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[Lotus]

Jay'Mond Cleveland's brother, James, is one of the top WRs in the Houston area. As of today, he's listing (on rivals) two schools: Iowa and Texas.

Sounds to me like it's time for the Clevelands and Burleys to have a little family get-together, don't you think?

[BUS]

It is a little early to be posting this, don't you think.

[me@smu]

Completely agree Bus, SMU hasn't even offered yet...little hard for big brother to sell SMU if they haven't offered yet.

[Stallion]

it ain't too early AT ALL. Recruiting is a 12 month job. This ain't a joke. Ut already has 7 commitments and A&M 5 commitments and this is still eleven months before the 2006 signing date. Every year the number of spring and summer commitments jump. Other schools like Texas Tech, UH and Baylor also made big pushes for preseason commitments last year. Probably as many as 50-55% of the top recruits in Texas will a commitment before the start of the season. Of course, several will change their minds several times after their commitment but the early analysis of talent is becoming an essential ingredient in a successful recruiting season.

[me@smu]

Completely agree that early committments are necessary for the program, specially since you can get an idea what you need to push for and also allows recruits to assess the other talent coming.

However, we will never get Burley to committ without offering to him. I am sure that his brother is talking to him about us, but won't find mention of it until SMU at least offers.

[Stallion]

I'm sure we extended some offers at our junior day-Rivals only lists the offers if they interview the kids. Right now I'm sure they are just now canvassing who the most highly recruited players are. A lot depends on who shines in these camps-because they become the most obvious. Remember there are over 320 Division 1A scholarships given to Texas players every year. Rivals doesn't even attemp to rate the recruits until much later in the season. The kids getting offers right now are the creme of the crop. But it does point out the importance of the football camps, junior days, scouting connections and just plain old hard work on the part of the staff in scouting the best players even in their sophmore and junior seasons. As George Bush would say "It's ha-ard work-ya know" My point was more that recruiting is a year round job more than it was that SMU should be getting early commitments this early. But by the end of the summer camps SMU should be identifying and offering a good number of their top prospects.

[me@smu]

Completely agree that by end of the summer / camps we will have put alot of offers out there.

However, comparing our three (granted that Rivals knows of), UT has offerd 17 and A&M 29. Maybe it is just that their recruits are bigger names, but still that is a drastic difference.

[Fresh]

I absolutely agree with me@smu and Stallion -- we have to be making offers NOW. If the coaches are convinced that some kid is an absolute stud who will help the team win, offer him now. If he's a no-brainer, offer him now. If nothing else, getting a commitment from a marquee recruit is something that could be used to help sell another recruit. (And I do think we have more offers out there -- they just haven't been reported yet.)