SMU current offers

[me@smu]

To take from another thread, Stallion was commenting on the 7 committments UT already has (out of 19 offered) and the 5 that A&M has (out of 29).

Hard for us to compare when we have extended an offer to only three players:

Mathew Stafford (QB), Adron Trennell (WR) and Cody Williams (DE)

[Col. Nathan R. Jessep]

Would it be naive to think that the reason we've held back on early offers is that there may be some late DI transfers become available? Given the recent announcements & rumors of players transferring and/or injured players quitting, does anybody have a grasp on available scholarships?

[Fresh]

Good eye, Colonel. I don't think that's naive at all.

[me@smu]

While it isn't naive to hold back a couple of scholarships...doesn't it make sense to be offering to some of these kids who went to the junior day?

[PK]

Even if there are some late D1 transfers becoming available, there aren't going to be 20 of them, so to be putting 10 to 15 offers out there now to juniors (assuming you can really get that good an idea of who is going to be worth it after their senior year) shouldn't be any problem. The problem I see is getting too carried away making offers at this point when some of these kids may have peaked and won't get any better or get seriously injured during the fall.

[me@smu]

Just as a matter of curiosity, a school can withdraw an offer at any time correct? Besides the negative PR, are there any other penalties associated with withdrawing the scholarship offer?

[Buddha]

I believe so, up until the player signs. However, most college coaches resist that urge, for fear of burning bridges with the exiled player's HS coach (and the coach's friends in the profession who might frown on such a move).

[Stallion]

Coaches pull UNACCEPTED offers all the time especially if another player at the kid's position commits.

[me@smu]

Alright so if we can pull specially if they haven't been accepted, then why are we still sitting on three offers (that are known?).

[EastStang]

Because, we haven't had better players actually accept offers at those positions. It doesn't hurt to leave the offer out there until we need it. If any one of those two super star players actually committed, it would be a huge, and I mean HUGE coup.

[me@smu]

EastStang didn't mean why don't we pull it from those three, meant why are we waiting so long to put out more offers? Considering that Rivals only has three for us right now.

By the way, completely agree that getting any of those three studs would be a huge coup

[Stallion]

let me suggest that you relax for a few months. SMU has made more offers than appears in Rivals. Rivals knows more about UTs and A&Ms offers because they have scouts that focus exclusively on UT and A&M recruiting. Therefore, when UT & A&M have a camp the rumor mill about offers and their own observations leads those scouts to call the players who stood out or may have received offers. Reports of offers are only published after recruits are called. SMU on the other hand sometimes has trouble even getting these top recruits on campus. So SMU's crop is generally a little less(or more accurately) a lot less high profile.

[SWC2010]

Coaches pull UNACCEPTED offers all the time especially if another player at the kid's position commits.

Da mn right...

[Roach]

As Stallion said, we need to get guys on campus.
When is the first camp?

[I AM]

I'm not disagreeing with Stallion, but I think it would be more accurate to state that the difference in Rivals’ and Insiders’ coverage of the Mustangs vs. the UTs and A&Ms of the world has more to do with the number of paid subscriptions than it does the caliber of athlete (although certainly that’s a factor as well) being recruited.

The reason the recruiting services have such in-depth coverage of the big state schools is that there’s usually enough subscription money to warrant hiring one or more full-time journalists to cover sports at those schools. Conversely, I know for a fact that both Rivals and Insiders are looking for someone to cover SMU, but the balance sheet doesn’t work. There’s simply not enough potential income from SMU’s fan base (comparatively small number of alumni, Dallas apathy, poor record in football in recent years) to support a full-time staffer. From an educational standpoint, there’s a huge benefit to having only a few thousand undergrads. But the downside is that you don’t have a zillion alumni willing to fork over $5 a month to pay for a fan website.

Is easy to see when some of the more highly regarded athletes in the state who come to SMU (Boren, Massey, Vincent Chase) get comparatively little coverage, whereas any scrub who finagles a scholarship from UT is heralded as the next coming of Earl Campbell. Chris Hall got a heck of a lot more pub when he reneged on his commitment than when he made it.

But Stallion is completely correct about the number of SMU offers. Of course those offers would be a heck of a lot more newsworthy once they start turning into commitments, but that has yet to happen for '06.