SMU Signing Day Roundup in Houston

[lwjr]

I'm curious why the coaches would only comment on Shead's character and not his ability. I don't know if that is a concern or just an oversight by the coaches.

[SMU2007]

Sounds like more of the same crap we heard last year

[Lefty]

Yup. Telling us what excites them about players IS what we have heard in years past, and when you consider how much better the talent is now than it was a few years ago, I'm very interested in what the coaches like about the players.

[SoCal_Pony]

Mason started of by stating that we may have heard negative press about this class but not to worry about that because stars don't mean anything and the guys assigning those stars have never recruited before. He assured us it was the best class in his time at SMU.

Thanks for the update Icon. Funny that Mason would say stars don't matter, then apparently give the most glowing reports to our highest rated 'star' players, but I digress.

I follow PFs rather closely, no poster that I know says star ranking is what matters most in recruiting. IT'S OFFERS THAT MATTER, and on that front we are failing miserably.

You take away Gaines "they seem super high on. Really view him as a game changer"', Minor "will compete for a Dline spot this year" and Shead "but all they did was talk about his character and that he is a high character guy and was a former UT 4 star" and you are really left with a class that has very few BCS offers and none that would be described as quality BCS offers.

There were 40-60 in attendance, that is disappointing, yet I know these are our most loyal, many of whom must post on here. What disappoints me even more is that not even 1 of them said, 'Maybe stars don't mean anything because the guys assigning those stars have never recruited before, but the people who DO KNOW recruiting, those actually making the offers, they're not offering OUR GUYS.....why not?????' Is that so difficult a question to ask?

Seven months from now, we may or may not be playing Baylor at Ford. Can we beat them?, sure, even though we haven't in some 25 years. But remember this, that Baylor team will have players on its side of the field with 5 times more quality offers than on our side of the field.

[CA Mustang]

There were 40-60 in attendance, that is disappointing, yet I know these are our most loyal, many of whom must post on here.

I was there and agree with most of the comments about the event (What SMU fan thought they would ever set foot in the Rice Stadium club?). Unfortunately, I have to downgrade the attendance estimate. Excluding the folks employed by SMU, the number of alums and fans in attendance was around 30. Definitely less than in prior years and I don't know which factors contributed the most to the sharp decline (day of week, location, etc.).

[couch 'em]

Do you have any actual knowledge that this is the way JJ thinks? He's shown a greater than average faith in his way, but will adjust when circumstances call for it. Best example of that is what he's done with the running back talent he's been given here at SMU. More 1000 yard rushers here than he ever had anywhere else because.... gasp.... he adjusted.

Complete BS. Go pull the stats from Hawaii

[MustangIcon]

There were 40-60 in attendance, that is disappointing, yet I know these are our most loyal, many of whom must post on here.

I was there and agree with most of the comments about the event (What SMU fan thought they would ever set foot in the Rice Stadium club?). Unfortunately, I have to downgrade the attendance estimate. Excluding the folks employed by SMU, the number of alums and fans in attendance was around 30. Definitely less than in prior years and I don't know which factors contributed the most to the sharp decline (day of week, location, etc.).

I agree, CA Mustang. If you remove SMU employed folks, you are looking probably closer to 30-40 alums only. My estimate was for total people there and the high end of my estimate is likely too optimistic.

[MustangIcon]

Do you have any actual knowledge that this is the way JJ thinks? He's shown a greater than average faith in his way, but will adjust when circumstances call for it. Best example of that is what he's done with the running back talent he's been given here at SMU. More 1000 yard rushers here than he ever had anywhere else because.... gasp.... he adjusted.

I gave you a recap of the conversation I had with Coach Philips. He did not say "June would not let us make changes". But if you read what I have written there, it is pretty clear to me that June is what was holding back the adjustment in the offense. I am not out to vilify June, I actually tried to be fairly objective in what i posted in this update (except for the SEC level recruits comment by Mason) but how can you be such a June homer that you can't see the writing on the wall in what Philips said?

[MustangIcon]

I'm curious why the coaches would only comment on Shead's character and not his ability. I don't know if that is a concern or just an oversight by the coaches.

In fairness, I think there are a few reasons:

1. Suan was the one who talked about Shead the most. And he did not seem nearly as comfortable selling his 2 guys as Philips and Mason.

2. After all the hype around GG last year, and him underwhelming, maybe they are trying to keep from building that same hype around another high profile UT transfer...

3. ... additionally, he is replacing one of the greatest RB careers in SMU history, Line. Kid already has plenty enough pressure as it is.

I am just surprised that when Suan finished, Philips or Mason didn't talk about how he had a great JUCO season and how he will be an immediate difference maker on the field etc. Seems to me that he should be, so wonder why they wouldn't make a bigger deal of it.

[Stallion]

Why we wasting our time worrying about whether Shead is a top prospect?

[MustangIcon]

Why we wasting our time worrying about whether Shead is a top prospect?

It would be comforting to feel like he is going to be an impact RB for us considering we just lost our 4 year starter and the other guys we have on campus already have been in June's doghouse (rightfully or not, they are).

[ponyboy]

Do you have any actual knowledge that this is the way JJ thinks? He's shown a greater than average faith in his way, but will adjust when circumstances call for it. Best example of that is what he's done with the running back talent he's been given here at SMU. More 1000 yard rushers here than he ever had anywhere else because.... gasp.... he adjusted.

Complete BS. Go pull the stats from Hawaii

Shawnbrey McNeal was JJ's first collegiate 1,000 yard rusher. Zach Line was his second.

[Stallion]

Nothing is for certain but he is definitely among the Top 3 prospects in this Class. He is something like the 3rd best rusher in Texas High School Football History (but only Class 1A Cayuga) and easily the best RB in a very strong, competitive JUCO Conference where about half the starters end up in Division 1A. You should be more concerned about the other 20 recruits. This was a damn lucky break. Plenty of video on him on internet

[CA Mustang]

What disappoints me even more is that not even 1 of them said, 'Maybe stars don't mean anything because the guys assigning those stars have never recruited before, but the people who DO KNOW recruiting, those actually making the offers, they're not offering OUR GUYS.....why not?????' Is that so difficult a question to ask?

That question wasn't asked but Mason and the other coaches addressed it on a number of players. Reasons given usually included injuries, postion changes, bad teams and simply being overlooked (OL from Samoa). In a couple of cases, players committed to SMU early and ignored late offers from bigger schools (I believe that especially applied to the recruits from AZ).

It would have to be evaluated on a player-by-player basis to see what is true vs. exaggeration.

[JasonB]

What disappoints me even more is that not even 1 of them said, 'Maybe stars don't mean anything because the guys assigning those stars have never recruited before, but the people who DO KNOW recruiting, those actually making the offers, they're not offering OUR GUYS.....why not?????' Is that so difficult a question to ask?

That question wasn't asked but Mason and the other coaches addressed it on a number of players. Reasons given usually included injuries, postion changes, bad teams and simply being overlooked (OL from Samoa). In a couple of cases, players committed to SMU early and ignored late offers from bigger schools (I believe that especially applied to the recruits from AZ).

It would have to be evaluated on a player-by-player basis to see what is true vs. exaggeration.

I would have to point out, though, that this always happens. Players get "offered" verbally at the end of the cycle. Have no idea if it actually happens or not, but rivals doesn't update the offers. That happens at every school in the country, so ignoring those last minute offers actually balances out amongst the schools, so I wouldn't worry about it.

This class is definitely less regarded from a ranking and offer standpoint than the last three. I do think the staff as a whole does a good job of evaluating talent, other than the large gap we had at OL and WR 3 and 4 years ago. We will see if their evaluation wins in a couple of years.