Mike Kenn and the art of the recruiting flip

“I made all-state and probably got 60 letters from schools,’’ said Kenn, who played his high school football in Evanston, Ill. “But when they came to visit me, they said, ‘You are not who we are looking at on the film.’ I didn’t pass the physical inspection. I was too skinny. Nobody offered me a visit.’’

Until Cincinnati, Kenn said, “It looked like I wasn’t going to play football, but our school had a relationship with the University of Cincinnati. They offered me on the spot and I hated the place. My parents couldn’t afford to send me to college, so I told my father I was probably going to have to go to junior college.’’

But then a funny thing happened. Arizona called.

“So here I am visiting Arizona with a winter coat on my arm,’’ he said. “I loved it and they offered me (later) and I accepted. (Arizona) made me promise I would not change my mind. They said they were putting one of their coaches on a plane and he would be there in seven hours to sign me.’’

But then Michigan coach Bo Schembechler called.

“In the time that it took the coach from Arizona to get on the plane, Bo called,” Kenn said. “I think they had another kid turn them down and I had always wanted to go to Michigan and I had let them know that. But now I was in crisis mode because I had just given my word that I was going to Arizona. If it was today with everything going on in recruiting, it would have been a different story. But it was then.’’

So what did Kenn do?

“I told Bo quickly I accept and the Arizona coach calls me from the airport and asks me how to get to my house,” Kenn said. “I said, ‘Coach while you were in the air, I got a call from Michigan and accepted.’ He reamed me out. Then the head coach called me, who had been the former defensive coordinator at Michigan, and he went off on me, telling me I was a piece of dung and he hung up on me.’’

It all worked out. After a bumpy freshman season at Michigan, Kenn went on to become an All-Big Ten offensive lineman and great NFL player.

To this day, however: “I still remember the four-word expletives the Arizona coaches called me.’’