Has anyone ever been to a JUCO game?
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A minority of states have serious JUCO football. Kentucky is not one of those. In states like California, Mississippi and Kansas, on the other hand, JUCO football is a big deal and highly competitive.
Stretch is right. The vast majority of JUCO player/teams are lower quality and won't move on. For instance we used to refer to Middle Tennessee as a D1 JUCO. Mainly because many of the players had fair offers but lacked grades/etc to get into the better schools. Since there aren't very good JUCO programs around they chose to go to MTSU. Of course now they have moved up to CUSA so they don't have to do it as much now.
But there are a number of JUCO leagues that are quite good.
But there are a number of JUCO leagues that are quite good.
Go to njcaa.org for a list of JUCOs. There are many, many JUCOs but few overall actually play football. As has been mentioned, Mississippi, Kansas, Texas, and California have active programs but one of the better JUCOs is Snow CC, Utah, of all places.
Certainly grades are a reason for guys to go the JUCO route but there's many other reasons. Injury, more development physically, more initial playing time, etc.
Certainly grades are a reason for guys to go the JUCO route but there's many other reasons. Injury, more development physically, more initial playing time, etc.
A
anon_q409idbs5m40a
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Yes, I've seen a number of JUCO games since I've been watching basketball for the past 50 years. My impression is that some of the players are good enough to play at the next level but have had something go wrong such as bad grades, getting into trouble, etc. Some are just a step slow of don't have the size to play at a four year school but are still good players. I do think that a number of JUCO players can come in and contribute right away but one usually doesn't see it at a place like UK. There are exceptions but not that often.
This is true. I saw one in MS some years back. Very lightly attended and had the look of a HS "all star" type game. By that I mean a slightly higher caliber of play than a decent HS team. Naturally there are occasional star talents who can move on to FBS but none in the game I saw.
To that point, on 2 separate occasions I have "tracked the progress" of the nations Top 100 JUCOs (per Rivals). I checked 2 deep rosters at their FBS school. In each sample the results were amazingly similar. Only about 40% of these "Top 100" guys ever cracked their new teams 2 deep and only half of those were actual starters.
The single biggest myth about JUCOs is the "instant help" angle. Sure, there is an occasional Cam Newton or Stevie Johnson but they are few and far between. Sometimes it happens but I am generally very cautious in my expectations of JUCOs. Position makes a difference as well. It seems like it is just as difficult for a JUCO OL to perform well in his first year as it is for a true or redshirt FR.
For the most part I think "independent evaluation" of JUCO talent is pretty misleading. Is he judged relative to HS level, college level talent or other JUCOs? Has the evaluator seen enough JUCOs to make such an evaluation? To my knowledge there are not "JUCO" camps. Therefore, IMO, the only real evaluation can be made by a coach who can come in, look at the guy and say "that guy is as good (or better) at that position than anyone on my team". And that means AL and UK may have widely varying "standards" in what looks good in a JUCO player.
As I understand it, approximately half of the JR Colleges are located in CA. The JR College program has been a long standing part of the state educational system. Because of such numbers I read they compete for their own "state" title in lieu of any "national" playoffs. It may be different now but that is what I recall from a few years back. I would think (but certainly don't know for sure) there may be a higher level of play out there than in most other states. But good players can be anywhere; you just got to find them.
Peace
Many, however that was back in the mid50's, so that wouldn not bey Germaine today!!!
It would help UK a lot if their were a JUCO in Kentucky. Just look at all the JUCOs on Ole miss and Miss. state team.
Snow is pretty noted, also appropriately named, in Northern Utah. I think one of its claims to fame is it is in a very small town and far from the big city, harder to get in trouble-----although as jurich's project Willie proved, where there is a will there is a way, tiny Union college and equally tiny Barbourville Ky didn't keep him from getting in trouble.
Dixie JC in St George, Utah (southern Utah) also had a pretty good reputation for football and basketball, Tarkanian's son Danny went there. I officiated a few games there, biggest difference I noticed was the linemen were MUCH bigger than high school, they sure clogged up the field.
Obviously there are some real gems from time to time, Tarkanian got two very high draft picks in bb in #1 Michael Johnson and Shawn Marion, probably UK's best get was Bob Burrows long ago. The Stevie and Smith both turned out to be pretty talented in football.