Mike Weber
Cass Tech High School running back Mike Weber got screwed.
The story is that the high school star committed to University of Michigan football team, but backed out after Brady Hoke left. Then he committed to Ohio State University, primarily because he had a good rapport with Ohio State running backs coach Stan Drayton.
Michigan kept trying to lure him back. But he said he felt he should follow through with his commitment to Ohio State. So Ohio State waited until National Signing Day. Weber signed a national letter of intent before Ohio State announced that Stan Drayton was going to work for the Chicago Bears. The letter he signed commits him to Ohio State. That's final. If he wants to play for Michigan, he'll have to sit a year out.
Yes, shame on Stan Drayton. And shame on the Ohio State's head coach Urban Meyer. They duped him. The played him.
Weber wasn't very happy and tweeted: "I'm hurt as hell."
But not all are sympathetic.
Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press wrote:
Mike Weber isn't a victim. I doubt that anybody used him. I doubt that anybody conned him.
The star running back from Detroit Cass Tech and his family willingly participated in the nauseating scam that is the college football recruiting process. If they're actually stunned that Ohio State running backs coach Stan Drayton left for a NFL promotion with the Chicago Bears one day after Weber signed with the Buckeyes, can you imagine how they'll react when told that there's gambling in Las Vegas or that politicians might not actually tell you the truth to win your vote?
Naivety isn't a good look.
Cass Tech football coach Thomas Wilcher discussed the situation on Detroit Sports 105.1 FM. The transcript was posted on the website, Go Blue Wolverine. He said:
All I want my athletes to do is go with their first thought and know really where they want to be at. And try to make sure parents and everybody is on board and you all agree to the same thing. That’s kind of what happened at the end. Mike Weber got a little but straddling the fence. He wanted to go to Michigan. But he wanted to stay committed. He wanted show that he understands about commitment. His father is trying to teach him about commitment. His mother wants him to understand about commitment. And I think that’s what he showed Ohio State in the end. But they at least supposed to show him the same type of courtesy also. That’s my problem.”
He said when it comes to placing blame, fingers should point to the top, to coach Urban Meyer, who went after Weber.
Wilcher says:
“I think Urban Meyer is going to have to step his game up. He’s going to have to come down. We’re going to have to talk. We’re going to have to meet. Because he just came to my school and got the No. 1 athlete. He got an All-American athlete out of my school two years in a row the No. 1 player in the state. And I think that’s big. I think that’s real big for his university. But the most important thing is you cannot come over here, come up to the north and walk out here with your pockets full and not give us respect. That’s the most important thing I’m telling you right now. You have to respect us. You just can’t walk all over us. That’s not going to happen again. I can tell you that right now.”
