Jonathan Jones - WR

[me@smu]

Jonathan is expressing high interest in SMU...3 star 5.5 rated.

Apparently hasn't received a scholie offer yet from us.

[HFvictory]

Classic example of why recruiting serices are just a bunch of BS. KU reporter at Rivals interviews Jones and he suddenly has a miraculous change in schools from Ark & TCU to KU, SMU, etc. even though all other interviews by Rivals show something else. KU writer even changes his favorites. Scout reporter does an interview on hs KU visit and you get a totally different report, no mention of SMU and quoted as saying he drops KU from his favorites and it is between Ark & TCU.

Who do you believe? Doesn't really matter because the decision is his, but Rivals uses so many amatuer reporters you have to question what the true story really is...

My guess is it is Ark & TCU battling it out for Jones with his ultimate decision being TCU (from what I have heard anyway).

[Stallion]

or maybe he changed his mind. It had been 5 weeks before the last Rivals report which mentioned TCU which was before recruiting stated up again after the Quiet Period between Septemver 1 and November 26. A lot of these BCS schools don't have enough scholarships left to immediately extend an offer or a schedule a visit even if they may have tentatively done so before and are probably slow playing these kids hoping to get the recruit higher on the Food Chain. You'll see hundreds of recruits every year slow played-they'll say something like Big Time U. rescheduled my visit from December 6 until January 7th then 14th then 21st. Recruits begin to catch on this time of year and it is very common for recruits to readjust their schools of interest. The worst situation is in BB when say a Scout reporter has a source with the head coach and Rivals has a source with the AAU coach and they contradict each other every other day. The Darrell Arthur recruitment was the best example of that.

[HFvictory]

Yes he could have changed his mind (don't think he did from discussions) but the point I was really trying to make is there were two stories on the same visit by the same recruit by two different services and each said completely different things about the visit. I really have to question the one by Rivals because it was so completely out-of-whack with everything he said in the past and what was reported by Scout and the Scout report came out after the Rivals report.

[Stallion]

you actually still subscribe to Scout?

[HFvictory]

you actually still subscribe to Scout?

Scout is good for coverage of JUCOs, State of LA and SEC schools. Not a bad service though Rivals is better for Big XII and Texas coverage, just ignore the rankings part which no one can figure out except UT get an auto 1,000 points for being UT.

[Stallion]

UPDATE(12/27): as Froggie suggested Scout seems to think that he favors TCU and Arkansas solidly over Nebraska and Washington St. No mention of SMU. He probably is not qualified yet. Acceptable 3.2 GPA but scored a non-qualifying 16 on the ACT and will have to retake in January-may not be qualified on signing date. BTW while we are talking about academic risks Top 50 RB Justin Sturns who TCU has really been after will likely have to go to JC although TCU and others are trying to place him.

[mrydel]

Is he related to Johnny "Lam" Jones or Johnny "Ham" Jones?

[Stallion]

He's from Everman so that would make him Johnny "Eve" Jones

[mrydel]

Good. I was afraid he was from Assyria.

[Stallion]

[Webmaster]

Just a small point to offer on this topic.

In addition to the regular journalistic bias, remember one thing about all recruiting services whether it be us, Rivals or Scout. And that is whenever we "content providers" interview a kid, we're almost always representing one school but sharing our content with the other sites participating in our network.

So when we call up some recruit and say "Hi, this is so and so from PonyFans.com the SMU site", the recruit is probably going to say favorable things about our school -- if he's interested. Then we ask, "What other schools are you looking at?" and the recruit will rattle off some schools that 1) he's having dialog with and 2) he thinks will impress us and make us as fans salivate, cause by golly if Humongous State is after him, he's gotta be good.

This isn't gospel nor is it an indictment, it's all just part of the dance.

So just because a kid doesn't mention us in an interview doesn't necessarily mean he's not interested. On the other hand, it's obviously not good news either.

[Stallion]

just for clarification though-this latest report was from Allen Wallace the National Recruiting Analyst for Scout-so in this case I don't think there is any bias toward any of these schools-but sometimes that's true. I try to point that out when I think it might be a factor.

[RGV Pony]

Just a small point to offer on this topic.

In addition to the regular journalistic bias, remember one thing about all recruiting services whether it be us, Rivals or Scout. And that is whenever we "content providers" interview a kid, we're almost always representing one school but sharing our content with the other sites participating in our network.

So when we call up some recruit and say "Hi, this is so and so from PonyFans.com the SMU site", the recruit is probably going to say favorable things about our school -- if he's interested. Then we ask, "What other schools are you looking at?" and the recruit will rattle off some schools that 1) he's having dialog with and 2) he thinks will impress us and make us as fans salivate, cause by golly if Humongous State is after him, he's gotta be good.

This isn't gospel nor is it an indictment, it's all just part of the dance.

So just because a kid doesn't mention us in an interview doesn't necessarily mean he's not interested. On the other hand, it's obviously not good news either.

so what should we read into it with regard to 2) above when the 'other schools' are NW State, NMSU, SFA and Panhandle State?

[PonyPride]

So if this guy's size and speed are accurate, does that mean he projects as a pass-catching tight end down the road?