Commitment List -

[cheesepony]

Read the SA paper this morning and they did "Texas School Commitment" lists.... SMU was obviously absent - even BAYLOR HIGH SCHOOL had about 8-9 commits already. I'm afraid the mid-season anarchy of last season and the 0-12 record is making life EXTREMELY difficult for the coaching staff - they must show some early season promise or face WORST RECRUITING CLASS since arrival... It's going to be tough due to Copeland's "fabulous" scheduling prowess!!

[Lefty]

I disagree. Or at least I disagree so far. It's way too early. True - more kids are committing early. But they also can change their minds (see Chris Hall, among others.) Our coaching staff can recruit, and they can recruit well. We may not get commitments during the summer, which doesn't exactly lend itself to bragging on this board, but I'm far more interested in who we get in February, not July and August. A couple of wins and evidence of an upward turn will go a long way in the recruiting wars. If the talent that's arrived in the last couple of classes is as good as advertised, that improvement will start to show this year.

[Pony Fan]

Lefty, I hope you are right but I am starting to have my doubts.

[dandyfan]

the best recruiters ...are the players themselves. i wonder just how happy they are right now? how encouraging are things on the hilltop?

[DallasDiehard]

The ones I've talked to, you'd think they'd gone 12-0, not the other way around. They sound absolutely hyped up for the season, and to hear them talk about the coaches, you'd think they'd just won a BCS bid. I know it's easy to get encouraged/excited over the summer, but there's something about the way these guys talk. It's not a shovel load when Coach Bennett talks about how the guys are still "buying in" and "trying hard." It's really true. I don't know if it's the coaches, or the fact that we have some guys with absolutely remarkable character/spirit or what, but if you went by the outlook of the players, we could be making bowl reservations now. I've got to believe it will carry us through this rough time. It's amazing to see.

[cheesepony]

DD:

That's great news!! Thanks for the insight...

[HFvictory]

I hope that is good. Tough start to the year and things can quickly change. The kids & fans need to: have realistic expectations, work hard and compete hard. One big break could turn this whole thing around.

As a TCU fan I remember how much that win over USC competely changed attitudes of both the fans and the players.

Recruiting is tough all around this year. It is getting more and more evident of the split between BCS schools and non-BCS. Indoor practice facilities are everywhere and even though the bigger schools say they are cutting back on private jets, etc. in reality they are not. Baylor is getting competitive, Tech & OSU are more of a presence, Missouri is getting kids that would never had thought would go there and of course OU, LSU & Texas are taking the very top kids.

As much as I like TCU's move to the MWC I still firmly feel that schools such as TCU & SMU need to stick together. However, in the long run it is getting more and more apparent that not only will that not happen, but it appears that the BCS schools are wanting to bury the small programs.

Good luck in 2004 (except one game of course).

[Stallion]

UPDATE: 47% of the Rivals Texas Top 100 have committed and at least 92 Texas High School recruits have committed as of August 4, 2004. Even more discouraging is that more than 1/3 or 31 of the commitments so far have come from players in our immediate base of the DFW Metroplex.

[HFvictory]

UPDATE: 47% of the Rivals Texas Top 100 have committed and at least 92 Texas High School recruits have committed as of August 4, 2004. Even more discouraging is that more than 1/3 or 31 of the commitments so far have come from players in our immediate base of the DFW Metroplex.

If SMU (or TCU) either thinks they are are going to get more than one or 2 kids from these lists or thinks these lists really matter than they are living in a fantasy world. These lists are comprised from the big school "want" lists. TCU has done an excellent job of finding kids not even listed by services such as Rivals and developing them into great players (or maximizing their potential). Robert Merrill was listed, but not as a Top 100 and was a freshman all-americam. Lonta Hobbs was not even listed by Rivals (until he commited)and was a freshman all-american.

Bennet has gotten some good talent the last few years. However, I don't think it will be enough to save his job. SMU needs to completely re-think what it is doing in football. I hope it makes the commitment to competing, but that means indoor practice facilities (SMU has nice facilities, but not nearly what Tech, Baylor, TCU, etc. has to offer).

Attendance is key to the best recruits. No one wants to go to a Div1 team that has fewer fans than their HS team had. Lake Highlands had better attendance at most games than SMU. Same with Highland Park.

You guys need to step it up and do it quickly or else get buried. The BCS schools are on a war path.

[Higher Authority]

If nothing else, I will agree that the coaches generally don't care who's on what list. Coaches make their own lists, and frankly just don't care what Rivals or Insiders or anyone else thinks. They see players and make their judgements based on performance, not off a list. Those lists are created to sell the most subscriptions to the most possible fans. They mean nada when it comes to real recruiting -- it's too inexact of a science.

[Stallion]

OK how's this SMU has reportedly offered about 20 known recruits on the Texas Top 100 and has zero commitments-it is incredible that you guys think SMU and TCU have these secret lists. SMU and TCU have to go deeper than most on their own lists I'll grant but that's only because they aren't getting the Top players the Big 12 teams. SMU would offer just about any player on the Texas Top 100 list unless he played a position that didn't fit their scheme or that couldn't be admitted to the university. BTW HF Victory-Lonta Hobbs, Robert Merrill and the great Horned Frog "discovery" Ladanian Tomlinson were ALL rated as Texas Top 100 Players at one time of the recruiting season or another, Hobbs and Tomlinson's stock fell and Merrill stock rose for various reasons but every one of those kids were well known by each coaching staff in this part of the Country. I laugh when I hear that LaDanian Tomlinson was some great discovery-he was rated as the No 18 player in the state of Texas by one service and stock fell because it didn't look like he was going to qualify. As for Merrill after his great senior season he also was a Texas Top 20 recruit and everbody wanted him. These aren't discoveries but solid recruiting victories by the Horned Frogs.

[Roach]

That's true. Of course we've offered a bunch of top-100 guys. If an Adrian Peterson went elsewhere and then said he never got an offer from SMU - whether he had some reason to consider the Ponies or not - how would that look to the alumni who donate to the program? You have to at least extend the offer, but I'm sure the coaches are pretty well aware what players they'd LIKE to have and what players they think they have a shot at getting. Some guys appear on both lists - those are the primary targets.

[JasonB]

The fact is that we need to win some games this year. We are going to have some trouble getting any committments unless we win a few games. While the cubbard was pretty bare, and I don't think the last two years were Bennett's fault, recruits don't care about that stuff. They want to win.

If SMU can pull something out of the first two games, recruiting will turn around. But if not, we probably won't start seeing recruits committ until we can get to conference and win some games.

[Buddha]

Absolutely - wins are absolutely necessary. But at the same time, it's also way to early to push the panic button. How many times have we seen the so-called top guys commit elsewhere, only to see big programs jump in to try to get the allegedly lesser talents who end up with SMU? Kyle Griffin got a full-court press last year from Notre Dame. A&M was all over Darrin Johnson a couple of years ago. Joey Sturdivant. Cory Muse. Vincent Chase. Richuel Massey. The list goes on.

As the coaching staff develops more and more relationships with local HS coaches, the number of players who attend SMU camps should continue to rise. And the coaches have shown that when they see a kid, they have a pretty accurate read on how that guy will project as a college player. Nobody is right 100 percent of the time, of course, but this staff seems to have an ability to identify early the talent in players that other schools sometimes see only after a senior year .... at which point we could have the upper hand.

Anyone know the number of guys who came to camps this year? I haven't heard.