Okay, my recruiting thoughts

N

ncjacket

Dodd-Like
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Jun 17, 2002
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First, we should recruit better than we do. It's encouraging that Gailey has recognized the need for a super salesman as RC and hired someone who seems to fit the bill. It's also frustrating that it's taken 5 years to figure it out. We have to re-learn how to sell the uniqueness of Tech as a positive to smart kids who can also play football. We also need to let the coaches have more leeway for asking for and getting exceptions where it makes sense. If the kids flunk out we can always fire the coach, because if we tie his hands and he can't win we'll fire him anyway.

Second, there isn't a kid in this class who seems to be a reach. They may not all be 3-4 stars but they all appear to be kids who can play and who can help us win. Anyone who says there is no talent in this group is stupid. Not saying it stacks up with the top classes, but these kids look like winners to me. IIRC every one is ranked in the top 100 in his state.

Those who are into the rankings and keep saying that class size doesn't matter haven't been paying attention. While I know you'll find fault with this, check out this little exercise. Assume we signed 22 this year instead of 14 (the 6 we lost and the 1 we didn't fill), and the kids were the same quality as those we signed. 7 of our 14 are 3 or 4 stars, so you would assume half the new 8 would be (I would assume all 3 stars). We earned 604 points from Scout for 14 kids, or approx 43 per player. Add 344 (8x43) and that gets our class to a total of 948 points (remember I said assume the same quality). That would make us #33 in the rankings, one spot behind Va Tech (and 2 ahead of USCe). Is that a top class? No. But if we're recruiting as well as Va Tech with the limitations we have I can live with that.

So get a grip guys. We aren't doing what we all believe we should. But the kids we have are players. We can be competitive in the ACC with classes like this...if only they were bigger. With a real RC next year, and a winning appeal of the NCAA restrictions (get at least 3 back) and we should see improvement.
 
very well said. grab your self a beer and drink to your self!!!!! ive always thought that, but didnt quite figure out the formulas.
 
Geoff Collins

will make a huge difference in recruiting. BIG TIME.

Our ST play and other recruiting "issues" is the reason DW is gone.

Giff Smith has been AWESOME as a recruiter since he's been here - great hire by Gailey.
 
It doesn't matter how many great athletes we get,they can't coach themselves.If we can't motivate these guys any better,or tell them how to line up,it doesn't matter if we have all 5 star recruits.
 
My concern is that the overall quality of our recruiting has deteriorated with our last two classes. It certainly seems that the heart our '05 team, like most teams out there, was lead by it's juniors and seniors. Once this next freshman and sophomore class moves on up and is then the heart of future teams, what should we expect in terms of on field performance? If we have a 3rd marginal class next year, that would put the overwhelming majority of our team at a severe disadvantage vs the top tier of our ACC competition, not to mention that team an hour to the east.
The longer term outlook is very concerning to me...Do you think my perspective has any merit?
 
Our program is inching closer to Duke's than it is towards Miami, VT, or FSU's. Virginia, Clemson, NCSt are passing us by.
 
Actually I think the last two classes are stronger than the two before that. Look player by player instead of just the top guys and I think you see more quality throughout the class. What we are missing in this class are the headliners, but I don't think there's a reach in this group. Even the guys who are 2 stars on the services are ranked in their states, and are guys that other major programs tried to pry away down the stretch.
 
Now that our recruiting class size is being governed for at least a while, Chan not bringing in full classes in the past is even a bigger worry. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/pat.gif
 
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If we can't motivate these guys any better

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So your telling me we can't motivate our 2-3 star players to play with programs gettin 4-5 star players like Auburn or Miami or UGA?
 
Why? I mean, I don't really understand leaving 'ships open either, but how does leaving one open 2 years ago effect us now? Sure, there might be a player here who could help, but OTOH it means we have more to give now.
 
I agree with most, if not all, of what you are saying, NC. However, the water I'm going to throw on your optimism is to say that kids ultimately come to play for a HC, not a recruiting coordinator. I don't see any major improvement as long as CG is head coach.
 
after the dust has settled

NCJ is right,they ain't great but ain't bad overall.The problem is there probably isn't but 1 guy who can be called a fairly sure-fire All-conf potential- the LB Tongo.
The rest are just wishing and hopings with potential but some big ? for some reason.
Let me assure you MANY other guys at other schools have such stats that you can't believe they won't start as Fr with NO big ? marks.Does not mean they will be successful but better potential there on paper.
examples- D Thomas-good size but wants to play WR not TE.Does he have the speed?
-J Evans-can he be more than a part/time back at 5-7,180?can he catch a pass?
-L Marius- 165 lb DBs are at a immediate disadvantage,maybe can cover but can he tackle?
-Ingram -QB-this guy is a real stretch,less than 1300 yds of offense in hi school as a star QB?pleez
-is LB Griffin 201 or 215lb,have seen both? BIG BIG difference

- my award for nicest surprise in class-Q Kelly- LB,RB,can be a star on ST possibly also,loves Tech
- award for non-factor-T Brey- slow FB with a double chin from a small private school in Va
 
Re: after the dust has settled

To be honest, I don't know how we ever win more than 4 games a year based on what others think of our recruits.

I still think Gailey is a very good talent evaluator at positions other than qb. Not that qb is an important position.
 
Re: after the dust has settled

alagold, I'd take a chance on a player from Tidewater VA. He may not develop, but they turn out players up there.
 
Re: after the dust has settled

NCJ...so what your saying is (even though Chan cant seem to fill full classes) - the ones that he would get if he could, would all be at least 3 star guys?! Speculating as to the rankings of our full classes is silly - especially saying they would be 3 or 4 star recruits. I'll give you credit though, your a half full guy!!
 
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However, the water I'm going to throw on your optimism is to say that kids ultimately come to play for a HC, not a recruiting coordinator. I don't see any major improvement as long as CG is head coach.

[/ QUOTE ]

non-gineer, I agree that the kids come to play for the program and head coach rather than the recruiting coordinator. However, if the recruiting coordinator isn't getting you a solid enough list of prospects to look at then you're not going to be able to fill up your team with solid players.

Having a new person as RC with Geoff Collins as assistant, IMHO, is going to do something I think we need desperately. I think we need to do a better job of identifying how MANY kids there are out there who can help us on the field, can get into and stay in GT, AND who want to study the things we offer as degree programs. My feeling is that we don't do a good enough job of identifying those kids and so our list of potential recruits is too small. I think with hard workers like Geoff Collins in the program our list will be MUCH better than it was in the past.

So even though our sieve through which kids have to go is still a very fine one we will be able to pour more into it and therefore, hopefully, get more out of it.
 
There is also a huge sales aspect to recruiting

we often talk about it like it is some kind of data mining task. Taking all the kids out there, looking at their academic background, interest in playing the ACC, technical school, etc... and then matching those interest up.

I think that's partly how it works but a bigger part of it is convincing kids (who might otherwise not think so)that they want to attend a school like GT and play for a coach like Gailey...and that is a pure old-fashioned sales job. I think our staff has been laking in this area. We needed someone hired primarily for this purpose (rather than thier ability to coach a position).
 
[ QUOTE ]
I think we need to do a better job of identifying how MANY kids there are out there who can help us on the field, can get into and stay in GT, AND who want to study the things we offer as degree programs. My feeling is that we don't do a good enough job of identifying those kids and so our list of potential recruits is too small.

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As they say, BINGO!

I don't know how it's been done exactly over the last few years, but as we know, it's a complete utter waste of time to spend even a minute on kids that don't fit the Ga. Tech part of the equation.

That is why we need an academic oriented recruiting staff that understands it's not just football at Tech. Sadly, it's still a reality that many if not most assistant coaches only think about the football skills.

I am not saying that recruiting at Tech is easy, but Damn!, we only need on average 20 new kids every year. If we have to look under 100 times the number of rocks that fsu does, so be it.
 
Re: after the dust has settled

So what you're saying jacketpower is you don't read too good? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/pat.gif What I said was half of our current recruiting class are 3 and 4 star guys. So if we recruited 8 more (up to 22) I would assume half (4) would be 3 star.

Why is speculating on what our class could be if we were able to sign a full class silly? It's no more silly than assuming that just because a kid is a 2 star he can't play major college football. The point of my little exercise was to play "what if". My point is our class isn't bad, it's small. We're not recruiting at the top level, but we aren't signing dogs either.
 
Re: after the dust has settled

No offense NC, but I believe it was you who lectured me on the fact that Ga. Tech engineering types don't like to play the "what if" game. You need to preface future thoughts like this
with some type of anti-anal warning.

Stick to the Facts Man! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugher.gif
 
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