One SMU Commit-Keeping Options Open

[Stallion]

http://ulm.scout.com/2/873567.html

[George S. Patton]

This is the kid with offers from Monroe and SFA?

[westexSMU]

I have to say, I just don't understand why we are offering this guy unless he is SOLID on committing to SMU...I mean we offer last week, then he says, we might get beat out by MONROE ??? Last year Monroe took 28 recruits in their class but was rated #114...

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

I am not saying anything about this kid in particular and he may very well become a Mustang and be successful here. But why are you guys so shocked if a 17 year old kid may choose a lesser school? Maybe a kid realizes he's going to have to hit the books at SMU and it would cut into party time. I would think a few small town kids could be intimidated on a visit to SMU, discussing with academic counselors what will be expected of them at SMU. At 17-18 many of us made short term decisions that maybe were not the best choices, but we were thinking about the next semester not the next decades of our lives. All I am saying is some may choose a slower pace and avoid academic challenges that face an SMU football player. When a player would choose a school like LA Monroe over SMU it not automatically a poor reflection on SMU.

[OC Mustang]

If the guy wants to be a coach in high school, he's probably going to want a Kinesiology (sp?) degree. Not one at SMU. Architecture? Not one at SMU. There are a myriad of reasons a kid would pick a D-1AA school or a non-BCS D-1A school that isn't SMU. The fact that we automatically assume the kid wants a slower pace isn't necessarily one of the reasons either. It can simply be because the kid likes the other school better.

A kid from Mt. Enterprise, a 1A school in East Texas...really has one helluva adjustment to make going to Dallas...let alone SMU. We should leave him alone. If Jones & Co. want him, they can fight that battle with him on the facts. I don't like SMU being strung along, but I'm not going to write the kid off this early in the commitment process if he isn't truly sure.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

"The fact that we automatically assume the kid wants a slower pace isn't necessarily one of the reasons either"

Agreed....thats why I said "maybe". There could be many reasons.

[kent dorfman]

One must look at the individual. A kid favoring the SFA's and ULM's of the world over SMU might just be facing a values clash when confronted with the big pompous city (Dallas) and the big pompous university (SMU). We tend to look at these kids more as athletes than people sometimes. Nothing wrong with that but it is something to keep in mind. The best football players probably want to pursue their football career as opposed to a career in real estate finance or something like that.

When I was 17/18 I didn't have much ambitiion, so I spent my first semester of undergrad at that school in Fort Worth. Then I got a clue.

[George S. Patton]

Bottom line: If we lose a player to ULM to SFA or something, it says two things.

1. It free another spot for somebody else.
2. It shows this staff cannot even hang on to players who are being courted by lesser programs. MAJOR RED FLAG in my mind.

Sorry, I'll be impressed when I start hearing we are winning our share of recruiting battles against Tulsa, TCU and Houston.

So far, I haven't seen where we have done that.

[ALEX LIFESON]

I hate to interrupt the complaining, but, Scout did a interview with him last night, and he is solid to SMU. There is some free info for you General Patton.

[George S. Patton]

There is some free info for you General Patton.

If there is, I can't find a way to get to it.

[ALEX LIFESON]

I just gave you the free info, you have to be a member to read the story, if you have joined recently, my apologies.

[Dement-ed]

2. It shows this staff cannot even hang on to players who are being courted by lesser programs. MAJOR RED FLAG in my mind.

It shows nothing of the sort, any more than getting a BCS recruit to change to us (Taylor Thompson) means we're suddenly on par in recruiting with the SEC. Kids change their minds — we all did when we were 18.

How many of Coach Jones' recruits in his first two classes at SMU changed their minds when "courted by a lesser program"? Would this guy be the first? If Pope walks, it is not an indication that we "cannot even hang on" to certain players. If a flood of them change, that might indicate something, but stop trying to generate drama without any basis or merit.

[Stallion]

depends what you call a lesser program-hard to define after the last two years-but Rufus Porter was a similar situation.

[Top 25]

Why are you guys paying any attention to the opinions of Beetle Bailey?