after Signing Day says more about the current system and what's seen as normal behavior in the world of NCAA football than it does about this one coach. ...
"Drayton made his choice Thursday with a clear vision of what he was getting into. Weber thought he did that Wednesday as well. Now Weber may feel more like Drayton did three years ago. A little uncertain. A little worried."
On Thursday, a day after the Detroit Cass Tech running back announced he was leaving the Buckeyes to take a job with the Chicago Bears. Drayton was a key player in recruiting Weber and persuading him to pick OSU instead of Michigan.
"I'm hurt as hell I ain't gone lie," Weber tweeted.
OSU coach Urban Meyer, attending the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association's annual clinic at a Columbus hotel this morning, said that both he and Drayton have spoken to Weber about the situation.
"There was a talk," Meyer said, via 247sports.com. "I had a long conversation with him, and so did Stan. We've got to move forward."
As far as Drayton's move is concerned, Meyer said: "I don't know if it's official yet, but coach Drayton has been with me a long time. I guess the pro calendar is much different now. He has little girls, where recruiting takes its toll. Every weekend, you're gone. He gets job offers every year. Now we'll go and hire a great coach here."
Was it a callous move on Drayton's part? Did he know he was leaving while convincing Weber to make a difficult decision? Or does he have every right to take a better job?
Here are some media reactions to his move:
• Dan Murphy, espn.com: "It happens everywhere and every year. But how many of the 18-year-olds who signed letters of intent 24 hours earlier knew that it would be happening to them -- that the coaches who, in most cases, spent more than a year connecting with them and convincing them to commit to their teams would be gone the next day? This isn't to make a monster of Drayton. It's not clear when he accepted the Bears' offer or what he told Weber and when. By all accounts in Columbus he's a good coach who genuinely cares for his players, and coaching is a business that forces cold decisions at times. It's the timing that seems dubious. The common practice among college coaches to wait until recruits have locked themselves into already one-sided contracts to announce their departures is a problem.Ohio State has the ability to release Weber from his letter of intent sans penalty, and that would be the right thing to do. Give him the best post-Drayton recruiting pitch you can muster (there is still plenty to sell for the Buckeyes), but give him the option to go elsewhere as well. Same goes for all of the other players who unwittingly signed on to play for a coach who was on his way out the door. The only other deterrent for the practice is losing the trust of your youngest players and the negative recruiting ammo it provides for rival teams in the future."
• Jonathan Smith, Columbus sports radio host (via Twitter): "Yeah, Stan Drayton leaving a day after he helped (sign) a star RB recruit seems more than a little shady. Whatever the reason, that looks bad. If OSU lets him out of his LOI, I think that would be the right thing to do. If it were my kid, I would appreciate the gesture."
• Larry Brown, larrybrownsports.com: "The timing of the announcement is telling. The Buckeyes and Bears only announced the move after National Signing Day was completed, making it seem intentional. Ohio State would have risked losing a lot of commits had the news been announced prior to Signing Day. You also can't help but wonder if there were some broken promises made to recruits, too."
• Ben Axelrod, bleacherreport.com: "Fewer than 48 hours after Weber inked his national letter of intent, the position coach who he figured he'd be playing for and trusted throughout the recruitment process left for the NFL. That won't be lost on Jim Harbaugh, who will go head-to-head with Meyer on multiple occasions throughout the 2016 recruiting cycle and for the foreseeable future. Whether that will yield tangible results for Harbaugh remains to be seen, but in recruiting, every edge can make a difference. Which is why the timing of Drayton's departure doesn't seem coincidental, as it very well could have resulted in a different choice for Weber on Wednesday."
• Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland Plain Dealer, pointed out that Drayton has had some uncertain times at OSU, too, having already worked for three coaches there: "There are many other reasons to play at Ohio State. Just like there were many to play at Michigan. No player should pick his college based on just one factor. But don't pretend personal relationships aren't part of this.
"Drayton is a fine coach who made a good move for his career and his family. That he left the day after Signing Day says more about the current system and what's seen as normal behavior in the world of NCAA football than it does about this one coach. ...
"Drayton made his choice Thursday with a clear vision of what he was getting into. Weber thought he did that Wednesday as well. Now Weber may feel more like Drayton did three years ago. A little uncertain. A little worried."
