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Junior QB Has FSU Ties
by Dave Peters of TheTerritory.org, December 26, 2004 at 12:26pm ET

Matthew Stafford Profile


For the recruiting 2004 class, the Seminoles landed two of the countries finest quarterback prospects in Xavier Lee and Drew Weatherford. With the signing of those two players, it has been difficult for the Garnet& Gold to land a quarterback this year. However, next year looks a lot more promising. One of the top quarterbacks for the 2006 has already been to Florida State for an unofficial visit and he has ties to the Noles.

“My trip to the Florida/Florida State was a lot of fun,” quarterback Mathew Stafford of Dallas (TX) Highland Park said. “It was a good game and it would have been better if we would’ve won. The facilities are awesome. I camped at Florida State in the 8th grade and things look a lot different now.”

Stafford, who checks in at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, has some serious family ties to Florida State.

“My father and mother both went to school at Florida State,” he said. “My father lettered in swimming and actually coacher there at one time. My mother is originally from Tampa and we have a lot of family in Florida.”

Despite losing several key offensive players, Stafford was still good enough to be selected as the District Offensive Player of the Year by throwing 18 touchdowns in his junior season. His sophomore year was even more impressive. He threw for over 3,100 yards and 38 touchdowns with only five interceptions.

“Some people say I remind them of John Elway because of my arm strength,” he said. “I think my strengths are my accuracy and leadership abilities. At the end of game, I want ball in my hands.”

Stafford, who already has scholarship offers from Louisville and SMU, is talking about attending several football camps ove rthe summer including, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and Florida State.

What is the Texas standout looking for in a school?

“I want to play for a good team,” he said. “I would like to find someplace that I could compete for early playing time. Some of the schools I’m interest in are Texas, Oklahoma, Florida State, Georgia, Florida and Virginia.”

Stafford is an excellent student who carries a 3.5 grade point average.

“Since I like to write, I would love to major in Journalism,” he said.

Well so what... I am a HP grad ('00) and yes this kid is really good, but he is a lil overated--#1 in the country--
His size is completely overblown, I saw him the other night and asked him what it would take to get him to SMU and he said "A lot", my point is i walked right up to him and I am 6' 190 and he was maybe 6'2 200...There are plenty of other qb's in texas, hell in the DFW area and he has never even thought about SMU.

Even with Stafford's friendship with Coach Bennett's son, the idea that he'd end up at SMU is a longshot. And his signing day is 14 months away. I'm not losing any sleep over this just yet.

(Of course, in the name of objectivity and just in case anyone lobs accusations of sunshine-ness, it should be admitted that if you'd posted a story that said "I'm being recruited by everyone in the country, but SMU is where I really want to go," I'd be doing a drunken jig in the fountain in front of Dallas Hall.)

Matt Stafford is a tremendous prospect that we should all hope would come to SMU whatever size he is. His incredible poise along with athletic ability would be welcomed here. PLUS the publicity we would get if he came here. Just keeping praying!

Yes he is a great prospect, no he is not coming to SMU, yes he is going to FSU, and yes his head has swelled a bit lately and is something he will need to get a handle on soon to reach his full potential.

I heard SMU pulled its offer(yes-SMU has already offered) and they have decided to go in a different direction.

get rid of that bcs-bs & then we'll have a more level playing field when it comes to recruiting -

on another note - with talent like that & parents with that connection, he'd be foolish to look at anything but FSU or a non-bcs-bs school!

if my child had talent, real talent, i'd prefer him to go to a bcs-bs school, too!

tmustangp wrote:Well so what... I am a HP grad ('00) and yes this kid is really good, but he is a lil overated--#1 in the country--
His size is completely overblown, I saw him the other night and asked him what it would take to get him to SMU and he said "A lot", my point is i walked right up to him and I am 6' 190 and he was maybe 6'2 200...There are plenty of other qb's in texas, hell in the DFW area and he has never even thought about SMU.

Yeah he's overrated. Florida, Florida State, Miami, Texas, Oklahoma, and anyone else he might give the time of day to, might disagree

Now Mike we really don't know whether the coaches think "Recruit A" will fit within SMU's system and therefore may have decided to go in a different direction" -now do we. After this recruiting season it appears that SMU's coaching staff have decided that the entire Texas Top 150 would not fit into their system and therefore have "decided to go in a different direction"

Yeah he's overrated. Florida, Florida State, Miami, Texas, Oklahoma, and anyone else he might give the time of day to, might disagree[/quote]


Hey you ever heard of Brent Rawls and Hunter Wall... They both were HS All Americans and both went to OU within the last four years. Both have yet to play a down of college football and they were recruited by the exact same schools. Yes being tabbed the #1 JR in the country this past season HE IS OVERRATED. My list of players who were all americans and didn't do squat could go on and on and on.

By the way Damone you got any tickets to the SMU/A&M game yet.

Hunter Wall got into some type of trouble and left school. But let me ask you this-if Wall never played a down behind a 4 year Heisman Trophy All-American whose to say he couldn't have excelled given the opportunity. Schools like UT, OU, USC are stocked about 4 deep with Top Talent who never see the starting line-up. Ahh I remember the days when SMU had 4th stringers like Reggie Dupard and Jim Bob Taylor who ended up in the NFL

but let asks ourselves again - why would any of these top 150 want to come to SMU when they could go to a bcs-bs school?

no one in their right mind!

so the coaches are playing the hand the ncaa & the administrators have given them!

that's reality guys!

They all figure that they will start someday and will get the hype. After a couple of years riding pine, they transfer to a 1-AA school, or transfer to another Division 1 program or stick it out. The key will be if they get game reps in blow out wins.

LA: don't be so harsh. There are plenty of guys who had offers from BCS programs and chose to play in "mid-major" conferences for plenty of good reasons. How about Vincent Chase? Did he sign with SMU to play with his buddies and stay in town where his friends and family can watch him play? Does he plan to make his home in Dallas and figure SMU gave him a great opportunity to find attractive employment in Dallas?

I wouldn't say "nobody in their right mind" would turn down an offer from a BCS school. Many a talented player has spent 4 years riding the pine at UT and possibly could have been a star at SMU. We can't afford to just throw in the towel on guys who show even the slightest interest in SMU.

I want our coaches to set the bar high. It's the only way we are ever going to compete for CUSA championships. I will grant you we won't get many of tose guys, but you don't know if you don't offer and it aint over until it's over in recruiting.

hi cp -

you're right in that respect - we shouldn't give up - i agree altogether there -

however - with the current 'frame'work in div 1 now, the cards are stacked against us before the game even starts -

i just wish we had some leadership (balls) among the non-bcs-bs schools that is willing to fight this cartel - that's all! (& unfortunately - we don't)

it just makes it harder & harder to 'want to' give $$$ when our own administration isn't willing to fight for what's right or their own schools livelihood or even existence....well, whatever.