Signings

[Mike Damone]

Rivals just added everyone to our class now, up to 19. Gave them all the standard 2-stars. Even put Munlin and Akinyemi on there. Don't think they should be because they're transfers.

[JasonB]

Yeah, I am kind of annoyed with Rivals right now. It is great for getting info, but their ranking system isn't worth anything for comparing recruiting classes because they refuse to give 0 or 1 stars to any players. So you don't really get any credit for trying to sign very good 2 star players. Their ranking system with the points is totally random, and not based on important things, such as other offers AT ALL. I have seen several recruits in the database give 5.3 ratings without receiving any offers other than the school that they committed to.

[Water Pony]

Perhaps we should be very grateful to Coach Bennett, his fellow coaches and these young men, who have made a very important commitment to SMU and our program. You would think that we shouldn't be as deserving based on our recent performance. But, I thank them and congratulate all those who helped us recruit and hire a class I am sure we will be proud of.

I am going to assume that this class will add skills, hard work and heart to a program that needs and expects all three. How can one be cynical, when these young men just made a very big decision for us? They have already made me more proud of SMU and more confidence for our future. Character wins!

This leads me to believe they will have the Hearts of Real Mustangs. Welcome aboard to these young, new Ponies!


:showoff: :thumbupcool:

<small>[ 02-04-2004, 02:50 PM: Message edited by: Water Pony ]</small>

[Stallion]

I complained about the same thing but remember if a kid like Lindley or McKinney commit in August there will most likely be no update unless the player renounces his commitment-so he still might be a top prospect at 5.3 and no other offers listed. Unless you have a feel for it or you are dealing with a school that only recruits among the Top 100 then its just more accurate to just rely upon the players who got nice offers and visits. The farther down the list you go the bigger the crap shoot. And remember a good number of players at schools like Arkansas, UH, Missippii St, OSU, most of the WAC and several others may never be eligible and never set foot in a classroom. Other schools will quietly collect partials, non-qualifiers and JUCOs which will never be reflected in these ratings. This is what I'm talking about when I mention how some schools take shortcuts with academic risks to build outstanding teams and why many of the posters on this board are simply WRONG when they claim that SMU has better talent than these schools.

<small>[ 02-04-2004, 03:43 PM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

[Red Man]

Rivals is now reporting that Rejaie Johnson signed his letter of intent for Northwestern. At least it gave us a little excitement today.

[Charleston Pony]

I see where Akinyemi will have 2 yrs of eligibility remaining. Looks like we are going to have a stable of DBs so I'm expecting a better defensive team next year along with improved special teams.

Now if only the "beef" develops. Obviously we are relying on the guys already on board. Don't look now, but George O'Leary signed 14 OL & DL players at UCF and they are monsters. Don't know if they are a talented group, but the going isn't going to get any easier in CUSA folks.

[OldPony]

But it doesn't really get any harder either.

[PlanoStang]

Most of you guys are 'seminar callers' from Bennett's staff aren't you? Maybe that's why they have called this the 'sunshine board'?

[PerunaPunch]

A couple of thoughts about this class... First, Rivals doesn't do enough homework. They're understaffed. That being the case, they tend to go for the low hanging fruit – those kids whose parents and coaches are sending out lots of propaganda and play the recruiting game.

Second, look for the common thread between most of these recruits. I mean, what kind of kid wants to come play for an 0-12? Well, for the most part, they're kids who think they can come into the program and build something. They're confident, and they can all play. That's one major things that strikes me about this class... Every kid here is a player. And you couldn't even say that about last year's overachieving class.

V. Chase got major attention – every school in the nation wanted him. But also look at Henderson, McKinney and Lindley. If those guys choose to pick up the phone, they could have an offer from a dozen BCS schools. But they committed early and didn't play the recruiting game. Kyle Griffin is another one. He got a dozen offers including Notre Dame, OSU, Miami-Ohio, and TAMU wanted to offer too. But once he had committed to SMU, that was it.

further, I think we addressed some real areas of need by picking up tall, fast receivers, and some guys that might be the beginnings of a faster, more aggressive secondary.

Take a little time to dig deeper than what Rivals reports (as JasonB alluded to) and I think you'll be impressed. I think those that attended the Mustang Club event this evening will agree with me.

[1411]

Henderson ended the season with offers from Texas Tech, Kansas, Colorado State, Utah, BYU, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico, Tulane and Tulsa.

[Corso]

And he made the right choice by signing with the Ponies.

By the way, for those of you who weren't at the Mustang Club thing tonight.... just wait until you see Henderson run. It's a beautiful thing to see.

[Stallion]

its not so much who SMU signed as it who SMU didn't sign that makes this class no better than a C+ or C. I don't care what Phil Bennett might say on Signing Date-every school and ESPECIALLY SMU desperately needs MANY more agile, hostile and mobile linemen especially on defense. We got some good DEs and LB types last year-we still need MANY more great athletes at those positions. We need much better athletes at Safety and Big Play tall Wide Receivers- we didn't get them and we sure as hell wanted 'em-guys we offered like Massey, DLM McClinton, DLM Kevin Mims, OLM Eddie Rollman, OLM Jared Williams and others. We didn't get them-you go on and do the best you can. But we now have about 10 little munchkins at CB and WR-great athletes don't get me wrong but I guarantee you we would trade some of those munchkins for some that got away at the positions that I'm sure Bennett played down tonite. This program will not move to the next level without them. For that reason you can not grade this class only on the basis of the guys we got but also must admit that we failed to get a lot of what we really needed. But that's not really surprising after 0-12. When we have top athletes at least 3 deep at almost every position like we have at RB with Massey, Munlin, Martin & Henderson then we'll be challenging for championships. The only other position where we might be starting to get that type of athlete is at CB and that's probably two years away. ALL other positions need much better athletes three deep-not just the starters.

<small>[ 02-04-2004, 08:20 PM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

[PerunaPunch]

Yep, and if he would have shamelessly pimped himself like many other recruits, he would have had even more.

That's not to say that self-promotion is bad or even intentional. If a guy commits early and is steadfast in his commitment, he's not generating much news, which doesn't give the recruiting services much to work with. If, on the other hand, a kid is taking a lot of visits – and maybe he's vacillating between several different schools – he stays "top-of-mind" and tends to generate more interest, artificially inflating his value.

Rather than looking at cumulative Rivals Star ratings (which are biased against us because we only took 13 high school and 3 JUCO recruits), take Stallion's advice and look at the offers these kids received. For an even more novel approach, do your own recruiting. Something like 9 out of the 13 of tis year's HS recruits attended SMU summer camps, so it's not too difficult (especially with the way news travels on this board) to figure out who some of the coaches top recruiting prospects are.

WELCOME NEW MUSTANGS!!

[PerunaPunch]

Originally posted by Stallion:
its not so much who SMU signed as it who SMU didn't sign that makes this class no better than a C+ or C. I don't care what Phil Bennett might say on Signing Date-every school and ESPECIALLY SMU desperately needs MANY more agile, hostile and mobile linemen especially on defense.

I suppose I kind of see your point. But we took loaded up on young, talented linemen last year, and this year, one of the ships went to Dominic Pryor who compares favorably to all but the super elite DLs in the state (at either DT or DE). We also picked up Kyle Griffin who is ranked as the best DE in the D/FW area. And, I also hear there's still the possibility of a JUCO DT in the wings.

Originally posted by Stallion:
We need much better athletes at Safety and Big Play tall Wide Receivers- we didn't get them...

Yes we did. Lindley and McCray (a converted WS LB) are huge (for us), athletic and fast DBs. All three of the receivers we took this year are big (5'11, 6'1, 6'4). Heck, one of 'em is even a JUCO, so that should earn some bonus points, right?

Originally posted by Stallion:
For that reason you can not grade this class only on the basis of the guys we got but also must admit that we failed to get a lot of what we really needed. But that's not really surprising after 0-12.

Being that we only had 18 ships to play with, I think we did very well. We might or might not have been able to squeeze Massey in, but without a qualifying score I guess that's a moot point. I know we went after Rollman, but you can't win 'em all – and I think Lobo is going to be an excellent addition.

We needed athletes, we got a bunch. We needed aggressive DBs, we got a bunch. Only time will tell, but right now, I'm pretty stoked about this class. This is a solid class any year. After going 0-12, it's a remarkable class.

<small>[ 02-04-2004, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: PerunaPunch ]</small>

[JasonB]

Stallion - I agree that we were after some other players - we obviously wanted some other linemen than Lobo, and we also wanted some other Receivers and wanted Bunton.

However, that said, as far as the big fat linemen are concerned, I did a little analysis after I heard Bennett's comments about wanting to be 3 deep at every position.

And you know what? He is RIGHT ON. Picking up the DBs gives us three deep in a dime package. We are missing one Tackle from being three deep on each line position (that was probably one that got away), and the only other position we are short at is OLB - we go 3 deep on one side and two deep on the other.

Next year, we have two RB, Three WR, one TE, one OG, one OT, 2 DE, 1 DT, 1 MLB, and 2 S graduating (by my count). 14 Scholarships, and some carrying over from this year (3 by my count). So we will offer around 20 players next year. I suspect all but one of the extra offers will go to linemen, and keep in mind that next year's high school class is supposed to be very, very deep on both sides of the line.

Even though they weren't highly rated recruits, we took so many linemen the past two years that we need to space things out. By my count, 10 of our 14 linemen will be underclassmen this year.