Thank you very much. People like you are giving me a better understanding of how to evaluate our recruiting. I have been a Tech fan a long time, but I didn't understand how to evaluate recruiting as well as many younger fans do, so these answers are very helpful to me.
A lot of people understand recruiting less than they think they do.
It is not about what the recruiting services say. It is not about what team has what ranking by the recruiting services.
It is about getting the players that make your team better. Part of that is getting the players you have evaluated and you want. So a lot of what we "know" is by reading the tea leaves. Are you on a kid for a long time and you lose him? That is bad. Are you on a kid for a long time and suddenly everyone is interested in him but you keep him anyway? That's good. What teams are you beating to get your signees? Are you getting commits because the player's other opportunities close on them? That's bad. Are you getting commits because the players cannot contain their excitement about GT anymore? That they and a few of their peers commit together? That's good. Do you hear about good players who want a commit here but can't get in because of ship limits and go to some mid-level P5 school far away, cuz they are good players but no one close can fit them in? That's good. And so on.
My read is we miss on a few of our targets and hit on a lot of targets, and the ratio means we are building the team we want to build. That is all we want. And, if Brent Key has known a kid for 4 or 5 years and has an opinion, I am going to put his opinion over that of an overworked recruiting regional dude who is trying to rank order hundreds of kids, none of which can go to the camps that these services rely on due to the Rona.
I really like what I see of Richey. Really, really like. He's got good height and is not overweight and we will be able to add good weight on his frame. Good weight is good. Bad weight is bad. For a lineman. He moves like a future high round draft choice. He shows some advanced technique from all his summer camps, far more advanced than he should be for coming out of a small country school. And ups to that small country school as they are state champs so they are doing some good things on their own there. And I watch his interview that is posted nearby and he checks that box. He will make our team better. Totally confident of that, barring injury. And on draft night, someone will say, "Another Brent Key disciple drafted high."
Yet this guy I am raving about will probably be one of our lowest ranked signees come signing day. I don't care. I trust the coaches. I trust the current process. I looked for myself and made my own confirmation. He's a player. Bank on it. Don't quote me what 247 or Rivals say. They know a lot but they are stretched thin and are not, you know, P5 coach-level evaluators.
