Recruiting Fall 07

[ULGrad@HOU]

I noticed on Rivals.com that we received our first verbal commit. A WR from Sugarland, Anthony Ledet.

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com...008&School=149

I am concerned about our recruiting because it is the lifeblood of any program. Without talent, we aren't going anywhere. Like others have said, the loss to McNeese can't be good for our in state recruiting. I'm all for Coach Bustle getting guys that can play from anywhere he can whether it's Florida or Texas. I think he has to go out the state to try and get enough players who qualify without that question mark wondering if they are going to be in your program or not (one area I think he is doing a good job). I also think there is a stigma attached to our program for those in state that won't go away until we are consistent winners, and those out of state aren't exposed to this. Please don't tell me that McNeese has more talented players, I don't believe it. Football is also about emotion and they had it, we didn't. You can't depend on high emotion for every game, week in week out. I'm hoping our 4 new coaches can help in this area.

Geaux UL!

[DrySwamp]

"Please don't tell me that McNeese has more talented players, I don't believe it. Football is also about emotion and they had it, we didn't."



I agree. I think if they would play again, it could go either way. Too bad there's only one game in football but two or more in baseball with the same opponent.

GEAUX CAJUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ULGrad@HOU]

Ok, here's a little more info from the ESPN site.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recru...6season%3d2007

I might be the only one that finds this interesting but notice on this list what the ratings are for Feb 07 signings. I realize ratings are very iffy and not always accurate, but they give some idea. It's no accident Flemming is now our starting LB and Plouhar will probably start for us in his early years. Anyone know if Odom will be on the team? Here's the list for Fall 07. WE NEED PLAYERS! (the football kind).
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recru...6season%3d2008

[CajunRed]

I went to the site and changed the school from UL to Southern Miss. Their kids have the same grades... a couple in the 70's and the rest are 40's. They are doing just fine with those kids.

The talent level we are getting (although I would ALWAYS want it to be higher) is not a problem.

[Choppie29]

The talent level we are getting (although I would ALWAYS want it to be higher) is not a problem.

Agreed.

[ULGrad@HOU]

_ I went to the site and changed the school from UL to Southern Miss. Their kids have the same grades... a couple in the 70's and the rest are 40's. They are doing just fine with those kids.

The talent level we are getting (although I would ALWAYS want it to be higher) is not a problem. _

You have a good point when looking at the ESPN site and agree Southern Miss doesn't show much difference. However, if you look at Rivals and Scout.com, you will notice some difference in ratings that to me is obvious. I don't want to split hairs about ratings, just wanted to make the point that talent rises to the top and I believe we need more.

[Hammer58]

_ You have a good point when looking at the ESPN site and agree Southern Miss doesn't show much difference. However, if you look at Rivals and Scout.com, you will notice some difference in ratings that to me is obvious. I don't want to split hairs about ratings, just wanted to make the point that talent rises to the top and I believe we need more. _

Don't put too much stock in the ratings by Rivals and Scout. CajunT can fill you in better than I can about the pitfalls of those ratings.

[Just1More]

I think national recruiting publications are not accurate for our recruiting level. We will always have a blip here and there, but many of our most significant players in history wouldn't show up on that "radar screen". Our staff has to target someone who they think is a candidate that will both contribute and come to our program. I personally do not care where they come from. I do like the Acadiana/Louisiana talent that we have picked up over the years, that everyone else tended to overlook. I'm not sure why some act like we are not getting our share of that talent.

Saying that we need talent is like saying we need wins. Can we just agree on that and stop saying it (that is a rhetorical question... I know no one is going to stop saying it). The local top talent recruiting issue is going to be an issue until we turn things around. It got a little worse with the McNeese game. Let's go beat Tennessee and that will make up for it (a little).

We still have 9 regular season games to improve our situation or make it worse. Our best year under Bustle, we need to recall (6-5), had us winning our last 5 games. So, we need to stop crying in our cereal and just keep charging ahead.

As for some who say we don't even try to recruit some local excellent talent, that is a huge shame if it is true. There is no reason that local talent does not come to the attention of our coaches. I think there is local talent that a) didn't show interest, or b) isn't as good as who we recruited. I would not always assume that UL just ignored recruiting them.

As for McNeese picking up some talent in the southwest... why wouldn't they? They have plenty of accolades to show off in D1AA. We have the D1A thing, but have few accolades, yet. Our girls are prettier and our air is fresher. That will more than offset any head to head recruiting issues.

[KingFish]

As much as I hate to say this, we need to use Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts' recruiting tactics as our model. For all intents and purposes, he gets sloppy seconds from the Razorbacks' recruiting list, and, although we may have more competition for instate talent with LSU, LaTech, and McNeese, the situation is more similar that one might suspect.

First off, there is more talent to go around in Louisiana, so the pool of sloppy seconds is proportionately larger. Secondly, the flagship school in Arkansas does not routinely wrap up the top talent in the state like ours does. Much of it goes out of state (USC has created an LA to ARK pipeline recently, as has Auburn). In either instance, however, the cream of the crop is largely off the board for the Sunbelt schools.

The trick for UL's staff is to find a way to out-recruit Tech and McNeese the way Roberts out-recruits, for instance, Memphis and Central Arkansas.

[ULGrad@HOU]

_ Don't put too much stock in the ratings by Rivals and Scout. CajunT can fill you in better than I can about the pitfalls of those ratings. _

That's ok, I don't put much "stock" into ratings. I really don't want to get into the different ratings and how this or that person wasn't rated correctly. By and large, football talent is seen by coaches and evaluators, pro and college, as a measureable quantity. They all rate the players and that rating comes from seeing the player perform. Some do it better than others. Some coaches are better than others at utilizing that talent. I will tell you one thing, if we are able to acquire more talented players, then we are going to be that much closer to being able to win games. I realize, much more is involved, like emotion, heart, and work ethic, etc....but it ALL starts with recruiting, in college football.

[CajunNation]

_ Don't put too much stock in the ratings by Rivals and Scout. CajunT can fill you in better than I can about the pitfalls of those ratings. _

Also don't put much stock into what our local sports radio jockeys say about our recruiting either.

Every year it was, "This is a very good droup." or " Top to bottom, this is the best class we've had since Bustle was hired."...Yada...Yada...Yada

[Just1More]

_ Also don't put much stock into what our local sports radio jockeys say about our recruiting either.

Every year it was, "This is a very good droup." or " Top to bottom, this is the best class we've had since Bustle was hired."...Yada...Yada...Yada _

I don't listen to anyone wrt recruiting, not even myself. The key to good recruiting is tea leaves, horoscopes, and possum droppings. It never fails.