Is signing day the most important?

[PBR549]

We get so caught up in the decisions of these SAs and their "hat dances." What is the percentage of importance of NSD compared to coaching them up, injuries, staying academically eligible or staying out of trouble etc.

The whole recruiting system seems to need to come back to reality IMO. What kind of changes can be made to reign in some of the ridiculousness like taking 18 wheelers to a kids house for the effect? or is that kind of stuff okay?

How far should Tech go? Is this an investment or a waste of money and time?

 

[OldJacketFan]

You have to get them signed before you can coach them up.

To me, it's the opening of the door to the other factors you mention. In terms of importance? Ya gotta have em before you can do anything with em!

As to the other, until and if the NCAA ever decides to truly rein things in factory programs will continues their absurdity. It is what it is.

 

[Techster]

There's a saying: Recruiting is the lifeblood of an athletic program.

I don't believe in gimmicks like parading an 18 wheeler cross country, but I do believe that GT should use every bullet in the chamber if it gives us a good shot at a recruit.

 

[RonJohn]

The factories have been doing crazy things for a long time. Watch the ESPN documentary about Marcus Dupree in the 80s. The biggest difference now is that there are "recruiting" sites that create a lot of hysteria about medium to low profile recruits. If you see a Herschel Walker or a Marcus Dupree play high school ball, you can predict that he will do well in college.(Although Dupree did well at Oklahoma, he had discipline problems that limited his contribution) In 2004, five WRs were "ranked" above Calvin Johnson. Those five were pretty good, but they didn't compare to Johnson. The "recruiting" sites rate players all the way down to just above average. When you see an above average player, you have no idea how well he will do against better competition. Once you get past the "best" five or ten "predicting" their potential is extremely unreliable. In Johnson's case, they clearly got the "best" wrong. In other cases of the "best" recruit, there are recruits who will never get on the field for academic or discipline issues.

Getting the right student athletes is important to a program. The ESPN/Rivals/Scout/etc hoopla is greatly exagerated. If you don't know the story about Kevin Hart, look it up. To me, that story exposes the drastic overreaction of the fans and "sports media".

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

There are few "sh nuff" game changers out there. The factories sign enough high end players, the odds of getting better players are greater.

 

[JorgeJonas]

Finding players who fit your system is the most important aspect of recruiting, I think. If you run a pro-set offense, it probably doesn't make sense to recruit a lot of guys who fit Oregon's offense. Similarly, a smart staff is capable of recognizing which positions are deeper in a given year and perhaps taking more players at that position knowing they might not get the same quality of player there the next year.

 

[takethepoints]

I think Calvin is a fine example of how actually looking at a player in person can make a difference. Gailey went out to take a look and timed him in the 40. Then he timed him again. After recovering his composure, Chan made him target no# 1. As he said on NSD after he got Calvin's LOI, "Coach Nix just became a much better football coach."

 

[Skeptic]

You have to get them signed before you can coach them up.

To me, it's the opening of the door to the other factors you mention. In terms of importance? Ya gotta have em before you can do anything with em!

As to the other, until and if the NCAA ever decides to truly rein things in factory programs will continues their absurdity. It is what it is.

This, yes. Showing up with multiple coaches, 18-wheelers, helicopters to games, a really creepy tree climbing and even creepier sleepover, billboards, hundreds of texts or emails and I suppose tweets, first class letters ... Can anybody really dispute blowing up the NCAA? Literally. A cruise missile is a good starting point. As I've said before, I don't have a dog in the Tech fight, only as a long-time football rooter. But as far as I can gather, or have read about anyway, Tech has not succumbed to that ugliness and crudeness. Hope they never will.

 

[00Burdell]

As he said on NSD after he got Calvin's LOI, "Coach Nix just became a much better football coach."

As it turned out, not exactly.

 

[Sideways]

Our recruiting is not very good and has not been for a long time. It is, what it is. You are not going to be able to compete with the factories with recruiting classes that are ranked in the middle of the pack.

 

[Skeptic]

Our recruiting is not very good and has not been for a long time. It is, what it is. You are not going to be able to compete with the factories with recruiting classes that are ranked in the middle of the pack.

So your vote then is for a recruiting factory?

 

[Milwaukee]

Our recruiting is not very good and has not been for a long time. It is, what it is. You are not going to be able to compete with the factories with recruiting classes that are ranked in the middle of the pack.

Stop calling it like it is. Be more positive on the message board please.

 

[reubenjet]

As it turned out, not exactly.

Yeah, he didn't get better until Reggie signed!!!

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

Our recruiting is not very good and has not been for a long time. It is, what it is. You are not going to be able to compete with the factories with recruiting classes that are ranked in the middle of the pack.

As long as GT continues to require SAs to take real classes and has limited majors, recruiting will continue to be an uphill battle. Most of the blue chip recruits want to major in football and get to the league as quick as possible. They don't give one iota about doing actual school work. 99.9% of them will mention academics and education during the recruiting process but I believe that's what they are fed to say.

 

[ATL1]

It's the most important day of the off season.

 

[Skeptic]

As long as GT continues to require SAs to take real classes and has limited majors, recruiting will continue to be an uphill battle. Most of the blue chip recruits want to major in football and get to the league as quick as possible. They don't give one iota about doing actual school work. 99.9% of them will mention academics and education during the recruiting process but I believe that's what they are fed to say.

I think that is kind of over the top. Lots of blue chipper want a good education. And will do the work, and do the work, and graduate from their respective schools. Tech's problem is simple enough, and part of its title. As has been discussed, bunches of good athletes, have zero interest in technical educations. It might feed the ego to say Tech gets only real students and everybody else goes to diploma mills; it just isn't so. The issue is and always will be curriculum.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

I think that is kind of over the top. Lots of blue chipper want a good education. And will do the work, and do the work, and graduate from their respective schools. Tech's problem is simple enough, and part of its title. As has been discussed, bunches of good athletes, have zero interest in technical educations. It might feed the ego to say Tech gets only real students and everybody else goes to diploma mills; it just isn't so. The issue is and always will be curriculum.

It's not feeding my ego since I couldn't have gotten in to Tech if I had wanted to nor do I think everybody else is diploma mills. I actually believe someone's success in life, both financially and professionally, have very little to do with what college they graduated from.

I just believe that the vast majority of blue chippers have the belief that they are going to play in the league and want the quickest and easiest path to get there.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Our recruiting is not very good and has not been for a long time. It is, what it is. You are not going to be able to compete with the factories with recruiting classes that are ranked in the middle of the pack.

How do you propose we recruit like a factory when we're clearly not one?

 

[jacketup]

Most of the blue chip recruits want to major in football and get to the league as quick as possible.

Most of the blue chip recruits want to play in an offense like NFL teams utilize. Lots of top college teams ran triple option in the '70's, and it worked. It still works in FCS. However, Power 5 teams don't run it now because you can't recruit for it. FCS teams and military academies won't get many blue chips, so they don't care. Apparently, the GT administration doesn't care either.

Calvin Johnson had the highest draft position of any GT player in history. Everyone knew he was "can't miss." We could have leveraged his success (and D. Thomas') to be be Wide Receiver U. The QBs and linemen would have followed. What do we do? Hire a coach than runs the ball 90% of the time. Major missed opportunity.

So we have Paul Johnson who was hired at double Gailey's salary. After 8 years he has a lower FBS win % than Gailey had. The dumb decisions since Homer retired are astounding to the point that you start to wonder if the administration is trying to downplay sports.

Finally, the academic excuses are just lame. We have more majors than we had in 1990, and more than we had when O'Leary had 3 top 25 finishes in a row. No one is talking about being a factory school. How about just being better than mediocre? We have an aggregate FBS losing record over the last 6 years, and the reason is subpar recruiting. We lose games in February.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Most of the blue chip recruits want to play in an offense like NFL teams utilize. Lots of top college teams ran triple option in the '70's, and it worked. It still works in FCS. However, Power 5 teams don't run it now because you can't recruit for it. FCS teams and military academies won't get many blue chips, so they don't care. Apparently, the GT administration doesn't care either.

Calvin Johnson had the highest draft position of any GT player in history. Everyone knew he was "can't miss." We could have leveraged his success (and D. Thomas') to be be Wide Receiver U. The QBs and linemen would have followed. What do we do? Hire a coach than runs the ball 90% of the time. Major missed opportunity.

So we have Paul Johnson who was hired at double Gailey's salary. After 8 years he has a lower FBS win % than Gailey had. The dumb decisions since Homer retired are astounding to the point that you start to wonder if the administration is trying to downplay sports.

Finally, the academic excuses are just lame. We have more majors than we had in 1990, and more than we had when O'Leary had 3 top 25 finishes in a row. No one is talking about being a factory school. How about just being better than mediocre? We have an aggregate FBS losing record over the last 6 years, and the reason is subpar recruiting. We lose games in February.

'14 says hello. I'll take highs and lows over no highs and no lows any day of the week. I'll take cheering for a school full of real SA's over a bunch of fake ones any day too.

Success and failure are separated by a razor fine line. Just look at the last two years. So why were we so good two seasons ago? You just said our recruiting has been in the **** can the last several years.