https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings...mier-class

1 - Louisiana State
Total recruits: 16 (13 freshmen, 3 JC transfers)

2 - Vanderbilt
Total recruits: 14 (14 freshmen)

3 - Florida State
Total recruits: 20 (15 freshmen, 5 JC transfers)

4 - Louisville
Total recruits: 15 (14 freshmen, 1 JC transfer)

5 - Florida
Total recruits: 14 (9 freshmen, 5 JC transfers)

6 - UCLA
Total recruits: 11 (11 freshmen)

7 - Texas A&M
Total recruits: 18 (14 freshmen, 4 JC transfers)

8 - Texas
Total recruits: 16 (16 freshmen)

9 - Clemson
Total recruits: 14 (13 freshmen, 1 JC transfer)

10 - Miami
Total recruits: 14 (11 freshmen, 3 JC transfers)

11 - Virginia
Total recruits: 16 (13 freshmen, 3 JC transfers)

12 - Mississippi State
Total recruits: 18 (11 freshmen, 7 JC transfers)

13 - Arizona
Total recruits: 18 (14 freshmen, 4 JC transfers)

14 - Southern California
Total recruits: 13 (12 freshmen, 1 JC transfer)

15 - Alabama
Total recruits: 19 (10 freshmen, 9 JC transfers)

16 - Cal State Fullerton
Total recruits: 18 (12 freshmen, 6 JC transfers)

17 - Auburn
Total recruits: 18 (13 freshmen, 5 JC transfers)

18 - Texas Tech
Total recruits: 24 (18 freshmen, 6 JC transfers)

19 - Florida International
Total recruits: 10 (8 freshmen, 2 JC transfers)

20 - Texas Christian
Total recruits: 15 (7 freshmen, 8 JC transfers)

21 - South Carolina
Total recruits: 20 (12 freshmen, 8 JC transfers)

22 - North Carolina
Total recruits: 18 (16 freshmen, 2 JC transfers)

23 - Kentucky
Total recruits: 24 (18 freshmen, 6 JC transfers)

24- Illinois
Total recruits: 10 (7 freshmen, 3 JC transfers)

25 - Coastal Carolina
Total recruits: 15 (12 freshmen, 3 JC transfers)

Something that should be apparent from this: Other teams churn a lot more people off than Rice...

TCU has more JC transfers than anybody else on the list.

(09-12-2018 01:15 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Something that should be apparent from this: Other teams churn a lot more people off than Rice...

True. Does baseball do APR?

It’s just like SEC football where they take the max 25 plus 5 who greyshirt plus walkons. Every year.

Let's hope this isn't OT next year.

(09-12-2018 01:47 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  TCU has more JC transfers than anybody else on the list.

Ummm…

TCU - 8 JC transfers
South Carolina - 8 JC Transfers
Alabama - 9 JC Transfers

(09-12-2018 04:30 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  

(09-12-2018 01:47 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  TCU has more JC transfers than anybody else on the list.

Ummm…

TCU - 8 JC transfers
South Carolina - 8 JC Transfers
Alabama - 9 JC Transfers

\

Darn. Make that the second most.

Rice must not be the cool baseball school any more.

(09-13-2018 06:44 PM)WeatherfordOwl Wrote:  Rice must not be the cool baseball school any more.

If I recall correctly, Rice Baseball has had just one Top 25 recruiting class EVER, and that was just barely Top 25. The OG's (Pierce and Taylor's) best ranked recruiting classes were usually in the mid-to-upper 30s. Having said that, recruiting has very clearly slipped the last four years since the incoming class of Salinas/Gray/Chandler/Brewer/Otto/Myers.

(09-13-2018 07:33 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(09-13-2018 06:44 PM)WeatherfordOwl Wrote:  Rice must not be the cool baseball school any more.

If I recall correctly, Rice Baseball has had just one Top 25 recruiting class EVER, and that was just barely Top 25. The OG's (Pierce and Taylor's) best ranked recruiting classes were usually in the mid-to-upper 30s. Having said that, recruiting has very clearly slipped the last four years since the incoming class of Salinas/Gray/Chandler/Brewer/Otto/Myers.

Given the reputation that the new staff is getting regarding pulling longtime commits' offers....Rice is not going to have a "top 25" class in the near future that's for sure.

I'm not sure if Coach Bragga understands how much the travel/high school/college coaches communicate with each other in the state of Texas. When 8-9 commits are all of a sudden yanked, that word spreads fast. That whole "honor" thing kinda goes out the window when kids learn that commitment is a one-way street.

Owl1998, you act as if Bragga pulled these offers the day before signing day. He gave them plenty of time to find a new home (which I think two of the notable ones did in UIW and Army IIRC).

There's always some kind of recruiting reshuffle during coaching changes IN EVERY SPORT. Did the guys who were committed to Kevin Sumlin all stay on after Jimbo was hired? No! It's the way it goes.

I'd be more concerned if Bragga pulled the offers and they proceeded to commit to Texas and Vandy. That's hardly what's happening. Seems to me like Bragga is trying to upgrade the talent level.

Also, I'd point out that baseball recruiting is far more national than you're giving it credit... TCU, a program that's surpassed in recent years, has a roster that's a bit less than 50% Texan.

If we have to piss off a couple travel baseball coaches in order to get some good players from CA, LA, and GA that can help us get back to Omaha, I'm all for it.

(09-14-2018 09:46 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Owl1998, you act as if Bragga pulled these offers the day before signing day. He gave them plenty of time to find a new home (which I think two of the notable ones did in UIW and Army IIRC).

There's always some kind of recruiting reshuffle during coaching changes IN EVERY SPORT. Did the guys who were committed to Kevin Sumlin all stay on after Jimbo was hired? No! It's the way it goes.

I'd be more concerned if Bragga pulled the offers and they proceeded to commit to Texas and Vandy. That's hardly what's happening. Seems to me like Bragga is trying to upgrade the talent level.

Also, I'd point out that baseball recruiting is far more national than you're giving it credit... TCU, a program that's surpassed in recent years, has a roster that's a bit less than 50% Texan.

If we have to piss off a couple travel baseball coaches in order to get some good players from CA, LA, and GA that can help us get back to Omaha, I'm all for it.

Respectfully, you're wrong about giving those kids "plenty of time." With baseball, the signing day is in November. The kids that were pulled had just finished their LAST summer schedule. They literally had no time to be seen again. I can tell you first hand that some of the "bigger" schools you pointed out made contact with some of those kids immediately but because they were already full on 2019 scholarship offers, the only option would have been walk on status. So, no, he didn't give them plenty of time. He put them and their families in a very, very bad spot. A couple of those kids already had their academic pathway planned out and with Rice being such a prestigious school, it completely altered what their future education/career plans are and could be.

I'm very aware of the trends in recruiting for baseball. Its actually my job. And pissing off a couple travel coaches of well-known organizations is likely to do the opposite of getting Rice back to Omaha.

Owl1998, serious question here:

1) Other schools drop people all the time... How do they get away with it and we don't in the eyes of travel coaches? One case (that helped us) was Dom Dicaprio getting dropped by LSU.

2) How do these same high school/travel coaches feel when come sophomore year, their guys are cut by the same coaches who once promised them the world? Sure, some guys get cut off the Rice team but they're mostly walk-ons... Very few scholarship guys get told to scram... Khevin Brewer is a great example of this.

(09-12-2018 02:10 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(09-12-2018 01:15 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Something that should be apparent from this: Other teams churn a lot more people off than Rice...

True. Does baseball do APR?

It’s just like SEC football where they take the max 25 plus 5 who greyshirt plus walkons. Every year.

All NCAA sports are covered by APR.

TCU's most recent three in baseball: 960, 968, 962
Rice: 989, 991, 989

In 2016-17 there were 13 D1 schools with 1000 APR in baseball, among them Baylor and Clemson.

(09-14-2018 10:29 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Owl1998, serious question here:

1) Other schools drop people all the time... How do they get away with it and we don't in the eyes of travel coaches? One case (that helped us) was Dom Dicaprio getting dropped by LSU.

2) How do these same high school/travel coaches feel when come sophomore year, their guys are cut by the same coaches who once promised them the world? Sure, some guys get cut off the Rice team but they're mostly walk-ons... Very few scholarship guys get told to scram... Khevin Brewer is a great example of this.

Its a good question and I actually appreciate the civil nature of the debate. Very rare these days.

1) Simply put, Rice is different than say LSU, Vandy, Texas, A&M, TCU, Oregon State etc with regards to their recruiting classes. If you look at the P5 schools they will routinely "commit" 15-20 incoming freshmen. You cannot keep that many obviously so once the draft is over and the final tally of incoming freshmen is set, those schools have to make a decision to either cut or redshirt more than half of their classes. Those kids know that going in and almost ALL of them have a backup plan in case they're one of the unfortunate ones that this happens to. Rice, however, doesn't do this because of their academic standards with simply GETTING into school. Their recruiting classes are usually much smaller and very rarely do they cut or yank an offer before the kid actually has an opportunity to prove himself in the fall.

2) The travel coaches we're referring to actually inform the families of kids who commit to the P5 schools about their recruiting class size and so there's not the shock value when a kid gets pushed out and ends up at a Juco or other backup plan. But with Rice, those same travel coaches have always been able to tell parents/kids that "look, if Rice offers you and you commit, you're in good shape because they don't/can't go after tons of kids. You will at least be given the opportunity to compete. What you do after that is up to you." So the "Rice Commitment" has always MEANT more. That's now changed. In the case of Kiddy for instance, that guy turned down some MAJOR other offers because Rice was his dream school both athletically and academically. He was the first Rice commit for that class and stuck to his commitment for almost 3 years before Bragga pulled the offer. The first and only time he ever was able to speak to Bragga was in the phone call informing him it was being pulled. That's a terrible look.....

Maybe it works out for all involved but starting off on this foot in a recruiting state like Texas is a recipe for disaster. Simply my opinion but its based upon the information I'm hearing from both HS and travel coaches.

I guess the other side would be why would any incoming coach want his hands tied. He surely has players he was recruiting prior to Rice and now would liketo see them at Rice.

I don't have an informed view on what has happened to date, so I'll keep my ignorance to myself, but my guess is that if Rice ends up being successful, whatever sore feelings there may be will be overridden by the desire to play for a winner which also provides a blue chip degree. Some may feel that this doesn't make what has happened ok, but I'm just pointing out the likely reality if that happens.

(09-14-2018 05:01 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  I guess the other side would be why would any incoming coach want his hands tied. He surely has players he was recruiting prior to Rice and now would liketo see them at Rice.

Highly unlikely that Bragga has or will be able to bring recruits from Tennessee Tech to Rice. The plan seems to be find Juco players to fill the void of the 2019 commits he nixed at the last minute. 99% of highly recruited players were/are committed to other schools. Basically he took a relatively small recruiting class and gutted it. Now he will have to find Juco guys. It could work out but it’s a really bad thing to do to a kid who’s been loyal to his commitment.

It’s not exactly the honorable thing to do at a school that prides itself on being honorable.

(09-14-2018 07:16 PM)Owl1998 Wrote:  

(09-14-2018 05:01 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  I guess the other side would be why would any incoming coach want his hands tied. He surely has players he was recruiting prior to Rice and now would liketo see them at Rice.

Highly unlikely that Bragga has or will be able to bring recruits from Tennessee Tech to Rice. The plan seems to be find Juco players to fill the void of the 2019 commits he nixed at the last minute. 99% of highly recruited players were/are committed to other schools. Basically he took a relatively small recruiting class and gutted it. Now he will have to find Juco guys. It could work out but it’s a really bad thing to do to a kid who’s been loyal to his commitment.

It’s not exactly the honorable thing to do at a school that prides itself on being honorable.

Did Bragga keep any of the existing 2019 commits? Or axe them all?

(09-14-2018 07:16 PM)Owl1998 Wrote:  

(09-14-2018 05:01 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  I guess the other side would be why would any incoming coach want his hands tied. He surely has players he was recruiting prior to Rice and now would liketo see them at Rice.

Highly unlikely that Bragga has or will be able to bring recruits from Tennessee Tech to Rice. The plan seems to be find Juco players to fill the void of the 2019 commits he nixed at the last minute. 99% of highly recruited players were/are committed to other schools. Basically he took a relatively small recruiting class and gutted it. Now he will have to find Juco guys. It could work out but it’s a really bad thing to do to a kid who’s been loyal to his commitment.

It’s not exactly the honorable thing to do at a school that prides itself on being honorable.

Assuming Bragga isn't an idiot, why would he do this? Necessary given talent going into season?