Good ole East Texas

[MustangKurt20]

Guru, Stallion, etc....I'd love to see Bennett continue to snag between 8 to 12 East Texans a year. I want to know why it is that SMU has fared so well in this region? I know it has to do a lot w/ his brother being the h.c. at Jefferson before coming to SMU and his own connections at Marshall. I have a theory. East Texas consists of several small towns without a lot of big media coverage. Perhaps these type of guys fly under the radars of the Texas' and the A&M's....or is there another explanation as to why this is?

Kurt

[Recruiting Guru]

Don't kid yourself - there are almost no kids out there who "fly under the radar" of the bigger schools. Remember when Coach Bennett said something about there being a lot of coaches who'd never heard of Scurry-Rosser, Texas, but found themselves going there to check out Kenard Burley? That's the way things go these days. If there's a good player out there, someone will let the coaches know (usually the HS coaches) and they will find out a way to get there, or to see the player on film.

SMU's success this year stems from the fact that Jerry Bennett coached out there for a long time, and he knows everyone in East Texas coaching. His relationships are invaluable to the Ponies. He and Phil Bennett are household names in East Texas coaching circles, and have a foothold there that other coaches covet. Recruiting is never easy to predict, but I'd anticipate there will be many more East Texas players headed to Dallas in future years.

[Grider]

Good point Guru. Also, RC Slocum has had a pretty good foot-hold in East Texas lately. I think he was very well respected by many East Texas Coaches. Now that RC's gone, maybe Bennett can leverage his existing relationships with East Texas coaches and also forge new ones.
Having a recruit's HS coach endorse a college coach appears to go a long way in getting a kid to commit to a school. The recruiting roundup coach interviews seems to echo this.

[PonyTales]

Good point about getting the endorsement of the HS coaches. Last year, the Bennett Boys had several HS coaches working at SMU's camp, and not coincidentally, some of their players (like Cedric Dorsey) ended up signing with the Ponies. One way to get a read on players SMU will recruit might be to get a list of HS coaches who are instructing at SMU's camp.

[Thumper]

Tyler Lee has some strong players this year, but they're nowhere near as loaded as they were this past season.
Count on Jerry Bennett to work his magic again — there's always a lot of talent in East Texas.