'13 CA DT Eddie Vanderdoes (UCLA)

[IrishSteelhead]

After seeing an episode of "my super sweet 16" on MTV, nothing shocks me when dealing with kids.

 

[ThePiombino]

I believe he faxed it in the AM, but had his announcement scheduled for the evening, and the cat was let out of the bag before then or something along those lines.

It's funny though, because I remember we were all on here trying to watch the feed on pins on needles. You'd think if it was revealed earlier, somebody here would have scooped it beforehand.

*i may be wrong, but this is what my memory tells me

That info definitely leaked on here, but I think we mosl dismissed it because he hadn't announced yet lol

 

[IrishSteelhead]

The thing was, I knew it already, but didnt want to ruin the surprise for everyone. Got a PM about a month before NSD.

 

[dshans]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rL43JE22Ync" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Grahambo]

Can this thread die now? Situation has been resolved and nothing productive will come of it. A thread discussing LOI should be made instead.

 

[RyCo1983]

The thing was, I knew it already, but didnt want to ruin the surprise for everyone. Got a PM about a month before NSD.

That's good shits right there bra.

 

[GATTACA!]

A thread discussing LOI should be made instead.

The important question is weather or not that thread would also be about spelling bee nightmares?

 

[Grahambo]

The important question is weather or not that thread would also be about spelling bee nightmares?

Mine was glorious so yes.

 

[Irish YJ]

For those of you struggling, here's how you do it.

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

I'm over it. Time to turn the page.

 

[irish4ever]

I'm over it. Time to turn the page.

Yeah, VanderDON'T. Time to move on.

 

[phork]

To the newb who said he was coming, my vbucks are still safely earning interest.

 

[BGIF]

The important question is weather or not that thread would also be about spelling bee nightmares?

Or current spelling blunders?

 

[dshans]

The important question is weather or not that thread would also be about spelling bee nightmares?

On that note, and since both the whole EV recruitment and its thread have gone haywire, It's "whether," not "weather," dammit!!!

 

[Chi_IRISH]

We could go back to Vander nick names! With all this hate and venom I'm sure we could come up some great endings now!

 

[dshans]

We could go back to Vander nick names! With all this hate and venom I'm sure we could come up some great endings now!

With all the Vanderdoes gadding about, I wonder if there are any Vanderstags lurking in the woods.

 

[IrishGiant]

Obviously this kid isn't cut out to be a member of the Irish, and as such I am glad he won't be playing for us. As a die hard Irish fan myself, and I'm sure most of you will never understand NOT wanting to play for the most storied university in college football. I'm glad he won't be playing for us, because if you aren't in this 100% you are doing yourself and this great university a disservice. Having said that, I'm glad they are holding him to his Letter, as there needs to be accountability to committing to a school, as well as a penalty for violating that commitment. We don't need him anyway. We will be fine.

 

[vmgsf]

Personal reasons. Close to home. I thought there was a University of California at Berkeley that has a football team, is an outstanding university and is a member of the Pac-12. I must be sadly mistaken because UCLA is "close to home " and much closer than Cal?

I fed all data from his camp - his lawyer (Bruin Steve), his personal trainer, UCLA's assistant coach and his recruiter who has longstanding connection to his personal trainer, his Sacramento Bee mouthpiece reporter, his father and Coach Jim Mora into my bullshit meter. Unfortunately, my bullshit meter whined, groaned, overheated and exploded wth message "So much bullshit can not give any reading. This meter is only able to provide bullshit readings within unreasonable bullshit amounts when bullshit is unreasonably unreasonable and excessively excessive this meter will explode. You have destroyed your bullshit meter by entering into it so much bullshit that you have voided your warranty and you will not be able to repair it."

In frustration, I contacted manufacturer of my very expensive, top of the line bullshit meter. Response: "You must buy a new bullshit meter but do not enter data containing an unreasonably unreasonable or an excessively excessive amount of bullshit into your meter or it will explode. Stick to unreasonable or excessive amounts of bullshit so that you do not void your warranty and you will get appropriate reading on the amount of bullshit contained in the data."

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Just a couple of thoughts:

Everyone including Andy Staples in his article forgot one thing; when you sign a LOI to ND you get a four year scholarship. Not a one year renewable like you do to almost everywhere else. A four year scholarship to one of the finest institutions in America.

(I agree with everyone that figures someone who would blow this off shouldn't be here.)

The best way to fix the NLOI program is to make it a four year commitment by the schools. That would cut schools abilities to gray shirt. Force universities to spend more time educating their athletes (who wants to lose their stars) because replacement on a four year scholarship basis would be too unpredictable and costly. (Same problem ND has now when players leave. It takes a while to replace a player, thus forcing a 'bad' school to dip way below their 85 man limit.)

In two months the real story will come out about EV just like it did about AA. These two are closer to the same cut of cloth than one may expect. That's my guess.

 

[PANDFAN]

Should situations like Eddie Vanderdoes' result in the loss of one year of eligibility?
89%
Yes
11%
No


espn

 

[T Town Tommy]

The best way to fix the NLOI program is to make it a four year commitment by the schools. That would cut schools abilities to gray shirt. Force universities to spend more time educating their athletes (who wants to lose their stars) because replacement on a four year scholarship basis would be too unpredictable and costly. (Same problem ND has now when players leave. It takes a while to replace a player, thus forcing a 'bad' school to dip way below their 85 man limit.)

The only issue I have with that recommendation is that if the school is forced to give a four year commitment then the player should as well. And that is never going to happen as the NFL is a talent driven league... if you have the talent they want you as soon as they can get you.

I think holding commitments to LOI's unless there is a bonafide family related issue is the best way to curtail players from backing out. The whole EV ordeal will pass but the fact that the Irish didn't back off from the LOI will speak volumes moving forward for players who waffle on their decision pre and post signing day.

 

[kmoose]

And in many cases the school gets an athlete who brings much more value than the value of that education. If there are athletes who have the talent that they can successfully get a school to take them without a NLI, more power to them. Some schools will pass, some will try it out.

Schools are making millions and millions. Kids can afford to have a little power, too.

For the love of God, please stop buying into the "slave labor" innuendo that these muckrakers keep tossing out there. What are these schools doing with these millions and millions? It's not like a bunch of old white guys are amassing tremendous personal wealth on the backs of these poor kids who can barely afford to drive their Lexus or Land Rover. Most of these Universities are using those millions and millions to allow thousands of other kids to have an opportunity that they would never have had, otherwise: A college education. These kids get a decent stipend, they travel in first class style, they get per diem while on the road, they get access to academic resources that other students could only dream of......... they are not exploited sweat shop workers in Indonesia, toiling away for $1 a day!

 

[Bogtrotter07]

The only issue I have with that recommendation is that if the school is forced to give a four year commitment then the player should as well. And that is never going to happen as the NFL is a talent driven league... if you have the talent they want you as soon as they can get you.

I think holding commitments to LOI's unless there is a bonafide family related issue is the best way to curtail players from backing out. The whole EV ordeal will pass but the fact that the Irish didn't back off from the LOI will speak volumes moving forward for players who waffle on their decision pre and post signing day.

Just because it is a four year scholarship, doesn't mean players cannot leave early for the NFL; ask Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, and Kyle Rudolph. ND has always had four year scholarships. And kids that receive an offer that never played a down have had them honored, too.

Needless to say if you go with a four year scholarship, you can make LOI's mandatory. The step after that is to allow early signing, which if implemented with no contact before end of sophomore year in high school would really make bag men more vulnerable, (legalities easier to enforce), and cut the recruiting drain, which kills marginal programs.

 

[Grahambo]

For the love of God, please stop buying into the "slave labor" innuendo that these muckrakers keep tossing out there. What are these schools doing with these millions and millions? It's not like a bunch of old white guys are amassing tremendous personal wealth on the backs of these poor kids who can barely afford to drive their Lexus or Land Rover. Most of these Universities are using those millions and millions to allow thousands of other kids to have an opportunity that they would never have had, otherwise: A college education. These kids get a decent stipend, they travel in first class style, they get per diem while on the road, they get access to academic resources that other students could only dream of......... they are not exploited sweat shop workers in Indonesia, toiling away for $1 a day!

Thank you.

 

[95NDAlumNM]

For the love of God, please stop buying into the "slave labor" innuendo that these muckrakers keep tossing out there. What are these schools doing with these millions and millions? It's not like a bunch of old white guys are amassing tremendous personal wealth on the backs of these poor kids who can barely afford to drive their Lexus or Land Rover. Most of these Universities are using those millions and millions to allow thousands of other kids to have an opportunity that they would never have had, otherwise: A college education. These kids get a decent stipend, they travel in first class style, they get per diem while on the road, they get access to academic resources that other students could only dream of......... they are not exploited sweat shop workers in Indonesia, toiling away for $1 a day!

and also shoes, clothes, "swag" from bowl games, etc. My roommate was just a lowly walk on and he had more free stuff then he knew with to do with. Shoes that he really never wore because he had too many, nice sweats, a really nice watch from a bowl game, shirts, shorts, etc.

 

[domerfreak]

As the dust settles with EV drama at first I would like to wish the young man luck. I get it ND wasn’t in his heart, too far from his family, or because ND wouldn’t package his sister whatever the reason all the best young man.
I really hope that we don’t see a lot more of this where these kids are not even trying to honor a contract. To me I think a rule has to be set that if you sign with a team you have to honor the contract for at least a year. Maybe its just my generation and military background coming out here but, this sense of entitlement that kids expect these days is pretty sad.

 

[BGIF]

For the love of God, please stop buying into the "slave labor" innuendo that these muckrakers keep tossing out there. What are these schools doing with these millions and millions? It's not like a bunch of old white guys are amassing tremendous personal wealth on the backs of these poor kids who can barely afford to drive their Lexus or Land Rover. Most of these Universities are using those millions and millions to allow thousands of other kids to have an opportunity that they would never have had, otherwise: A college education. These kids get a decent stipend, they travel in first class style, they get per diem while on the road, they get access to academic resources that other students could only dream of......... they are not exploited sweat shop workers in Indonesia, toiling away for $1 a day!

Hear! Hear!

 

[Whiskeyjack]

From Andy Staples' mail bag:

As a UCLA fan, I'm thrilled that Eddie Vanderdoes will play for the Bruins, but I'm obviously disappointed that Notre Dame is playing hardball and won't release him from his National Letter of Intent, thus costing him an entire year of eligibility. From Notre Dame's perspective, I semi-understand wanting to hold a high school senior to his commitment. But from a practical perspective, aren't the Irish shooting themselves in the foot? Will other coaches cite this instance to negatively recruit against Notre Dame? I don't seem to recall Brian Kelly sitting out a year when he left Cincinnati in the middle of a contract.

-- Jason Kingston, Los Angeles

I don't think anyone is going to use it to negatively in recruiting because they'd all do the exact same thing. I can't imagine any coaches are pitching recruits by telling them, "If you sign with us, we'll let you change your mind." As Andy Staples wrote on Tuesday, neither Kelly nor Florida State's Jimbo Fisher (who is refusing to release touted linebacker Matthew Thomas) wants to be the coach who sets the precedent that allows future recruits to start disregarding NLIs entirely.
Also, as Andy wrote, the NLI contract is entirely one-sided. Much like our discussion in the last Mailbag about Mike Gundy blocking Lunt's transfer options, it reeks of hypocrisy given the fact that coaches routinely break contracts. But even if the current NLI were scrapped, there would still need to be some sort of binding commitment from recruits. There comes a fair point -- whether it's the first Wednesday in February or some later date -- when coaches need to know if they should still hold a scholarship spot open or move on to someone else. Otherwise they could never fill out their class. And there are more logistics involved with bringing in a player than just handing him his practice gear. Dorm rooms need to be reserved. He needs to enroll in classes. However, when a situation like Vanderdoes' does arise, there should be some lesser form of recourse than losing an entire season of eligibility.

 

[Grahambo]

From Andy Staples' mail bag:

Forgive me for not feeling sorry for him or any kid in this situation.

 

[Emcee77]

For the love of God, please stop buying into the "slave labor" innuendo that these muckrakers keep tossing out there. What are these schools doing with these millions and millions? It's not like a bunch of old white guys are amassing tremendous personal wealth on the backs of these poor kids who can barely afford to drive their Lexus or Land Rover. Most of these Universities are using those millions and millions to allow thousands of other kids to have an opportunity that they would never have had, otherwise: A college education. These kids get a decent stipend, they travel in first class style, they get per diem while on the road, they get access to academic resources that other students could only dream of......... they are not exploited sweat shop workers in Indonesia, toiling away for $1 a day!

DI football players are not sweatshop workers, true, but I think this post goes too far in the wrong direction.

First, as to the bolded ... yeah, it's kind of like that. It's exactly like that, if you take out the word "personal." Why does it matter that the old white men are spending the money on athletic scholarships for other kids? The reality remains that major-conference DI football players generate millions and millions in TV revenue alone, and they are allowed to come to school for free. I don't think that's a fair transaction. Never have. Why should all that value accrue only to the university when it's the blood, sweat and tears of the players that makes it possible? You say players get a "decent stipend," but as far as I know that is untrue. They don't get spending money.

Two of my roommates at ND were football players, and yes, they got a lot of perks and a valuable education in exchange for their participation in a big-time football program, but they gave up A LOT. They are slaves to the program in a lot of ways. I mean, we have this idea that these players party all the time and live like kings of the campus for four years, and for some players that's true, but all I know is that on a lot of Friday nights when I was out partying, my roommates were in bed because they had to wake up early for Saturday workouts. They couldn't take summer internships or jobs or go on service trips or study abroad like I did. But more importantly, they can't even put the time into their schoolwork that I did. Not only do they spend a TON of time in organized football activities, but even in the off-season, they physically push themselves to the brink of physical exhaustion every day in workouts. I don't know about you guys but I find it pretty hard to study when I'm physically exhausted. Then they put their bodies on the line playing a violent sport every fall Saturday. A college scholarship is great, but I've never felt it adequately recognizes the sacrifices that big-time college players make, considering that those sacrifices contribute to an activity that generates millions and millions of dollars.

Honestly, as much as I love NCAA football, when I really stop to think about it, the system makes me a little sick.