jimotis4heisman
Banned
http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2005/Recruiting/Recruiting_101.htm
By Pete Fiutak reprinted and reedited from last year
Let me preface my view on the recruiting world by saying that after spending entirely too much fruitless time pouring over this world every year about now, I hate high school kids. They have their whole lives ahead of them while mine, at the ripe old age of 34, is over. They can still eat fast food without paying for it for three days after. They get to go off to college to spend the best four years of their lives in college while I'm not even eligible to be on The Real World or American Idol.
While college football recruiting is a cute novelty, too many people make a big a deal of it. With that said, recruiting can still be the lifeblood of a college football team. Biff the evaluation of an incoming recruiting class or two and your program hits the skids. So how should teams go about recruiting for their team?
For purposes of this exercise, I'm the recruiting coordinator of XYZ State. Unfortunately, my job is made more difficult because of the discouragement of recruiting visits with $100 handshakes and hoochie mamas shaking their booties and belly rings (my goodness do I miss college). I personally would like nothing more than to pull out the Blue Chips/He Got Game recruiting handbook on acquiring talent, but I'm not allowed to. Here's my game plan...
<TABLE id=table1 cellSpacing=8 width=200 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffcc>What to look for on recruiting day ...
1. Which teams are getting the "hot" prospects? Not one or two top guys, but several above-average players.
2. What positions are teams going after? If you see someone going for tons of linemen, you know what the focus will be.
3. How desperate are coaches to win right now? If you see lots of JUCO players and players with college measurables, that might not mean they'll grow into top stars.
4. How much do players want programs and how much do they go for the coaches? LSU has had to scramble. So has Notre Dame. Joe Paterno won't be at Penn State five years from now.
5. Who owns the top talent in certain regions? How's the Clemson - South Carolina recruiting battle going? Texas vs. Oklahoma? The entire state of Florida? The trends are more important than the actual players.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Step One: Four words ... JUCO, JUCO, JUCO, JUCO
When doing anything requiring speculation, whether it be recruiting, drafting, stock analysis or ordering Chinese food, the key is eliminating as many elements of chance as possible. When you recruit a high school prospect, you have to hope he can immediately get used to the collegiate life, you have to put him in a college weight room and get him to add 15 pounds of muscle, and then you have to hope he can actually play as he matures. When going after a JUCO player, you get a kid that you know is already used to collegiate life, has at least two years of maturity on high school prospects, and is more likely to be able to play right away. Essentially, you know what you're getting with a JUCO player. While you might not always get superstars and you have to go hard after the top high school talent, you'll get a nice base that can make an instant impact with the older players.
Step Two: Don't get too hung up on superstar high school recruits
Of course some of the high school players on everyone's list are going to be superstars, but that's not always the case. Every year there are going to be players like Adrian Peterson, Ted Ginn Jr., and Mike Hart that come out of the gates roaring, but getting a true freshman like that requires as much luck as anything else. For example, Florida State went yard in 2001 by getting superstar prep quarterbacks Joe Mauer and Adrian McPherson. How'd that work out? Chris Rix turned out to be the quarterback for the next four years. If you spend too much time courting the superstars, you might lose focus on one of the several bazillion unpolished gems that are out there. Most top recruits turn out to be merely average.
Step Three: There's one position that we must go after, and go after hard
What's the toughest college football position to fill? Quarterback? Nah, they're a dime a dozen. Running back? Puh-leez. Left offensive tackle? Possibly. No, the hardest position to fill is defensive tackle. The first problem is finding guys with the needed size. The second is to find a guy with that necessary beef that has the quickness to handle the position. Most really big guys end up playing on the offensive line, and many teams try to convert offensive linemen to the defensive side or else try to pump up defensive ends. A top-notch 275+ pound defensive tackle prospect is worth his weight in gold. Check out the best teams in America and check out their tackles; they're likely to be killers. Which leads to step four...
Step Four: Find high school linebackers that look like they can add a few pounds, and then put them on the end
It's easy to forget that we're dealing with 17 to 18-year-old bodies here. There's always room to develop, grow and improve. My number one key to a winning football team is being able to get to the opposing quarterback. Rare are the college quarterbacks that can handle consistent pressure and consistent shots as they don't have the poise, or the options, to check out of plays. 99% of all college QBs can't throw on the run. When you can consistently get to the quarterback, you make life easier for the secondary. I'm not talking about necessarily finding great sack artists, but there need to be players who can get into the backfield and make quarterbacks worry and have the speed to make plays when they have the opportunity. You can take a fast 215 to 225-pound high school linebacker, bulk him up and move him to the end and make him a playmaker. To do this though, you have to get the defensive tackles in the middle to be able to handle the run.
Step Five: Do the homework and find out which star high school players are being asked to switch positions
The star high school athletes will always play several positions. A top running back might also be the team's top defensive back. The top defensive lineman might also be a stud offensive lineman. The thing about these precocious talents is that there's always one position they really want to play. I'm not talking about the guys on the top 100 recruiting list, but maybe the next tier. Time and again a recruiter will go into a player's home and tell him that he projects to play at a certain spot. I want to find the guy that tore it up as a high school running back, wants to be a running back, but is being courted as a defensive back. I want to find the record-setting quarterback that people want to move to safety. Why did Marshall Faulk go to San Diego State? Everyone but the Aztecs wanted him as a defensive back. If you're a mid-level recruit that desperately wants to play a certain position, come to my school and play that position. If it doesn't work out, then we'll deal with it. You can never be too deep at a position.
Step Six: Don't beg
If you don't want us, we don't want you. If you need to get your butt kissed and fall for continued flattery, the chances we're getting a potentially soft drama queen will go up ten-fold. Rule number one on a team has to be that every position is always open to the best player performing at his best. For everyone involved with the program, that's the only fair policy. If you're a hotshot recruit, you'll get a chance to play right away if you've earned the job. The starting position isn't guaranteed to you though. Essentially, its most important to be as upfront and honest as possible at all times with recruits. If you sell a kid something just to get him to sign, you're going to end up with a disgruntled player down the road. On the flip side, if you're a school like USC, Ohio State or Michigan that has a track record of playing freshmen in prominent spots, recruits see that.
What to look for at the positions (This doesn't necessarily apply to the top 150-type recruits that are the elite at their positions.)
Everyone wants big and speedy players, but there are a limited number of them out there. Here are a few basic guidelines I want my program to follow.
Quarterback - Obviously there has to be the basics, but in today's day and age of college football, some mobility is an absolute must. Not everyone is going to be Michael Vick, but an ability to move if necessary adds a whole other element. Unless the recruit is an upper level talent like a Matt Leinart, the quarterback can't be a statue.
Running back - Breakaway speed is overrated. If a back can get five yards past the line of scrimmage with some sort of consistency, that's all that matters. The back has to be able to make the first guy miss and has to be able to follow blocks. That might sound basic, but too many backs are used to taking the ball and using their speed to make plays. In the faster college game, backs must show running back skills, patience and instincts, and not just simply be great athletes.
Receivers - Must block, must block, must block. This is one of the biggest hit-or-miss collegiate positions. Obviously speed is at a premium and good hands are nice (although this can be worked on), but the receiver, no matter how big he is, has to at least have to potential to be a solid blocker. Most college teams are going to run more than pass, and being able to make a big block on a defensive back will be the difference between nice gains by running backs and big game breakers.
Offensive Linemen - Versatility. How many positions can the recruit potentially play? How much room is there to grow? Just because a high school prospect is 290 to 300 pounds, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing. A lot of that might be fat, and he might not be athletic enough to grow into the position at the collegiate level. Unless the prospect is out-of-this world, the ideal recruit will be relatively athletic at about 255 to 270 pounds with a frame that looks like it can support an extra 15 to 20 pounds of muscle.
Defensive Linemen - As stated above, finding defensive tackle prospects is a top priority. The most time needs to be spent finding and courting them. The ends can be bulked up linebackers to provide the necessary speed.
Linebackers - Athleticism over production. At no other position does the term, "football player" apply more, but slow linebackers spells death to a defense. Preferably, these aren't bulked up safeties, but sideline-to-sideline linebackers. If the job has been done in getting the right defensive tackles, size at linebacker can be sacrificed for speed. If the tackles are light, the linebackers have to be bigger.
Safeties - Tackling ability is more important than talents in pass coverage. A college football safety will have to make more run stops than pass breakups. If a high school safety looks like he has tackling problems, he most likely won't work out even if he's a sensational athlete. There's also a chance that a good run stopping safety can be bulked up to become a great outside linebacker.
Cornerbacks - Speed, speed, speed, speed and speed. Technique can be taught, but if the corner can't stay with a fast receiver, the safety will need to provide more help and the defense will have some serious problems. Obviously everyone wants speed at defensive back, but if you have to find a relatively obscure high school receiver, quarterback or running back to get that speed, do it and hope you can teach him how to cover.
Punters and Kickers - Not enough attention is paid to this. This might be the flakiest position to recruit, but there should be as much time finding consistent kickers as is paid to the other major positions. Look at what an advantage Ohio State had in the 2002 championship season with Andy Groom and Mike Nugent. USC has had one of the best kicking games in the nation over the last few years. Considering most teams need to win with the running game, field position is a big deal