Will reported over the weekend (and had the jump on this story well before that) that Demetri Goodson was strongly considering leaving Gonzaga. Well, that strongly considering has turned to out the door as Meech becomes the latest defection from Spokane, Washington. Meech joins Mangisto Arop and Keegan Hyland as transfers from this past season and is the seventh transfer from Gonzaga in the past couple years.
Goodson's transfer also means that not one member of Gonzaga's 2008 recruiting class will finish their collegiate career as a Zag. Goodson's transfer is a bit different, however, as he will finish his collegiate career on the football field. He'll likely head back to the state of Texas but his destination, at this time, is not known.
I haven't quite had the gravity of the past two paragraphs set in. Not only is Gonzaga really feeling the effects of some obvious recruiting missteps, but one must wonder how the program progresses from here. This is by no means a death blow, but the writing is off the wall and starting to smack us in the face. All we can do now is hope, and pray, that the staff has picked up a thing or two from the last few years. The addition of Donny Daniels and the promise of the 2011 class are good steps in the right direction, but seven transfers over a few years is extreme.
I'll have more about this later, as I'm sure Max and Will will. For now, this is tough to swallow. Best of luck to Meech. He gave me my most favorite moment at a sporting event when he hit that runner against WKU. Tough to see him not finish at GU.