NCAA Football

Departing OL Justin Boren's Father to Ohio State: 'Take My Son, Please'

Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:35AM By Adam Jacobi (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Michigan Football, Ohio State Football, Big 10, The Word

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The Justin Boren transfer saga continues to get weird. Did we say weird? We mean weirder.

Boren, as you'll probably recall, announced his decision to transfer from the Michigan football program on Tuesday. He tendered his letter of resignation or whatever to the media the next day, and it contained all sorts of ominous, nonspecific statements against the program's best interests, including the following excerpts:
I regret leaving behind my friends and teammates, but I need to stand up for what I know is right.
Michigan football was a family, built on mutual respect and support for each other from Coach Carr on down. We knew it took the entire family, a team effort, and we all worked together. I have great trouble accepting that those family values have eroded in just a few months.
I saw Rich Rodriguez throw Jimmy Hoffa into an active volcano in 1975.
If you want to get technical, the last excerpt may not actually exist in Boren's statement, but his decision to cite "family values" certainly leaves plenty of suspicion in a reader's mind. Sunday Morning Quarterback speculates further, and it reads like the "Woodland Critter Christmas" episode of South Park. SMQ also notes that this situation may be more closely related to the extreme duress of the no-huddle spread offense Rodriguez is implementing and the two offensive linemen who have already left, but let's not get bogged down on facts here folks.

Of course, the "fun" doesn't stop there.

In today's Columbus Dispatch, Boren's father Mike seems to be actively campaigning for Boren to end up at... oh dear, Ohio State?

"Ohio State would be a good fit for Justin, and that's why he's not at Michigan anymore, because Michigan is not the right fit for him. ... I have not talked to Ohio State and I'm not sure about their situation. ... But would he go to Ohio State? Yes."

And who, pray tell, is this Buckeye sympathizer?

Mike Boren, who played under Bo Schembechler in the early 1980s

Oh. Well then.

The most curious aspect of the decision to court Ohio State is probably the scholarship situation. While it stands to reason that a starting sophomore offensive lineman at Michigan could probably name his new school and receive a scholarship offer, that can't be the case at OSU; Big Ten rules prohibit awarding scholarships to athletes transferring inside the conference.

Consider that. A former Wolverine would rather pay for his son to play at Ohio State than at Michigan for free. Ouch. We're fairly certain that Michigan fans' reaction to that scenario starts with F and rhymes with "Tuck you, buddy."

Naturally, it's far too early to advise said Michigan fans to buy one-way tickets to Fourandeightsville for 2008, but what they've got in place right now scarcely bears any resemblance to a football team that's ready to compete at a high level. Should they be concerned? Probably. Are they always concerned anyway? Well, yes. Now, for once, it might be justified.

Tags: Bo+Schembechler, BoSchembechler, Columbus+Dispatch, ColumbusDispatch, Jimmy+Hoffa, JimmyHoffa, Justin+Boren, JustinBoren, Lloyd+Carr, LloydCarr, rich+rodriguez, RichRodriguez, SMQB, South+Park, SouthPark, spread+offense, SpreadOffense, Sunday+Morning+Quarterback, SundayMorningQuarterback

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