The pirate recruiting
- Thread starter BIGDAWG44
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He has recruited at about the same historical level of his last two jobs. I think he actually elevated Washington State’s recruiting profile a decent amount.
If he can keep us in the 20-30 range that would be fine.
If he can keep us in the 20-30 range that would be fine.
no. there is ZERO talent in Pullman washington and a few in Lubbock. This is a gold mine for him. Per Cohens interview, one of the first things he said was he was excited to come to Mississippi where there was actual talent he could recruit that wasnt 1500 miles from campus.
https://247sports.com/college/washi...ng-class-rankings-history-insights-114738095/
According to that article and updating it to include the last two years, he averaged 49.5, while the school averaged 48.8 in the previous 10 years.
The contention that he seems to recruit right at the school's historic pace seems pretty accurate.
According to that article and updating it to include the last two years, he averaged 49.5, while the school averaged 48.8 in the previous 10 years.
The contention that he seems to recruit right at the school's historic pace seems pretty accurate.
I have been to Lubbock Texas.....I don’t think Saban would be able to recruit top 10 classes there....
The two big reservations about Leach:
crootin - exactly what messageboardsuperhero said
defense - he’s actually a nice bit better than those schools traditionally are
Basically all of his “knocks” are bs based on a lack of self-promotion and the refusal to ever go full Freeze in recruiting.
crootin - exactly what messageboardsuperhero said
defense - he’s actually a nice bit better than those schools traditionally are
Basically all of his “knocks” are bs based on a lack of self-promotion and the refusal to ever go full Freeze in recruiting.
To just be completely non PC about it, you need a high percentage of large, athletic black players to win at college football and have for multiple decades now. Leach, for the first time now, is coaching at a school surrounded by that profile of player. Let's wait and see what he can do in this situation, because he's never had it before.
TEs will go away. Go check Wazzu's roster.
We've never recruited OL well anyway, so nothing will change there.
We will always have a running back.
As long as our DC is competent, we'll be fine on defense.
The TE thing will be very interesting. He very rarely uses one, but we've had quite a few good ones through the years. I don't think he's opposed to it if he finds the right guy and doesn't need him as a DE, but he's always said great TE's are very rare.
He used TEs in Lubbock.
We have TEs here.
Time will tell if he uses, converts, or processes them.
We have TEs here.
Time will tell if he uses, converts, or processes them.
Mike Leach always tried to recruit Mississippi Junior Colleges when he was at Tech. He was successful a few times.
I think most are going to be surprised at how hard the defense plays. Being from Lubbock, I don't remember watching Tech play and seeing the defense not playing with great effort. They weren't able to get great athletes on that side of the ball most of the time because there just isn't a lot of local elite athletes. He had to go to Houston/Dallas for the leftovers a lot, but he had his moments. Dwayne Slay (Darius' cousin), for example, was one of the most physical safeties I've ever seen play. Yes, even more physical than Nickoe Whitley.
Really hate that we aren't gonna have Willie Gay. I think he would have loved playing for Leach.
I think most are going to be surprised at how hard the defense plays. Being from Lubbock, I don't remember watching Tech play and seeing the defense not playing with great effort. They weren't able to get great athletes on that side of the ball most of the time because there just isn't a lot of local elite athletes. He had to go to Houston/Dallas for the leftovers a lot, but he had his moments. Dwayne Slay (Darius' cousin), for example, was one of the most physical safeties I've ever seen play. Yes, even more physical than Nickoe Whitley.
Really hate that we aren't gonna have Willie Gay. I think he would have loved playing for Leach.
Safe to say he is not a stellar recruiter but it's not like we're use to top 10 recruiting classes. We'll still pull good talent for defense and RB simply by our recruiting footprint but what drop off we do have due to lazy recruiting we'll gain simply by the fact skill players will want to be in an offense that'll throw the ball 4-5,000 yards a season.
We'll drop a bit in recruiting but expect us to hang around in the upper to lower 30s. Meh.
For work, I had to drive from Midland/Odessa to a town just north Amarillo. It was the worst drive of my life. It's like driving on the moon with the occasional truck stop and windmill farm. Lubbock is absolutely in the the middle of nowhere. It's a decent enough town, but holy hell, the drive to it makes any drive on 82 feel like you are going through Manhattan.
I know the irony of a MSU fan discussing desolation, but my God, we have room to talk.
I know the irony of a MSU fan discussing desolation, but my God, we have room to talk.
Lubbock is in one of the most talent rich states in the country.
There are direct flights to lubbock from Houston, DFW area, and Austin. 2 of the 5 largest metros in the country are in stare and have direct flights. Add to that Phoenix is direct and 3 of the 10 largest metros have direct flights.
Yes, Lubbock is not near much. Buncha sorghum and cotton. But it's not like there was a void of talent available.
Winning and a program to buy into is more important than location.
Starkville, norman, Champaign urbana, ames, etc- tons of schools exist in towns that are smaller/isolated and recruits still come(considering all programs overall).
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vi...p/2019/12/21/21026744/ttu-football-recruiting
Driving to recruit, rather than flying, is a huge advantage. Head coaches certainly can fly in private jets, but for the most part the assistants are taking commercial flights. That's why so many recruit the big cities with large hubs - it's simply easier to get to.
While everyone and their mom is recruiting DFW and Houston along with Texas Tech, we on the other hand have MS, LA, AR, west TN and AL that we can easily access by car.
Ya'll are overthinking.
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Malcolm Johnson, Donald Lee, Reggie Kelly, Kendell Watkins, Jesse Anderson. 5 NFL draft picks since the Sherrill Era. Call it what you will.
ETA Jordan Thomas, so 6.
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an average of 10 spot drop would be significantly worse than anywhere he’s been before. Recruiting is going to stay about the same
I was referring to the convenience of commercial flights for players to travel from home to school and back. Its the same thing for Iowa State(and many other schools)- direct flights from Des Moines to Dallas and Houston increases the odds of successfully recruiting those areas.
And Starkville is closer to, and easier to get to, than Lubbock is from Houston. (9 hours vs 8 hours)
It's a couple hours closer to Dallas, (5 hour drive)
MSU is closer to Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, Baton Rouge than Lubbock is to the closest of the places you listed. So yes Texas has a lot of talent, but there is more in a 9 hour drive radius from Starkville, than there is in a 9 hour drive around Lubbock or Pullman.
And Pullman (WSU) is much more isolated than Lubbock.
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I was saying Dallas is a couple hours closer to Lubbock than Starkville is.
Lubbock is 5 hours from Dallas (per Google)
Starkville is 7.5 from Dallas
And Dallas is the closest city recruiting hotbed to Lubbock.
Think of all the places you can drive in 5-9 hours from Starkville
Now look at Pullman:
It's 5 hours to Seattle
5.5 to Boise
5.5 to Portland
10 hours to Salt Lake
14 hours to Sacramento
16 hours to Denver
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And Starkville is closer to, and easier to get to, than Lubbock is from Houston. (9 hours vs 8 hours)
It's a couple hours closer to Dallas, (5 hour drive)
MSU is closer to Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, Baton Rouge than Lubbock is to the closest of the places you listed. So yes Texas has a lot of talent, but there is more in a 9 hour drive radius from Starkville, than there is in a 9 hour drive around Lubbock or Pullman.
And Pullman (WSU) is much more isolated than Lubbock.
Dallas to Lubbock is 350mi. Dallas to Starkville is 530mi.
Houston to Lubbock is 530mi. Houston to Starkville is 570mi.
I have no idea why you imbedded a map showing the % of HS players per state who were recruited to play D1(which is different from actually played D1). What does this show/prove?
The state of Texas has the same population as Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee combined.
I really have no idea why you imbedded the map which(doesnt) show how remote Pullman is. That seems to be outside any point being discussed here.
Google maps says the drive to lubbock from Dallas is 5 hours. Dallas to Starkville is 7.5 per Google maps.
Google maps says Houston to Starkville is 8 hours and that Houston to Lubbock is 9 hours.
As to the first map, the point is in a 9 hour drive of Starkville, you get the very red (lots of DI players) MS, LA, AL, GA, FL vs the not so red states of NM, AZ, CO. Since Lubbock is approximately the same distance from the Texas metros as Starkville, Ignore that. Case in point:
https://247sports.com/player/michael-crabtree-14389/
https://247sports.com/player/fred-ross-14136/
Notice anything about the above 2?
Crabtree was the top rated jewel of TTU's class. 5 hours away from his HS to Lubbock
Ross was our #3 rated player. 6.5 hours from MSU to Tyler.
Also, in sports, only so many players get to play. So that late developing 6'1" QB at Rosa Fort, that had to be one of the best 22 out of 521, doesn't get to play at Cypress Ranch (3,114)
I don't know if you have driven from Dallas or Houston, to Lubbock but there is not a good way to get there. You end up driving through many small towns and it takes forever. Contrast with MS25 bypassing everything and it faster. Period.
The second map charts the 5* players.
But for recruiting.
I think he signs Rufus Harvey. he is rated the same as Danny Amendola was a 3* 0.8333 rated player (also, Same as Cam Gardner)
Garrett Shrader was ranked the same as Graham Harrell (4* 0.92)
Leach has never had the amount of talent we have.
Dude, you have no 17ing idea what you're talking about.
Have you ever even been to Lubbock?
There are no major highways to get there and it's dusty as 17.
Norman is practically a suburb of OKC and 2-3 hours from the DFW Metroplex, a direct shot down 35.
Champaign-Urbana, IL is less than 3 hours from Chicago and 2 hours from Indianapolis, all Interstate.
Ames is more remote, but it's still 3 hours from KC and Minneapolis. It's as close to Chicago and Milwaukee as Lubbock is to Dallas. Also, TT beat ISU in recruiting every year Leach was in Lubbock.
Really, the fact you called Norman "smaller/isolated" shows you know nothing about the area.
lol who? Malcolm Johnson was the last good one and he didn’t get the ball enough. Who before that?
1- yes Ive been to Lubbock. Many times for work, actually.
2- I grew up in the Chicago area- Champaign Urbana is 17ing remote, and half my class when there. Ive been there a dozen times probably- its not some place that recruits are going to look at and say- damn, this place is rocking!
3- I included Norman because they pull excellent recruits, but just like point 2- it isnt some hopping place. I grouped a bunch of college towns that I dont view as destinations and tagged them under the same title. I should have expanded the title to 'smaller/isolated/not a destination/remote/boring/exists due to college'. Please accept my new longer title as well as my apologies for being lazy and not typing that out the first time.
Yes Lubbock is remote. As a school they enroll 37000 people and are the 3rd largest school in that state in a major conference. The metro has over 300K. It is a massive university in a city with major sports. There is absolutely a draw when it comes to sports- all those things are good for them, in spite of it not being close to eastern state cities. The basketball team can recruit just fine- they have back to back top 20 classes and the signees over the last few classes are top150 players with a mix of high 4* and 5*.
I was simply saying(at the beginning of this) that TT isnt as hampered by geography as its made out to be. There is a lot of inherent draw and it isnt as bad as many claim.
Compared to Starkville it is. Compared to WSU, it's a great location.
And Tech is the 7th largest University in Texas.
I think we’ll be just fine. JoMo was a good recruiter but couldn’t do jack with his recruits. If Leach can maintain the same levels of recruiting and coach them up then we’ll be just fine