Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck continues to impress on the recruiting trail

Mike Rogers
BroncoBlitz.com Publisher

Talk about it in The Zoo
Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck has made it a habit of surprising people.

He surprised people on the football field where he maximized his talents leading to a wonderful collegiate career as a wide receiver and, eventually, an NFL career.

He surprised people on the sidelines, improving from a single win in his rookie season as a head coach to eight and a bowl game last year.

He surprised people on the recruiting trail, where his 2014 class was the best in the Mid-American Conference history, nabbing numerous prospects away from power conference schools. He followed it up with the top recruiting class in the MAC in 2015.

He's doing it again in 2016.

The last four days saw two new prospects pledge to the Broncos. The latest is a hulking 6-foot-3, 275-pounder, Spencer Williams. Williams is currently the fifth best player in the state of Iowa and he chose WMU over offers from Colorado St., Florida Atlantic -- who sent him over a dozen handwritten letters over his spring break -- and Western Illinois.

A few days before he committed, Western received a shocking verbal commitment from Tristian Pipp, who pledged to Fleck over two Big Ten offers in Iowa and Wisconsin. In fact, Pipp had stated publicly that Wisconsin was the front runner, after he earned an offer in February and took two visits to Madison, Wis.


BroncoBlitz.com
Fleck talks to 2015 signee Jon Wassink on Signing Day
Sometimes it only takes one trip and one meeting with Fleck to be reeled in.

"I've been told that when you feel a college is right for you, you know," Pipp said. "After being there today, I really felt it."

Much of that is owed to Fleck, whose youthful exuberance has drummed up millions in donations from WMU alumni, as well as drumming up publicity and notoriety on the recruiting trail.

Western Michigan currently has a dozen verbal commits for the class of 2016. Four of them -- Matt Little, Stefan Claiborne, Kalebb Perry and Tristian Pipp -- are rated as three-star prospects. WMU has as many three-star commitments as any other MAC school has total commitments thus far -- Miami (Oh) and Toledo have each received four verbal commitments.

The dozen prospects verbally committed is currently tied for third-most with Florida State, trailing only Kentucky (15) and Miami (Fl) (19).

Perhaps the most impressive fact about WMU's recruiting ranking is that their class is rated No. 29 in the country by Rivals despite half of the 12 commits being unranked. When re-rankings occur around May, it is not hard to see the Broncos sitting in the top-15 in the nation as we roll into summer.

That is the rub, though. We are just edging our way to summer and most will just ask to check back on Signing Day next year, presuming that WMU will see defections to bigger schools. However, not a single verbal commit in the 2015 class backed out on WMU -- Western Michigan and Junior McMullen mutually decided to part ways -- and as Signing Day 2015 approached, none of their commits ever wavered.

In 2014, WMU pulled off major coups landing Javonte Seabury who had offers from Miami (Fl) and Florida State; Chukwuma Okorafor who had offers from Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio St., Oklahoma, Virginia, among others; and Chance Stewart who was once a Wisconsin commit before reevaluating after a coaching change.

Fleck has shown the ability to flip kids while holding on to his own high-end talents, erasing the doubts many have of a MAC school being able to fend off Power 5 teams. With the quality of the 2016 class thus far, WMU will have to again prove doubters wrong as Big Ten teams will assuredly be knocking down the door to the homes of Matt Little, Stefan Claiborne, Tristian Pipp, Kalebb Perry, et al. But, like the recruits before them, they're just as likely to politely listen to the offers while continuing to Row The Boat, because Western Michigan's just about as desirable these days as a Power 5 school.

When asked about how his WMU visit compared with others he's been on, WMU target Jeffery Pooler told me it was "better than Kentucky and Toledo." Pooler, who just recently de-committed from the Rockets was not shy in praising the facilities or coach Fleck, a sentiment that flows from all recruits who take visits to Kalamazoo.

It is those sentiments, and Fleck's candidness, that form an air-tight bond with the players he recruits and, in turn, making them want to honor their verbal pledge. We need to only look at the last two recruiting classes to remind ourselves of P.J. Fleck's recruiting prowess, to realize it's a pattern and not a phase.

We shouldn't be surprised this time.




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Here is the latest list of recruits from 24/7's rankings..Bronco's have 12 verbals and 10 are 3 star......Not too shabby.

(04-01-2015 09:42 AM)broncojohnny Wrote:  Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck continues to impress on the recruiting trail

Mike Rogers
BroncoBlitz.com Publisher

Talk about it in The Zoo
Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck has made it a habit of surprising people.

He surprised people on the football field where he maximized his talents leading to a wonderful collegiate career as a wide receiver and, eventually, an NFL career.

He surprised people on the sidelines, improving from a single win in his rookie season as a head coach to eight and a bowl game last year.

He surprised people on the recruiting trail, where his 2014 class was the best in the Mid-American Conference history, nabbing numerous prospects away from power conference schools. He followed it up with the top recruiting class in the MAC in 2015.

He's doing it again in 2016.

The last four days saw two new prospects pledge to the Broncos. The latest is a hulking 6-foot-3, 275-pounder, Spencer Williams. Williams is currently the fifth best player in the state of Iowa and he chose WMU over offers from Colorado St., Florida Atlantic -- who sent him over a dozen handwritten letters over his spring break -- and Western Illinois.

A few days before he committed, Western received a shocking verbal commitment from Tristian Pipp, who pledged to Fleck over two Big Ten offers in Iowa and Wisconsin. In fact, Pipp had stated publicly that Wisconsin was the front runner, after he earned an offer in February and took two visits to Madison, Wis.


BroncoBlitz.com
Fleck talks to 2015 signee Jon Wassink on Signing Day
Sometimes it only takes one trip and one meeting with Fleck to be reeled in.

"I've been told that when you feel a college is right for you, you know," Pipp said. "After being there today, I really felt it."

Much of that is owed to Fleck, whose youthful exuberance has drummed up millions in donations from WMU alumni, as well as drumming up publicity and notoriety on the recruiting trail.

Western Michigan currently has a dozen verbal commits for the class of 2016. Four of them -- Matt Little, Stefan Claiborne, Kalebb Perry and Tristian Pipp -- are rated as three-star prospects. WMU has as many three-star commitments as any other MAC school has total commitments thus far -- Miami (Oh) and Toledo have each received four verbal commitments.

The dozen prospects verbally committed is currently tied for third-most with Florida State, trailing only Kentucky (15) and Miami (Fl) (19).

Perhaps the most impressive fact about WMU's recruiting ranking is that their class is rated No. 29 in the country by Rivals despite half of the 12 commits being unranked. When re-rankings occur around May, it is not hard to see the Broncos sitting in the top-15 in the nation as we roll into summer.

That is the rub, though. We are just edging our way to summer and most will just ask to check back on Signing Day next year, presuming that WMU will see defections to bigger schools. However, not a single verbal commit in the 2015 class backed out on WMU -- Western Michigan and Junior McMullen mutually decided to part ways -- and as Signing Day 2015 approached, none of their commits ever wavered.

In 2014, WMU pulled off major coups landing Javonte Seabury who had offers from Miami (Fl) and Florida State; Chukwuma Okorafor who had offers from Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio St., Oklahoma, Virginia, among others; and Chance Stewart who was once a Wisconsin commit before reevaluating after a coaching change.

Fleck has shown the ability to flip kids while holding on to his own high-end talents, erasing the doubts many have of a MAC school being able to fend off Power 5 teams. With the quality of the 2016 class thus far, WMU will have to again prove doubters wrong as Big Ten teams will assuredly be knocking down the door to the homes of Matt Little, Stefan Claiborne, Tristian Pipp, Kalebb Perry, et al. But, like the recruits before them, they're just as likely to politely listen to the offers while continuing to Row The Boat, because Western Michigan's just about as desirable these days as a Power 5 school.

When asked about how his WMU visit compared with others he's been on, WMU target Jeffery Pooler told me it was "better than Kentucky and Toledo." Pooler, who just recently de-committed from the Rockets was not shy in praising the facilities or coach Fleck, a sentiment that flows from all recruits who take visits to Kalamazoo.

It is those sentiments, and Fleck's candidness, that form an air-tight bond with the players he recruits and, in turn, making them want to honor their verbal pledge. We need to only look at the last two recruiting classes to remind ourselves of P.J. Fleck's recruiting prowess, to realize it's a pattern and not a phase.

We shouldn't be surprised this time.




FEATURED PRODUCT
Western Michigan Broncos Chocolate Athletic Issued Tri-Blend T-Shirt
Advertisement

Western Michigan NEWS
[More]

Latest Headlines:

WMU lands lands Wisconsin LB; surprises many in process

Recruiting news for the week of March 23

Previewing WMU's CIT game

BroncoBlitz.com unveil initial recruit exchange

Broncos tab Muskegon wideout for commitment No. 10

Resources:

Commitments

The Ticker

Prospect Database


Send to a Friend

Print This Page

[More]NATIONAL NEWS FROM RIVALS.COM

Top five breakout candidates: Midwest

Five-star lineman plans to see UCLA

RCS Dallas: Top underclassmen

R100 QB Haskins breaks it down

Beck still has Pac-12 favorite

Rivals.com Football Recruiting

Rivals.com is your source for: College Football | Football Recruiting | College Basketball | Basketball Recruiting | College Baseball | High School | College Merchandise
Site-specific editorial/photos 2015 BroncoBlitz.com. All rights reserved. This website is an officially and independently operated source of news and information not affiliated with any school or team.
About | Advertise with Us | Contact | Privacy Policy | About our Ads | Terms of Service | Copyright/IP policy | Yahoo! Sports - NBC Sports Network

Statistical information 2014 STATS LLC All Rights Reserved.

1) Rivals has WMU with one more 3 star signee than Toledo in the 2015
signing class but had a larger class of 27 vs 21.
2) 2013 Broncos had the personnel to be a 4 or 5 win team. The 1 win was either do to poor coaching or manipulation to create an image. I believe the latter.
3) Duke is a Top 15 ranked 2016 recruiting class right now and Alabama is not. Which tells me to wait until signing to get a better idea where the recruiting classes really ranks.

(04-01-2015 11:44 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  1) Rivals has WMU with one more 3 star signee than Toledo in the 2015
signing class but had a larger class of 27 vs 21.
2) 2013 Broncos had the personnel to be a 4 or 5 win team. The 1 win was either do to poor coaching or manipulation to create an image. I believe the latter.
3) Duke is a Top 15 ranked 2016 recruiting class right now and Alabama is not. Which tells me to wait until signing to get a better idea where the recruiting classes really ranks.

Regarding the 2013 team, there was talent but much of it was injured and lost - some before the first snap in the fall. We had a Fr. QB after the starter was injured before halftime of the first game at MSU. He had one weapon - Cory Davis and virtually no running game. Most of us thought that the staff couldn't coach. The one win was a fluke - UMass missed an XP to GIVE us the win. I highly doubt that there was manipulation. He wanted to win but...........

IMO, BroncoJohnny gets a bit too excited and likes to brag about 17 and 18 year old kids and their school decisions. While Fleck has shown he can recruit, I'd prefer to wait and see how these kids adapt and grow into players within the program. I'm not much into the chanting and repeating of "we're the recruiting champion of the MAC!" I'd much rather see an actual MAC title earned on the field and that might take time. We've all seen one school in particular seem to "win" the best recruiting class on paper, yet not get it done on the field (a championship).

Many of us know two things; 1) recruiting rankings are subjective opinions, 2) They mean little until kids sign their LOIs.

Milehigh, stick to what ever in hell motivates you.... leave my motives out of it.
I've been around the block long enough to see a trend that is very positive for my Broncos.
Ya, I know that rankings don't translate into anything until a kid shows Fleck he deserved the ranking coming out of high school...I do this stir the pot a little...I've included the Scout site for perusal...24/7 says 10 of our recruits are 3 star. Scout has us at 9...These classes are better than anything we've done in recruiting in, for ever...
So, John Keenoy a 3 star recruiting kid in the 2015 class, enrolls early and is running a head and starting a center so far in spring drills...But, of course, his ranking is meaningless....

http://recruiting.scout.com/topic/player...CommitDate

Here is Scouts early top 25...


http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&yr=2016

Awesome.

You guys win the recruiting trophy. Enjoy.

http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2...ver_mobile

Another great article.

(04-02-2015 11:38 AM)broncos1123 Wrote:  http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2...ver_mobile

Another great article.

If Fleck can just figure out how to prevent his team from self-destructing at key moments in key games, then the sky is the limit---at least until a new BIG offer comes down the trail (which shouldn't take too long)

No way Coach Fleck leaves WMU for the big ten. I think maybe Alabama is the only program he would leave for.

(04-03-2015 09:52 PM)broncos1123 Wrote:  No way Coach Fleck leaves WMU for the big ten. I think maybe Alabama is the only program he would leave for.

Sorry---by BIG, I meant power conference, not necessarily the Big Ten (or whatever it officially calls itself now).

However, I think that you are being a bit optimistic thinking that Alabama is the only school with a big enough program to attract him. True, he is young enough that doesn't have to jump at the first offer that comes his way and he can still hold out awhile for a "great job", but there are probably a couple of dozen jobs out there that would qualify as "great jobs", and not just Alabama, so don't count on him growing old at Kalamazoo.

Will Fleck leave for a crap P5 job like Clawson did for Wake Forest? I don't think so, but MAC football has been littered with coaches who've bolted for better jobs in a heartbeat. He's young enough that he can take another job, build the program up, and still be in his early to mid 40's when he gets the chance to take on a big program.

(04-01-2015 08:00 PM)MileHighBronco Wrote:  While Fleck has shown he can recruit, I'd prefer to wait and see how these kids adapt and grow into players within the program. I'm not much into the chanting and repeating of "we're the recruiting champion of the MAC!" I'd much rather see an actual MAC title earned on the field and that might take time.

I'm with Mile High. The recruiting has been very impressive over the past 2-3 seasons, and the program certainly appears to be trending up, but whether or not that translates into a MAC championship remains to be seen. The Broncos could contend in 2015, but I'm of the opinion that all of these young players are going to need at least one more full season of development before hopefully becoming an annual contender for years to come.

As for P.J.'s future career path, he's young enough that he could stay in Kalamazoo for a few years and really develop something special at WMU before pursuing other career goals. I think it's delusional, though, to think that he'd only bolt for, say, Alabama, or wouldn't consider a B1G (or other P5) job if really big bucks are on the table.

I just want to see him lead WMU to at least one MAC championship while he's here. And that's hardly a guarantee; there have been plenty of MAC coaches who have built up programs and bolted before winning a MAC title (Urban Meyer, Brady Hoke, Jerry Kill, etc.).

The simple fact that he will earn $800,000 a year at Western, suggests that no move would be made by Fleck to a crap big 5 team..He's making a lot..
I've been around the Broncos since the early 60's, and have never seen a stockpile (on Paper) of really good talent at Western or any other MAC school..EVER....
He obviously can coach, just ask the chips...We go on the road to hooterville, spot cmu a 14-0 lead and crush there skulls 32-20...This being done with a large amount of young players...Most chip fans thought that they should have won the MAC witha big chunk of good seniors.....
In the NIU game, if Franklin doesn't fumble at the goal line that cost us 7 pts... the game would have had a different narrative...

If every team could just an 'if' in every game. But then the other team would get one, too. So it all evens out.

(04-04-2015 08:02 AM)broncojohnny Wrote:  In the NIU game, if Franklin doesn't fumble at the goal line that cost us 7 pts... the game would have had a different narrative...

UT was all but won too.
(But I'm with Fleck, and had thought of the idea before I heard he said it, if we had beaten UT, maybe we don't have that undefeated streak to the NIU game. You never know)

Maybe this season will be the season we take them both!

(04-04-2015 10:32 AM)Bronco14 Wrote:  [quote='broncojohnny' pid='11953502' dateline='1428152561']
In the NIU game, if Franklin doesn't fumble at the goal line that cost us 7 pts... the game would have had a different narrative...

UT was all but won too.
(But I'm with Fleck, and had thought of the idea before I heard he said it, if we had beaten UT, maybe we don't have that undefeated streak to the NIU game. You never know)

Maybe this season will be the season we take them both!

(04-04-2015 08:38 AM)axeme Wrote:  If every team could just an 'if' in every game. But then the other team would get one, too. So it all evens out.

Indeed. We should have lost to Ball St.

What MAC team that had only 71 full ride players last year, 14 short of the 85 limit???? Of course, it was Flecks gang....Couple that with a roster of really young kids, and I say our 8-5 record was amazing...