Transfer and JUCO recruiting definitely can help a program, however an argument can be made that a program has to be careful going for JUCO and transfers as a regular recruiting tool over the long run because of the potential effect on mainstay recruiting of HS athletes and keeping guys already there. Take QBs for example, most HS QBs like the one-a-year recruiting at that position because it means there is some level of predictability in the challenge of the depth chart. Baylor this year is a great example of a school that was heavily and vocally trying to get a JUCO and a transfer as well as a HS early enrollee this year because their QB depth chart is in really bad shape. They got the early enrollee at the 11th hour, lost out on the transfer and JUCO prospects, and lost their most senior scholarship QB to transfer himself when he saw what Baylor was trying to do. Then they had to scramble the week of signing day just to find a PWO to try to have a 3-deep QB roster. They started 2018 recruiting with 2 scholarship QBs, both with game experience, and instead of adding to that with a HS recruit or two, still ended up with 2 scholarship QBs (one who is skipping prom to practice spring ball), and a PWO (who I do not think had any offers).

(02-23-2018 03:12 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(02-23-2018 02:08 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  But the whole Cali JUCO system and approach are different from here.

Which is part of why we should recruit Cali.
The good academic schools here are generally 'top notch' p5 programs, and then there is a big drop academically (Fresno or San Jose) or athletically (at least for now with the Big West). Unfortunately the gap between the Big West and CUSA has shrunk considerably and continues to.
Of course if you actively recruit kids who end up going to the Pac-12 and it not working out, they will also remember you

Yes indeed. Overall, I'm pleased with the change in direction for our recruiting.

I think transfers is the route we need to take.

and I don't mock JC kids - I just think the system is a joke. JUCO's don't enhance a kid's academic potential in any sense. The NCAA has a rule that you have to have minimum qualifications to play D1 football. Laughable. Going to a JUCO doesn't make these kids any smarter. How do they miraculously become academically eligible by going this route. It's just a game big time football plays in order to get around this farsical rule and make playmakers eligible.

These kids ought to go to the schools that are designed to educate them. Taking correspondence courses at elite North Carolina U doesn't do that.

(02-21-2018 06:55 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  It seems we're always susceptible to deluding ourselves into believing that while Rice is in this conference, we're somehow really not *of* this conference. That rather than being dragged down by it, we can just transcend it, and dominate it. Like we really don't actually recruit the same third-rate talent tier as the rest of CUSA. Like we can just Jedi mind trick superior talent into ignoring that if they come here they'll be playing most of their games in empty stadiums on Facebook Live against schools they never knew existed. Like if we just *finally* coach our players to block and tackle, we should have no problem, because the other schools are literally just bad at football. Like if Rice just figures out how not to beat Rice, the rest of CUSA is just 8 games a year of low-hanging fruit. Like Charlotte doesn't spend its offseasons working on Charlotte not beating Charlotte, and ditto for the other 12 schools.

Not saying we can't win 10 games once in a while in this conference, but consistently? Sorry, no. This level has a gravitational pull to it. (And FTR, neither do I think we will -- or even could -- suck consistently in this conference either.)

+1. My sense of things is that this will be a struggle. The new coach will get the job done, but to do what he's asking, we'll need very physical athletes. The defense will have to be good in every game. Rice has never had that. By midseason there will be freshmen and sophomores all over the field again. It bodes well for the future...