2015 Recruiting Thread

[drgilbert]

Bama also proved you can win with mediocre QB play.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

This is somewhat recruiting related but last nights game was further proof that recruiting matters. Bama has been top dog in recruiting for a while and Clemson has recently been doing much better. Strong is not going to win shit at Texas with a roster of 3 stars. Lets hope he finishes like he did last year. On a 2nd note after watching the game last night it is very clear we are not in the same league as those teams. Another words our coaching and talent level has a ways to go before we ever compete at that level. 

It's funny, I watched the same game and got the exact opposite feeling.

Bama is chalk full of 5-stars, but were badly outplayed on both sides of the line. Their Heisman TB was exposed as a one-trick pony by Clemson's DL. Henry simply cannot move laterally worth a flip. If it's not north and south with a huge line in front of him, he looks pretty average. I was left thinking this guy's maybe the 10th-11th best back in the land, if that. Certainly not Heisman. Give that Heisman to his OL. That's who won it. Even still, they were dominated last night by Clemson.

And if you give someone opportunity 40 times a game, eventually the odds give you what you want. Even that didn't happen last night.

The game turned on a kick-off return. A play in which none of the players are actually playing a position.

Think about that. The largest collection of 5-stars on the planet needed a gift to get by an average recruiting team.

If anything, this was an indictment of the star ranking system and how little it means when its translated to the field of play.

 

[MBHORNSFAN]

It's funny, I watched the same game and got the exact opposite feeling.

Bama is chalk full of 5-stars, but were badly outplayed on both sides of the line. Their Heisman TB was exposed as a one-trick pony by Clemson's DL. Henry simply cannot move laterally worth a flip. If it's not north and south with a huge line in front of him, he looks pretty average. I was left thinking this guy's maybe the 10th-11th best back in the land, if that. Certainly not Heisman. Give that Heisman to his OL. That's who won it. Even still, they were dominated last night by Clemson.

And if you give someone opportunity 40 times a game, eventually the odds give you what you want. Even that didn't happen last night.

The game turned on a kick-off return. A play in which none of the players are actually playing a position.

Think about that. The largest collection of 5-stars on the planet needed a gift to get by an average recruiting team.

If anything, this was an indictment of the star ranking system and how little it means when its translated to the field of play.

http://www.sbnation.com/a/college-football-preview-2015/blue-chip-ratioClemson is loaded with talent and according to this chart is on the upswing.

 

[Epictetus]

It's funny, I watched the same game and got the exact opposite feeling.

Bama is chalk full of 5-stars, but were badly outplayed on both sides of the line. Their Heisman TB was exposed as a one-trick pony by Clemson's DL. Henry simply cannot move laterally worth a flip. If it's not north and south with a huge line in front of him, he looks pretty average. I was left thinking this guy's maybe the 10th-11th best back in the land, if that. Certainly not Heisman. Give that Heisman to his OL. That's who won it. Even still, they were dominated last night by Clemson.

And if you give someone opportunity 40 times a game, eventually the odds give you what you want. Even that didn't happen last night.

The game turned on a kick-off return. A play in which none of the players are actually playing a position.

Think about that. The largest collection of 5-stars on the planet needed a gift to get by an average recruiting team.

If anything, this was an indictment of the star ranking system and how little it means when its translated to the field of play.

Agree. And it was an unusual game of how talent handled things. In the first half Clemson's only offense was Shawn Watson. One player. And mostly passing. The running was usually just enough for a first down. They played well enough against what I consider a very average team of the four title teams for Saban.

On the other side, two special teams plays accounted for 14 points. The return, and the on-side kick that led to the passing TD barely a minute later. But, aside from that, the Alabama QB had a modest passing day (* footnote below) good for any NFL quarterback, and Alabama's offense did not turn the ball over. Kiffen's offense played a clean game, and actually a poised game. Clemson always looked as energetic as the Energizer Bunny on the field, but a steady Alabama team never got rattled and made mistakes or took their foot off the peddle or played it conservatively. They had just enough talent -- and gas in the tank (in the second quarter they looked gassed and slow) -- to finish.

* Coker for the game: 16/25 for 335 yds, 2 TDs, no Int 13.4 yds per catch.

Kiffen's offense also went 9/18 on 3rd downs.

As I understand the offense had no penalties for the game.

This was a focused win of a stable team that did not get out of their game and lose their cool by Clemson's energy, speed and talent. And the reason I found myself in Alabama's camp early on is I want to see the program at Texas head in that direction, that kind of foundation and control in playing a game. Too many Baylor's hanging around thinking they can set the tone for a game and own you.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Well, lol, it was either poise or an inability to play Clemson's game. Bama fans will swear to the former. lol

I like the Clemson QB, but his passing has got to be the easiest to play against that I've seen. Some of his balls went to wide open receivers, but were so off target that they looked like he was throwing the ball away. It basically goes like this:

1. Flag routes - incomplete

2. Outs - incomplete

3. Skinny posts - complete

4. Posts - complete

Bama's QB looks like a statue. But all he's asked to do is drive the bus, which is probably all he can do. But it works when surrounded by talent.

If Bama ever recruits a good QB with an arm and who can move, they will be even more dangerous.

 

[Juan]

3 CBs today of the Shark to Texas

Steve Wiltfong (247 Director of Recruiting), Demetric Warren (VarsityPrep Dir. of Scouting & Recruiting) and Bud Elliott (SB Nation)

 

[Juan]

Cal took at 4-star CB commit away from Stanford (Nygel Edmonds)

Maybe good with regard to LJH as Cal is filling up

But bad with regard to Eboh and Stanford (he says he has not yet decided on the OV there)

From Brainiacs --

– Lil’Jordan Humphrey: Southlake Carroll (TX) ATH Lil’Jordan Humphrey is gearing up for his Texas official visit this weekend. It seems most would be focusing on Humphrey as he is uncommitted and a top target of Texas but the talk lately has centered around his teammate, Texas CB commit Obi Eboh who was recently offered by Stanford. Humphrey told me he last heard that Eboh would still be in Austin this weekend, but like the rest of us, he doesn’t know for sure (again, we are hearing from our Stanford sources that he will be in California).

Humphrey noted that he will 100% be in Austin this weekend to visit. He also said how it would be nice to play with his teammate Eboh in college but it doesn’t matter if he sticks with Texas or flips to Stanford his decision will be based off which school he feels is the best fit. I’ve felt good about where things stand with Texas and Humphrey for awhile now and I feel like his official visit will only strengthen that.

 

[Juan]

re: Shackelford

from Brainiacs --

– Zach Shackelford: As most know Belton (TX) Kansas State OL commit Zach Shackelford is officially visiting Texas this weekend. This is a weird recruitment because the timing of the decision is very tight. Shackelford has a great relationship with all the coaches at Kansas State but Texas has proximity on their side. Shackelford has told me that there is no family pressure to go to either school and that they just want the best fit for him. He made it pretty simple by telling me that his official visit to Texas next weekend is going to be the reason he either flips to Texas or sticks with Kansas State.

The reason I say the timing is so tight in this recruitment is that Shackelford will be enrolling at either Texas or Kansas State on Monday January 18th because classes start at both schools on the following day. Shackelford is torn between both schools and would probably much rather go home and think about his options after the Texas visit, but time just isn’t on his side. Shackelford’s mother and his older brother will join him on his visit and it will be Coach Matt Mattox’s first big recruiting job to reel in Shackelford. Landing Jean Delance was huge for Mattox (though we felt Delance was headed to Texas regardless). I’ve said it for awhile that if Shackelford makes it in for his visit and things go well, I think there is a good chance he’s in Austin to stay on the 18th

 

[DMAC]

Henry simply cannot move laterally worth a flip. If it's not north and south with a huge line in front of him, he looks pretty average. I was left thinking this guy's maybe the 10th-11th best back in the land, if that. Certainly not Heisman. Give that Heisman to his OL. That's who won it. 

^this

My sentiments exactly.  

 

[DBOOK23]

This years class is a depth class, I don't think that Charlie is gonna try and play 20 guys from this class like he did the last, however I do think if we can get Shack, Humphrey, BJ, DCG and Shark then we will have those guys contribute and help make us better. I understand the skepticism but if we can get a few impact players to go along with what we already have then we will be fine next season, it's all about consistency with this team , there were a few instances last season where we actually looked and played like THE University of Texas , not saying we will win the conference or anything next year but I definitely don't think we will lose by more than two possessions in any game next season. We will compete this year and then 2017 is when it's gonna be time to rock n roll.

Ps If we can get a solid WR coach to replace Norvell when he leaves then we should be able to have a pretty dynamic recieving core , maybe the second best in the conference to Baylors. I have no idea why keonning didn't work out here , I thought that was a really solid hire at the time. Call me crazy if you want but I think a potential home run hire for the WR coach position could be bringing in Derrick Dooley from Dallas. He was always a great recruiter and he's expressed interest to get back into the college game, I know he failed as a head coach but this guy is super qualified to be a position coach and he could be a pretty big help to our passing game , plus he can now sell the fact that he coached Dez Bryant to these kids lol.

If not Dooley, then what do you guys think of Spavital? Say what you want about his play calling but I really liked his offense, and how it allowed athletes to make plays in space and get one on one matchups. If we had A&M's offense then we'd have won the conference in 2014 no doubt.And the man might be a top five recruiter in the state, The only Offensive coach that has recruited better than Spavital might be Kendall Briles imo. I'm just throwing stuff out there, these two would help us a lot in recruiting.

I understand all of this may have been kinda bold but what do you guys think?

 

[Godz40acres]

It's funny, I watched the same game and got the exact opposite feeling.

Bama is chalk full of 5-stars, but were badly outplayed on both sides of the line. Their Heisman TB was exposed as a one-trick pony by Clemson's DL. Henry simply cannot move laterally worth a flip. If it's not north and south with a huge line in front of him, he looks pretty average. I was left thinking this guy's maybe the 10th-11th best back in the land, if that. Certainly not Heisman. Give that Heisman to his OL. That's who won it. Even still, they were dominated last night by Clemson.

And if you give someone opportunity 40 times a game, eventually the odds give you what you want. Even that didn't happen last night.

The game turned on a kick-off return. A play in which none of the players are actually playing a position.

Think about that. The largest collection of 5-stars on the planet needed a gift to get by an average recruiting team.

If anything, this was an indictment of the star ranking system and how little it means when its translated to the field of play.

Spot-on post, SHA, well stated!

I want as many 4-5* players as we can get, provided they are properly evaluated by a knowledgeable staff such as ours.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

It's all well and good to argue that this team got lucky or this team won even though they got outplayed. 

What can't be argued is the fact the team that pretty much recruits the best, year and year out, has won 4 of the past 7 national championships.

So hell yes, you better be getting as many 4 and 5 star players are you can or you are facing an uphill battle. And that's the only way that Texas is going to being in the national championship hunt more often than not.  

Doesn't appear to be rocket science to me. But then again, I am NOT a rocket scientist.

 

[Coal Harbour]

It's funny, I watched the same game and got the exact opposite feeling.

Bama is chalk full of 5-stars, but were badly outplayed on both sides of the line. Their Heisman TB was exposed as a one-trick pony by Clemson's DL. Henry simply cannot move laterally worth a flip. If it's not north and south with a huge line in front of him, he looks pretty average. I was left thinking this guy's maybe the 10th-11th best back in the land, if that. Certainly not Heisman. Give that Heisman to his OL. That's who won it. Even still, they were dominated last night by Clemson.

And if you give someone opportunity 40 times a game, eventually the odds give you what you want. Even that didn't happen last night.

The game turned on a kick-off return. A play in which none of the players are actually playing a position.

Think about that. The largest collection of 5-stars on the planet needed a gift to get by an average recruiting team.

If anything, this was an indictment of the star ranking system and how little it means when its translated to the field of play.

Give Alabama their due, and lets not diminish Clemson as they are chalked full of 4 star players and their QB was a 5 star recruit.  Henry is 245 lbs., he isn't going to move laterally like a Jamal Charles, gimme a break, not his fault he was named the Heisman winner and would have been considered the best RB in the Big XII, better than Perine or Linwood.

Game turned on the onside kick, kick-off return was a huge play, not sure I would classify either as a "gift".

Not sure last night is an indictment of the star ranking system as it took a defense chalked full of 4 and 5 star recruits trying to slow down the best player on the field, which once again, is a 5 star recruit at QB and will lead Clemson next year, which will be your preseason #1 and will more than likely win the Heisman if healthy.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Give Alabama their due, and lets not diminish Clemson as they are chalked full of 4 star players and their QB was a 5 star recruit.  Henry is 245 lbs., he isn't going to move laterally like a Jamal Charles, gimme a break, not his fault he was named the Heisman winner and would have been considered the best RB in the Big XII, better than Perine or Linwood.

Game turned on the onside kick, kick-off return was a huge play, not sure I would classify either as a "gift".

Not sure last night is an indictment of the star ranking system as it took a defense chalked full of 4 and 5 star recruits trying to slow down the best player on the field, which once again, is a 5 star recruit at QB and will lead Clemson next year, which will be your preseason #1 and will more than likely win the Heisman if healthy.

I didn't diminish Clemson. The rankings do.

Clemson has had one year inside the top 10 classes in the past 5 years. Otherwise, their best finish was 15th.

Bama is 1, 2 or 3 every single year.

You just made my case for me on the 5-star QB, who damaged Bama with his legs and not so much his arm. Go ahead and write it in stone, for now, but he can't throw a fade, a flag or a deep out. He's got about three patterns he can complete. Some of his passes to wide open WRs weren't even in the same zip code and looked like he was throwing it away.

By contrast, Bama's very average QB hurt Clemson through the air. It's almost the only way Bama could move the ball.

 

[TexCoyote]

I didn't diminish Clemson. The rankings do.

Clemson has had one year inside the top 10 classes in the past 5 years. Otherwise, their best finish was 15th.

Bama is 1, 2 or 3 every single year.

You just made my case for me on the 5-star QB, who damaged Bama with his legs and not so much his arm. Go ahead and write it in stone, for now, but he can't throw a fade, a flag or a deep out. He's got about three patterns he can complete. Some of his passes to wide open WRs weren't even in the same zip code and looked like he was throwing it away.

By contrast, Bama's very average QB hurt Clemson through the air. It's almost the only way Bama could move the ball.

You know I look at ALOT of recruiting as I am sure everybody does. I have been saying for a long time I think a huge portion of how good a team is on the field is how well they recruit. I think Saban is a really good coach, but he gets the best players every year. You can go down through the rivals 100 or 300 and Alabama's name is on a huge number of them with offers. I look around and Texas is in on a few, but why haven't they offered as many as Alabama. For instance, why aren't we even in on the top player Gary's list at all? Go down the list and see how many Alabama has contacted that we aren't even on. It is a lot. I wonder why is this? Is it because they have more staff members and can evaluate and contact these kids better? Are we not interested in these kids? We need to look at Alabama's, Clemson's, LSU, Ole Miss, Ohio St., Georgia, Florida, USC staffing and see if they have more and pay more than we do. That article the other day about all the staff members Alabama has opened my eyes. I am tired of hearing how much money we make if we don't spend any of it. Hell we made 1.8 mil on alcohol sales.....hell spend some it. Last point and I will shut up. I looked on 247 of the top recruiters. Texas had #99 Wickline and #100 Norvell. Baylor had 3 or 4, TCU, LSU.....hell I think Alabama's whole staff was on there. Bottom line if we are the Jones, we need to start acting like it. Spend some money, pay our coaches, hire support staff, upgrade facilities if needed, get in on more recruits earlier, get in on the top recruits, hire the best recruiters in the country. Can't do it all in one day, but we need to look at these top teams and see what we might do like them.

Sorry so long!!!

PS: they need 2 signing periods for football. The kids are playing around on social media try to get a rise out of us old guys too much. 2 signing periods would let coaches know what they had and what to focus on and would result in a lot of less playing on these kids part.

Oooooooo Ooooooooo- Coyote out

 

[Juan]

Holland:

-- "BTW, the only reason you haven't seen a CB for Christmas-Giles to Texas from me is because I actually made it a couple of months ago."

 

[DBOOK23]

The shark was just admitted into Stanford so we may have an issue there, also I really hope Breckyn Hager wins the starting LB job next season I really like the way he plays, wouldn't mind wheeler starting there either , I think we are good with LB's I say just devote all your energy into the DL and Offense lol

 

[drgilbert]

Somebody tell Stanford to get the hell outta Texas.

 

[Juan]

— Twitter API (@twitterapi) November 7, 2011

 

[Juan]

Another CB of DT Stephon Taylor to Texas (Holland)

The last to us (only 7 total)