OT - James Franklin to destroy Vanderbilt Recruiting Class

[PonyTime]

Interesting read:

What was once a top 25 class is no more. Any of the Vandy commits from Texas?

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20140113/PROMO/301130020/Analyst-James-Franklin-trying-destroy-Vanderbilt-recruiting-class?nclick_check=1

On Saturday morning, Vanderbilt had 20 commitments and a 2014 football recruiting class that was ranked in the top 25 in the country.

By Sunday night, a day after coach James Franklin left for Penn State, the Commodores had what one recruiting site called three solid commitments.

It’s not uncommon for schools to lose recruits when a coach leaves, but what’s happening to Vanderbilt 23 days before signing day is not normal.

Two Vanderbilt commitments now say they are going to Penn State, and Franklin has offered scholarships to at least six others.

“I’ve never seen it in this volume, quite this fast, of someone trying to pillage their own commitment class for their new job,” said Jesse Johnson of Rivals recruiting site VandySports.com.

“Normally, you’re going to have staffs take some kids. But I don’t think I’ve seen many cases where it seems like the entire class is trying to be taken to the next job.”

“Basically, they’re left with three guys that I would consider really firm commitments,” said Chris Smith of Vanderbilt.247Sports.com. “A lot of them have mixed emotions. All the recruits, they all love Franklin, they all seemed to want to come to Vanderbilt because of Franklin.

“In the end, depending on how the new coaching staff is, they may be able to pull some of these guys back into the class. But it’s going to be open season for Vanderbilt recruiting the next three weeks.”

Vanderbilt athletics director David Williams stated via text message that interviews for the job had not yet begun as of Sunday night. Williams said Saturday that he would move quickly, but not so quickly that he made a mistake.

Vanderbilt offensive line coach Herb Hand is expected to interview for the head coaching job, according to a source.

The recruiting dead period ends on Wednesday, meaning face-to-face contact between coaches and prospects is about to resume. The first big dates for official visits leading up to signing day on Feb. 5 are this weekend.

“They’re probably not going to be able to salvage this weekend regarding official visits,” Johnson said. “But if they got a new coach in place by the end of this weekend, you could salvage the 24th (Jan. 24-26) because that is the big weekend where all the official visits were slated to happen with the commitments.

“For me, the timetable would be Friday to next Monday to have a coach in place. Vanderbilt would like to have two weekends for visits. They’re not going to see a full staff hired, but if the new coach can bring in two to three guys and work with coaches still under contract, it might help them salvage the class a little bit. There’s no doubt it’s going to take hits.”

Louisville, by comparison, hasn’t seen its recruiting class impacted much by Charlie Strong going to Texas, Johnson said.

The Cardinals had two recruits decommit who are being recruited by Strong, but neither has committed to Texas. One other commitment backed out when Bobby Petrino was hired by Louisville and another no longer had an offer.

It was less than two years ago that Franklin stood before a signing-day crowd supporters at Vanderbilt’s Student Life Center and said players who decommitted from his program were not “men of honor” and “men of integrity.”

Of course, Franklin had signed a quarterback who had decommitted from North Carolina — current starter Patton Robinette.

Offensive tackle Chance Sorrell and defensive end Lloyd Tubman decommitted from Vanderbilt and then pledged to Penn State by late Saturday.

Defensive tackle Jashon Robertson of Montgomery Bell Academy, safety Emmanuel Smith of Oakland, cornerback Grant Haley and cornerback Amani Oruwariye acknowledged via Twitter they had just gotten offers from Penn State.

Robertson reopened his recruitment, tweeting that he is “open to any and everything.”

Four other Vanderbilt commitments, including quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels, the brother of outgoing Commodores quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels, also announced they had decommitted. Other players are still committed but setting up visits elsewhere.

Several Vanderbilt assistants and members of the strength and administrative staff are expected to follow Franklin, although no one had offered a letter of resignation or informed Vanderbilt of plans to leave as of Sunday afternoon, according to associate director of student athletics Kevin Colon.

Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop has been offered a position at Penn State, according to a source.

Coachingsearch.com reported linebackers coach Brent Pry and football chief of staff Jemal Griffin have joined Franklin’s staff at Penn State. CBSSports.com reported receivers coach and offensive recruiting coordinator Josh Gattis was offered a position at Penn State.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

A private school in the south is experiencing what it's like to not have a HC that is focused on recruiting. I wonder what that must feel like...

On the positive side, at least we're not at risk of anyone trying to raid our class.

[Rebel10]

At least he waited until he was hired by Penn State to start recruiting the Vandy players. It's fair game.

[PonyTime]

At least he waited until he was hired by Penn State to start recruiting the Vandy players. It's fair game.

Actually...not so sure that was the case.

[SMU2007]

I don't understand. He's the head coach but he's also involved in recruiting?

[East Coast Mustang]

I don't understand. He's the head coach but he's also involved in recruiting?

I'm confused as well

[gostangs]

wait - you mean he recruits too? does he get paid double?

[SMU2007]

I still don't get how he figures out who really wants to be at Vanderbilt and who is just going there because he convinced them to.

[leopold]

I spoke to my father today, a Vandy grad, and he mentioned something about this. I blew it off, not realizing it's this bad.

I'm caught. It was the coach who recruited them to Vandy, but it also seems a little shady.

What's really interesting to me is that Penn State is actually salivating over frickin' VANDERBILT'S recruits. Wow.

[SMU 86]

Franklin had some highly regarded recruits coming in. This isn't your grandpa's normal Vandy recruiting class.

[whitwiki]

I just quickly lost a lot of respect for him

[Junior]

what would have happened if franklin had told them via his agent that he was going and then didn't go?

[Lebanese4Life]

I spoke to my father today, a Vandy grad, and he mentioned something about this. I blew it off, not realizing it's this bad.

I'm caught. It was the coach who recruited them to Vandy, but it also seems a little shady.

What's really interesting to me is that Penn State is actually salivating over frickin' VANDERBILT'S recruits. Wow.

Vandy has had top recruiting classes ever since Franklin got there. The man can flat out recruit

[ghost]

That is just a product of a bad system. As usual the player is the one most often hurt. Best recommendation is to pick a school where you would want to attend if you weren't playing football as the first consideration. Picking because of the coach isn't a good idea sometimes because the perception is not the reality for many once you sign on the dotted line. Kinda like the rep JJ gets in the media that he is an offensive guru when in reality those days are long gone.