It never hurts to ask.

No, he’s not breaking any rules, but, man, it’s something else watching James Franklin cannibalize the once proud Vanderbilt recruiting class.  The best part of it is the utter shamelessness with which he’s gone about his business.

The better fit for most of the former Commodores commitments apparently has been Franklin himself, with six jumping from Vanderbilt’s commitment list to that of Penn State. Tight end Chance Sorrell of Ohio and defensive end Lloyd Tubman of Kentucky told Rivals.com that they received calls from Franklin just hours after he took over the Nittany Lions.

Those calls contained scholarship offers.

“He didn’t push me or anything,” Tubman told Rivals.com. “I told him that I was with him 100 percent. He was a major reason I committed to Vanderbilt.”

Again, all’s fair and all that.  It’s the punchline that kills it for me.

Tubman added that after he committed to the Nittany Lions, Franklin asked him to shut down his recruitment.

27 Comments

Filed under James Franklin Is Ready To Rumble, Recruiting

27 responses to “It never hurts to ask.

  1. Lrgk9

    Best Be Thou Ware O’great and Illustrious Jambo Franklin. The Kharmaic Bitzhes names are Scylla and Charybdis

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  2. Russ

    While Franklin certainly is a hypocrite on this (and he’s certainly not the only one), if I was a Penn State fan, I’d be a little nervous with a bunch of Vandy recruits coming to town. I’d expect Penn State to recruit a higher level of athlete than what typically plays at Vandy.

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  3. mwo

    I just looked up douchebag asshat in Webster’s and James Franklins picture is next to it. What a two faced worthless shred of human debris.

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  4. Spence

    I used to have a soft spot in my heart for Vandy. Then they hired Franklin.

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  5. Scorpio Jones, III

    If a kid really did commit to Franklin and not to Vandy, which certainly could have been the case, I don’t see the douchery, but I guess its in the eye of the poster.

    So, does this mean if Pruitt’s and other hires on defense brings us some of say…South Carolina’s, or FSU’s commits…that Pruitt is a douche?

    Does anybody really think we stop nudging a kid we want because he has announced his commitment to say…Auburn?

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    • If a kid really did commit to Franklin and not to Vandy, which certainly could have been the case, I don’t see the douchery, but I guess its in the eye of the poster.

      I’m sure the players Franklin enrolled at Vanderbilt who can’t leave as easily as their coach did share your benign point of view.

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      • Puffdawg

        You guys are completely missing what makes Franklin a douche in all this: his grandstanding on the morality of te recruiting process just a year ago. Remember his comments about guys who switched their commitments away from Vandy to other schools had no class and no morals.

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      • Scorpio Jones, III

        Obviously not, Coach, but the post was not about them was it, or did I miss something.

        I don’t know that my view is benign, but it is realistic. 🙂

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        • If you’re saying the reality is it’s about the coach and not the school, that’s a reality the NCAA doesn’t recognize. And judging by the way the transfer rules are used, neither do the coaches. 😉

          As I said, all’s fair. But it doesn’t change that in a profession full of hypocrites, Franklin still manages to stand out.

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    • mwo

      His douchery is evident in the way he talked about recruits flipping after being committed to Vandy while he was coach there.UGA got one if I remember correctly. That is all I meant by douchery. Do as Franklin says not as Franklin does.

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      • aristoggle

        I thought I’d saved that sanctimonious quote. Alas, I can’t find it.

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        • Scorpio Jones, III

          Maybe it is not obvious, but I agree that Franklin is a douche of and by his own self, but I am not sure his doucheyness is demonstrated by going after the kids who committed to him when he was at Vandy….Franklin is a douche, good coach, but a douche.

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  6. PTC DAWG

    Frankly, I am glad he is at Penn St. Maybe Vandy will go back to being Vandy.

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  7. Macallanlover

    How can anyone be surprised at the depths people go during the recruiting process, and that applies to the coaches, fans, and athletes. Every year there are examples of dirty tricks, outright lies, lack of character, and pure hypocritical behavior. Franklin is just the latest, and him being so vocal while in the weakened, vulnerable position at Vandy made it destined he would slip on this banana peel when his position was reversed.

    I think Tubman did commit to the “Franklin making Vandy relevant” strategy, it was sexy and showing signs of gaining traction, but a player going “all in” based on a coach alone is very short-sighted. Not saying it doesn’t happen frequently because there are some great, charismatic snake oil salesmen coming into their living rooms but it does show the adults around them (coaches, parents, etc.) are not giving them the best advice.

    Of course, I have been seduced myself by some with appealing “powers” before, even when I was an adult…many times.

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  8. South FL Dawg

    The player chooses the school AND the coaches, and that’s fine. The thing that gets me about these coaches is how they push their current school – whichever it happens to be. Franklin was selling the education at Vanderbilt and life in the city of Nashville; but now that’s nothing anymore and he’s selling Penn State and little State College, PA. What changed his pitch besides the name on his paycheck? As of today Vandy is srill a much higher ranked academic institution than Penn State, not that the recruits would look it up. Caveat emptor, I guess.

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    • Scorpio Jones, III

      What all this really says to me and I would love to ask somebody at Vandy, would be that was not Franklin recruiting kids to go to Vandy and play football for the school there in Nashvegas (Jez kids, have you been to State College, give me a break.)

      What I would want to know is if Franklin was recruiting for his own team, for players that wanted to be on HIS team, how come Vandy had to pay for it?

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  9. uglydawg

    CMR has lost control of James Franlin’s douching.

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  10. Skeeter

    Anchor’s away on a summer’s eve!

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