Very interesting stuff, Terry, especially to someone like me who does not get too involved in following recruiting. It's both sobering (busts) and encouraging (booms) for the recruitniks who follow the process much more closely than I. I don't know if it was the same class, but my candidate for ND bust would be the QB Olsen who transeferred to Virginia and hasn't been heard from since.
recruiting <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> Great post. I saw a lot of names on that list I remember feeling bad that the Irish didn't get who turned out to be "busts". Something I try to keep in mind as I watch the recruiting process every year is that no matter how many stars these young men have assigned to them by the various recruiting services, many of them will never do anything worth mentioning when they play DIV 1 football. <br/> <br/> Looks like ND will finish with a top 10 class that will be short on the Defensive side. I still believe the defense will be better next season dispite that. Maybe it's becasue we have been so bad that it won't take much to have an improvement. <br/> <br/> Charlie is having no trouble at all attracting the best offensive talent and hopefull the lessons learned this year as far as recruiting defensive players will be well learned and not repeated. I see CW is already extending offers to some of the best Defensive talent for next recruiting season so it looks hopeful. With Brown as the new DC hoefully ND is on the right track. <E>8)</E></r>
Well said, Tim. Nowhere to go but up, especially with Zibby coming back. Right, George and Larry? :wink:
I have noted that there are seemingly more offers going out to kids than last year. It's pretty early, I know in the past they really didn't offer anybody till after the May evaluation period. But the way things are if you don't offer some of these kids early when other schools are making the offer you'll miss out on them. The danger is always that you haven't seen them play as Sr's and if they commit you have to baby sit them a long time, miss kissing their little butts 1 week and their feelings get hurt. Terry
This whole boom or bust thing comes from the fact that no scout can possibly see all or even most of the top recruits. BS stacks up in piles as recruiting gurus try to out-do each other in praising each kid as the next Jim Brown or Johnny U. At most, they've seen a little film and read the secondhand opinions of others. I saw two of the players on this list when they played in high school. Whitney Lewis was WAAAAAAAAY overrated as a supposed #1 player in SoCal. He was no such thing and I said so right here while he was still in HS. Pete Carroll moved him from WR to FB in his very first practice at USC and that was no surprise to me either. On the other hand, Eric Weddle was a player that I saw play several times for Alta Loma HS and he was special. He dominated nearly every contest with game-changing plays. The only argument against him was that he was under 6ft tall and it seemed a bogus call to me. The kid was hard to contain on either side of the ball, even against the best competition. He was the Ian Johnson of several years ago. The best evaluations are the ones done by the coaches themselves in handing out scholarships and even they make mistakes when they have to rely on film... ...........JO'Co
Very interesting list. You wonder how a kid that seemed to have so much talent like Demetris Summers can somehow vanish into thin air. These guys must be incapable of becoming what they should be.... a la Clarett.
You want a recruiting "bust"? Do ya? Check this one out! http://floridastate.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1088&tid=88622461&mid=88622461&sid=1061&style=2 Go Dawgs!!!! :shock: :twisted:
Bists <r>Yeah, I've seen enough of those two to know they really are a bust.....I thought they were a fine pair and were gonna see a lot of action...shows what I know <E>8)</E></r>
LOL.... These two are more into looking good than getting any real action I'll bet. They probably don't have a feel for the game but still... they apparently are well rounded individuals with a bright future. 8)
No comment? You guys must not be interested in some of the biggest recruiting busts the world has ever seen...... http://floridastate.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1088&tid=88622461&mid=88622461&sid=1061&style=2
Now you're coming around George. I'm sure some of your Skybox brethren could also appreciate the gravity of these busts as well. These two have held up well considering the circumstances however.
Older Irish Fans will remember Alonzo Jefferson. He was a bright star destined for the NFL till an injury took care of that. Like most ND football players he has his degree and is now a coach at Cardinal Newman in West Palm Beach where he was a star.
Here's another article from the Palm Beach Post. It agains reminds us that for every success story there are a lot of sad tales and disappointments out there. LeRon Lee is a sad story, I can't believe that Ga.Tech put him on a partial scholarhip after the injury. Notre Dame football players in that same situation are on football scholarship but they are still given a full ride to finish out their education. Damian Peter (whose brothers went to Neb) was injured before he even went to ND in a tragic pool accident that left him with a broken neck and no chance of ever playing college footbal. Notre Dame honored his scholarship and he attended for 2 years before he decided to transfer to Neb to be with his brother, there are a number of other stories like that. Texas has a young man from Austin Westlake HS who was a promising OL and had given his verbal to Mack, he developed a serious heart condition after that and was not able to complete his Sr. year this year. He will still be attending UT on full scholarship.