Bennett Not Competitive in Houston?

[Stallion]

we've seen how Rice, Tulsa among others are pouching in Dallas. Often explained away by statements such as "kids want to leave home". Well SMU doesn't have a single player looking at SMU in the Houston Chronicle Top 60.

[Stallion]

to take this further-it goes much deeper than the Top 60. The only half way prominent kid we are in on in Houston that I can see is the Florence kid from LaMarque.

[smupony94]

Post another for yourself Stallion

[RGV Pony]

One could argue that Bennett isn't even competitive in the region he should be...east Texas. Hell if we signed 4 or 5 of the top 50 east Texas players each year we'd make huge strides. Stephen Hodge from Tatum last year (TCU), Kinne at Gilmer (Baylor, for his dad), Johnson from Gilmer (somewhere besides SMU), Matt Flynn from Tyler a few years ago (okay maybe that's pushing it), Jamario at UNT (grades?), the RB from Van (don't know his name)...you'd think D1 prospects from Jefferson/Marshall/Tatum/Gilmer/Longview/Tyler would all have SMU written all over them. No such luck. And I know this is far from a complete list. Yes I know we got the LB from Marshall, the TE from Marshall, and Hawkins from Longview Pine Tree, and the 'other' WR from Gilmer. Far from being 'competitive' when you see what we DON'T get from east Texas, an area that should be dominated by the bros. Bennett.

[OC Mustang]

I have all kinds of issues with this as well.
Guys, I admit to being flat disappointed.
I don't know what the hell these guys have been doing for a living.
But clearly, they didn't do squat during the season.

It's coming home to roost now.

[Hal]

What the hell is wrong here? First of all, history has shown that some of our higher-rated recruits (Massey, Meeks, etc.) wash out, while some of the "who's that guy?" recruits (Rogers, Sturdivant, etc.) turn out to be studs. Get over the damn recruiting services. They can see blue-chippers just like anyone else, but after the top-shelf guys, they don't much more than we do. They're computer geeks who talk to reporters and coaches and don't break down a minute of film to form their own opinions. Rey Pellerin, Wilton McCray, Thomas Morstead, Reggie Carrington, Taylor Bon, Patrick Handy, etc. -- yup, no recruiting in Houston. For god's sake, STOP trashing our coaches. Don't recruits read this site? A lot of people think they do, and there is absolutely no way this "our coaches can't recruit" crap is helping anything. If you have to complain, wait until after Signing Day. The team and the coaches need our support, not constant whining. Think of a way to help. Trashing our coaches in the only public forum that recruits read is counter-productive. Are they going to sign with SMU because fans have nice things to say? No, of course not. But is there a chance a recruit might sign elsewhere if he gets the impression SMU's fans don't support their program? That is a possibility. It's a possibility that can't be proven, of course, but good god, knock it off.

[RE Tycoon]

HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

[Corso]

Hey Hal, you forgot Emmanuel Sanders, too. Beeville is near Houston, too, I think. SMU can, and does, recruit the Houston area, and gets good players.

[Big10Ponyfan]

Hey Hal, you forgot Emmanuel Sanders, too. Beeville is near Houston, too, I think. SMU can, and does, recruit the Houston area, and gets good players.

But we could do better. It's a fact TCU has a pipeline to that metropolitan area. Their recruiters do a very good job down there.

[NickSMU17]

I think we are getting dominated is every aspect in texas. Please spend the money and bring someone new in next year.

[Caballo]

Hey Hal, you forgot Emmanuel Sanders, too. Beeville is near Houston, too, I think. SMU can, and does, recruit the Houston area, and gets good players.

Short geography lesson. Beeville is almost 200 miles from Houston. It is almost the same distance from Dallas to Houston. Try again.

[SMU Football Blog]

What the hell is wrong here? First of all, history has shown that some of our higher-rated recruits (Massey, Meeks, etc.) wash out, while some of the "who's that guy?" recruits (Rogers, Sturdivant, etc.) turn out to be studs. Get over the damn recruiting services. They can see blue-chippers just like anyone else, but after the top-shelf guys, they don't much more than we do. They're computer geeks who talk to reporters and coaches and don't break down a minute of film to form their own opinions. Rey Pellerin, Wilton McCray, Thomas Morstead, Reggie Carrington, Taylor Bon, Patrick Handy, etc. -- yup, no recruiting in Houston. For god's sake, STOP trashing our coaches. Don't recruits read this site? A lot of people think they do, and there is absolutely no way this "our coaches can't recruit" crap is helping anything. If you have to complain, wait until after Signing Day. The team and the coaches need our support, not constant whining. Think of a way to help. Trashing our coaches in the only public forum that recruits read is counter-productive. Are they going to sign with SMU because fans have nice things to say? No, of course not. But is there a chance a recruit might sign elsewhere if he gets the impression SMU's fans don't support their program? That is a possibility. It's a possibility that can't be proven, of course, but good god, knock it off.

Copy this post or just make it a footnote to this entire board. It sums up all the arguments that people make when dissing any recruiting discussion. And with all due respect, it is wrong on just about every level.

[LakeHighlandsPony]

Hey Hal, you forgot Emmanuel Sanders, too. Beeville is near Houston, too, I think. SMU can, and does, recruit the Houston area, and gets good players.

Short geography lesson. Beeville is almost 200 miles from Houston. It is almost the same distance from Dallas to Houston. Try again.

Favorite hunting spot of Papa Bush

[PerunaPunch]

I'm a staunch Bennett supporter, and I make no bones about it. I think we've mined the I-45 corridor from Conroe to Houston and east/west along I-10 (Houston to Beaumont) as well as anywhere else.

That being said, I think what we're seeing now is the result of putting recruiting on the backburner until the regular season ended... Hoping that conference championship (first) or a bowl bid (second) would improve our attractiveness to recruits. Unfortuantely that gamble failed (we focused all our efforts on winning the last few and still lost).

In retrospect, we would have been MOST attractive to recruits in November when we were still in the hunt. That probably would have been the most advantageous time to close some deals. IMHO.

[SMU Football Blog]

That being said, I think what we're seeing now is the result of putting recruiting on the backburner until the regular season ended... Hoping that conference championship (first) or a bowl bid (second) would improve our attractiveness to recruits. Unfortuantely that gamble failed (we focused all our efforts on winning the last few and still lost).

In retrospect, we would have been MOST attractive to recruits in November when we were still in the hunt. That probably would have been the most advantageous time to close some deals. IMHO.

Did a coach tell you this? Or are you speculating? For their sake, I hope you are speculating.

What is the Bennett line? "Recruiting is like shaving; you have to do it every day or you start to look shabby." It is something like that. If a coach told you this, they are either (a) lying to you; or (b) the whole staff is incompetent.

YOU CANNOT PUT RECRUITING ON THE BACKBURNER DURING THE SEASON!

It doesn't really matter. This staff's recruiting problems are largely its own creation.