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has not been impressive to say the least. Our best recruit jumped ship to OSU and we have yet to sign a QB. It makes me wonder why people on this board are saying Bennett's getting the program 'on the right track.'

Johnny Rock is not an objective poster....more like a a"chicken little" imposter.

Bennett and staff are doing a really good job and will fill the needs of the team as we continue to show progress thru the season.

Until then, Johnny go find a rock and hide.

obectively, Johnny Rock may be a little pessimistic-but pickins are pretty slim right now for SMU and basically have been since the OSU blowout of last year. It will remain that way until we win some ballgames. Objectively if SMU wants to start to get players who can lead to winning seasons and bowl games then hopefully we can continue to get some 3 star kids-5.5 to 5.6 and up like the athletic quality we have in guys like V Chase, Lindley, Phillips, Cleveland and Muse. All of the following are based on personal interviews by Rivals and generally direct quotes from the prospect in the last month. Right now SMU is not listed among any 3 stars leading choices. Ath Stephen Hodge who is a 5.6 does list SMU as one of 7 teams who he is considering but he is the type who hasn't begun to narrow his options. Other 3 star recruits listing SMU with at least Medium interest have all stated that other schools are leading: LM Nick Richmond 5.5 (TCU leading and considering probably about 10 major schools all of which have offered), LM Quienton Johnson 5.5 (UH leading), LM Dain Wise 5.6 (OSU leading), DE Alex Odiari 5.5 (TCU, Tech leading). All of these kids have multiple offers from successful programs including Medium interest in SMU. SMU is in on some high 2 star kids 5.4 (the David Haynes and Kyle Griffin types ) who would be coups for this program. But again SMU could be called a leading favorite with only a few including LM J.D. Walton 5.4 (ASU, Utah, SMU), DB James Pierce 5.4(Tech, SMU, TCU leading-he is looking for better Big 12 offers but may prefer to stay closer to home and he specifically mentions SMU and TCU), DB Columbus Givens 5.4 (SMU and Tech among favorites who have offered but he is hoping for higher level Big 12 offers). Others 5.4 kids who list SMU with Medium Interest but appear to be leaning elsewhere are QB Justin Willis(New Mexico leading), WR Marquis Hamilton(SMU is not in his Top 5), TE Tyler Marrou(Col strongly leading then TCU). Also, All-Purpose Wayne McNight has Col, La Mon, Utah, SMU and BC among the schools he is looking at but hasn't really narrowed his list. The key I believe is whether we can win 4-5 games so we can get a handful of these kids to take a closer look.

I keep telling you guys, the BCS schools simply are out to bury programs such as SMU & TCU. It is an absolutely nightmarish time to recruit for those schools. Not only is UT, OU, TAMU, TT & OSU knocking on every good recruits door in the metroplex, but so is Kansas, K-State, Mizzou, AZ, et al. Even Notre Dame is spending more time here than in the past few years.

Bennett looks like he has changed his strategy a little since he said he only wanted to recruit in this area and that should help. You have to expand your recruiting territory and that takes significant time and dollars.

One discussion I read was where Joe Paterno was advocating that if the NCAA was going to a 12 game season and it ought to consider raising the scholarship limits by 20. This would of course mean that more kids would go to UT, A&M, TT, OSU, LSU, OU, and even Baylor and fewer to SMU, TCU, Rice, Houston. If each of those Big schools took another 20 that's 120 more kids who go to those schools on a dream, ride pine for four years while we have to make due with more fill-in players. It would devastate the non-BCS programs. Instead of going to TCU, LaDamian Tomlinson would have gone to a BCS program.

Yet another indication that Paterno needs to retire.

Why do people on this board get mad at me when I state the obvious? I am not happy with the athletic program at SMU and have not been for the past five years. The SMU alumni and students need to take more of a stance and make the department, and school for that matter, accountable for the lack of commitment made to the program. There are too many alumni that suck up to the powers to be just to feel important and to feel like they belong to a group (I will not name names at this time). It is time for changes people or your dreams of winning football seasons and NCAA tournament appearances will never be realized.

I think people get mad because your posts are negative nearly 100 percent of the time, and often seem to be based in opinion rather than fact. For instance, you say our best recruit jumped ship. How do you know he was the best recruit? Because some computer geek at a recruiting service says so? What's to say that Enright, Allison or Hickman -- or all three -- might not be better? The fact is that you don't watch HS players play their games, and neither do the guys at the recruiting services. They run a website. Their job is not to distribute information, it's to sell subscriptions to their sites. They talk to reports/coaches/players to collect their information. And if they did watch HS games every weekend, they would be no more qualified to evaluate that talent than you and I. They are computer guys -- and successful ones -- not football guys. If they could make money on it, they'd run a website for chess and jai alai recruiting, but that doesn't mean they'd watch it.

What people object to about your posts, or at least the people I've talked to, is the statements you make about how this coach or that administrator is a moron and that we'll never be successful. You have to realize that a lot of people who read this site are players and their families, and for you to come on and say "so-and-so sucks and will never get better" ruffles a few feathers. Personally, I'm not an athlete and I'm not related to one, so I don't take your posts personally, from that standpoint. But I do take them personally because SMU is my alma mater, and I love the school and its athletic teams. When you blast the athletic program with comments about "never succeeding" - those are comments that will be read by recruits. And while most recruits know that boards like this exist at every school, if a good player (in any sport) chooses another school over SMU because of something he reads like that, then yes, it gets me mad at you for writing it.

You come in here sometimes with constructive thoughts and ideas about the teams, or about individual players and coaches. Keep those coming. Just lose the "the sky is falling" commentary, because it doesn't help anyone.

Stallion is correct. I think SMU had a positive showing at Boise, and the SJSU game was a positive. But for Bennett to pull off a decent recruiting year, SMU will need to pick up a few wins this year.

Then again, we closed last year pretty decently even though we didn't pick up a single victory, so who knows...

Fearless prediction - SMU will win three more games and end up with a class that is slightly below last yrs - however due to the obvious show of a little mo, he will make progress with early committs for the next class, and after a quick start next year will have his best class in 06 (after the 05 season).

All that said - the best we can probably get is recruiting classes about what TCU gets on their best yr - that plus JUCO's can put is in a VERY competitive mode for CUSA.

I remember a couple of years ago a guy in Maryland was a 4 star and he wasn't even a starter. He hyped himself, put in loads of stats, and talked about which schools wrote him letters, and suddenly he was a 4 star. He got offers for visits to all sorts of schools, who when push came to shove passed on him, so yes these recruiting touts are no different than stock touts. If a guy has a buzz about him ratings get upped. I haven't checked the stock market today, but I'll bet Sirrius made a big move because they hired Howard Stern. Yet, while his audience is pretty loyal, will they plunk down $25 a month to hear him?

to put the above in some better context, the Rivals Database has 140 players rated 2.4 or better. HFVictory is correct as I've pointed out before-Texas recruits are the targets of all the top teams in the southern, western, and midwestern teams to an unprecedented extent. That's why its especially difficult to compete when you are not committed to compete on an even playing field, at least with respect to curriculm and admission standards for high school seniors, JC players and Division 1A transfers. I believe where SMU is really dropping the ball in comparison to some of those other schools which maintain winning programs is the recruitment of the traditional JC players(which SMU does not appear to be recruiting whatsoever) and especially Division 1A transfers who after all were FULL QUALIFIERS out of high school so they don't generally present to academic risks that the traditional JC players have. That school to the west has really helped themselves with a consistent infusion of top athletes from BCS schools over the last 5-7 years. As for recruits padding their resumes it does happen especially early in the year. But by December everybody knows who are taking official visits and whose stock is falling. Rivals has inside sources at just about every BCS school who know exactly who visited and who didn't.

Stallion wrote: .... Rivals has inside sources at just about every BCS school who know exactly who visited and who didn't.

Right - at BCS schools. Because that's where Rivals and their recruiting service bretheren make their money, from schools with enormous fan bases. When a guy commits to UT in July, his stock will remain high in the eyes of the recruiting services, because if they can present a kid as the next Ricky Williams, Derrick Johnson, Roy Williams, et al, the orangebloods get more amped up and buy more subscriptions. Take that same guy and have him commit to SMU, and his stock fades. Not that he's a bad player, and it doesn't mean he'd go from a 5-star to a 1-star, but he might go from a 5-star to a 4-star, or a 4-star to a 3-star (see Vincent Chase). Schools with small fan bases, especially schools where the fans don't go bananas buying anything and everything related to the school, aren't a priority for the recruiting services because the potential profitability is less than at bigger schools.

With the way the Internet makes available profiles, reports and media stories about various players, the movement in a player's rating (based on the school to which that player commits) is less than it once was. But it still happens.

almost every story on Rivals has direct quotes from the recruit as to the schools he interested in, leaning to or visiting - so who really cares. Its not difficult to judge who the most highly recruited players are unless you want to live with rose colored glasses. One thing you can't hide is that schools like SMU are rarely visible based on the recruit's own quotes among the Top 100 for example. Those that want to think its a Big Conspiracy against schools like SMU explain to me one thing----how come there is such a strong correlation between SMU's poor to medioocre record over the last 15 years and SMU poor recruiting performance. I mean if they were totally inaccurate why hasn't SMU beat the odds and posted even one great season or even a bowl season. Plus although I haven't checked the polls this week please explain to me why the consensus top recruiting programs in the last 5 years-ie OU, UT, USC and Miami in the Top 5? You have to be a fool not to see the correlation between recruiting and a strong football.

Athlete Stephen Hodge - supposed to be a stud.

Offensive tackle Nick Richmond - tall guy (looks almost skinny) who should go from his current 275-280 to somewhere well over 300. If he can carry that weight and still move, he's a guy around whom you can build an offensive line. There are a lot of coaches who think the world of this guy.

Offensive linenam (guard) Quinton Johnson - big, strong brawler type. Strong, plays low, good balance, hard to move. I gather it will be a reach to get this guy, though.

Offensive lineman Dain Wise - isn't he already committed to Oklahoma State?

Defensive end Alex Odiari - unbelievable athlete, still learning. Would be a major coup for the Ponies, based on what I've read.

Offensive lineman J.D. Walton - are we still in the running for this guy? I thought he had decided to look elsewhere. Maybe I'm mixing him up with someone else.

Defensive back James Pierce - good cover guy who likes to hit, according to Internet reports.

Defensive back Columbus Givens - big CB, good speed.

Quarterback Justin Willis - Denton Ryan passer doesn't do much for me. Not a bad player, but not a game-changer, either (OK, I've only seen him play once.) OK size, but only OK (he's MAYBE 6-1.)

Wide receiver Marquis Hamilton - who? Don't know the name. Where's he from? How big?

Tight end Tyler Marrou - isn't this the guy Stallion said is being recruited as an OL project?

Wayne McNight - heard of him, but I don't know much about him.