I know its been said over and over again
- Thread starter joedawg
- Start date
I just can't imagine him not being a dynamic recruiter which makes the last 2 signing classes so puzzling. He's a great ambassador for MSU and Starkville.
that we actually aren't cheating and everyone else is. I think this new leaf turned over by the NCAA will bring the recruiting battle more in line.Columbus Dawg said:
He is recruiting players that (1) fit the the style of play he wants (2) are sometimes diamonds in the rough that can be coached up (3) over-looked by other schools (goes with #2), and (4) WANT to be at Mississippi State.
Look at what he said this week with Marcello; he said State would not get the upper level 5* athletes that go to AL, LSU, USC, Michigan, etc because they go by a lot of good schools to get to Starkville. Now that might can be argued with consistent winning and exposure but the point is he is looking for players that can be molded and developed. He is not going to spend a lot of time going after the high profile type folks. Not that he would not take them, but he knows what his competition is. Tommy Tuberville saved Ole Miss football by getting those type players. OM's football program should have augered into the ground but Tub saved it with players that nobody else went after hard. Whenever somebody judges a player we get committed by the number of stars some knothead "evaluator" gives or by the other offers they have, it's just stupid. Coaches evaluate players based on their experience as coaches. They don't always guess right but sometimes that is beyond their control. The players themselves screw that up (see Pat Patterson or some of our own FORMER players).
Bottom line is, the man will make some mistakes but he is light years ahead of where I thought he would be. He "GETS IT".
Look at what he said this week with Marcello; he said State would not get the upper level 5* athletes that go to AL, LSU, USC, Michigan, etc because they go by a lot of good schools to get to Starkville. Now that might can be argued with consistent winning and exposure but the point is he is looking for players that can be molded and developed. He is not going to spend a lot of time going after the high profile type folks. Not that he would not take them, but he knows what his competition is. Tommy Tuberville saved Ole Miss football by getting those type players. OM's football program should have augered into the ground but Tub saved it with players that nobody else went after hard. Whenever somebody judges a player we get committed by the number of stars some knothead "evaluator" gives or by the other offers they have, it's just stupid. Coaches evaluate players based on their experience as coaches. They don't always guess right but sometimes that is beyond their control. The players themselves screw that up (see Pat Patterson or some of our own FORMER players).
Bottom line is, the man will make some mistakes but he is light years ahead of where I thought he would be. He "GETS IT".
as other commitable offers and are we getting the guys in state that we made a priority. Last year, for the most part, we did not. The year before wasn't as bad thanks to Vick and stocking up on O-linemen but we lost every 50/50 battle down the stretch.
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We got out bid and hoodwinked on a couple of guys. That was really frustrating although time will tell (and it may be already, CJ) if that was a bad thing or a good thing. Another good season for us and an average one at UM will help. But, he got a couple of good ones in this class and I think the kid from Heidelberg High will be like Jonathan Banks...he may be a surprise from this class.
What Tuberville did you really can't do anymore. He had limited scholarships, but he'd sign a bunch of guys as walk-ons. It was before the internet rage over recruiting really took off, but I remember us bringing in some classes of 40 or more players signed each year in those early years, most of them nothing more than invited walk-ons that signed with us. It was a good strategy, because you're throwing a big net out there. You may only get 3-4 really good SEC caliber players out of those 20-25 invited walk-ons each year, but that's 3-4 more that we wouldn't have had otherwise given the scholarship limitations of our probation.
I believe they have an overall roster limit of 105 now and of course the scholarship limit is 85 now. I believe the scholarship limit was 95 back then, and I don't think there was a roster limit, or at least it was much higher.
That's similar to the way Nebraska built themselves into a power, with a great walk-on program. You can't really do it that way so much anymore, because you don't have that many walk-on spots to take chances. If you're looking for diamonds in the rough and you cast a wide enough net, you're going to find some, but the nets are smaller now than they used to be, which makes that more difficult, and you have to actually sign most of them to scholarships.
I believe they have an overall roster limit of 105 now and of course the scholarship limit is 85 now. I believe the scholarship limit was 95 back then, and I don't think there was a roster limit, or at least it was much higher.
That's similar to the way Nebraska built themselves into a power, with a great walk-on program. You can't really do it that way so much anymore, because you don't have that many walk-on spots to take chances. If you're looking for diamonds in the rough and you cast a wide enough net, you're going to find some, but the nets are smaller now than they used to be, which makes that more difficult, and you have to actually sign most of them to scholarships.