Great news for your Friday morning. Pause. Not. Chris Bell and Phil Taylor have been suspended indefinitely.
Penn State spokesman Jeff Nelson could not confirm the report Thursday, saying he had not heard about any changes to the roster.
Taylor and Bell have not been kicked off the team, fightonstate.com reported, meaning both players could be reinstated at some point.
This appears to be more fallout from the October HUB fight in which witnesses stated they saw Phil Taylor throwing punches and Chris Bell jumping off of tables Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka style.
We’ll do anything for an excuse to pull this picture again. | |
One Man's Hero Is Another Man's Wizard Hat-Wearing Snake Oil Salesman
I mentioned in my post yesterday that I believed the Big Ten coaches had a gentlemen's agreement not to pursue each other's players after a kid gives a verbal commitment to a Big Ten school. Hooray to Joe Tiller for semi-confirming it!
He signed with new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez after a visit to Ann Arbor, Mich., last weekend.
"If we had an early signing date, you wouldn't have another outfit with a guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil get a guy at the last minute, but that's what happened," Tiller said.
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Tiller, heading into his final season at Purdue, said he's concerned about a loss of integrity among Big Ten coaches.
"There has been an unspoken rule that if a guy commits and you've been recruiting him hard, you always call them up and say, 'Are you sure about this?' If he says yes, you back off.
"We had a basketball issue where that wasn't true. We have a football issue where that isn't true, so maybe that's changing."
North Central's Eric Gordon committed to Illinois for basketball and maintained for months he would honor it before signing with Indiana.
Nittany Whiteout points out that Rich Rodriguez stole four recruits on signing day including our own Michael Shaw. Predictably, Michigan fans say that's just part of the game these days, but does that justify it? Now Penn State has been known to take a defection or two in their day, but to my knowledge Penn State has never heavily recruited a kid after he verballed to another Big Ten school. Maybe they call them up and ask them if they're sure about their decision, but they don't visit the kid and harass him over the phone every week. It's up to the recruit to contact them first. I'm probably sounding Holier Than Thou, but from what I've read and what I've heard I honestly believe that's how Penn State does business.
Michigan fans can laugh this off for now, but there is a trend beginning to show, and that is that Rich Rodriguez is a man who cannot be trusted. He left West Virginia after publicly stating last year it was his dream job. Now he is stealing recruits from other Big Ten schools throwing the honor of the conference in the trash can. You would think Michigan of all schools would be above going after other schools' players. Isn't the Michigan name as good as it used to be? So you lose a kid. Aren't there 20 other kids wanting his spot?
It's one thing when 18 year old kids go back on their word. It's utterly sad and pathetic when grown men do it. I'm sure Michigan will be winning a lot of football games in the near future. I just hope the Wolverine faithful think giving up your honor is a worthy trade to beat Ohio State.