'12 OH OLB Joe Bolden (Michigan Verbal)

[Old Man Mike]

As to middle-linebackers, I would not be surprised to see some other shiftings take place in another year or so. Example of a pure speculation: If we assume that Spond and Shembo are locking down Dog linebacker, and that ultimately Ishaq and Councill might lock down Cat [or shift Councill and Shembo],where are we going to find time for a bigtime talent like Rabasa??

With Tuitt, Lynch, Schwenke, Springman, Niklaus, Hounsell, et al, it doesn't look like DE. Seeing a big, fast roughneck like Rabasa at a middlebacker doesn't seem too far out to me. All this speculation is meant to illustrate is the general idea that the Staff has a load of FLEXIBLE talent it can work with --- just as Kelly told us he was trying to do --- as usual.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

As to middle-linebackers, I would not be surprised to see some other shiftings take place in another year or so. Example of a pure speculation: If we assume that Spond and Shembo are locking down Dog linebacker, and that ultimately Ishaq and Councill might lock down Cat [or shift Councill and Shembo],where are we going to find time for a bigtime talent like Rabasa??

With Tuitt, Lynch, Schwenke, Springman, Niklaus, Hounsell, et al, it doesn't look like DE. Seeing a big, fast roughneck like Rabasa at a middlebacker doesn't seem too far out to me. All this speculation is meant to illustrate is the general idea that the Staff has a load of FLEXIBLE talent it can work with --- just as Kelly told us he was trying to do --- as usual.

You are correct...A lot of people have speculated that Rabasa will end up at ILB.

 

[Irish Man3]

I would love Rabasa at MLB. Again, the benefits of recruiting ATHLETES on defense. It pays off.

 

[aubeirish]

^^I agree

 

[NDinMich]

Joe Bolden is the feature of an article on MLive's homepage right now. He feels slighted, particularly by ND for not recruiting him, and wants revenge:

To piggyback on this...didn't see this posted yet. Here's another quote from Bolden in that MLive article.

...I just love Michigan and we are going to beat the tar out of 'Ohio' and Notre Dame."

 

[IrishLax]

Is this going to be Chase Hounshell 2.0? I mean seriously... I understand kids having a chip on their shoulder about not getting recruited by the school they want... but it's REALLY early. Show some patience. Why blast off on twitter/interviews?

 

[BeauBenken]

To piggyback on this...didn't see this posted yet. Here's another quote from Bolden in that MLive article.

I actually like this. Rivalries are so much better when the players actually dislike the other school and the earlier, the better.

 

[Ironman8]

Is this going to be Chase Hounshell 2.0? I mean seriously... I understand kids having a chip on their shoulder about not getting recruited by the school they want... but it's REALLY early. Show some patience. Why blast off on twitter/interviews?

Not to nitpick, but the only difference is that we didn't tell Chase he was too short to ever get an offer. Chase just had to wait until prospects higher up on our board made their decisions before an offer could get to him. I don't see Bolden ever getting an ND offer - as he put so succinctly, he is honestly just not big enough to be an MLB in the system Kelly and Diaco run. In addition, as others noted, it really looks like we aren't heavily pursing inside linebackers in this class, and it appears that under the scholly crunch, we would pass on one this year or grab only one due to our depth, the flexibility of other LBs on the roster, and the lack of viable, interested prospects this cycle.

 

[IrishLax]

Not to nitpick, but the only difference is that we didn't tell Chase he was too short to ever get an offer. Chase just had to wait until prospects higher up on our board made their decisions before an offer could get to him. I don't see Bolden ever getting an ND offer - as he put so succinctly, he is honestly just not big enough to be an MLB in the system Kelly and Diaco run. In addition, as others noted, it really looks like we aren't heavily pursing inside linebackers in this class, and it appears that under the scholly crunch, we would pass on one this year or grab only one due to our depth, the flexibility of other LBs on the roster, and the lack of viable, interested prospects this cycle.

Wait... that too short thing was serious?? 6'3" is too short? I'm sorry I guess I kinda missed the memo... he was straight up told by the ND coaches he would not be getting an offer?

 

[Ironman8]

Wait... that too short thing was serious?? 6'3" is too short? I'm sorry I guess I kinda missed the memo... he was straight up told by the ND coaches he would not be getting an offer?

He is listed as 6'3 on Scout, 6'2 on both ESPN and Rivals, and 6'1 on ISD. Who knows how tall he really is, but if that's what he said ND told him, I will take him at his word. Let's say he is 6'2 and 220-225 (I'll go with the median), than that looks like an LB that would excel in certain systems, but not the ILB that ND is looking for. I think they would make exceptions for certain prospects if they had other significant attributes, such as recent Michigan commit Ross, but obviously Bolden is not the same player. I obviously can't speak to the accuracy of Bolden's statement or his true height, but I am just trying to read in between the lines and form an educated hypothesis.

He is Grace's former teammate, so I am sure the staff knows all about him, and made their decision with plenty of information. If you watch his highlights, to me he looks significantly smaller than Grace on the field, which is where I initially based my statement.

 

[Riddickulous]

We have tight numbers in this class, plenty of ILBs on the roster that will be returning in '12 (six, enough for a three deep), and have interest from better prospects. I think that sums up my opinion on the non-offer.

 

[IrishLax]

He is listed as 6'3 on Scout, 6'2 on both ESPN and Rivals, and 6'1 on ISD. Who knows how tall he really is, but if that's what he said ND told him, I will take him at his word. Let's say he is 6'2 and 220-225 (I'll go with the median), than that looks like an LB that would excel in certain systems, but not the ILB that ND is looking for. I think they would make exceptions for certain prospects if they had other significant attributes, such as recent Michigan commit Ross, but obviously Bolden is not the same player. I obviously can't speak to the accuracy of Bolden's statement or his true height, but I am just trying to read in between the lines and form an educated hypothesis.

He is Grace's former teammate, so I am sure the staff knows all about him, and made their decision with plenty of information. If you watch his highlights, to me he looks significantly smaller than Grace on the field, which is where I initially based my statement.

Thanks man. Appreciate it.

 

[phork]

We have tight numbers in this class, plenty of ILBs on the roster that will be returning in '12 (six, enough for a three deep), and have interest from better prospects. I think that sums up my opinion on the non-offer.

So what you are saying is that he has a chance...

 

[Riddickulous]

So what you are saying is that he has a chance...

No.

 

[BGIF]

...I just love Michigan and we are going to beat the tar out of 'Ohio' and Notre Dame."

Would you expect someone committing to UM to say "I just love Michigan and we are going to beat the tar out of Toledo and Appalachian State"?

Regardless of which schools offered him OSU and ND are their two biggest games.


I sure hope every kid committing to ND expects to beat Michigan and Southern Cal.

 

[Ironman8]

Would you expect someone committing to UM to say "I just love Michigan and we are going to beat the tar out of Toledo and Appalachian State"?

Regardless of which schools offered him OSU and ND are their two biggest games.


I sure hope every kid committing to ND expects to beat Michigan and Southern Cal.

I wouldn't mind beating Navy as well.

 

[Riddickulous]

I wouldn't mind beating Navy as well.

The new cut block rules might doom Navy.

 

[NDinL.A.]

Truthfully - coaches miss on guys all the time. EVERY coach has not recruited a player and then looked back on it and realized he made a mistake. How do you think Missouri has about 500 more first round draft picks the past few years than Notre Dame and other big schools? How do you think schools like Rutgers and Cinci have been more impressive in the draft than ND lately (aside from player development)? And how do you think teams like Wisconsin and BC constantly produce quality lines year after year (besides coaching)? There's been quite a few guys lately that wanted ND offers that never got any for whatever reason (low star ranking IMO plenty of times with CW), that turned out to be all conference players because of their desire and work ethic and athletic ability. (Which is why I love the offers that BK gives out to workers like Collinsworth and Hounsell and Grace, among many others.)

Coaching can only do so much - there are PLENTY of quality athletes out there, and coaches have to go with who they believe fits their systems best. For all we know, Bolden could be a Zach Thomas or Dat Nyugen. Or he could be a guy we never hear from again. We do have to trust in BK (what else can we do besides sent Bolden a fake offer???), but personally I have no problem with anyone wondering if we let a good one get away b/c he didn't fit a certain criteria.

For me, as long as the coaches evaluated him thoroughly (we have no reason to think they didn't), and they didn't think he fit - then I'm good with it. Him being pissed only shows how much he really wanted that ND offer, and how powerful the ND name still is...

 

[IrishLax]

Truthfully - coaches miss on guys all the time. EVERY coach has not recruited a player and then looked back on it and realized he made a mistake. How do you think Missouri has about 500 more first round draft picks the past few years than Notre Dame and other big schools? How do you think schools like Rutgers and Cinci have been more impressive in the draft than ND lately (aside from player development)? And how do you think teams like Wisconsin and BC constantly produce quality lines year after year (besides coaching)? There's been quite a few guys lately that wanted ND offers that never got any for whatever reason (low star ranking IMO plenty of times with CW), that turned out to be all conference players because of their desire and work ethic and athletic ability. (Which is why I love the offers that BK gives out to workers like Collinsworth and Hounsell and Grace, among many others.)

Coaching can only do so much - there are PLENTY of quality athletes out there, and coaches have to go with who they believe fits their systems best. For all we know, Bolden could be a Zach Thomas or Dat Nyugen. Or he could be a guy we never hear from again. We do have to trust in BK (what else can we do besides sent Bolden a fake offer???), but personally I have no problem with anyone wondering if we let a good one get away b/c he didn't fit a certain criteria.

For me, as long as the coaches evaluated him thoroughly (we have no reason to think they didn't), and they didn't think he fit - then I'm good with it. Him being pissed only shows how much he really wanted that ND offer, and how powerful the ND name still is...

So many parallels to Remound Wright in that last part. And like Remound, we will be playing against him for 4 years.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Another thing to add to LA's post: we don't like to think about it, but our nationwide recruiting dilutes our coaches' ability to cover most areas with the intensity that many opponents do for their "traditional" grounds. Of course we're going to miss on many people.

In this case, though, I think that we "missed" on purpose because our staff's war-room board values fewer linebackers this year numbers-wise. [obviously my speculation]. I can believe that the Staff might be looking at filling only two. According to the list on our own board, we have only offered seven [the smallest ratio of offers to number of positions on the field of any position, except kicker, which is zero].

 

[GBdomer]

Michigan commit Joe Bolden: 'We're gonna beat the tar out of' Notre Dame, Ohio State | MLive.com

somebody might of already posted. But here is the article of him saying he is going to beat the tar out of us and O$U.

 

[rtrn2glory]

can't say that i blame him for thinking that way (i know i would) all along i thought that he fit the bill better as a middle linebacker than an outside backer...i agree not our typical olb recruit, but he may have helped in the middle.

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

I too cannot blame this kid for having a little chip on his shoulder. I am sure he is a very talented LB with alot to offer but I think this year we are being really picky about who we recruit at this position. Our recruiting focus this year is taking us to other positions of need unfortunately and I trust that the staff is doing a great job in trying to get these areas addressed. I wish this kid the best of luck and hope he does well in the future.., just not against us anyways.

 

[rtrn2glory]

agree...we got bigger fish to fry in regards to filling our depth and at OLB our depth is pretty solid as we speak with the possibility of adding more elite talent this year.

 

[Irish Man3]

If you haven't had a chance to see what Jarrett Grace said in response to Bolden's comments, you should look it up. Information is on ISD.

 

[IrishLax]

If you haven't had a chance to see what Jarrett Grace said in response to Bolden's comments, you should look it up. Information is on ISD.

Premium?

Also, on Bolden, I finally had a chance to read up on all of his comments... and yeah, kudos for our staff for not BSing kids. That's one thing you hear repeatedly is that recruits like how straightforward our coaches are. He is clearly too small to be an OLB in the the 3-4 and it seems we are just too full at ILB. I guess he has Jarrett to thank for that :-/

 

[IrishBlood81]

Unrecruited Hater

Unrecruited Hater

So, I guess this kid wanted to be recruited by us, we turned him down cause we want 6'4+ DBs and hes only 6'3. Now he wants to "Beat the tar out of ND".

Does Notre Dame have that much tar to start out with?


Michigan commit Joe Bolden: 'We're gonna beat the tar out of' Notre Dame, Ohio State | MLive.com

 

[ACamp1900]

I would say that's the attitude any team wants from their players in reagrds to the team's biggest rival correct?? He's just finding anything presonal he can attach it to.

 

[KPENN]

I really really hate being that guy, but this is in his recruiting profile already

 

[IrishLax]

I really really hate being that guy, but this is in his recruiting profile already

Someone has to say it haha