Love this information. To the experts, do the coaches really pay attention to the stars or what they are really seeing in person?
Aloha,
I would enjoy a comparison with the Hog’s numbers.
UA…Campus of Champions
I can’t put it in a fancy graphic, but I have the numbers.
Hogs #25 (TCU is #32, remember)
2 5-stars, 23 4-stars, 52 3-stars. The 5-stars were both transfers: Haselwood and Drew Sanders.
To some extent, it’s a chicken and egg situation. If the services find out Georgia or Bama is recruiting a kid, they’ll re-evaluate him and maybe bump him up a star. But I don’t think the coaches look at 247’s list and say “we gotta go get that kid” with the possible exception of one that had slipped through the cracks.
To me it indicates great recruiting by Texas Christian.
To me it indicates they did an outstanding job of coaching up those kids.
Player development at TCU it seems.
Obviously player development or the recruiting services are wrong……
Aloha,
Concur. Thank-you Jeff for the UA numbers.
UA…Campus of Champions
Apologies if I’ve posted this here before.
TCU sits in the middle of recruiting nirvana. The DFW Metroplex has a gazillion players who will play college football. Nights before home games can have all allowed coaches on a sideline watching potential recruits on BOTH sidelines. Players can easily visit, even for an 11am game. Families do not have travel difficulties.
That levels the playing field a bit.
It doesn’t overcome the national programs that chase the most elite recruits in the databases.
But, perpetual contact makes it easier for coaches to monitor if a kid is still growing, has a special skill set that doesn’t “pop” on film, etc.
As noted above, if Bama or Georgia or Ohio State is recruiting a player the national gurus will pay attention. But, the Metroplex has so many players that not all get noticed. Consider the kid at a big program that doesn’t play much until his senior year. Lost in the database, lost in the national shuffle, unless they emerge in a flurry of activity (close to my location: Josh Jacobs exploded on the scene, first noticed when a coach was viewing film of an opponent, but the ball carrier at McLain HS kept making plays; not exactly the same thing, but at least an example you may have heard about).
UA fans are familiar with Daquinta Jones, and may remember he committed to Michigan as a 250-pound, 6-2 DT. When we got him to visit he measured 6-5 x 300. He was still developing when schools did their spring evals and during early summer camps/visits. We saw him that fall and continued chasing.
There are a lot of kids who mature a bit late, or play for such a competitive program they do not emerge until their senior season. With the emphasis on the early signing period, a LOT of kids are going to miss out on offers from major programs (who fill up in the early signing period). That gets enhanced, I predict, due to the portal. Smaller schools will let a player develop at major programs and transfer out for playing time vs. investing in recruiting them.
If UA sat in the middle of the Metroplex we would not be fretting our recruiting efforts quite so much. We are fortunate - a lot of UA presence on HS campuses throughout the region. We are a common destination for students (not athletes) who can’t get into UT, A&M, or even UNT. Thus, classmates walk the hallway with a Hog sweatshirt, and older siblings may even attend UA and give us an inside track. Worked for Bumper Pool; didn’t work for Solomon Thomas.
DFW metroplex population about 7.6 million or a little more than twice the entire State of Arkansas. You are so very right that they do have a recruiting advantage in that way.
Just like our basketball team, top recruits want to play with other top recruits. Saban has mined that for years. Kirby is doing it now. Best competition in often in practice at those places. Got to start landing some and I think others will notice and want to join them. This past year was encouraging in that regard, but losing games we should not have only makes that process harder.
Also portal is blessing when players like the talent at Bama or GA leave their programs as they are usually very good players seeking playing time to get film for next level. Nil and other things are just part of it. For those players not as elite, Nil and other things may be more important because the film will be what it is–that group includes many of the Ark. players who have entered the portal this year.
This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.