🏈 The saga of Riley Cole ... (pruned from NSD thread.)

[Tidestalker]

Why not include the entire quote?

“Communication was the biggest problem and when Riley asked them to give an answer, they wouldn’t give him a straight answer,” David Cole said. “We got the impression they were wanting to wait until after National Signing Day, see who they got, and then let Riley know if they wanted to grayshirt him."



I'm beginning to wonder if you're more upset about this than they are.

I found that quote directly from his Twitter. Frankly there's not much difference... Either way they screwed him.

And if Making points and counter points on a discussion board means I'm more upset than the family, than I guess you are too.

 

[94 Grad]

Sounds to me exactly as what I expected... They couldn't tell him if he had a spot or not. Which means he never had a committable offer. He wanted to know if he did have a committable offer and since the UA staff could give him a straight YES, then he choose to walk. In years past, I think the UA staff knew right where they stood with the class at this time; however, this year is a bit up in the air and they can't make that promise to the kid. I think some other schools may have lied and said he did have a spot ala coach Nutt a few years back...

They have interviewed the Dad and it doesn't sound all that nefarious to me... sounds like the kid wanted a guarantee and couldn't get one and made a very smart decision to move on.

Dad of Alabama recruit that was asked to grayshirt speaks out

But hey, maybe the Dad is just trying to be nice to the program that you think just screwed his son... :shrug:

 

[Tidestalker]

Sounds to me exactly as what I expected... They couldn't tell him if he had a spot or not. Which means he never had a committable offer. He wanted to know if he did have a committable offer and since the UA staff could give him a straight YES, then he choose to walk. In years past, I think the UA staff knew right where they stood with the class at this time; however, this year is a bit up in the air and they can't make that promise to the kid. I think some other schools may have lied and said he did have a spot ala coach Nutt a few years back...

They have interviewed the Dad and it doesn't sound all that nefarious to me... sounds like the kid wanted a guarantee and couldn't get one and made a very smart decision to move on.

Dad of Alabama recruit that was asked to grayshirt speaks out

But hey, maybe the Dad is just trying to be nice to the program that you think just screwed his son... :shrug:

The kid was on an official 2 weeks ago and said the staff was excited about him coming in... Now he "never had a committable offer" lol.

 

[94 Grad]

The kid was on an official 2 weeks ago and said the staff was excited about him coming in... Now he "never had a committable offer" lol.

Sure... I would guess a lot of kids didn't have one. Just because a kid makes a verbal doesn't mean it was/is committable. Also, I guess they were not too excited if they wanted him to greyshirt a week later...

 

[Tidestalker]

Sure... I would guess a lot of kids didn't have one. Just because a kid makes a verbal doesn't mean it was/is committable. Also, I guess they were not too excited if they wanted him to greyshirt a week later...

Well no sh*t!!!! Lol

Makes you wonder why they were lying to him just a week prior... Doesn't it?!

 

[94 Grad]

Well no sh*t!!!! Lol

Makes you wonder why they were lying to him just a week prior... Doesn't it?!

Nope, not at all... Kids hear what they want to hear and bend the reality often in interviews. He couldn't be guaranteed a spot and he decided to move on... which maybe the best decision for him and one I hope serves him well.

I've been through this process and have a bit of an understanding about what is said and done... and from most people I've only heard how upfront Saban is to these recruits on playing time and roster management issues.

Maybe the kid was lied to... maybe he wasn't... but at least it doesn't seem that the family is all that up in a tizzy about it, so neither should we be.

 

[Che Boludo]

Well no sh*t!!!! Lol

Makes you wonder why they were lying to him just a week prior... Doesn't it?!

Lying is a strong word not knowing the details in whole.

IF they told him all along that he had a 2016 slot and not to worry about anything else before springing it on him completely out of the blue, then, yes, I agree that would sort of suck. However, I find that scenario highly unlikely. Even in such a case, its hardly the end of the world. Life is no different. Best laid plans and all. We have to adapt, improvise, and overcome to make the best of our everchanging situations in life.

As noted, there are many advantages to GS'ing. If he wants to actually play football for the Tide, a GS may put him in better position to see the field earlier.

And, he still has a slot on the team. I'm not certain when he could sign his NLI though. However, I've heard of exactly zero cases of a gray shirt offer not being honored. That would certainly be a schit move unless the recruit lost it through his own dumbassery before enrolling.

 

[UAgrad93]

Damn @Tidestalker !! If I didn't know better, I would swear you were my hard headed cousin! I tried to explain the situation to him much like @94 Grad has here. He continued to argue.
I was recruited to play college football and baseball. I got injured early in my senior year and schools positions changed "quickly". Bama and a couple of others still showed interest, but my dream was to come to UA. I elected to walk on "with the opportunity to earn a scholarship". Damn! Cole's situation is a lot better than mine ever was.

 

[planomateo]

They have interviewed the Dad and it doesn't sound all that nefarious to me... sounds like the kid wanted a guarantee and couldn't get one and made a very smart decision to move on.

Dad of Alabama recruit that was asked to grayshirt speaks out

But hey, maybe the Dad is just trying to be nice to the program that you think just screwed his son... :shrug:

Interview from that article, feel bad for the kid. Take from it what you will... Sounds like communication issues as suggested earlier in the thread. His dad handled the interview about as well as you could, aside from not having it.

http://www.stationcaster.com/stations/wjox/media/mp3/David_Cole-1454340780.mp3

 

[Tidestalker]

Damn @Tidestalker !! If I didn't know better, I would swear you were my hard headed cousin! I tried to explain the situation to him much like @94 Grad has here. He continued to argue.
I was recruited to play college football and baseball. I got injured early in my senior year and schools positions changed "quickly". Bama and a couple of others still showed interest, but my dream was to come to UA. I elected to walk on "with the opportunity to earn a scholarship". Damn! Cole's situation is a lot better than mine ever was.

I'm confident saying I've probably been around and through the recruiting process more than everyone on here combined. In the last 5 years I've had 40+ dudes sign letters of intent at some level or another, including over a dozen division 1 players. I was also a college athlete myself. I'm very familiar and comfortable with how the process works and deal with college coaches weekly. (Trust me I'm not bragging, it's somewhat pathetic I've actually been at this particular gig 5+ years lol)

Its the same exact shit almost every other year and you hard heads refuse to admit that Bama can do anything wrong. They did this kid dirty and have done it in the past... You can look at this kids quote's from start to finish and see that he was completely blindsided by the grey shirt sprung on him 5 days before signing day.

A "miscommunication" is a politicians way of saying the Alabama football staff conveniently left out the truth throughout the process... Or just didn't have a better option until now. It's not that hard to tell a kid he doesn't have a spot... Up until 5 days ago he thought he did. What's so hard about comprehending that?

I may go back and find all the quotes from these kids over the years so you all can see what is called a "trend".... We will be having the same talk next year about some kid who committed early on but gets pushed aside for a better option.

 

[bradenob]

Actually, it's a risk as a 3 star kid... I guess it depends on how much you believe the coaches. You don't sign a NLI, so you are not guaranteed anything... it's actually one of the things I'd like to see changed in the NLI program. Allow for a Greyshirt offer that binds the school...

Good point, I didn't really look at it that way. While it WOULD be MORE egg on the school's face, they truly would NOT be BOUND to honor such a plan...

 

[bradenob]

I'm confident saying I've probably been around and through the recruiting process more than everyone on here combined. In the last 5 years I've had 40+ dudes sign letters of intent at some level or another, including over a dozen division 1 players. I was also a college athlete myself. I'm very familiar and comfortable with how the process works and deal with college coaches weekly. (Trust me I'm not bragging, it's somewhat pathetic I've actually been at this particular gig 5+ years lol)

Its the same exact **** almost every other year and you hard heads refuse to admit that Bama can do anything wrong. They did this kid dirty and have done it in the past... You can look at this kids quote's from start to finish and see that he was completely blindsided by the grey shirt sprung on him 5 days before signing day.

A "miscommunication" is a politicians way of saying the Alabama football staff conveniently left out the truth throughout the process... Or just didn't have a better option until now. It's not that hard to tell a kid he doesn't have a spot... Up until 5 days ago he thought he did. What's so hard about comprehending that?


I may go back and find all the quotes from these kids over the years so you all can see what is called a "trend".... We will be having the same talk next year about some kid who committed early on but gets pushed aside for a better option.

TS, I'm not going to argue with you - this does look bad, as much as I want to believe they didn't do the kid wrong. Did you hear the call from the kid's dad? If so, how do you interpre that and place it in context in this situation?

http://www.stationcaster.com/stations/wjox/media/mp3/David_Cole-1454340780.mp3

 

[Tidestalker]

Oneonta linebacker Riley Cole commits to Alabama, calls it 'dream come true'

"Coach (Nick) Saban said that they really liked the way that I performed at camp and they really loved my film and they offered me a scholarship," Cole said. "I took advantage of it and went ahead and committed."

Bulked up Alabama commit Riley Cole bonds with Jeremy Pruitt on official visit (after his visit a few weeks ago)

"They're really excited for me coming in," Cole said. "We'll see how everything goes when I get down there.

"I love the players. They're really welcoming. I really enjoyed it. I didn't feel left out at any part, which is pretty great.

One big highlight for Cole was the food, he said. But the most important thing on the visit may have been the start of a relationship with new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.

"It was great," Cole said. "I love Coach Pruitt already. I got a good vibe from him. I think we'll grow to become really close."

He'll start out as a middle linebacker for the Crimson Tide.

"I think I'll come in and play special teams," Cole said. "That's what they've been talking to me about, coming in and playing on kickoff and punt, stuff like that. From there, I'll work my way up."

http://bamahammer.com/2015/06/11/three-star-instate-lb-riley-cole-commits-to-alabama/

According to Andrew Bone with Rivals.com, Coach Nick Saban called and extended the offer to Cole today after an impressive performance at camp. He committed on the spot.

“It was a dream come true,” Cole said about the offer per Tidesports.com. “I was speechless. I told him I really appreciated it. I told him I wanted to commit. I am going to go back down tomorrow and hang out.”

Riley Cole wastes no time committing to Bama

Cole was instructed to call Nick Saban after impressing coaches in a camp performance earlier this week at Alabama. The call didn't take very long.

"He offered me and I was like well I just want to go ahead and commit," Cole said. "He said 'well that's great'. I'm actually going down tomorrow just to hang out with him."

Cole has had an interesting recruitment. Despite having a huge junior season and showing out consistently at every camp he's attended, the only major offer prior to Alabama came from Wake Forest on Wednesday. Alabama didn't let that cloud what was a fantastic camp performance.

"It's just a major relief," Cole said of the news. "I was just really ready to get this whole recruiting process over with and know where I want to go and when Alabama offered I knew I'm going there. They really liked me on film but I think how I performed at camp really sealed the deal."

Cole is being recruited as an inside linebacker for Alabama in its "will" or "mack" roles. As one of the most athletics linebackers in the country in pass coverage, Cole will be a factor as the Tide continues to combat wide open offenses at places like Texas A&M, Missouri and Ole Miss.

For Cole, he knew that if Alabama offered, a commitment would come shortly thereafter.

"It was about two weeks ago," he said of when he knew that Alabama was the place. "They just kept talking about how well I performed at the camp and Coach (Mel) Tucker told me just to be patient and then I knew they were going to offer me.

"I probably wont sleep tonight. I'm just excited and ready to get back to work and get ready to go down there."

I don't know fellas... Does that sound like a guy who was told would potentially be left out of the class?

 

[Tidestalker]

TS, I'm not going to argue with you - this does look bad, as much as I want to believe they didn't do the kid wrong. Did you hear the call from the kid's dad? If so, how do you interpre that and place it in context in this situation?

http://www.stationcaster.com/stations/wjox/media/mp3/David_Cole-1454340780.mp3

I read what he said... I interpret that as a very class guy who's allowing his son to make his own decisions. Also a man who has to live in Alabama around everyone who believes Saban can do no wrong, and wants to live a drama free lifestyle.

Terry mentioned it earlier - Saban has his hand in every piece of everything alabama football. For his dad to say he didn't think Saban knew what was going on, probably speaks to his dad's unwillingness to put himself in a negative situation. Of course Saban knows what's going on... That's one thing we all can agree on.

 

[planomateo]

I'm confident saying I've probably been around and through the recruiting process more than everyone on here combined. In the last 5 years I've had 40+ dudes sign letters of intent at some level or another, including over a dozen division 1 players. I was also a college athlete myself. I'm very familiar and comfortable with how the process works and deal with college coaches weekly. (Trust me I'm not bragging, it's somewhat pathetic I've actually been at this particular gig 5+ years lol)

Its the same exact **** almost every other year and you hard heads refuse to admit that Bama can do anything wrong. They did this kid dirty and have done it in the past... You can look at this kids quote's from start to finish and see that he was completely blindsided by the grey shirt sprung on him 5 days before signing day.

A "miscommunication" is a politicians way of saying the Alabama football staff conveniently left out the truth throughout the process... Or just didn't have a better option until now. It's not that hard to tell a kid he doesn't have a spot... Up until 5 days ago he thought he did. What's so hard about comprehending that?

I may go back and find all the quotes from these kids over the years so you all can see what is called a "trend".... We will be having the same talk next year about some kid who committed early on but gets pushed aside for a better option.

Outta curiosity, how many of these 40+ dudes had scholarship offers from Alabama in football? Obviously you've had some negative experiences in the recruiting world and I doubt anyone on this board would argue that some shady/negative things happen in the recruiting process.

From my perspective, I don't know the whole story. I don't think we're hearing the whole story and we never will hear the whole story. Per the dads interview I linked earlier, his son tweeted something out shortly afterwards and probably shouldn't have. His father also seemed to indicate in the interview that the grayshirt was something that was new, but the way he answered was interesting to me. He somewhat sounded a bit wishy washy about the whole thing, he didn't at all sound definitive on the response as to when the grayshirt was mentioned, which seems like there is more to the story. Perhaps I'm listening with crimson colored earphones. Do I think we decided to screw this kid, hell no... This appears to have been a communication issue. But folks love to hate on Saban, for whatever reason.

At the end of the day, Alabama has probably had 3-4 guys complain about being asked to grayshirt since 2007.

 

[Tidestalker]

Outta curiosity, how many of these 40+ dudes had scholarship offers from Alabama in football? Obviously you've had some negative experiences in the recruiting world and I doubt anyone on this board would argue that some shady/negative things happen in the recruiting process.

From my perspective, I don't know the whole story. I don't think we're hearing the whole story and we never will hear the whole story. Per the dads interview I linked earlier, his son tweeted something out shortly afterwards and probably shouldn't have. His father also seemed to indicate in the interview that the grayshirt was something that was new, but the way he answered was interesting to me. He somewhat sounded a bit wishy washy about the whole thing, he didn't at all sound definitive on the response as to when the grayshirt was mentioned, which seems like there is more to the story. Perhaps I'm listening with crimson colored earphones. Do I think we decided to screw this kid, hell no... This appears to have been a communication issue. But folks love to hate on Saban, for whatever reason.

At the end of the day, Alabama has probably had 3-4 guys complain about being asked to grayshirt since 2007.

The bold & underlined sentence is where it stops and ends for me. If they didn't tell him early on, they mislead him (also known as lying in regular people vocabulary). That is completely black and white to me and frankly to anyone with any objectivity whatsoever. But I digress

I've had some ridiculously bad experiences in recruiting and some awesome ones... It all varies. None with Alabama.

Coaches tell these kids what they want to hear and when it gets down to crunch time, may have to come clean. That's what happened here, no doubt in my mind.

The negative stories regarding grey shirting at Alabama - Darius Philon, Justin Taylor, O.J. Smith, and now Riley Cole.

Kids who were cool with it - Bradley Bozeman, Christian Bell, William Vlachos, and maybe another?

The re ocurring theme with the negative stories is how late they were told... As was the case here. All I'm saying is either offer the grey shirt up front, don't take the commitment, or take the commitment and stick with it. I think Christian Bell was an up front grey shirt offer and that worked out perfectly... Nothing wrong with doing things that way.

 

[Rolltide24]

I don't know a lot about the recruiting process and llrd knows I don't coach HS sports... But I'd guess we probably offer scholarships to a lot more than 25 kids in a given year, right? I mean, we pull in 25 or so but also lkse out to others that had an offer from us. So my rhetorical question is, are we to honor all 40 plus scholarships if every kid takes us up on it? We can't. No school can. It's not just us.

 

[planomateo]

Timing certainly could have been better, I do think his dad handled this about as good as he could have.

Hope Riley figures out what's best for him, sounds like in that interview that he's deciding not to pursue Alabama at this point. I've said it since the news hit, if we mislead him then shame on us. I hope that wasn't the case.

 

[Tidestalker]

I don't know a lot about the recruiting process and llrd knows I don't coach HS sports... But I'd guess we probably offer scholarships to a lot more than 25 kids in a given year, right? I mean, we pull in 25 or so but also lkse out to others that had an offer from us. So my rhetorical question is, are we to honor all 40 plus scholarships if every kid takes us up on it? We can't. No school can. It's not just us.

If the kid commits, and the staff "accepts" it, that should be honored.

It happens all the time where a kid gets an offer and before he commits, someone else at his position took their offer before him. The staff generally will let a kid know that the offer is no longer on the table OR when the kid tries to commit, they tell him they cannot accept it.

Honesty is usually a pretty good policy lol

 

[UAgrad93]

@Tidestalker, I agree that if it was a commitable offer with no mention of a greyshirt and the kid accepts. Then Saban should honor it. I just feel that Saban is so meticulous that he would be on top of everything. I guess only way we hear from Saban is if he is asked Wednesday afternoon at his presser.