Russell Bellomy: A Study in College Football Recruiting and Human Nature

Bellomy Picks Michigan

If you were raised like me, you heard phrases like, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."

If you've been to my house, it usually is, especially late in the summer. I take pretty good care of my lawn and my house. I put money into the upkeep, I put in time to work on things and keep them in good order. I even pay Terminix to keep bugs from getting too bad and a guy named Earl sprays my lawn so that weeds don't take it over.

But, I refuse to water the grass. Last August, we had a pretty horrible drought in Indiana...and my lawn was the color of Purdue's helmets...but without the sparkles and the shine. The grass was greener around me, and I think some of my neighbors were pretty pissed...but I didn't, and don't care. My lawn didn't die, it went dorment- that's A-OK with me.

It takes money to keep your lawn looking like a fairway. And if you don't have the money for a sprinkler system, the pain of moving a sprinkler around is infuriating, to me at least. I've got two little kids and a wife-they all need my time...and having a family costs money. So I decided my lawn isn't the utmost priority. I'm kinda pragmatic.

Like Russell Bellomy, I'd like to have a beautiful lawn. Unlike Bellomy, I've decided the costs to attain such a lawn aren't worth it for me.

The thing that's so tough about recruiting is that humans are generally fickle. Even more difficult, is generally, the younger the human, the more fickle. Bellomy had been a Purdue guy for months. On recruiting visits, much like Rob Henry a few years back, I heard he did some of the recruiting himself. But the lure of Michigan was too much for the young man out of Arlington, TX to turn down.

Make no mistake, this isn't another Roy Roundtree situation. Roundtree told Purdue coaches he was going to sign with Purdue the night before signing day. It sounds like Bellomy was honest with Purdue prior to his visit to AA (unlike Roundtree). But, like young love is fleeting, so are 'solid' verbal commitments. A prettier girl, a greener lawn, a better paying job (whatever analogy you'd like to use) has come along and Bellomy's going to pursue it.

Simply Irresistable

So you might now understand why we don't talk a ton about recruiting around here. We know it's happening, we're not ignoring it. We just don't want to get too emotionally tied to someone that might or might not ever get on campus...even then, you never know what's going to happen. Waaaaaaaaay back in November and December, Bellomy told Hope and Co. that he was solidly-committed to Purdue. He tweeted the same thing yesterday, this time to UM and Hoke. Good thing for UM that signing day is less than 7 days away, I guess.

Afterall, there's always a better lawn someplace in the neighborhood.

Football players preparing to play football on the football field (and notes)

Prognostications are a nice divergence as we await football season. Media meetings whet our appetite for the game we love...and practice (not a game) tells us we're getting close, very close to something real and tangible in the college football world being upon us.

Danny Hope's second camp began today with unusually-temperate weather as August camp kicked off with low humidity and temps in the 80s...a nice way to start it off. The media was allowed into practice for a half hour- better than nothing, I guess, and better than just hearing about practice via Hope's reports. Last season, we pretty much heard that everyone was awesome in camp, but no one got to see just how great these guys were except the coaching staff and players. So I'm glad Hope's not completely continuing that tradition that marked Tiller's final years on campus. A bit of transparency ain't so bad.

Here are a few highlights from the first day back:
-Hope thinks the team looks very fast and talented...even in the positions (DB, specifically) where there's not a ton of experience.

-Everybody likes Justin Siller's potential at WR...Here's something to think about:
We could regularly see a group of receivers/TEs like this: Cortez Smith (6'2" 180) Keith Smith (6'2" 226), Justin Siller (6'4" 220) and Kyle Adams (6'5" 251). That's significant size, solid hands, decent speed and really tough match-ups for a small defensive backfield to handle. Then, if DBs start attempting to jump routes, we'll see a little O.J. Ross or Gary Bush sprinkled in...I like this receiving corps quite a bit.

-Ralph Bolden's not doing too much at this point...no surpise.

-Ryan Kerrigan and Gerald Gooden are good.

Even if we only get morsels at this point, this is info that I love to gobble up...Just 27 days until kickoff.

Feeling Old
I had a birthday last week that places me in the dead-center of my 30s...but that didn't make me feel as old as watching Jerry Rice and Emmit Smith get placed in the hall of fame. I'm now to the point where each year, the NFL season is kicked off by having at least a couple of players inducted to the HOF that I remember watching in college or getting drafted.

Touchy
I don't read a ton of other blogs- heck, I don't even get over to H&R often enough. But, I read that the Uof M faithful really didn't like Danny Hope's comments during the media days about Purdue not having a General Studies major while every school in the conference, except two, do offer such a course of study. Problem is, Hope really didn't directly point at Michigan in this case. No matter.

MGoBlog's post smacks of great insecurity here, but worse, their commenters sound bitchy and are making it tougher and tougher for me to continue to respect UM's fanbase. I've had a few co-workers and friends who graduated from Michigan...as a general rule, I used to like Michigan and its fans. I've always dismissed stories I heard of them being a bunch of whiny rich kids...but they sure sound like it in this case.

Sure, they're upset that the Roy Roundtree/Rich Rodriguez era has the Wolverines 0-2 versus Purdue...that's frustrating when your program is one of the most-storied in college sports. You're supposed to be one of the most-talented teams in the America, are paying a coach a boatload, kicked a pretty-damned good (and clean to boot) coach to get to the current head man, yet can't win the games you're supposed to...can't even make it to the post season. Yeah, they're angry about Hope calling DickRod to the carpet, understandable too. But read some of the comments...there's a lot of vitriol in Ann Arbor for Purdue and specifically, Danny Hope.

Hey, I don't get into the business of hating people...even cheating coaches who steal players in the 11th hour, that stuff happens. But, the more I read about Rodriguez and the more I read from Michigan fans, the more I think they deserve eachother.

Congrats, Roy!!

Roy Roundtree is my Michigan Wolverines player of the game.

Roundtree finished with 10 receptions, 126yds receiving and 1 TD. Congrats on putting up such big numbers!

Friday Morning Fun

JJ out, Ostrich in
The roster of 12 for the USA U21 basketball squad was finalized Thursday, and Purdue fans, we have good news and bad news. The good news is that the belief that Hummel is one of the most-versatile and all-around solid players in the college game is becoming more-true every six-months. The bad news is that JaJuan's shortcomings seem to have kept him off of this Team USA.

Bo Ryan said,

"I don't want to take anything away from the guys who didn't make it, but the 12 who are on the final list are the ones that if you look at the overall picture — offense, defense, rebounding, things like that — this was the 12 that stood out."

And while most Purdue fans asked at least one time during the '08/'09 season, "Why isn't JJ hitting the glass harder?" I think we all know the real reason why Ryan chose not to put Johnson on his roster- comfort level.

I mean, Coach Ryan, admittedly one of the best in the nation at getting the most out of a team, isn't used to having the most athletic big men on his roster...so, while he's right that JJ's still got some work to do make his game complete, he's still pretty damned good...and it's OK that he's not the type of player that Ryan likes to have at center.

Here's to JaJuan letting this minor setback motivate him to make a similar jump as he did in the off-season following the '07/'08 season.

Also, congrats to the Ostrich...stay healthy and kick some ass while in Europe, yo.

Two other BT standouts made the squad. aOSU's long, skilled SF, Evan Turner and PSU ultra-skilled PG, Talor Battle...also on the team, Washington F, Quincy Pondexter...His college team lost the last game they played to a bunch of lousy BT players in black and gold.

Roy Roundtree revisited
I just read that former Purdue verbal commit, Roy Roundtree was not on the two-deep chart at the end of spring practice at UM. That's good stuff, and big-time entertainment, if you ask me...especially when I look at what is currently on our Boiler's depth chart. So where would Roundtree be if he had stuck with his 4-month commitment to Purdue? We'll never know...but I can say this, I wish for Roundtree the same amount of success I wish to Scott Martin.

Non-Sports Awesomeness
If you haven't had the chance, check out the new Comedy Central Show, Tosh.O...especially his weekly Web Redemption segment...Sure, it's derivative of The Soup (fmr. Talk Soup), but Daniel Tosh is funny...and dumb people are funny...thus, this show is hilarious.

SPOOKY GOOD!

"There will be tricks and there will be treats..." A priest at Purdue's St. Tom's said during his homily one Sunday just before Halloween about 12 years ago...and he might have been describing this weekend up at my alma mater for all I know. As college girls sauntered about campus dressed like prostitutes, their school's basketball team started the exhibition season by treating a tuner by 32 points...The next day, the football team was in costume as something we haven't seen all season- a surprisingly exciting football team.
First off, the quarterback, number 5...a first-time starter named Siller reminded me of a not-so-poor man's Terrell Pryor. He glided along effortlessly seeming to not try as defenders couldn't get a grasp on the RS Frosh...and his unusual, slight side-arm delivery was better than effective as he completed over 61% of his passes and led an offense that was atrocious, in previous weeks to 48 points. Granted, this Michigan defense was in the cellar of the league in scoring defense and passing defense, but Purdue's offense was averaging just over 10 pts/game coming into Saturday.

Second, Ryan Kerrigan seemed to be dressed as a combination of Anthony Spencer, Rosey Colvin and others. His pursuit was relentless as his efforts will surely earn him a starring role in the nightmares of the hapless and perpetually-confused Threet, UM's quarterback. Unlike some of Purdue's other great DEs, he seems to also be a run-stopper.

I'll be honest, I don't know if I've seen a Purdue linebacker play with the reckless abandon of #42 since Mike Rose nearly crossed the line of insanity back in Tiller's early seasons at Purdue. Heygood ran like the runningback he once was on the well set-up fake punt...and ran around Ross Ade's loam as if his lengthy dreads were ablaze. He, Baker and Magee all seemed to play with the urgency of players that see the end of their collegiate careers just around the corner.

Purdue's special teams came to the contest dressed as the Purdue special teams units of the late 90s...the kickoff coverage, punt coverage and long snapper were all simply lousy for much of the day. It seemed, in the first half, that the classic Joe Tiller loss was at hand- one unit (the offense) had decided to come to play...the other two were simply no-shows...the second half was a much different story. The special teams yielded an important drive-sustaining fake punt near the center of the field (above) and the defense stopped the Wolverines offense twice in the closing minutes...Sadly the officials literally stole one of those stoppers as they closed their eyes and made a pass interference call...The Big Ten officiating crew was in its usual costume...as a herd of blind jackasses.

Kory Sheets came dressed as himself...'cause he's just that bad. I get the idea that Sheets likes himself quite a bit; and he seems to back up his moxy quite well. He ran hard again all afternoon and racked up 118 yards...Clearly, if you watch the tape of the game, you can see tha the has the ability to disappear, because Michigan DBs simply couldn't find him on multiple occasions during the game.

The old man celebrated Halloween dressed as a Cowboy. The two trick plays in in the second half were ballsy...but I have to be honest. Justin Siller's ability to evade the rush kept quite a few drives alive. The fact that this guy wasn't AT LEAST #2 on the depth chart coming into this season really shows how the coaches were coasting coming into this season, in my opinion. Perhaps this performance has awakened Joe...maybe we won't be hearing about fishing during pressers for the remainder of the season. When the guy wants to, he can still coach. Oh yeah...it's also great for his psyche to beat Michigan for a second time in his Big Ten coaching career...even if this team is just a shadow of former UM teams, they still have the wings on the helmets.

This game was important for a lot of reasons. First, it invigorated the fanbase. No one from this site or my family or near me in 119 expected this type of game...It was infuriating at times, but it was jubilant in the end. Michigan is a horrible team...I really do believe that. Rich Rodriguez seems to be in waaaaay over his head. But, Purdue's anemic offense (before this week) didn't stall once in the red zone on six visits to the region. Justin Siller's play was as good as I can remember from a first start by a Freshman in the Tiller era. While Brees started as a Soph, his numbers v. an OK USC team were pretty human, Hance, Orton, Kirsch and Painter weren't great right out of the box. Check out the numbers for yourself:

21/34 266 yds. 3 passing TDs, one rushing TD, 77 yds. rushing

The game was also very important to recruiting, in my opinion. We walked in front of Mollenkopf after the game. It was swarming with potential future Boilers. I think we'll find out in the next few days about a few more commitments...I hope so anyway. To the average 18 year old football fan, Michigan is still Michigan. Watching Purdue beat them, surely couldn't have hurt their perception of the day...and the 55,000 fans, nicely spread out, gave the look of a nearly-full Ross Ade stadium. Plus, these 55,000 were a high-octane bunch as we were loud, especially in the second half. While it wasn't the greatest environment ever, it was pretty damned good for a bunch of people watching to 2-6 teams square off.

While I was frustrated with the two 14-point leads gift-wrapped for the maize and blue, I was heartened by the fight and overall cool of our Boilers. Plus, the weather was stupid-good; it was a fun afternoon.

Other Notes
-Are there any better days than these? Purdue wins, UND loses a game it had no business losing, and IU loses to an OK MAC team without its starting QB. I can breath easy and content this evening.

-The Michigan fans, who I usually like quite a bit, seemed pretty damned annoying and even arrogant today. Every time Purdue fans would do a cheer, they'd replace Purdue with Go Blue...Pretty gay if you ask me...especially for a bunch of people cheering for an underachieving 2-7 team chocked full of blue chip athletes. While there weren't a ton of Michigan fans there, I was un lucky enough to be a section over from many during the game. I gave them about ten "Go Blues" as they exited the stands with their sorry tails between their legs. I hope the drive back North wasn't too painful for them. Sure, some of my frustration aimed at them is just pent-up rage that should be directed at Purdue's coaches...but I'm taking a break from complaining about them for the week.

-I'm not delusional enough to believe Purdue is going to run the table and go to bowl (not that another Motor City visit is anything noteworthy), but I can say, I'm stoked to see Siller's progress for the rest of the season and think he can be an incredible weapon for Hope and his staff in '09.

-Hey Roy Roundtree, I hope you enjoyed today's visit to Ross Ade!