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I am curious about the respective Rivals and State 100 rankings of SMU's various QBs in the Cavan/Bennett era since Flanigan through the newest recruits including JC transfers Eckerd and Romo (Ca.). Who was rated highest? Who was the most disappointing? Are these ratings worth heeding?

Luker actually had a good ranking coming out of Stephenville. Chris Phillips was highly recruited by Arkansas and others. But its hard to see what these guys can do if the Oline doesnt protect them.

Luker was not rated high at all-he was a marginal Division 1A prospect who happened to make a few Top 100 Lists prepared by newspapers. SMU was probably his only Division 1A offer-same with Chris whateverhis name is who transferred into oblivion and the European Football League. Nobody knew a thing about Flannigan because he ran the wishbone in a running offense in HS. Phillips and Meeks were 3 star recruits both coming from small schools. Eckert was ignored out of HS and signed with one of the Louisiana directional schools out of high school -maybe Monroe. Neither Eckert or Romo were highly recruited out of JC. In short SMU has recruited less highly recruited QBs than any school in Texas-probably even including Rice and it sure damn shows.

I'm no Josh McCown fan, never was, but he sure did do something once he got behind a different line. He was running for his life and throwing on the run for interceptions all the time when he was here. You don't start in the NFL for nothing.

and it all adds up to our need to develop a running game. With a maturing OL and a stable of young RBs (Dorsey, Massey & Martin), we've just got to hope this team can find a way to rush for over 150 yds/game. That would give the QBs a better chance to get some throws needing only short gainers for 1st downs. I also like the idea of getting the ball to Henderson or Turner with some open field in front of them. I hope neither has lost the speed they were recruited for.

to be complete I guess the only other team to offer McCown was Baylor and that may have been pulled. The word about McCown was that many teams didn't know he was a Senior as he was only 17 at the time. He did have all the tangible skills to be a great QB so I never understood why he wasn't recruited harder-I do believe there was an extremely high number of Division 1A QB prospects in Texas that year. My problem has never been about his talent but rather the huge number of crippling turnovers he made including 8 in two games which lead to him being replaced by Page for 2 games-the first of SMU won to break a 7 game losing streak. Cavan then returned him to the starting lineup and but he still quit on his teammates to become the Greatest Player in Sam Houston St. History. The criticism of Cavan in benching MCCown was totally unjustified and stemmed more from the dislike of Cavan rather than acknowledgement that McCown was simply careless with the ball-always has been always will be.

Your QB recuits are very good talents for a school like SMU. It's not like you are facing Michigan every week. the problem has been Bennett's unwiilingness to stick with one, and no protection from the line.

Of course, Page threw three interceptions in that Rice game in 2000. I really regret driving down to Houston for that one. Which put McCown back in the lineup.

The point is that the QB position at SMU has a history of mismanagement preceding Bennett. McCown may stink as an NFL QB and I loathe it when anyone on this board treats him like one of our own, but clearly something was done wrong in his time here. The folks in the NFL don't often miss the boat so completely and draft a kid with no talent in the third round and give him 16 starts and $1.4M for 2005 as a RFA. Further, I will point out that he's throwing fewer interceptions as a pro and doing it in more games. If he was a no talent bum in college, presumably that would not be the case. Yes, he's matured and yes, he has more talent around him in the NFL, but coaching clearly had something to do with his performance during his time here. And since that was on Cavan's watch, it falls on his head.

Yea, coaching, confidence and the Oline. McCown probably faced more blitz pressure at SMU than he does in the NFL.

Stallion wrote:Luker was not rated high at all-he was a marginal Division 1A prospect who happened to make a few Top 100 Lists prepared by newspapers. SMU was probably his only Division 1A offer-same with Chris whateverhis name is who transferred into oblivion and the European Football League. Nobody knew a thing about Flannigan because he ran the wishbone in a running offense in HS. Phillips and Meeks were 3 star recruits both coming from small schools. Eckert was ignored out of HS and signed with one of the Louisiana directional schools out of high school -maybe Monroe. Neither Eckert or Romo were highly recruited out of JC. In short SMU has recruited less highly recruited QBs than any school in Texas-probably even including Rice and it sure damn shows.

Stallion, Again your arrogant ignorance shows. You know little about football and even less about who was recruited by what schools. How do you know what schools recruited these players? Were you high school pals with these guys? Did you do some sort of background investegation on these guys? Stallion, You are nothing more than a fart in a bottle. You should keep your soft, lilly white, cute hands busy shuffling legal papers around and polishing your loafers and leave football discussions to the men.>

Stallion wrote:Luker was not rated high at all-he was a marginal Division 1A prospect who happened to make a few Top 100 Lists prepared by newspapers. SMU was probably his only Division 1A offer-same with Chris whateverhis name is who transferred into oblivion and the European Football League. Nobody knew a thing about Flannigan because he ran the wishbone in a running offense in HS. Phillips and Meeks were 3 star recruits both coming from small schools. Eckert was ignored out of HS and signed with one of the Louisiana directional schools out of high school -maybe Monroe. Neither Eckert or Romo were highly recruited out of JC. In short SMU has recruited less highly recruited QBs than any school in Texas-probably even including Rice and it sure damn shows.

Objection!! Hearsay!!

Stallion wrote:to be complete I guess the only other team to offer McCown was Baylor and that may have been pulled. The word about McCown was that many teams didn't know he was a Senior as he was only 17 at the time. He did have all the tangible skills to be a great QB so I never understood why he wasn't recruited harder-I do believe there was an extremely high number of Division 1A QB prospects in Texas that year. My problem has never been about his talent but rather the huge number of crippling turnovers he made including 8 in two games which lead to him being replaced by Page for 2 games-the first of SMU won to break a 7 game losing streak. Cavan then returned him to the starting lineup and but he still quit on his teammates to become the Greatest Player in Sam Houston St. History. The criticism of Cavan in benching MCCown was totally unjustified and stemmed more from the dislike of Cavan rather than acknowledgement that McCown was simply careless with the ball-always has been always will be.

Objection your honor. Mostly hearsay, and representation's biased
opinion!!

Stallion,

Cavan benched Flanigan, Sanders and McCown during his tenure. Each of these guys should have been allowed to develop and finish their seasons and careers. Cavan trying to start Sanders over Flanigan in 1997 cost SMU a bowl birth, no doubt about it. More importantly, Cavan and his staff were horrible recruiters.

huntnfish wrote:Stallion,

Cavan benched Flanigan, Sanders and McCown during his tenure. Each of these guys should have been allowed to develop and finish their seasons and careers. Cavan trying to start Sanders over Flanigan in 1997 cost SMU a bowl birth, no doubt about it. More importantly, Cavan and his staff were horrible recruiters.

A great myth I used to believe myself. I'll save Stallion's time and tell you that losing to TCU likely did not cost SMU a bowl bid. If you read the DMN and FWST articles at the time like I did recently, it was very unlikely going into that game that SMU would have gone to a bowl game had SMU beaten TCU. Lost is the fact that Wyoming had a better record than SMU that year, was also in the WAC and did not go to a bowl game. Nevertheless, losing to your winless rival in the final game of the season is not an acceptable outcome.

If Ramon had been at the helm the entire season SMU would have won a couple more games, not just TCU. As far as beating TCU and not going to a bowl, this is untrue. SMU's first winnning season after the death penalty would have been a much bigger draw than Wyoming who does not travel well since no one lives in the state. The Independence Bowl (Shreveport) was at the TCU game along with another bowl (can't remember). Shreveport would have loved to fill the stands with Dallasites and money to spend at their casinos, it was a no brainer.