2008 Recruiting Wars

[CajunT]

_ Uh, Tom did you see our Defensive secondary? While the play at linebacker could have been better, the secondary is what gave up big play after big play. I liked what I saw from Grant Fleming and I think he will get better every year. Zanders was solid for a second year in a row and I like Fred Davis in the middle even though Bustle seems to like Burkhalter. You couldn't count on Jarrett Jones or Scooter Rogers at CB last year although I'm not giving up on Rogers for next year. Half the year we started a freshman at one CB position.

While I do like some of our recruits, I'm not as concerned about numbers as I am about quality. Compared to other Sun Belt schools and even McNeese, we don't seem to be bringing in the higher ranked recruits as they do ( this is simply going by ranking services). I do think we could have a sleeper class with the likes of D.Johnson and his teammate. _

I would say that you need to do more homework my friend. To say that the Cajuns are not recruiting athletes that are not as good a quality as the rest of the Sun Belt programs or even McNeese St, is not accurate. We will and have tripped some in state athletes that will visit McNeese St. We can trip all the quality that we want, until the results change on the field it will be difficult to sign them.

Justin Feagins- West Virgina,LSU,Michigan this week
Rodney Gillis- Toledo, Iowa
Ryan Glazer- Kansas- now committed to UL
Willie Bohannon- Kentucky, Louisville
Evan Ruiz- Vanderbilt-now committed to UL
Michael Smith- UCONN
Alonzo Barragan- Marshall, Colorado

Those are just a few, but I don't see any of them visiting other Sun Belt programs or McNeese State.

[Just1More]

_ Has anyone ever seen Big Fat Sam Adams? My fat ass could probably run the 100 yd dash faster than he could run the 40 and he's been able to make millions because he could do the things Amos is talking about, namely fire off the ball, shed blocks, clog running lanes, etc. Its not like we're going to be counting on these guys to be covering kickoffs or anything. _

Very true Rhineaux. The 40 isn't a good measuring stick. It is quick feet and quick instincts (type of speed) that you need interior linemen to have. It is far more apparent in real-time game play than in some kind of clinically sanitized laboratory track timed stop watch unimpeded runway free gallop. <---- that don't mean jack to a lineman.

[Cajun Express]

_ I would say that you need to do more homework my friend. To say that the Cajuns are not recruiting athletes that are not as good a quality as the rest of the Sun Belt programs or even McNeese St, is not accurate. We will and have tripped some in state athletes that will visit McNeese St. We can trip all the quality that we want, until the results change on the field it will be difficult to sign them.

Justin Feagins- West Virgina,LSU,Michigan this week
Rodney Gillis- Toledo, Iowa
Ryan Glazer- Kansas- now committed to UL
Willie Bohannon- Kentucky, Louisville
Evan Ruiz- Vanderbilt-now committed to UL
Michael Smith- UCONN
Alonzo Barragan- Marshall, Colorado

Those are just a few, but I don't see any of them visiting other Sun Belt programs or McNeese State. _

T you are right about tripping. The real test for 2008 is the signing. Still both the coaches and the players have limited official visits. And while we love Lafayette, I would think if I were an athlete simply wanting a nice trip there are some schools in California, and Florida that might be a little more fun in January. If they are tripping we have a legitimate chance of getting them.

[CajunT]

_ While we are on the subject of recruiting, do you know anything about Devin Figaro Cajun T? What type of prospect is he considered? He seems to be interested in several BCS schools, has good size but I'm not sure about his hands. I'm just curious since I haven't heard much about him. _

Devin hasn't qualified yet. I don't think any BCS schools are interested right now.

[Clutch0364]

CajunT...any word on Nathan Lewis?

[ulforlife]

CajunT...any word on Nathan Lewis?

This kid looks pretty good

[zephyr]

_ I would say that you need to do more homework my friend. To say that the Cajuns are not recruiting athletes that are not as good a quality as the rest of the Sun Belt programs or even McNeese St, is not accurate. We will and have tripped some in state athletes that will visit McNeese St. We can trip all the quality that we want, until the results change on the field it will be difficult to sign them.

Justin Feagins- West Virgina,LSU,Michigan this week
Rodney Gillis- Toledo, Iowa
Ryan Glazer- Kansas- now committed to UL
Willie Bohannon- Kentucky, Louisville
Evan Ruiz- Vanderbilt-now committed to UL
Michael Smith- UCONN
Alonzo Barragan- Marshall, Colorado

Those are just a few, but I don't see any of them visiting other Sun Belt programs or McNeese State. _

First of all, I'm going by the ranking services and how they gauge the incoming talent. Since I don't get a chance to see these kids in action and assess their abilities, I rely on several of the services and their opinions. Second, I don't really care about who is coming visit, do you? You mention Willie Bohannon but he is already committed to Kentucky. You mention Ruiz, he's already committed here. I usually go by ESPN's recruiting board because they do a great job of evaluating talent and are quick to update their boards. We have only 3 kids committed that are above the minimum evaluation standard of 40. Again, I'm going strictly by these services. If you look at LA Tech, take a look at their committments. They have a very solid class coming in plus more. I believe that D. Johnson is possibly waiting to see what happens there also. Many of the names you mention aren't on some of the boards that we look at as fans. How about James Narcisse? We lost him to McNeese. We lost Casey Narcisse to Monroe. He would have been (on many boards) our highest ranked recruit. I may not be in the know like you Cajun T but I DO my homework as well as I can.

[VObserver]

That '40' on ESPN means they have not evaluated the prospect. It is not an evaluation, but an admission by ESPN that they aren't doing their job.

[Zeebart21]

First of all, I'm going by the ranking services and how they gauge the incoming talent. Since I don't get a chance to see these kids in action and assess their abilities, I rely on several of the services and their opinions. Second, I don't really care about who is coming visit, do you? You mention Willie Bohannon but he is already committed to Kentucky. You mention Ruiz, he's already committed here. I usually go by ESPN's recruiting board because they do a great job of evaluating talent and are quick to update their boards. We have only 3 kids committed that are above the minimum evaluation standard of 40. Again, I'm going strictly by these services. If you look at LA Tech, take a look at their committments. They have a very solid class coming in plus more. I believe that D. Johnson is possibly waiting to see what happens there also. Many of the names you mention aren't on some of the boards that we look at as fans. How about James Narcisse? We lost him to McNeese. We lost Casey Narcisse to Monroe. He would have been (on many boards) our highest ranked recruit. I may not be in the know like you Cajun T but I DO my homework as well as I can.

Did the Cajuns even offer the Narcisse boys? I can't find any service that shows they were offered by UL.

Z

[DrumRoll]

_ First of all, I'm going by the ranking services and how they gauge the incoming talent.

Notre Dame is a perfect example of why that does not work. They recruit star ratings, and many of the kids have varying degrees of hype and lack substance. Based on star ratings Notre Dame should have finished in the top 5 this year.

Recruiting services cannot and do not, account for the late bloomers and sleepers. Some kids play in a system that does not generate stats for them, some are injured as sophomores or juniors and/or play behind a decent upperclassmen, some are too young for their grade and mature later. There are far more of these sleepers when programs speed up the recruiting timeline and the top 25 programs in the country have 70% of their class committed before the recruits have played a single down of football in their senior season.

The UL coaches have to find these guys, but the good news is, there are probably more sleepers this year, than in the last 10, because of the accelerated timeline in recruiting. This is going to help the smaller programs, and many experts think that some programs will suffer negative consequences for "Premature Recruiting".

Don't get me wrong, recruiting services are good for the subscribers, you get great detail on recruits that was previously not available to the average Joe, but there are inherent flaws in the star system, namely because they are often based on who your relatives are and hype early on. Some things sort themselves out, some never do, so stars are certainly not what the UL coaching staff should be focused on.