Say goodbye to our 3rd best recruit!

[SMU2007]

Dee Paul didn't like the rice game.

Damnit, really thought the TV blackout was going to help us.

[LHS81]

I don't think it was the Rice game that Dee didn't like

[SMU2007]

pretty damning comments...

so sad.

EJ Holland ‏@EJSports4

Dee Paul on decommitting from #SMU: 'I liked the atmosphere at Tech and Oklahoma State. At SMU, it fet like being at a high school game.'

[Junior]

Well, it is a completely different atmosphere. 80,000 vs. 20,000.

[ojaipony]

Yep.

(And you will never see the field at either place). Enjoy.

[sbsmith]

Yep.

(And you will never see the field at either place). Enjoy.

That's probably true, but hey at least he'll do nothing every Saturday in front of 60,000 + people.

[gostangs]

how stupid is that? trades a SMU education for 4 yrs of bigger crowds cheering for someone other then him.

[03Mustang]

The atmosphere and crowd at our games does suck. If I was a recruit I would feel the same way.

All the more reason we need a passionate coach that will recruit like hell and sell SMU hard. It can be done, but not with the coach we have now.

It sucks that he decommitted, but it doesn't surprise me and its hard for me to blame him at this point.

We'll have what, 5k actual butts in seats this saturday? There will be many hs games that weekend with a better atmosphere. Until SMU fixes that we will never be big time again, either in our eyes or in those of kids we are recruiting.

[sbsmith]

how stupid is that? trades a SMU education for 4 yrs of bigger crowds cheering for someone other then him.

Pretty stupid, likely ends up biting him in the rear in four years when he has to go out in the world armed with some athlete's degree from Mediocre State U.

[couch 'em]

You guys act like an SMU degree rivals Harvard. Come on guys. Plenty of other options for him

[03Mustang]

You guys act like an SMU degree rivals Harvard. Come on guys. Plenty of other options for him

Exactly. I love SMU, but the attitude of many about virtually any other school equaling a career in ditch digging is just ridiculous (and frankly one of the things that tends to turn people off about many people affiliated with the school). Plenty of SMU grads that are struggling and plenty that are successful...same for most schools.

For a kid that wants to play in the NFL it's easy to see that a major conference with better exposure and a higher profile looks like the better option...when your coach and staff don't recruit hard or sell him on the fact that he could have an even better path here, the kid is going to make that decision more often than not.

[mustangxc]

I agree, the lack of fans and atmosphere is on us, not June Jones or any other coach for that matter. It is laughable to hear our fans say they are going to boycott football games. We already have entire sections of stands that are empty even after beating a ranked TCU team.

[East Coast Mustang]

Yeah, it's tough to compete for recruits with schools like Tech and Oklahoma State.

Look, JJ should have never used it as an excuse or complained about it the way he did, but the attendance for the UCF game last year after beating TCU was atrocious. It truly looked like a HS game. The stadium was half full on a beautiful day. Thing is, Ford could be an awesome atmosphere if it were packed. I remember RG3 saying one of the loudest college stadiums he played in wasn't Texas or OU...it was UConn. UConn! He cited how close to the field the fans were or something.

$64,000 question- how do we get students and the community interested in SMU football and in the seats? It's easy to say winning, and that's certainly the most important thing, but the 2011 UCF game proved it's not the end all be all. There was no excuse for that game not being well attended. None.

[HorsePower]

When he committed, the staff was mocked because he didn't have enough offers from big schools. Sounds to me like they knew what they were doing when they offered him. Hope we can get him back, but if not ... good luck elsewhere, I guess.

[SMU_Alumni11]

Sorry but I think we have better job numbers than Harvard and that's the only statistic I care about.

How this guy didn't see that we are the second smallest school in the FBS and a stadium that maxes out at 33-34k is beyond me. Oh well. He's not cam newton or and RGT so I'm not too worried. This whole class disappeared wouldn't really make me shed a tear lol. Only the TE and RB coming from Texas were the only ones I'm excited about. That's just me. Maybe you guys have gem-ray glasses on, but for me I don't see anyone that sticks out