tOfficial 2008 Football Recruiting Thread

BillOGoods · 01-09-2008, 11:17 PM

For those disgruntled about recruiting, I say:

1. Dantonio has done quite well with his first class. Good evidence he's actually a very good recruiter. Solid recruiter.

2. Nevertheless, I'm not sure what to make of the star system. I haven't seen any hard evidence that it's worth while. But, whether it is or isn't, we aren't going to get large numbers of four and five star guys until our Program starts to make statements that it's ready to be a top 15 program on a regular basis. So, until then, what we need to do is keep our proven talent in the Program for four or even five years. Yes, convince them early that they need to play out their eligibility---not jump to the NFL.

The only exception here, like Nike Saban says in his book How Good Do You Want To Be?, is when the player is guaranteed to be a first round draft choice. Devin Thomas, notwithstanding that he appears to have left the Program with class, should have stayed and been another senior leader. I'm not exactly sure how this would be done, but the potential stars who are going to be juniors next season and could potentially have good enough seasons to have a shot at being drafted should be schooled, now, about staying and what it means to them and this Program to stay.

I know people hate to hear it, but Bo's promise that "Those who stay will be champions," must, in some form or fashion, become a mantra in this Program. Then we neutralize the major programs that are sucking up all the four and five stars in large numbers. Man, how good would we be with the LSU offensive line? But we can have that effect at a lot of positions by keeping guys for four or five years that could have left.

When we become an established big time program, again, we can absorb the odd departures of second or third rounders that get, basically, bad or marginal advice from agents. That will be the day when we literally are reloading with equal or greater talent at very high levels, each year.

01-09-2008, 11:17 PM	#4751 (permalink)
BillOGoods 5,000+ posts Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Bingham Farms, Michigan Posts: 5,278	For those disgruntled about recruiting, I say: 1. Dantonio has done quite well with his first class. Good evidence he's actually a very good recruiter. Solid recruiter. 2. Nevertheless, I'm not sure what to make of the star system. I haven't seen any hard evidence that it's worth while. But, whether it is or isn't, we aren't going to get large numbers of four and five star guys until our Program starts to make statements that it's ready to be a top 15 program on a regular basis. So, until then, what we need to do is keep our proven talent in the Program for four or even five years. Yes, convince them early that they need to play out their eligibility---not jump to the NFL. The only exception here, like Nike Saban says in his book How Good Do You Want To Be?, is when the player is guaranteed to be a first round draft choice. Devin Thomas, notwithstanding that he appears to have left the Program with class, should have stayed and been another senior leader. I'm not exactly sure how this would be done, but the potential stars who are going to be juniors next season and could potentially have good enough seasons to have a shot at being drafted should be schooled, now, about staying and what it means to them and this Program to stay. I know people hate to hear it, but Bo's promise that "Those who stay will be champions," must, in some form or fashion, become a mantra in this Program. Then we neutralize the major programs that are sucking up all the four and five stars in large numbers. Man, how good would we be with the LSU offensive line? But we can have that effect at a lot of positions by keeping guys for four or five years that could have left. When we become an established big time program, again, we can absorb the odd departures of second or third rounders that get, basically, bad or marginal advice from agents. That will be the day when we literally are reloading with equal or greater talent at very high levels, each year. __________________ I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 12 (167 BC). Last edited by BillOGoods; 01-09-2008 at 11:21 PM.