MemphisMojo Wrote:

3601 Wrote:

Psicosis Wrote:

3601 Wrote:

Psicosis Wrote:Call me crazy, but I think Tommy and crew MAY know what they're doing.

They certainly do. I think they definitley know how to evaluate talent. That's why I'm concerned that a large number of guys that were targeted by the staff have decided to play elsewhere.

We only have so many scholarships, you know. Some of the people we recruit are always going to end up somewhere else. EVERYONE loses recruiting battles.

Aside from LT Walker, I see most of our top priorities (Govan, Calhoun, and Malouf, for instance) on board.

With recruiting classes like this we can continue to win and we can continue to go to bowls. However, if we want to go to the Liberty Bowl we need a little better.

3601 not trying to bash here but,
How many of these kids have you seen play? How many will you have to interact with over the next 4 to 5 years? Dont worry about stars. Stars dont measure a kids attitude or if he can even make it in school. I see numerous long term upgrades in this class. We have the QB of the future and two tall talented wideouts for him to throw too. A big center the sleeper of the class. A kicker that could kick for 4 years. A bunch of big and SMART Dbs and LBs that we needed. We didnt need an impact QB we have one waiting(Hankins). We didnt need a superstar running back we have three waiting to play( Doss, Pitts and Barnes). We have 9 good Olinemen and the deepest Dline in 5 years. We did miss on 3 D linemen I know we wanted. Gray, Walker and Jones. and Smith the LB, But add in Mills and Brown and Rochette from last year and that is a wash. We needed a K ,Dbs, and Lbs more than any other position. This class hits all those needs. What other players did we miss on that would have made this a better class? What if I told you a certain 5 star qb making noise just south of here could have come here or that we didnt even offer a 4 star rb because he had attitude? If they would have signed and turned to be T.Os or Ron Artests ,talented players that ruin good teams, would this be a better class? Get off that Ole Miss board your starting to believe the hype.

You may very well be right. I may be paying too much attention to the rankings. Maybe the fact that we didn't get a highly rated lineman has clouded my judgment. I hope that I'm wrong.

Walker would have been nice, but aside from a player like that, we really didn't need much help on the line. We're going to be exceptionally deep on both sides, with a LOT of talent and a LOT of youth.

Psicosis Wrote:

3601 Wrote:

Psicosis Wrote:Call me crazy, but I think Tommy and crew MAY know what they're doing.

They certainly do. I think they definitley know how to evaluate talent. That's why I'm concerned that a large number of guys that were targeted by the staff have decided to play elsewhere.

We only have so many scholarships, you know. Some of the people we recruit are always going to end up somewhere else. EVERYONE loses recruiting battles.

Aside from LT Walker, I see most of our top priorities (Govan, Calhoun, and Malouf, for instance) on board.

Calhoun was our top priority. And we got him. I'm very happy about that.

But as 3601 has pointed out, we lost on 3/4 star rated prospects that the staff had in for late visits, suggesting that they would certainly have preferred commitments from them over some others that they may have had to turn away. I'll by the deep Mississippi losses to USM somewhat. It is somewhat new territory for us. LT Walker is not a Wynne native, so it is not all too suprising that he wasn't swayed by the DeAngelo factor.

Nobody (that I can tell of) is bashing the staff. I think some of us just were thinking that the progress we've made on the field over the past 3 years would have led to the ability to sucessfully recruit more high profile athletes.

does anyone think we will get more signess????? or is it all done with.

I'm sorry, but I can't but much stock into the recruiting BS. Look at the success of UT during the last several years. Supposedly tops nationally every year, but this year, they lost out and didn't go to a bowl. Our biggest recruit is keeping TW as coach. He and his staff are getting the best of those that want to be a Tiger.

Memphus01 Wrote:From Rivals:
2004

Greg Hinds ATH 6-2 220 4.5 5.9 Southaven, MS ****
Brandon Patterson DB 6-1 175 - 5.0 Germantown, TN **
Rod Smith DB 6-1 200 4.6 - Milan, TN **
Earnest Williams WR 6-0 170 4.5 5.4 Alamo, TN **
Ryan Williams DT 6-2 280 4.9 5.3 Memphis, TN **
Heath Grant LB 6-2 215 4.7 5.1 Starkville, **
Maurice Jones WR 6-2 185 - - Memphis, TN **

of this list from the 2004 class Hinds was regarded by all to be the best player we got that year....

and while I think he is really good...all those two star recruits below him have proved they can play at a pretty high level as well...

so if you look at rivals that class was all two star players...with a handful of 3 stars and one four star...

but all those 2 stars are playing like 3-4 stars in our system...

Thanks Memphus for that recap, and what I think is the essence of recruiting..

Just like everyone else, I get caught up in all the "fresh" hoopla about new recruits, and I admit its kind of fun. Also, its not really apples to apples to compare quantity of signees, since we had a very limited number of scholarships to offer.

However, the real proof of a recruiting class is a couple of years later. I only wish that some of these so called paid ratings experts would produce an evaluation or rating of recruiting classes from 2 years ago. That would be the real measure of recruiting. Gone are the non-qualifiers, gone are those that for what ever reason did not want to be here, gone are the ones who for whatever reason did not pan out, etc, etc.

I remember from my military days, how the officers or sergeants would emphasize their point by saying "look around, the guy besides you won't be here in 6 months" or whatever time frame. The point is, attrition will rear its ugly head of reality and, even as small as this class is, not all will be around in 2 years.

In 2 years is when we should expect most recruits to begin showing their effectiveness.

IMHO, Tommy has gone on record saying that we needed linemen. Not for next year, but for the year after next. Linemen , in particular, require at least that period of seasoning, and strength work, etc, to develop into productive players.

I admire and respect Tommy, and am grateful for him providing football excitement. Its been a long, long time for some of us veterans. But remember, he has said that not only for lineman, but for all recruits, he wants us to get to the point that we are recruiting for year after next.

So maybe we shouldn't expect game breakers to be in this, or any other recruiting class. If we get one or even a feww, then that is just gravy according to Tommy. Maybe according to the "experts" we did not do as well as we would have liked. Then again, maybe, Tommy is recruiting the types of players that can avoid the attrition factor. We'll know better in 2 years, not in the paper tomorrow.

Sure wish someone could provide a thorough evaluation of recruiting classes from 2 years ago. There's the real measure of recruiting--IMHO.

from 2004, of the rivals top 25 recruiting rankings, only UT@Knoxville, Washington, K-State, Maryland, and Boston College were not top25 teams this year (from a brief review).

ChattTiger Wrote:from 2004, of the rivals top 25 recruiting rankings, only UT@Knoxville, Washington, K-State, Maryland, and Boston College were not top25 teams this year (from a brief review).

Good information. Thanks

Quote:He has said that not only for lineman, but for all recruits, he wants us to get to the point that we are recruiting for year after next.

Tommy is recruiting the types of players that can avoid the attrition factor. We'll know better in 2 years, not in the paper tomorrow.

Sure wish someone could provide a thorough evaluation of recruiting classes from 2 years ago. There's the real measure of recruiting--IMHO

well said - we do not have the pull right now to get many guys who will come in and be quality D-1 guys as freshman...few teams do. The thing that we have been able to do as of late is actually red shirt some pretty talented players and allow them time to mature physically and learn the offensive and defensive schemes a little better....

this is significantly better than before Tommy took over...

ChattTiger Wrote:

Psicosis Wrote:

3601 Wrote:

Psicosis Wrote:Call me crazy, but I think Tommy and crew MAY know what they're doing.

They certainly do. I think they definitley know how to evaluate talent. That's why I'm concerned that a large number of guys that were targeted by the staff have decided to play elsewhere.

We only have so many scholarships, you know. Some of the people we recruit are always going to end up somewhere else. EVERYONE loses recruiting battles.

Aside from LT Walker, I see most of our top priorities (Govan, Calhoun, and Malouf, for instance) on board.

Calhoun was our top priority. And we got him. I'm very happy about that.

But as 3601 has pointed out, we lost on 3/4 star rated prospects that the staff had in for late visits, suggesting that they would certainly have preferred commitments from them over some others that they may have had to turn away. I'll by the deep Mississippi losses to USM somewhat. It is somewhat new territory for us. LT Walker is not a Wynne native, so it is not all too suprising that he wasn't swayed by the DeAngelo factor.

Nobody (that I can tell of) is bashing the staff. I think some of us just were thinking that the progress we've made on the field over the past 3 years would have led to the ability to sucessfully recruit more high profile athletes.

First of all let me say that I am incredibly proud of how well our team has performed over the last three seasons...

But lets not act like we have been beating down the BCS championship doors here...

USM has been to bowl games 9 of 10 years...Looserville is in the BCS now...

UAB and ECU have rich boosters...??? only kidding... (I have no idea how they had good classes...)

my point is that while we have been a whole lot more successful in the last three season than we were before, it's not like the teams we recruit against have fallen off the charts...

we need some conference championships under our belt...and we need to continue to beat USM on the field...

beating Ole Miss is nice, but USM means more to our program...for both
conference standings and recruiting

idroot4russia Wrote:

MemphisMojo Wrote:What if I told you a certain 5 star qb making noise just south of here could have come here

I would tell you to put down the crack pipe. There is no way in hell that Schaffer wanted to come here and we turned him down.

MemphisMojo Wrote:

idroot4russia Wrote:

MemphisMojo Wrote:What if I told you a certain 5 star qb making noise just south of here could have come here

I would tell you to put down the crack pipe. There is no way in hell that Schaffer wanted to come here and we turned him down.

I dont smoke crack. Believe what you want. Ask his uncle.

MemphisMojo, does that possibility have anything to do with Taye Simmons. We signed him last year and he didn't show up that I know of. He is cousin's with Schaefer. So therefore, I kind of read between the lines to assume it is Taye's dad you are referring too. Can you elaborate??
And thanks in advance for info.