As soon as he went to IMG our chances of getting him went down. I am only glad that this happened quickly so that the staff can refocus and go hard after Leary and the Langan.
That's why it means nothing when recruits say "Rutgers is in the mix." They all say it and have no intention of coming here. I also said that he did not go to IMG Academy to go to Rutgers and was blasted for it. I didn't expect him to come here.
Seriously. The kid was born in 2000. Miami has been meh since he was in diapersI hear this is gonna be Miami's year.
Leary was and is my #1.198-316 3688 yards 48 TDS 4 INT. Playing for the #6 team in New Jersey that has sent over a dozen players to D-1A programs in just the last 7 years.Leary was my number 1 anyway.
His quote was more specific than the ol' "rutgers is in the mix".... it was : "The dream is to play for the home state and play for Rutgers. ". http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/i...4-star_qb_artur_sitkowski_a_priority_for.html
I assumed he was just playing to the crowd, but that kind of quote gets people's hopes up more so than the ol' "rutgers is in the mix" quote.
Something about a NJ high school kid uprooting to go to IMG football factory in Florida is off-putting. Like, it's all about football. Says something about priorities, and not necessarily good thing.
This is just the beginning. I suspect that someone will create such academies in even the cold states, because of the expansion of charter schools. Someone will figure out how to do it just right in each state. You have elite players getting grants, and you'll have wealthy families paying for their kids, then you'll have apparel sponsorships.
Eighteen year old kid is pressed by a local reporter to say something about his home state university. He says something nice. He goes to Florida where the weather is spectacular in the winter. He visits Miami, which is on a major upswing under Coach Richt. He visits Miami Beach:I am never butt hurt over where a kid chooses to play football but, this kid has been quoted with very specific statements that all of a sudden changed over night.
And while I agree that he was not a perfect fit, he was what this program needed right now. a commitment from him to us may not have automatically meant that a lot of players would follow him here but it would have bumped up the chances.My gut tells me we lost our chances on 3-4 very good players with him not coming here.
Yeah. We kind of have some of now with some of these NJ private schools that seem to think in order to survive they have to have big-time high school sports and even public schools (read about Patterson and the 5 kids from overseas where the coach was the "guardian"?). Back in the day, kids just went to the local high school...
Your narrative is totally off. Nobody pressed the kid to say anything. Fact was this was kid who loved Ash and wanted to stay home. He understood what playing for his state U meant. Then one day, he moves to IMG, tuition and relo package all mysteriously paid. See, it would have been ok, if these kids just acknowledged the truth and that's the end of it. But instead the day before he announced that he's going to IMG he calls Ash to tell him he still loves Rutgers and that Rutgers is still his destination. He tells them he just wants to be challenged better. He even emphasized that the Florida schools don't have an advantage. I mean, WTH???Eighteen year old kid is pressed by a local reporter to say something about his home state university. He says something nice. He goes to Florida where the weather is spectacular in the winter. He visits Miami, which is on a major upswing under Coach Richt. He visits Miami Beach:
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Eighteen years old. Your dreams can change quickly. I don't fault the kid one bit. Good luck to him.
Having the head coach go on the record stating that Lewis is the future of the program and gushing on about his arm strength and ability to throw the ball 80 yds downfield didn't help in recruiting another elite qb. Why come when the writing is on the wall.
This is just the beginning. I suspect that someone will create such academies in even the cold states, because of the expansion of charter schools. Someone will figure out how to do it just right in each state. You have elite players getting grants, and you'll have wealthy families paying for their kids, then you'll have apparel sponsorships.
Now you why I said I wasn't a believer in this "insider info" and wasn't going to be drawn into this.