Sherrone Moore isn’t worried about Michigan’s spring game leading to more poaching from other teams. Nerbaska’s Matt Rhule thinks spring games showcase his players to other programs. Here’s how Moore and Rhule’s spring game thoughts are vastly different.
College football is to the point where it’s changing so swiftly that some coaches don’t know how to adapt properly, leading to overreactions at times. A prime example of this is how Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule fears his players would be more easily poached from other teams if the Cornhuskers have a spring game. Last month’s Rhule said it’s “highly doubtful” that Nebraska has a spring game.
“I hate to say it like this — it’s really because last year we were one of the more televised spring games, and I dealt with a lot of people offering our players a lot of opportunities after that,” Rhule said last month. “To go out and bring in a bunch of new players and showcase them for all the other schools to watch, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore had a much different take than Rhule. Moore doesn’t think having a spring game will have a major impact on other teams trying to lure Michigan players away from the program. Unlike Nebraska, Michigan will have a spring game this year on April 19, which will air on the Big Ten Network.
“I know the risk—people are going to poach your players… People are going to do that regardless,” Moore said . “People shop players. I don’t think the spring game is going to make a big difference in whether your guys get poached or not.”
Moore also noted that the spring game is a chance for depth players on Michigan’s roster who don’t normally get in games to play in front of a crowd at Michigan Stadium. The reasons to have a spring game seem to outweigh the negatives. As Moore said, people shop players. If a player is thinking about playing elsewhere, it’s going to happen regardless of whether there was a spring game or not. Matt Rhule may be too concerned with pointing the finger at other programs taking his players when he should really be asking himself why Nebraska players are transferring to begin with.
There’s a long gap between the end of the college football season and the beginning of the next season, and the spring game is a nice preview of what’s to come and gives fans and pundits something to talk about until training camp gets underway in August.
In the name of fun and for the love of football, let’s continue the tradition of holding glorified scrimmages in the spring.