It has now become common knowledge that Michigan pulled its scholarship offer to former offensive line recruit Erik Swenson and the school has gotten its fair share of heat for it, but now we know a bit more as to what went down exactly.
According to Swenson’s high school coach, Mark Molinari, Michigan said time and time again that Swenson’s scholarship would not be pulled, but that Swenson should “take his five visits” before the offer was pulled earlier this month.
Speaking to MLive, Molinari offered further details.
“Coach Drevno called and said ‘we’re going to encourage Erik to take his five visits,’” Molinari said Friday evening. “I asked him specifically ‘Are you pulling his offer?’ The answer was ‘No, we just want to continue to feel each other out.’ I said ‘Coach, are you pulling his offer?’ and the answer was no.
“He was never told (in the fall) that you’re being re-evaluated. We wouldn’t have put ourselves in this position (if he was). Erik didn’t have any official visits to go on and he hadn’t gone any because he hadn’t planned on going anywhere but the University of Michigan.”
Molinari then stated that Michigan’s actions have put Swenson, a four-star prospect from the Chicago area, in a precarious position. He has offers from other schools, but most have their offensive line set already.
“I’m not saying Erik doesn’t have opportunities (now). There are opportunities. But when I called coaches at some of the best schools in the nation that were offering Erik, I said ‘coach, we can’t believe you’re calling, we’re all full and we don’t have anything.’ That’s where I’m extremely frustrated right now as the head football coach at our high school.”
No matter how you look at it, if this is how Michigan is going to do things under Jim Harbaugh, it doesn’t paint the program in a positive light at all.
Stay tuned to Campus Sports for further updates on Swenson’s story and recruitment!
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to 247 Sports
