WSB Trashing TECH RECRUITING

[slugboy]

Who listens to WSB?

 

[TechTravis]

To the folks who are convinced we should be a recruiting powerhouse; go through and make me a list of players on the rosters for Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan St. who's major required them to pass calculus. I'm guessing that list is gonna be about as short as "girls Neil Patrick Harris enjoyed kissing." It's a different animal here, and I've had more than one SA tell me that.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

To the folks who are convinced we should be a recruiting powerhouse; go through and make me a list of players on the rosters for Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan St. who's major required them to pass calculus. I'm guessing that list is gonna be about as short as "girls Neil Patrick Harris enjoyed kissing." It's a different animal here, and I've had more than one SA tell me that.

Glad you didn't say Tenn. that QB is a freak of nature in more than 1 category.

 

[TechTravis]

Glad you didn't say Tenn. that QB is a freak of nature in more than 1 category.

Joshua Dobbs is a little bit of revisionist history. At the time he left high school, I don't think anyone thought he had the arm strength or ability to hit the corner on the triple option that he needs to be effective in this offense. It is a tremendous credit to him and to Tennessee's coaching staff that he has progressed as he has. Go back and watch his highlight film. Does he look any better on film than, say, Jordan Luellen, a kid who came here w a ton of promise as a passer but ultimately couldn't make the runs necessary to be here? Aside from that, I listed schools I want to be like. Tennessee is nowhere close to on that list...

 

[Skeptic]

Joshua Dobbs is a little bit of revisionist history. At the time he left high school, I don't think anyone thought he had the arm strength or ability to hit the corner on the triple option that he needs to be effective in this offense. It is a tremendous credit to him and to Tennessee's coaching staff that he has progressed as he has. Go back and watch his highlight film. Does he look any better on film than, say, Jordan Luellen, a kid who came here w a ton of promise as a passer but ultimately couldn't make the runs necessary to be here? Aside from that, I listed schools I want to be like. Tennessee is nowhere close to on that list...

I'm not being smarmy here, believe me. But I need this post explained a bit. I am adding two and two and coming up with three. Are you saying he didn't have the foot speed to get outside and therefore the TO was not feared and so the passing was shut down, or that his arm was not strong enough to have teams worrying about the TO?

 

[TechTravis]

I'm not being smarmy here, believe me. But I need this post explained a bit. I am adding two and two and coming up with three. Are you saying he didn't have the foot speed to get outside and therefore the TO was not feared and so the passing was shut down, or that his arm was not strong enough to have teams worrying about the TO?

I get it. I was kind of in a hurry when I posted this. I think there were several elements that people saw on his highlight film and seeing him play in person that scared teams off of Josh Dobbs. His hesitance to throw the deep ball being one of them. I also think he was thought of during this time as an "athletic passer" rather than a "running QB." That last statement is purely a conclusion drawn on my part based on what recruiting gurus were saying at the time. Prior to Tennessee, Dobbs was committed to air-raid-esque Arizona St. If I remember right, (and I could be completely mistaken. These stories start to run together on me) Tennessee offered him because they lost another QB during that recruiting cycle. I'm not sure anyone had the impression he was going to turn into what he's become, and the presence of Justin Thomas makes this whole discussion a little moot anyway. We don't get Justin Thomas if he doesn't play QB, and I'm not sure Dobbs would be effective anywhere else on the field.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

Joshua Dobbs is a little bit of revisionist history. At the time he left high school, I don't think anyone thought he had the arm strength or ability to hit the corner on the triple option that he needs to be effective in this offense. It is a tremendous credit to him and to Tennessee's coaching staff that he has progressed as he has. Go back and watch his highlight film. Does he look any better on film than, say, Jordan Luellen, a kid who came here w a ton of promise as a passer but ultimately couldn't make the runs necessary to be here? Aside from that, I listed schools I want to be like. Tennessee is nowhere close to on that list...

I was just saying he's top level QB and a very successful Aero enig major

 

[TechTravis]

Hey, I enjoy watching Josh Dobbs play. I like him, and wish him well. I'm just saying that if your argument regarding Tech recruiting and it's shortcomings is centered on him, you don't have much of an argument...

 

[chewybaka]

We could use traditional methods but that could take years and cost many lives. We've proved that doing things like everyone else doesn't produce consistent recruiting results any better and puts us at a schematic disadvantage. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Isnt this a paraphrase from Animal House? ; )

 

[takethepoints]

The only - and I do mean the only - way to gage how good a class is is to look at the revised ratings after 3 years.

Now, I will say this. I do expect Smart to present the Ugag athletic program with an existential choice directly: let me recruit like Bammer, UT, and LSU or accept that we won't be winning any national championships here anytime soon. They have flirted with this in the past, but nothing major came of it while Richt was there. I sense that the natives ar getting restless, however, and I think Smart will try to use that as leverage to change the way they manage players. I hope, for their sakes, that they turn him down. There's no reason to go down to Saban's level.

I wouldn't be surprised, however, if they did.

 

[PBR549]

Isnt this a paraphrase from Animal House? ; )

Got me.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

I think every person on here is in agreement that we all feel we could be landing 1-5 more bigger named players a year.

For those just moaning that we are really screwing the pooch go read what Jordan Woods said about our recruiting. That shows you the strategy right there that our coaches use. Give some specifics. What are they missing? What needs to be addressed?

We found Luca Johnson (the most exciting player to me of this class) by looking on a national scale. That makes it obvious that we do that so that's not a huge point to me.

As I tell all my students. "If you make a claim you better be able to back it with some evidence. I'll believe an alien abducted you if you give me good enough evidence."

To me the evidence shows our coaches are doing every suggestion I've read here. So does it comes down to "they just need to do it better!" Or is there something else that's obvious to you they need to do?

Still no answers

 

[Milwaukee]

Still no answers

I think you answered your own question. "They just need to recruit better." They're already recruiting as well as they can, you're not uncovering any mystery there.

 

[Skeptic]

Still no answers

Well, it might be we disagree. And it might be your blanket assertion of the excessive: "every person on here" -- kind of cheeky, you know, as there is no way you can assume that -- and it might be your numbers: "1 to 5". Lots of wiggle room built in to an unprovable argument, and just as it can't be proved it can't be disproved either. It is one of those "Everybody I know says" or "All my friends say" things. (Those are standard fare in letters to the editor these days.) So the answer seems to be that if they could they would and if they don't they couldn't, or something. An interesting but circular argument. Please, dear lord, start spring practice early this year.

 

[Skeptic]

The only - and I do mean the only - way to gage how good a class is is to look at the revised ratings after 3 years.

Now, I will say this. I do expect Smart to present the Ugag athletic program with an existential choice directly: let me recruit like Bammer, UT, and LSU or accept that we won't be winning any national championships here anytime soon. They have flirted with this in the past, but nothing major came of it while Richt was there. I sense that the natives ar getting restless, however, and I think Smart will try to use that as leverage to change the way they manage players. I hope, for their sakes, that they turn him down. There's no reason to go down to Saban's level.

I wouldn't be surprised, however, if they did.

I ask as a matter of curiosity and frankly recruiting ignorance: what is Saban's level exactly? What is he doing that this board's hated and despised and ridiculed rival isn't doing already? Seems to me to be a terrific ball coach for a program bankrolled to provide the team every advantage, including tons of money for recruiting. It seems to work for him. So is he getting away with cheating, and if so, how? Seriously, because I always hear and read it but nobody delineates the claims. (If I am not mistaken he has never been nailed for violations at three major universities.)

 

[JacketFromUGA]

Well, it might be we disagree. And it might be your blanket assertion of the excessive: "every person on here" -- kind of cheeky, you know, as there is no way you can assume that -- and it might be your numbers: "1 to 5". Lots of wiggle room built in to an unprovable argument, and just as it can't be proved it can't be disproved either. It is one of those "Everybody I know says" or "All my friends say" things. (Those are standard fare in letters to the editor these days.) So the answer seems to be that if they could they would and if they don't they couldn't, or something. An interesting but circular argument. Please, dear lord, start spring practice early this year.

I'm not trying to prove any point I'm genuinely asking. For the people complaining what needs to be done differently?

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Northwestern actually had a good season.
Purdue, well it's Purdue.

Ummm neither one sits in the middle of a Top 3 football Metropolis in a Top 4 state for recruiting.

Ummmm neither one sits in the middle of a circle of top football programs in football and in the middle of one of the academic poorest regions of the nation. Those two factors more than cancel out the advantage you pointed out. It's like fishing. In our pond there's a lot of other fishermen with shinier bait and way too few fish that can stomach ours.

 

[awbuzz]

... It's like fishing. In our pond there's a lot of other fishermen with shinier bait and way too few fish that can stomach ours.

Like the analogy.

 

[TechTravis]

FWIW, i heard a CPJ soundbyte tonight where he talked about how he saw a stat that only 44% of players ranked 4 or 5 stars in high school ever start a game in college....

 

[awbuzz]

FWIW, i heard a CPJ soundbyte tonight where he talked about how he saw a stat that only 44% of players ranked 4 or 5 stars in high school ever start a game in college....

TDF!! Hmmm wonder where they picked up that tidbit[emoji3]