PonyFans.com

...let me preface this by saying that at least with respect to Texas recruits the Insiders is so often incorrect, outdated and illogical that I place little weight in their opinion. These guys will give a Baylor recruit who was on our list but we never offered and who was only offered by Tulsa a 3 star and give an SMU recruit offered by 5-6 teams including BCS schools a 2 star-they rarely add new players to their database who weren't there in August-in fact they only got around to the WAC in the last week and busily began assigning stars to about 100 players they hadn't spotlighted all year. In the meantime the Louisiana Techs, Fresno St.s, Hawaiis and SJSU have busily been grabbibg all the non-qualifiers, partial qualifiers and JC players that couldn't be admitted to real universities. According to the Insiders, SMU is far, far behind these schools as follows: 1) Louisiana Tech JC 57, 2)(tie)Fresno St JC 48, 2)(tie) Hawaii JC 48, 4)(tie) SMU 28, 4)(tie) Rice 28, 6)Boise St 25, 7)Tulsa 20, San Jose 18, 9) UTEP 8, 10) Nevada 5. Without question Louisiana Tech JC and Fresno JC have at least 10 players each who are non-qualifiers, partial qualifiers or JC transfers who could not be admitted to SMU. Haven't really analyzed Hawaii yet to determine the quality of their crop. Just a little more info to consider when you jump to the conclusion that our talent is superior but we lose just because our coaches suck so bad. This ought to open a few eyes considering its allegedly the best class in 15 years. The Insiders is known to be more liberal in its rating and coverage of JC/CC players and rates them with equal importance with HS players. I have seen the Rivals Network state their policy that they intentionally limit the quantity and quality of JC/CC players in their analysis.

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 02-03-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 02-03-2003).]

I think Fresno St and Louisiana Tech may very well have better classes than us and I follow this pretty close. The problem is that I know Texas Recruiting a lot more than California, Hawaii, Louisiana and Nevada recruiting-so its difficult to compare. SMU has by far the best class if you take away the Junior College Players, non-qualifiers and partial qualifiers but the last time I looked this is one of the few major conferences that allows all of these kids in. What's crazy is when Fresno JC lucks into nationally recognized 4 star recruits because they are non-qualifiers that nobody else can sign.

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 02-04-2003).]

At this point I don't care all that much how the rest of the world rates our recruiting class. We all know that this is probably the best recruiting class overall that we have had in a long, long time. That in itself is well worth celebrating. It is a large step in the right direction for this program and only one of the first steps. Our coaches have done a great job and I anticipate each year will get better as we start to build a new winning tradition.

I am pumped for tomorrow and the review tomorrow night. I hope to see a ton of people there!!!

Agreed PX. Make sure you post your thoughts!! I wish I could be there myself.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by UNFMustang06:
<B>Agreed PX. Make sure you post your thoughts!! I wish I could be there myself. </B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

PX and PK are different people. I may have to change my name, you're not the first one to get confused.

Stallion, I know you are very passionate about this subject, but you are mixing apples and oranges when you throw JC players in with props and partials. Many, many schools take JC athletes, including a lot of BCS schools. When you say JC kids cannot be admitted to SMU does that mean the SMU admissions policy does not allow junior college transfers into the student population?

yes it is very difficult-SMU has had only one FB JC player and he was transfer who was originally admitted to CAL out of HS. Hey I'm not going to start in on JC players. 2-3 a year is fine with me. But if you have 42 on your roster like San Jose a couple of years ago or 28 like Hawaii recently-then that is a joke! All teams have equal access to JC players if they want to take them. Only a few of the non-major Division 1 schools can take non-qualifiers. Hogs Get Fat, Pigs Get Slaughtered. The Problem I have is when a school recruits a class which is not reasonably and fairly representative of the student body.