Big Recruiting Weekend.

by **03Mustang** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:09 am

Billy Joe wrote:Regardless of where SMU ends up in the rankings, it is a great group of players for coming off back-to-back 1 win seasons. I also believe this group is probably better than any group JJ recruited at Hawaii. JJ said last year that the class he put together last season in four weeks was as good or better than any class he got at Hawaii. JJ said he was 1 for 200 for players that also had a pac-10 offer. In this class, there are several players with legitimate bcs offers that are coming here instead. We now have a system in place and a unified direction . The foundation is being built before our eyes.

Agreed - go back and look at Hawaii's classes going back to 2002 on Rivals. Aside from one or two classes, it's pretty much all 2-star athletes.

by **StallionsModelT** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:17 am

Don't let facts get in the way of Stallion [deleted] in your cereal. Yes Hawaii had very low ranked classes by Rivals, but to play devil's advocate this was before Rivals started putting an emphasis on "star rankings" of junior college transfers. However, it is safe to say this class at the very least measures up to the best class Jones assembled at Hawaii.

by **Stallion** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:55 am

Here the Facts;

Our Present ranking in CUSA is 8th among 12 CUSA Teams and 7th in Average per recruit. We are presently 75th among all D1A schools and 79th in average per recruit. Its a "step in the right direction" class made stronger by transfers who probably would not have been availiable in prior years. Its not a "Glory, Glory Hallelullah-we are headed to the PROMISELAND!" class. We can and should do better as this Coaching Staff learns Texas recruiting and is better prepared. A couple of wins for momentum wouldn't hurt either. CUSA as a whole is recruiting much better than in the past from my perspective.

by **Cadillac** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:01 pm

That sounds about right. I'm optimistic that we'll end up in the top 1/2 of the CUSA, which is right where we need to be. It's hard to expect more than that until we get a few Ws under our belt.

Even that is going to be a tough two weeks pulling in a quality prospect or two.

-CoS

by **ponyboy** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:35 pm

Don't forget that recruiting's half the equation. Coaching's the other half.

by **HFvictory** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:53 pm

The best class in years for HA may be their current group...

They never had the budget to recruit, but also got some key transfer that don't show up on the recruiting rankings.

by **StallionsModelT** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:55 pm

FACT:

This class is consistent if not superior to the classes JJ assembled in Hawaii that went to multiple bowl games and won conference championships. I think we'll take that here.

by **Cadillac** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:59 pm

ponyboy wrote:Don't forget that recruiting's half the equation. Coaching's the other half.

That's why recruiting in the top half of CUSA right now is acceptable. The idea being that if your recruits are in the upper half and your coaching is on top, you'll win games. You win games, you get better recruits and then you win more games. Rinse, repeat.

If your coaching isn't above par, you'll never make it with even average recruits. And we're talking about the whole coaching package too, not just X's and O's. Can the coach develop the talent he recruits? Can he balance the academic needs of the players to keep them on the field? a coach with a history of driving a winning program has to be able to do it all.

-CoS

by **ponyboy** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:24 pm

Well said. Those points are so often underemphasized here in favor of pure recruiting.

by **jtstang** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:03 pm

Keep in mind you have to coach both sides of the ball. Given our personnel, that would included making sure your defensive backfield has a good grasp on tackling fundamentals. That makes me question the defensive coaching last season.

by **Stallion** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:06 pm

I wouldn't hazard to guess whether this class is better than Hawaii's Classes. Apparently you guys are assuming that Rivals and Scout had the resources or the ability to adequately analyze and rate players in Hawaii starting in the late 1990s. I've always wondered if that was a case. There are areas in the Country that neither recruiting service covers well. There are other areas like Texas that may be overhyped. Just who compares the a Top 350 player in Texas with a Top 25 player in Hawaii. I bet there aren't many that can really make a knowledgeable comparison. When they are deciding to award 5 stars, 4 stars and 3 stars who was standing up for the Hawaii kids saying you are overlooking the Populuoulu kid from Lahaina. I think that there are a lot of Hawaii players that ended up in the NFL-I don't have the knowledge base to know whether they were properly evaluated out of high school. It would be interesting to see Garrett's and other Hawaii fans perspective on that

by **StallionsModelT** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:10 pm

Wow Stallion. You can't have both sides of the argument. While I'll agree with you that Rivals coverage of junior college prospects was not on par with what they have now, but its not like Hawaii was bringing in a load of four and five star guys under the JJ regime. This is a class that will allow us to be competitive with our contemporaries in C-USA from a talent standpoint. If JJ is the coach we all think and hope he is then we ought to expect to be at or near the top in the conference.

by **Stallion** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:32 pm

"ts not like Hawaii was bringing in a load of four and five star guys under the JJ regime."

That's the point-I'm saying that a lot of the Polynesian guys especially in the lines and at LB have classic physical dimensions that have allowed to them reach the NFL. Were they properly analyzed for points and Stars out of high school by recruiting services. Remember Rivals and Scout weren't as thorough as they are today in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I'm pretty sure you don't have a strong handle on that-I know and admit I don't. It would be interesting to hear from people familiar with Hawaii recruiting and prospects as to whether there were hidden blue chips in Hawaii that were not properly rated.

I remember having this discussion with a prominent member of this board before and after an upset by Hawaii in the late 1990s. He told me SMU was going to blow Hawaii out because they didn't have any talent. I questioned him about how he knew that. It really didn't surprise me and I bet 3-4 of those guys who he thought had no talent ended up in the NFL.

by **StallionsModelT** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:40 pm

That may be, but you still have to give Jones and his staff credit for identifying these kids and developing them at the college level to become NFL caliber players. Why were these same kids not making it into the professional ranks under the previous Hawaii coaching staffs? This is a class that again "on paper" looks to be comparable if not superior than the classes Jones had at Hawaii. Will we have the same success? Who knows, but it certainly puts us in a position to compete within our conference. That's really all you ask for coming off back to back one win seasons.

by **Stallion** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:46 pm

I think you're just too young to remember. Hawaii had a strong program and went to alot of bowls before that Von Appen got the job and ran it into the ground in 4 years. The program was built by [deleted] Tomey who won a bunch of games but left for Arizona because he very successful/.The biggest indictment on Von Appen -he stopped recruiting Polynesians and Hawaiins. I think they only had about 19 when he left . June Jones changed that and reverted to recruiting the Island kids. There are plenty of Polynesians going into the NFL since at least the 1980s/.

Big Recruiting Weekend.

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