What were our coaches thinking sending out 3rd grade recruiting letters

seshomoru

Junior
Apr 24, 2006
5,576
258
83
I coached a 2nd grader in Upward basketball...

that could have made a jr. high team. If a kid is good in third grade... then go after him.
 

BiscuitEater

Redshirt
Aug 29, 2009
4,178
0
36
Only embarrassing if it doesn’t work …

and I’m WAY more embarrassed by our idiotic ‘fans’ that keep bringing this up or go on MBs or FB to blast our very own players.</SPAN></SPAN>
 

engie

Freshman
May 29, 2011
10,756
92
48
Yep -- that 5* that visited last week because he loves Collins and how he's being recruited sure did hate those letters(2 of the 3 have been to him). Damn you Collins!!1!1 Bring back Jackie, Stans, and Polk!!1!1 They did things the right way!!1!1
 

Tailgaterebel

Heisman
Feb 4, 2008
62,258
13,270
13
Yep -- that 5* that visited last week because he loves Collins and how he's being recruited sure did hate those letters(2 of the 3 have been to him). Damn you Collins!!1!1 Bring back Jackie, Stans, and Polk!!1!1 They did things the right
way!!1!1

You mean the 5 * that's going to Bama? Yeah I'm really impressed.
 

AFDawg

Senior
Apr 28, 2010
3,276
519
113
^^ Not a baller.^^

Also, lacks swag.

More seriously, what they're doing is trying to stand out in stacks of hundreds of recruiting letters and to create a little camaraderie with the recruits. A lot of these letters are inside jokes--e.g., Humphrey's latest. And, as Engie noted, we're making headway with him.

A good writeup from our very own Godfrey (OH NOs, he's BeAr!!!!11!) here: http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...football-recruiting-letters-mississippi-state
 

engie

Freshman
May 29, 2011
10,756
92
48
You mean the 5 * that's going to Bama? Yeah I'm really impressed.

Humphrey is impressed too. Hence why he keeps posting them on his twitter. Why is he wasting time visiting MSU on his own dime(unofficial visit) if he's a done deal?

Blue chip from Alabama visits MSU(multiple times) -- "he's going to bama and wasting our time while making us look foolish!!1!1 Our recruiting methods SUCK!!11!1".
MSU recruit visits Ole Miss -- "he's flipping!!1!1 Our staff can't recruit!!1!1 Quick, harass him on facebook and twitter!!1!".

I can't imagine why a 5* BALLER would EVER choose anyone other than MSU**
 
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dawgstudent

Heisman
Apr 15, 2003
39,426
18,846
113
Initially - I laughed at it. But the thought process of why our coaches did it really impressed me.
 

DawgatAuburn

All-Conference
Apr 25, 2006
11,004
1,850
113
This fixation on the power of social media in interesting to me. I get the premise, and generally agree with it in principal (no need to trash a recruit during the process regardless of who he signs with) but does it really matter? Outside of some shared beliefs, there's a lot we don't know about the Social Media Impact Theory (SMIT). [SUP](TM)[/SUP]

Is it only able to have a negative impact on players? Or could we all agree to post glowing comments about a recruit over time and expect to have him decide on us change his mind to us if not already committed?
What is the generally agreed upon tipping point for a recruit? Does it typically take several threads over time, several posts in one thread, or one strongly worded one?
Does the location (like on the team facebook page) have a stronger effect than a tweet, a message board post or a newspaper comment section?
Does it only effect 5* ballers, or do lesser players feel it as well?
What evidence do we have from our peer institutions to support or refute Social Media Impact Theory?

Yes, this is somewhat tongue in cheek, but not completely. Outside of the anecdotal evidence of "the Bears have this down to a science" is there any legitimate research into this? Probably not but some ambitious ed psych doctoral student could write one heckuva dissertation on this.
 

boatsandhoes

Junior
Sep 6, 2012
2,151
208
63
if you have a unique personal connection with a recruit (especially a 5*) like collins does with Humprey then do it. It's funny, and shows a great sense of humor. Whatever it takes to try to get him.
 

engie

Freshman
May 29, 2011
10,756
92
48
I'm with you D@A -- and I'm not saying it makes a tremendous difference one way or the other, but the point is that it COULD -- and as an individual fan, whose overall impact in infinitesimally small anyway, we SHOULD always try to make that tiny impact a positive.

Do we believe OM has a smaller online presence than us? Of course not. Yet they've got no legitimate public boards -- and the one they've got is heavily moderated. MSU has 2 with significant traffic that are more lightly moderated. Meanwhile, we know of at least 5 or 6 private Ole Miss sites that outside eyes can't view. What it adds up to is that they(and other fanbases, I'm sure) "bad mouth" the recruits behind what amounts to closed doors -- while we do it out in the open for everyone(including the recruit, his family, and/or his friends) to see -- and there are numerous examples involving this very site that proves "the recruits are looking". Now, what percentage look or actually care? Who knows? And I'd bet that more times than not, they wouldn't admit the truth to any "outsider" if they did.

It just comes back to this for me -- if you have a chance to make an impact no matter how small -- why not try to make it a positive one? It burns me up that people within our fanbase don't exercise good judgement and personal accountability on this. Not DS's fault or anyone else's -- it's a personal accountability thing to me. That said, I wish we could come up with a way to better control the message on our boards...

One thing alot of bigger public sites(like this one) do to handle this is separate recruiting into a different section -- setup threads for each individual recruit -- and have a much heavier moderator presence there with the only rule being "don't badmouth recruits"... and they still struggle with it during meltdown times, but at the end of the day, it's much easier to moderate and control the message that way... Volnation is a good example -- and it's probably a tremendous recruiting tool for them since players can look at threads about them with 10,000 replies, all of which are basically positive...
 

BiscuitEater

Redshirt
Aug 29, 2009
4,178
0
36
After review of your complete 12 post history ...

You mean the 5 * that's going to Bama? Yeah I'm really impressed.

I highly recommend a new hobby instead of posting on this Board.

I was especially impressed** with your thread ... "Let's say TSUN needs us to beat Bama to go to Atlanta. Would you rather lose to Bama and keep them out of Atlanta or beat Bama?"
 

DawgatAuburn

All-Conference
Apr 25, 2006
11,004
1,850
113
Personal accountability? On the internet? No wait, scratch that. In 2013?? This is an age when baseball players will cheat to excel (note that I did not say to win, which implies for the team, but to excel, as in personally), when amateurs will sign memorabilia for secret money, when politicians will text pictures of their junk to women, when corporate executives will take massive bonuses while laying off workers, when media members will report the news in such a way as to advance their own personal agendas, etc etc etc etc.....so be careful you don't put yourself in an early grave waiting for personal accountability on a social media outlet.
 

DAWG61

Redshirt
Feb 26, 2008
10,111
0
0
Disagree. The "can o swag" drawings are genius. Guarantee you not one other school is sending hand drawn funny pictures out like MSU is. We stand alone amongst the hundred other schools in a recruits mind.
 

engie

Freshman
May 29, 2011
10,756
92
48
Personal accountability? On the internet? No wait, scratch that. In 2013?? This is an age when baseball players will cheat to excel (note that I did not say to win, which implies for the team, but to excel, as in personally), when amateurs will sign memorabilia for secret money, when politicians will text pictures of their junk to women, when corporate executives will take massive bonuses while laying off workers, when media members will report the news in such a way as to advance their own personal agendas, etc etc etc etc.....so be careful you don't put yourself in an early grave waiting for personal accountability on a social media outlet.

Maybe it is dead -- but it shouldn't be. Everything said, this board handled the Chris Jones situation much better than it had in the past...so maybe as more people become aware of the possible implications of what the say here, it's self-correcting the issue to an extent...

Check how volnation does this. Drastically cuts down on the number of new threads created(they merge applicable new ones and discourage people from starting new ones that apply to older ones) making it pretty easy to police -- and they probably have 25x the traffic that we do. Hell, maybe add Azzuri and others that follow recruiting closely as recruiting forum only moderators to lessen the load on you guys having to overlook a new section...
http://www.volnation.com/forum/tennessee-vols-recruiting/
 

Lettucexxxx

All-Conference
Oct 16, 2012
4,562
1,047
113
 

Tailgaterebel

Heisman
Feb 4, 2008
62,258
13,270
13
I highly recommend a new hobby instead of posting on this Board.

I was especially impressed** with your thread ... "Let's say TSUN needs us to beat Bama to go to Atlanta. Would you rather lose to Bama and keep them out of Atlanta or beat Bama?"

That was a legitimate question. Some of our fans are infatuated with them.
 

Tractorman

Senior
Mar 15, 2009
1,148
979
113
^^ Agreed ^^

Wouldn't have to scroll past "best steak along the Hatchie River" or the likes to find a recruiting thread.