Do we need to increase our focus on out of state recruits?

[Hanmudog]

I am not saying to do this at the expense of in state recruiting but maybe we should tap some new areas for recruits. Would it be easier to pull a highly ranked recruit from say Arizona, North Carolina,or Illinois with the opportunity to play in the SEC than it is to try and get them here in the South where many of them already have SEC allegiances?

I have no idea about this recruiting stuff so forgive my ignorance in advance.

 

[8dog]

one thing that needs to be remembered is that the focus on recruiting this area doesn't mean you limit yourself to the top 10 players in MS.

 

[EAVdog]

At least a little.

 

[Columbus Dawg]

which is plenty. The one area we need to hit harder is Juco. We are only bringing in 2 MS Jucos and 3 total. A big reason for that, I hope, is that we have a lot of juniors on the roster. But most years I would like to see us sign about 5 MS Juco players. It's just too valuable of a system for us not to take advantage of it. Also, our hit/miss ratio with Jucos is much better than with high school players. So 7 out of state signees + 5 Juco's mean you are only bringing in 13 kids from MS.</p>

 

[BUSMAN.sixpack]

NO, good recruiters, that spend a year with a guy locked up DO NOT lose themthe last weekend of recruiting...Dan needs some help in this area, it also does not look like he is getting much guidance from Melvin and some of the guys who have been around.. This was not all about money, we totally misplayed the situiation and now are trying to get some LB from Franklin county to come in CJ place.. We did as poor a job off the field as TSUN did on the field this year..

 

[Columbus Dawg]

instead of using them on marginal players with no other offers.There's no need to give out a scholarship just because you can. I would rather them be used on a Juco December signee.

 

[AlCoDog]

well said

 

[sleepy dawg]

off the field means nothing.... Who was the recruiting SEC Champs in 2002? Who gives a @*!%?

 

[BUSMAN.sixpack]

I disagree, when the states best player whom you.ve had committed for a year switches this late, its a big blow....

We should have had this guy locked up....

This sort of reminds me of Emery Bellard days ...........

 

[Irondawg]

So I took a look at Arizona as an example.

Scout gives them 7 players that are 4-star in HS. Two are uncommitted.

Of the remaining 5 -- NONE are going to Arizona or Arizona State or even a Big 12 school. Oregon got two, and Auburn, Arkansas and UCLA each one. ARK also pulled a 3-star kid from Phoenix area.

So maybe spending some time in Arizona, Kansas, Colorado, etc may not be an awful idea - at least gauge some interest in playing the SEC. We're never going to probably get 4 or 5 star guys from Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida with any consistency but we may have a better shot at some of the longer distance guys.

 

[FISHDAWG]

in other areas of the country that would love an sec offer that are overlooked by our competition ... use every tool available to get the job done (legally)

 

[TXDawg.sixpack]

I think it's obvious to anyone withcommon sense that someone got paid. I'm not saying it can be proven, but it obviously happened.

 

[chew1095]

asdf

 

[alabamadog]

They all have bcs offers except for Trapp and Scott, and they have a few fbs offers. I get why Mullen wants to focus on in state recruits, but I would rather him take out of state players that some decent programs actually want instead of stealing somebody from Alcorn. I've been more impressed with our out of state than in state recruiting in this class.

 

[The Peeper]

a lot of people say you have to get the best in your state when there could be better elsewhere, especially, if there's a noticeable drop off after the #1 player or two.

 

[monkey11508.sixpack]

I remember the "we don't need any out of state players, only MS boys" and "Mullen is dominating in-state recruiting". I'd say Mullen did win in 2009, but I thought last year was a split talent-wise. State did sign more players from MS, but most of those seemed to be the less heralded recruits. I'm not saying they are bad, but they didn't get the hype.

Guys, the sky is not falling. This is how recruiting works. After Croom was fired, I thought, "OM just won the Cotton Bowl and dominated MS State 45-0. Every good player in the state will sign with OM." Did that happen? Hell no, State won.

The next year OM won another Cotton Bowl but lost to MSU. But we were supposed to have all of the momentum, especially since recruiting is supposed to lag a year behind on-field success. Did that happen? No, it was an even split of the top players.

Now it's 2011, OM had it's worst season in decades and MSU won the Egg Bowl easily and dominated in the Gator Bowl. Who would have thought this was the year for OM to dominate in-state?

So guys, recruiting is crazy. I will say that y'all should expect to have a much better in-state class next year after this past season's success and probably another successful season this year. Will y'all dominate? Maybe if OM sucks again, but I imagine things will be more balanced. Who knows after that.