SMU Still Looking For QBs

[Stampede]

JT, don't be such a dark cloud. You are always so pessimstic. My apologies... always is too strong....how about letting a little sunshsine in and brighten your outlook? It really is not as bad as you feel.

SMU does have alot of positives to sell for itself. Coach Bennett has said many, many times..."if we can simply get 'em on campus and let them see how great our place is...we have a great shot at signing 'em".

The sunshine is beating down on you!!!

[jtstang]

Dude, I'm just looking for the answer...If SMU and Bennett have all these things to offer, then why is Stallion right when he points out that of the higher caliber recruits to whom we make offers, we don't get commitments? And then, like that kid whe went to Baylor, you say they're too fat anyway when we don't get them? I'm the one who coined the term sunshine as it applies on this board...please do not try to blow sunshine up my @ss.

[SoCal_Pony]

Congratulations RGV,

You wisely selected 3 of the best non-BCS programs in the country. Here is why all are inferior to SMU.

San Diego State is the NTSU of Southern California; a commuter school with an academic reputation that is actually below NTSU, if you can believe it. Climate is unbeatable, but SMU’s facilities and proximity to talent pool plus the commuter factor gives us an edge.

CSU is fine if you are from that area or like to ski; problem for them is not too many people are. AVERAGE temperature during December is below freezing and it gets colder in January. Fact is almost half of all days during the year have temperatures that drop below freezing. Black population is miniscule, recruiting pool is considerably lower in Colorado than Texas; we also have a superior academic reputation. Advantage SMU.

Tulane is a terrific school, no doubt. Problem IMO is New Orleans is a sh!* hole of a city that reminds me of Philly; great place to visit, not so great a place to live. Our advantage over Tulane is the recruiting pool around Dallas versus NO. It is close, but edge goes to SMU.

Finally, make fun of our empty seats all you want, but Tulane and SDS both play off-campus in stadiums well over twice the size of Ford. They have empty-seat syndrome as well, except in their case it is worse…far worse. Big advantage SMU.

Conclusion: You have presented 3 quality schools, ours happens to be the best, or at least has the potential to be the best.

[RGV Pony]

SoCal:

Well done on your responses. I agree the most with your assessment that SMU has the potential to be the best of the bunch.

I think that top-notch (i.e. top 100 Rivals) generally don't care as much about academic rep, though.

I do agree w/ you about New Orleans. My wife's from Baton Rouge, though, and my stepdaughter grad. from a pvt school in N.O., so I hear conflicting points of view. My take on the place is that the whole place is not unlike the bad part of Northwest Highway. I think that you may be off center regarding the recruiting base of N.O., though; the problem with that place isn't that there aren't an abundance of great athletes; rather, it's prying them away from LSU.

[04stang]

stallion, are you phillips' girlfriend??? he got a MEDICAL redshirt last year, he will redshirt next year so that he can get a sixth year...stallion, you have no clue what you are talking about. i really think its hilarious how you think phillips is going to be the qb or bennet is gone...even though he just got signed till 08....stallion youre an IDIOT. eckert will be our guy, i think that he has proved himself and we need to realize that. We have an improving football team guys, i absolutely think we have a shot at winng 9 or 10 games next year, the kids have gotten better and are going to continue to get better. RIVALS POLLS AND ALL OF THE OTHER ONES MEAN NOTHING PEOPLE!!! bennet will do a great job recruiting, even if the players arent on the DAMN POLLS, ill be willing to bet they will still be great football players

[DallasDiehard]

Easy there, 04. Your relationship with Eckert is fine, but calling 9 or 10 wins next year is pretty gutsy, don't you think? Especially when you consider we're adding A&M to the schedule and moving into a tougher conference. Hey, I hope you're being too cautious (meaing we would in fact go 11-0), but that's a big prediction. Let's win the first one and then worry about win #2.

[Stallion]

I sometimes don't know why I bother but-- DORK you can't take a redshirt year AFTER a medical hardship year. Come back next December and tell me all about our 9-10 game winning season-(God I hate the offseason when we have to suffer through yet another series of Cheerleader fearless prediction). I've had Cheerleaders telling me I don't know what I'm talking about for at least the last 10 years-and guess what-they were the ones looking like idiots by the end of September.

[HFvictory]

I sometimes don't know why I bother but-- DORK you can't take a redshirt year AFTER a medical hardship year.

Exactly, the only way to get a 6th year is to get a hardship waiver, you can't elect to take a RS to get the 6th year. Usually a hardship waiver is granted for a 6th year only if two years are missed because of injury, as in the case of Jason White. Not the case being discussed, but generally a hardship waiver is not given if one of the years lost is due to RSing, but never can you RS to get the 6th year.

[MUSTANGFOREVER69]

With a special thanks to our Webmaster both for running this wonderful board and for helping my incompeten arse to get on here from my house (where I didn't have my password), I feel a need to make just a few points as they relate to this extended thread.

First, to Stallion, regarding my post from the other night. When I referred to a '79 RB recruit as Michael Young, I was wrong as you correctly noted. However, I wasn't thinking about Mitchell Bennett (who was an incredibly fast WR we recruited in '79 from Bonham - who unfortunately never contributed since he never made his grades). The RB I was thinking about was Michael Charles (from Houston Yates - not to be confused with the great Michael Young who was a BBall player from Yates who played on U of H's Phi Slamma Jamma teams - my mistake - sorry). There is a good point to made here though. Both Mitchell Bennett and Stanley Godine ( who we signed in the '79 class) were considered by many to be the best at their respective positions - Godine was a DB from Houston Kashmere whose older brother had been a semi-star BBall player at A&M a few years earlier. Like Mitchell Bennett, Stanley Godine never played a down for us, and both flunked out of school like Marcus Mobley did more recently. Thus, my point: all of these players were considered to be stars coming out of high school, yet none of them ever did anything at the college level. How would R ivals have rated them back then? And, when I ask that, I'm not trying to rip you Stallion. My point is quite simple. Neither the recruiting services (and, I did remember the name of the Michigan guy who used to sell his product from his basement - Joe Terranova) nor coaches for that matter are perfect at predicting success at the college level for high school "superstars". For every ED, there is a Marquis Dupree and probably more than one. Peruna Punch (below) makes several good points on this subject. Like you, Stallion, I've been subscribing to every damn recruiting service I can get for years. And, as Peruna Punch does, I also talk to coaches both at SMU and other colleges and high schools. And, as Punch correctly says, you have to absorb it all - take a lot of it with a grain of salt - and reach your own conclusions. And, even then, you will still be disappointed when some player you personally are convinced is a star in the making turns out to be a complete jerk.

Peruna Punch talks about it as not being "Rocket Science." To me it's all wishful thinking. I still remember talking to a certain Recruiting Coordinator in Coach Cavan's regime about a Baton Rouge, Louisiana 5-A RB who had committed to us the night before signing day, and I inquired about how tight we were with him. He said not to worry that he was a lock. I asked when he last talked to him, and he said that he talked to him several days earlier. I asked if he thought that it might not be a good idea to let the recruit know that we still wanted him, and he said to me that I shouldn't worry - we had it locked. I said "have you considered whether Tulane's new coach Scelfo might make a move on him, and he said "no way!". Well, Mewelde Moore signed with Tulane, and he's now playing on Sundays with Minnesota. So what does it all mean? Who knows? But, I'll still put my money on Phil Bennett and his staff over Rivals.com. There still are 2-A players like ED and Blake Warren who coaches find and the Recruiting services like Rivals and Joe Terranova just can't evaluate.

[Stallion]

you are right about Moore committing to us-but the real story is a little different. The 48 hours before signing date is a quiet period-no contact can be made. Tulane had very limited scholarships to give that year-something like 12 and they were full. However, on the morning of signing date one of their recruits switched a signed a LOI with I believe the Aggies. Moore says he was contacted on the morning of signing date and asked if he was still interested in Tulane. So the story told by Moore is that he actually changed his commitment on signing date and SMU coaches couldn't have contacted him on the two days before signing date. As for Godine-you're right he was the biggest bust perhaps in the history of the school. He also gained about 30 pounds and was never in shape-may have had a knee injury too(can't recall its been so long) but I remember at the practices I went to he didn't suit up and instead just had him running laps. You are completely correct-half of the superstar recruits will not turn into great players-that's why it is essential to recruit a deep class so you still get quality players. But the percentages of getting top players is MUCH MUCH higher. Look at the Derrick Johnson(Butkas Award), Benson (Doak Walker award), Linert(Heisman Trophy), Reggie Bush(perhaps the greatest athlete in College Football) not to mention the Dickersons, Petersons, Billy Sims, Earl Cambell etc-they were all the Bluest of the Blue Chippers. And if you follow recruiting you know that its no coincidence that USC, UT, Auburn and OU are at the top of the rankings. As for Charles he was a nice recruit too but who knows what might have been-he had no chance at playing time at TB behind Dickerson, James, Waggonner and then Dupard and Atkins. Didn't Charles get significant playing time at FB-Perfect example of how the best teams stack the talent high and deep. I think you made my point-so many busts and yet SMU ended up with the best winning percentage in the country for a 5 year period-simply because they were such outstanding deep recruiting seasons.

[MUSTANGFOREVER69]

No offense, Stallion, but I am infinitely familiar with what happened with Mewelde Moore. I am familiar with the no contact rule. But, I did talk with our Recruiting Coordinator before the signing date and had the discussion I recounted above. And, it was at a time when he could have (but chose not to) contacted Mewelde legally. Scelfo never came into the picture until those last few moments. Mewelde Moore was and still is a tremendous baseball player. And his first and foremost desire was to play for LSU. But, LSU was filled up with 'ships and the best Saban could do was to try to convince Mewelde to walk on. He wasn't interested, and when Scelfo got wind of what was going on, guess who made the move on Mewelde Moore? It wasn't us. And, our Recruiting Coordinator wouldn't listen to anything I was telling him about what was going on - and Stallion, for what it's worth, I do know about what I speak on this subject - I grew up (hopefully) in New Orleans, and I still know a lot about what's happenin' with respect to Tulane and LSU football. And what I'm saying on this subject did happen - even though it wasn't reported on Rivals. But, you know what? I was at the SMU-Tulane game the following fall when Tulane kicked our asses and I watched Mewelde Moore break that long TD against us. I knew that Coach Bennett didn't have any idea about what our relationship with Mewelde Moore had been, so I refrained from breaking his heart by telling him - Hell, he had enough problems with what Coach Cavan's staff had left behind as it was - he didn't need to know that because of the laziness of his predecessor's staff, the guy who was running all over the field against us and catching passes out of the backfield against us should have been doing same in our uniform against our opponent. And Rivals couldn't have made a Tinker's Damn on how this came to pass. It just did!

[Stallion]

Mewelde Moore and Scefco have publicly disputed what you say. The offer by Tulane was not made until the morning of signing date because Tulane didn't have the scholarship to give to make the offer until the morning of signing date.

[Stallion]

here's confirmation of Moore and Scefco's version I mentioned above. http//tulanegreenwave.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082102aaa.html.
Maybe you owe that old recruiting coordinator from SMU an apology because there is nothing SMU could (legally) have done to prevent Moore from signing with Tulane.

[jtstang]

We have an improving football team guys, i absolutely think we have a shot at winng 9 or 10 games next year, the kids have gotten better and are going to continue to get better.

Go post somewhere else fool, you have no more credibility here.

[04stang]

I have no more credibility here?? Im trying to tell you guys facts because i KNOW what the rules are, lets just say its part of my job to know what the rules are, the only way phillips can get a sixth year is if he takes a redshirt next year you fools...as soon as i try to tell you we have an improved football team, you idiots try to say i dont have credibility anymore on this site??? I have said nothing but the truth on here, and you bunch of band geeks just think you know what you are talking about, when A LOT of people are laughing at what you are writing stallion & jtstang. What i am saying is not just a prediction, it is something that can very well happen...a 9 or 10 win season

as far as phillips goes, i think he is a great kid and tries very hard, but is not a good qb. i remember at the beginning of the season you people dogging eckert because he hasnt proven himself...what the heck has phillips proved??? Not a DAMN thing, and without eckert i believe we would have won only 1 game, and i KNOW what im talking about, because i am an athelete, not just some retired bang geek who thinks he know football; aint that right stallion???

As far as credibility goes, im laughing at both stallion and jtstang, get a life guys