I know it's early but I can't wait til they start recruiting, so I figured we could start the discussion now! How much local talent do ya think gets a look? And is there any players that stand out to ya that you would like to see get a look?

Sorry I didn't get this in the football thread so mods can move if necessary.

Define local. And no, I'm not being as arse, but by local are you saying Knoxville to Roanoke, Tri-Cities only (including the coalfields of course), take a protractor and set a four hour circumference around ETSU?
Whoever the new staff is, it's an uphill climb. Early in the process, they've got to get out to as many of the local programs and get in front of the coaches and the players/parents. Lay down the gauntlet, Be clear, there are 63 scholarship opportunities and we'd like for as many of those 63 to be local, but you've got to earn it. We're giving them to the best players possible, and if that means going to central Virginia, Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, Florida, Alabama, Memphis or wherever to find it, then so be it. There's been some amazing football talent come out of this region, just start with the Sensabaugh family. Gerald, Coty, Adrian, Boo, the little guy that played at J.I. Burton, Ricardo Coclough, Teddy Gaines, Darryl Wilson, Jason Witten, Dale Jones, Alex Walls, Thomas and Julius Jones, Heath Miller, Ahmad Bradshaw (Biggest legs I've ever seen on a 17 year old, he looked like a freak), Dale Fair, just off the top of my head in my lifetime. That's not thinking about quality FCS level talent or going back into the Gene McEver/Bobby Dodd timeframe. The lineage is there but these kids have got to get bigger, and a HELL OF ALOT FASTER.
That said, there's a pantload of talent coming through Alcoa/Maryville right now that are 8th-10th graders. And actually, I believe one of Alcoa's running backs would make a great first back for ETSU depending on the system they run.
Ask the kids at Greeneville about Turbyfill, particularly the ones he ran over and never broke stride last year during that bloodletting.

Since Science Hills Reid Hayes has decided not to attend U-T and attend Walters State for two years playing baseball, I just wonder by that time the football program will be ready to go and if there's possibility that Hayes transfers to ETSU to play quarterback for the Bucs as well as baseball. Soething changed his mind about U-T. V

Most of the time it's either grades or money, one of which there wasn't enough of.

From what I understand, nether one applies here. It was just a thought on my part. He excelled in both sports.

The money could've been on the school's end. Remember baseball only has 9.9 total scholarships, and football wise it may have been an uphill battle competing with Worley, Peterman, and this Dobbs kid. He made a good decision for him.

I have a general question about athletic scholarships: When a student receives a full ride scholarship, does that scholarship solely cover all expenses or does the athletic scholarship work with other sources of financial aid (e.g., pell grant ) to cover all expenses?

Even if a student athlete recieves a full scholarship they can apply for additional aid.

How many scholarships will be available? Will we get them all in the first year or will they be staggerd for a couple of years? Does any one know how this will go? This is the only time I've been intrested in the start of a program so, sorry if I ask to many questions!! Thanks

I think you can only get 20-25 scholarships per year, but I'm not sure.

(06-18-2013 10:36 PM)Firemedic127 Wrote:  How many scholarships will be available? Will we get them all in the first year or will they be staggerd for a couple of years? Does any one know how this will go? This is the only time I've been intrested in the start of a program so, sorry if I ask to many questions!! Thanks

The actual max I believe is 25 scholarships per year for FCS ball, but there's also a maximum amount of players you can sign to a scholarship. Invited/preferred walkons are going to be EXTREMELY important early on. Some kids in Tennessee are gonna have to get better on the field and the classroom so the HOPE scholarship can be used to ETSU's advantage.

Speaking of ODU and their success, what kind of recruiting strategy was used there to assemble an out-of-the-gate winning program? Did they go after FBS transfers, rely mostly on right out of high schoolers, JUCOs, walk-ons, or what? Does a start up program have certain advantages in order to get up and running? If memory serves me right, it seems that some modern start up programs have moved fast to be competitive -- unlike the old days when new teams were expected to first "pay their dues". The modern newer Florida schools seemed to break that old way of doing things and came on like gang busters and moved at a rapid pace in establishing their programs. That seems to be the trend now days with new programs everywhere.

(06-19-2013 04:00 PM)Buc66 Wrote:  Speaking of ODU and their success, what kind of recruiting strategy was used there to assemble an out-of-the-gate winning program? Did they go after FBS transfers, rely mostly on right out of high schoolers, JUCOs, walk-ons, or what? Does a start up program have certain advantages in order to get up and running? If memory serves me right, it seems that some modern start up programs have moved fast to be competitive -- unlike the old days when new teams were expected to first "pay their dues". The modern newer Florida schools seemed to break that old way of doing things and came on like gang busters and moved at a rapid pace in establishing their programs. That seems to be the trend now days with new programs everywhere.

Not sure how how far back in the old days you are talking about but roughly 30 years ago Georgia Southern restarted their football team. They played Club two years before starting Div IAA. They won their first national championship their 2nd year and won another one the following year.

(06-19-2013 06:39 PM)RodShaw2 Wrote:  

(06-19-2013 04:00 PM)Buc66 Wrote:  Speaking of ODU and their success, what kind of recruiting strategy was used there to assemble an out-of-the-gate winning program? Did they go after FBS transfers, rely mostly on right out of high schoolers, JUCOs, walk-ons, or what? Does a start up program have certain advantages in order to get up and running? If memory serves me right, it seems that some modern start up programs have moved fast to be competitive -- unlike the old days when new teams were expected to first "pay their dues". The modern newer Florida schools seemed to break that old way of doing things and came on like gang busters and moved at a rapid pace in establishing their programs. That seems to be the trend now days with new programs everywhere.

Not sure how how far back in the old days you are talking about but roughly 30 years ago Georgia Southern restarted their football team. They played Club two years before starting Div IAA. They won their first national championship their 2nd year and won another one the following year.

Eric Russell leaving Georgia and Vince Dooley for Georgia Southern was a big deal then. The Bull Dawg nation thought he was crazy. And he went on to prove how big of a deal it really was. Now that you bring it up, Ga Southern was on a rather fast track back then. Of course they were content at the DI-AA level for those thirty years until now. As for the old older days I think of East Carolina and the tough time they had. They had great difficulty scheduling "university division" (am I dating myself a little much here?) opponents and a long time to become recognized as an upper division program. The NC press gave them a hell of a hard time. It finally took the NC Legislature to get UNC and NC State to start scheduling them on a more regular basis. Today, upstart programs seem to be able to break in the big leagues much faster if that's their goal. As for ETSU, wonder how fast the long range plan envisions us moving?

Alright, here's what I've heard actually happens.
A school gets 30 initial counters for an academic year. 63 full scholarships can be split in any direction to a total of 85 players on some form of a scholarship.
Done correctly, look for the first class to have somewhere between 15-22 max, as to not create a top heavy first true senior class. They'll probably pick up mid year transfers and Juco players with the leftovers the first couple of years.
And as far as partials go, they probably won't offer partials to anyone the first couple of years that they wouldn't have a reasonable expectation to earn a full ride.
They have to be careful not to get in APR trouble right out of the gate, so don't be surprised if they're conservative on bringing in Juco players or athletes with eligibility issues.