UL Commit Follows Billy to UF

[CrazyCajun]

He more than likely followed Darnell Stapleton, not billy technically. Nobody balked when we hired Viator and he brought an all conference lineman with him.

[CajunEXPRESS]

But how do we get around it? One of the commits who re-committed said that Dez had been working on him for years.

Let me put it like this: What if it were my kid? What if it were your kid? If he he/she had a good offer from UL, and you all know I love UL, but he/she decided to go elsewhere, I would respect & support that.

And I would get angry with anyone who tried to object or interfere. I think we all would.

Now, if they were making a decision to go to a school with a winning record and a shoddy reputation, or weak academics, or a poor campus attitude, or a school in a dangerous area, I might put my foot down. But it's not because of my personal preferences.

It's because of my personal responsibility.

Nobody is spending two seconds worrying about what a message board has to say about a changed commitment. They’re very happy with their new date and that’s a fact jack. We’re not getting demerits or bonus points.

[CajunFun]

Nobody is spending two seconds worrying about what a message board has to say about a changed commitment. They’re very happy with their new date and that’s a fact jack. We’re not getting demerits or bonus points.

I'm not so sure. Athletic recruits read these boards. Their parents read these boards. Students considering UL read these boards.

For better or worse, we are the most visible face of UL culture / cULture.

We are the most prominent presence of the University on the Internet. And I worry that too many people here are quite cavalier about that honor, and that responsibility.

[Grantvb]

“ Now, if they were making a decision to go to a school with a winning record and a shoddy reputation, or weak academics, or a poor campus attitude, or a school in a dangerous area, I might put my foot down. But it's not because of my personal preferences….”

This….all day long

[Bandwagon King]

Can’t commit without an offer.

But, yeah we don’t know to what degree CBN reached out to the kid.

That said, put me on the side of getting rid of the early signing period.

The impact of the mad scramble that is happening between coaches getting fired and other coaches being offered ridiculous sums to leave their current positions that literally happens in a two week period could be lessened if everything had a little bit more time to work itself out.

JMHO

I love the early signing period. It's just another thing that puts P-5 schools & their spoiled rotten fan bases under pressure to "perform" & stresses out their resources, especially with the attitude of win now, or pack your bags. This is the one place a school like Louisiana which has had to practice patience as way of doing business.

[Cajun Monkee]

I don’t believe pushing the signing date back is going to close Pandora’s Box. Early firings are now part of the norm. That’s the only reason they’re talking about pushing it back.

I just think that the need to replace Mullen would not have been as urgent if there was no such thing as an early signing period.

And I think that this urgency that is created results in knee-jerk reactions on the part of people further up the food chain.

Allegedly, we’ve heard stories that Napier was leveraging offers between LSU and Florida.

Allegedly, Lincoln Riley was leveraging LSU against other people.

A couple of years ago, it was stories that Tom Herman was leveraging offers between Texas and LSU.

Now I realize that this is how people are going to negotiate, but still, in my opinion, there is A built-in urgency that only benefits the P fives.

[Rougarou]

We are all new to this game fellas. We have never had a coach move up in Class. This is the way it works. NOW, Ill wager Dez and the guys are burning the midnight oil trying to stop the bleeding. Lets let it shake out and see where we stand in the spring. To quote a famous Thespian: "Its a dog eat dog world, and we are wearing Milk Bone underwear."


Z

I saw photos of CMD visiting at least one of our decommits at his home last week.

[Cajun Monkee]

No way. The early signing period has a big advantage for the G5 landing higher profile kids before P5s catch on and make an offer.

For years like this, it sucks. But I’ll take the little bad right now for the greater good later.

I don’t know about that.

With the caveat that we can only use the reading services available (and I tend to defer to 247), We’ve never had a four-star recruit. And only this year have we had our highest rated ever commitment.

It seems we have been adding Money to the athletic budget in the last few years that helps us identify quality recruits; some thing the P fives already had.

I think the proverbial diamonds in the rough few and far between.

[fanof71]

Who decommitted and then flipped to commited to UL

[Cajun Monkee]

But how do we get around it? One of the commits who re-committed said that Dez had been working on him for years.

Let me put it like this: What if it were my kid? What if it were your kid? If he he/she had a good offer from UL, and you all know I love UL, but he/she decided to go elsewhere, I would respect & support that.

And I would get angry with anyone who tried to object or interfere. I think we all would.

Now, if they were making a decision to go to a school with a winning record and a shoddy reputation, or weak academics, or a poor campus attitude, or a school in a dangerous area, I might put my foot down. But it's not because of my personal preferences.

It's because of my personal responsibility.

My point isnt about where a kid may or may not go.

I just think the circumstance that the early signing period creates aTremendous and rapid sense of urgency on personnel movement.

If Florida had not said, “ hey Billy Napier, you have to be here before the beginning of December because of recruiting”, ours and other programs like Ours would not be behind the perpetual eight ball.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I love the early signing period. It's just another thing that puts P-5 schools & their spoiled rotten fan bases under pressure to "perform" & stresses out their resources, especially with the attitude of win now, or pack your bags. This is the one place a school like Louisiana which has had to practice patience as way of doing business.

USC fired their coach one game into the season I believe. He’s very happy at Georgia Southern who’s coach was fired midway. GS felt the need to get a coach in place. We ain’t going back on in season dismissal.

[Bandwagon King]

My point isnt about where a kid may or may not go.

I just think the circumstance that the early signing period creates aTremendous and rapid sense of urgency on personnel movement.

If Florida had not said, “ hey Billy Napier, you have to be here before the beginning of December because of recruiting”, ours and other programs like Ours would not be behind the perpetual eight ball.

Man, we don't have any sense of urgency on recruiting right now compared to anyone else who just lost their coach. How many of these guys have hit the transfer portal from other programs? Not saying it isn't important, but. How many UL recruits have decommitted only to recommit somewhere else? One? And the mere fact that one is decommitting to go to a historically top SEC school is like a calling card for these coaches. I'm glad UL doesn't have their class full of over rated recruits most of whom will turn tail & run at the first sign of adversity.

I think MD is spot on in the way he is handling his business at this point. To me, it seems like he is giving guys on his present staff a chance to coach their way up the food chain, or coach their way off the team. And he's got a chance sure up the recruits he has & build new recruits with the transfer portal going full blast. The real test for this staff will be the second signing day. All of this first signing day garbage is for spoiled overly expectant fan bases who are only going to be disappointed anyway.