I see McCready is fitting right in over there in hype land ...

[DovaDawg]

<font color="#000">Scout (4/22)
Bumphis has thoroughly enjoyed the recruiting process and he is in no hurry to end all of the excitment. Chad is looking hard at Alabama, Florida, and Mississipppi State.

Rivals (4/18)
Before we made this visit, I would have said LSU, Mississippi State and Florida were a little ahead of everyone else, said Bumphis. But now Alabama is right there with them. I think Alabama has something special going on, and I think Coach (Sylvester) Croom is doing great things at Mississippi State as well. I don't have anything really planned next.

McCready (4/24)<font size="2">
</font>As for Bumphis, I think they're behind now, but I think in the end, it's going to be an Ole Miss-Alabama battle.

</font></p>

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

he is by far the best writer any of our sites have ever had, and he's prolific. Hell, people were pissed he got hired because of his supposed anti-OM bias. I don't know about this one, but he's written articles saying we will not get certain players, etc.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Agree. He's been critical enough of Ole Miss in the past that I don't think he's going to be pumping pure sunshine.

Probably the best part about it is that you don't have to worry about reading things like "mute point" or "world wind tour" or any of the other typical mistakes that we see on these recruiting sites, because McCready can actually write and has a good grasp of the English language.

 

[someonestolemyusernamedamnit]

the big difference is the State writers asked about State while Neal didn't and vice versa - either that or they just didn't print everything he said in their respective reports.

I think he's Saban's to lose anyway.

And, for the record, the addition of Neal on the OM Rivals site has increased the quality there by about a thousand percent. It's weird to have an actual journalist who knows how to write coherent sentences working for one of these sites. I also took a peek at the new Bulldawgjunction site. And, I have to say it looks impressive. I think all of us will have much better internet coverage than we've grown accustomed to having.

 

[Temple of the Dawg]

*

 

[Goat Holder]

The dude said something that didn't line up with the majority. Chances are he's wrong. Deal with it.

 

[Goat Holder]

nm

 

[someonestolemyusernamedamnit]

Surely you realize these recruits say different things to different writers. Don't you? Like I said, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the assessment put forth in Dova's post. I'm just pointing an obvious factor we all should be aware of after following this stuff for so long. Neal might be wrong as hell for all I know. Sounded to me like he was simply stating an opinion anyway. Either way, no big deal to me.

edited to add: I haven't read any of the articles from which Dova has drawn those quotes. So, it's kind of hard to put any of it into context.

 

[Temple of the Dawg]

just repeating what the 6pack recruiting beat writer reported.......don't get your panties in a wad.

 

[DovaDawg]

One article is from the Bama site and one is from the MSU site. Every interview I have read with BUmphis is consistent: LSU, MSU, Florida, Bama. I just thought it was funny that Bumphis has not mentioned UM as a leader, but Neal some how derived that it would be a Ole Miss-Bama battle.

Neal's writing is certainly much better than anything else that has been on there in a while, but I have noticed a lot of sunshine in his recruitig articles. I get a very genespage'ish feel when I read his write ups.

 

[someonestolemyusernamedamnit]

I am deliberately not paying a great deal of attention until after Christmas this time. And, now that my memory has been jogged, it is odd that Neal would make that statement. However, for now, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Neal is not known to be a sunshine pumping guy. In fact, he lost a job for his refusal to be a homer just a few short months ago. Once we get into the nitty gritty of recruiting several months from now, we'll have a better gauge on whether his recruiting coverage is based in reality or all fluff. This early on, I'll give him a pass as virtually anything can happen with any recruit between now and February.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I'll agree with that. Any conjecture you make on a recruit at this point is going to be far off. Even if they are telling you a list of 4 or 5 top schools, there is a good chance they'll sign with someone not even on that list when it gets down to it. For one thing, grades will come into play. For another, schools will start to narrow their lists as they sign other prospects and slots get filled. And of course recruits will take visits and get to know coaching staff's more personally. All those things have the potential to make any commitment, or even a leader's list in April a wild guess at best.

I agree with your line of thinking though. Call me in January when the recruits start taking their visits. By then you should have a decent idea what guys are going to do. For right now, a lot of recruits' list of leaders will be based solely on things that will have little to no effect on where they end up.