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So it’s now September 18th and we only have 2 commitments.

How concerned should Ponyfans be???

I guess not very judging from what was said in the recruiting notes from today's DMN. We will have only 13-15 scholarships available and are being VERY selective was Roark's quote.

We should be very concerned because there is even less remaining out there than in previous years. Of course, there are always a hand-full of late bloomers like a Martin or players who might be hurt their seniors years(see TCU Aron Brown) who might be golden nuggets but that's a pretty slim niche to hang your hat on. I wouldn't make that type of claim without some support. 66 of the Texas Top 100 have already committed and remember at least 5-8 of those players will likely have academic issues. At least 136 Texas High School players have committed so far and this is by and large the cream of the crop.

How do we only have 13 scholarships?

And, when you RS, does the 5th yr senior get both fall & spring of the 5th year covered by the scholarship??

Oh we are being very selective are we? We'll we have already given 2 scholarships to kids with no other real options. Very selective indeed.

SWC2010 wrote:How do we only have 13 scholarships?

And, when you RS, does the 5th yr senior get both fall & spring of the 5th year covered by the scholarship??

Yes in answer to your 2nd question.

The issue is how many kids are on scholarship on August 1 of every year. Players signed in February are not counted until then.

Stallion wrote:We should be very concerned because there is even less remaining out there than in previous years. Of course, there are always a hand-full of late bloomers like a Martin or players who might be hurt their seniors years(see TCU Aron Brown) who might be golden nuggets but that's a pretty slim niche to hang your hat on. I wouldn't make that type of claim without some support. 66 of the Texas Top 100 have already committed and remember at least 5-8 of those players will likely have academic issues. At least 136 Texas High School players have committed so far and this is by and large the cream of the crop.

DeMyron Martin is a redshirt freshman -- that makes him a "late bloomer"? Guess we shouldn't have signed Bobby Chase or Adrian Haywood, since they were over the hill when they got here. And all the guys who are redshirting now might as well pack up and go home, huh? And let's not suggest that there aren't worthy players out there who aren't on those lists. Yeah, I want a bunch of top 100s, too. But when many of those players sign elsewhere, I have confidence Coach Bennett and his staff will identify a group of players who will continue the growth of this program.

Martin was injured as a Junior. Had 2,000 yards as a senior. He was not heavily recruited until very late in the recruiting season. And Bennett did recruit the players we have. 66-8. You obviously don't even know enough about the subject to make an intelligent point or even comprehend the issue.

let's hope this is going to be a big JUCO year for SMU

Agreed CP,

But Stallion follows JUCO as well as High School and I haven't heard any encouraging words on either front.

Rivals does an especially bad job of covering JUCO especially Texas JUCO. Not much info out there. There are some pay site specializing in JUCO football but I don't have a subscription.

Update: 77 out of 123 Rivals 3 star or better recruits have committed as of 9/22. Other such players probably are not qualified, likely qualify or taken their tests. So I wouldn't be surprised if a good 70% of the players who are really availiable are already off the board 4 1/2 months before signing date.

Aside from Bennett's horrible, and even embarressing record, his recruiting, or lack thereof, is a reason we need a new coach. Bennett's recruiting momentum has come to a crawl. SMU is losing out on many local recruits to schools in our own conference. Unless Bennett plans to bring in about ten JUCO and/or Division 1 tranfers, he may have his worst recruiting class to date. This is not a good thing considering how long he has been here.

I keep reading that we need a new coach. Any suggestions on who that would be?