SMU Junior Days-Looking for Scraps?

[Stallion]

SMU has scheduled their Junior Days on March 24
So far among schools I've checked-they've all already had Junior Days including

UT
A&M
Baylor
TCU
Tech
OU
OSU
Arkansas
LSU
among others

Baylor has had its second Junior Days
A&M will have Second Junior Day this weekend
UT will have Second Junior Day weekend after next
SMU is on Winter Vacation Break II

[BB#2]

When you run your program like a .500 team in a mid major, you'll get .500 players. I love JJ's hardwork and dedication. Do you wish we had Leach now?

[ojaipony]

A lot of defeatism with a little bit of overconfidence thrown in - "we can't get the top guys but we'll get the best we can and 'coach 'um up'!"

[ojaipony]

Does anyone have a list of attendees/invitees?

[Digetydog]

I have to disagree about all the crying about the timing of our Junior day.

Simply put, all of our recruiting activities have to be built around the players we are likely to be able to sign. Going head to head against the UT's of the world is simply stupid.

Imagine a conversation:
Option A:
June: we want you to come to our Junior day on the 23rd.
Recruit: I would love to visit SMU, but I want to go to UT's Junior day on the 23rd.
June: Sorry, good luck with the Longhorns.

Option B:
June: Would you like to come to our Junior day on March 14?
Recruit: I went to see the Longhorns on the 23rd. I had a great time and think it may be the place for me.
June: While I understand your position, I think you would really fit in well at SMU and benefit from seeing what we have to offer.
June: If you visit us in March, we are confident it will be worth your time and our time.
Recruit: OK. I'll take the time to visit and see what you are offering.

[SMU 86]

We are recruiting for a BCS conference now and should be recruiting as such. To say that we should only go after players that we know well will get is almost like saying we should wait until aTm, UT, Baylor, TCU, and TTech get through picking over players and we just take what is left over. Is that still our mentality, non aggressive recruiting? If we don't want to go against Baylor and TCU in recruiting then maybe we should not have a junior day and try to get who everyone else does not want. The would be the easy path. Also, there might be other schools scheduling the second or third junior day on March 24th as well. Does SMU just look at other schools junior days and try not to schedule a junior day on that day (I hope not)?

[smubrooks]

I have to disagree about all the crying about the timing of our Junior day.

Simply put, all of our recruiting activities have to be built around the players we are likely to be able to sign. Going head to head against the UT's of the world is simply stupid.

Imagine a conversation:
Option A:
June: we want you to come to our Junior day on the 23rd.
Recruit: I would love to visit SMU, but I want to go to UT's Junior day on the 23rd.
June: Sorry, good luck with the Longhorns.

Option B:
June: Would you like to come to our Junior day on March 14?
Recruit: I went to see the Longhorns on the 23rd. I had a great time and think it may be the place for me.
June: While I understand your position, I think you would really fit in well at SMU and benefit from seeing what we have to offer.
June: If you visit us in March, we are confident it will be worth your time and our time.
Recruit: OK. I'll take the time to visit and see what you are offering.

Agree completely. just b/c our junior day is later doesn't mean it's a lesser event or we are phoning it in. Where we are currently, not many recruits (if any) are going to choose an SMU junior day over the big boys. If this is in fact the strategy JJ is using then it is a smart way to get SMU in their minds and hopefully we can steal a guy here or there.

[BrianTinBigD]

I am just amazed at the over analyzing and incessant whining associated with everything. Can we bring back SirTrollsALot and the trolls from NTSU? I mean come on people.
I was half expecting some BS comment like this:
"Based on analysis of Rivals and Scouts recruiting services since 2005, schools that have held their Junior Days on March 24th, are receiving commitments from recruits that are .83 stars lower than the commits that Alabama, Texas, and USC are getting.

[stl.pony]

This thread brings over-analysis to ridiculous levels. Let the kids come for a warm spring day in March. They will still have 10 months to decide where they want to go.

[Digetydog]

This thread brings over-analysis to ridiculous levels. Let the kids come for a warm spring day in March. They will still have 10 months to decide where they want to go.

Exactly. Some people think our recruiting strategy should be to give out offers like they are free pens at a convention. They think that we should do exactly the same things that the UT, LSU and Alabama's of the world do.

In my humble opinion:

1) we should schedule events so as to get the maximum number of good players on campus with our coaches. If a player is already committed by our Spring Day, we probably didn't have a chance at signing them anyways.

2) instead of wasting time chasing guys who dream of playing at LSU, spend time and money identifying the recruits that are actually interested in what we have to sell. We offer a great education, a great experience, and a chance for early playing time that schools like UT and LSU cannot match. If you apply yourself in class, you can get a great job after graduation. If you do well on the field, you can play in the NFL. For the right kids, that is a great message.

[Stallion]

I'm amazed that we still have Divsision 1-AA fans that think its alright to have Junior Days 6-8 weeks after ALL BCS schools in our region and a a month after most-(probably ALL-I haven't checked) have had their Second Junior Days. When can we get some BCS fans. You guys are as competitive as our jet-setting Coaching Staff. I'm waiting-25 years now and in not one of those years have we operated with the same recruiting competitive policies as ALL other BCS schools in our region. June Jones in apparently recruiting on another planet from the rest of his colleagues. Update-SMU dropped to the No. 89 Rated Recruiting Class

[Grant Carter]

Update-SMU dropped to the No. 89 Rated Recruiting Class

On Rivals.

#65 on Scout - not that that is great either.

[Digetydog]

Update-SMU dropped to the No. 89 Rated Recruiting Class

On Rivals.

#65 on Scout - not that that is great either.

I care about the team's record, not what our recruiting class is rated.

[SMU 86]

Update-SMU dropped to the No. 89 Rated Recruiting Class

On Rivals.

#65 on Scout - not that that is great either.

I care about the team's record, not what our recruiting class is rated.

For the most part team records usually reflect the recruiting classes in about 2 years. We can get away with average to sub par recruiting classes and get second in CUSA. We will not be able to do that in the BE. We'll see in 2013.

[Rebel10]

Maybe we should shoot low and get the players that are easy to get and not as talented. Goodness knows we would hate to get into a recruiting battle with someone other than UTSA and UNT. That would require major effort. Let's aim low so that we can hit the mark almost every time in recruiting. We can proclaim every class as stellar class and 3 years later the HC can say we still have a lack of depth as a team.