College Football Recruiting

The Vols will be in the top 20. Big whoop. USA Today, I think it was, did a comparison of the weighted avg. of the last 3 recruiting classes and comparing them to the top ten in the BCS standings this year. Only four teams were common in both top tens.

Our Vols won't have a highly ranked class because we didn't need a QB or RB, which are the weighted positions at Rivals, et.al. We have blue-chippers at very critical positions on defense and at WR. Stay tuned to see what tomorrow brings as far as some surprises. We've been out of the top ten before and ended signing day in the top 10, top 5, and once a top 3. 2 LSU recruits are possibly changing their minds and heading to UT. There are one or two others. I'll keep you posted. But I never place a huge amount of stock in these classes.

Some services have USC's rating in question. Florida State has had perennial highly ranked classes, yet they've floundered on the field for the most part. Florida's recruits will have to academically qualify.

Next year's recruiting class will be interesting. The Jimmy Claussen sweepstakes begins Feb 2

 

At QB, with Ainge, Crompton, Hardegree, and Nick Stephens, I think we'll be okay (Did I mention we still have Jim Bob Cooter)

The good news for the Vols is that we held onto Jacques McClendon. Bad news: Michael Googans backed out of his committment to the Vols and signed with Auburn this morning (didn't really surprise me after I heard his interview Monday night). Kelvin Sheppard and Perry Riley stuck with their original commitments and signed with LSU despite saying they were 50-50 on changing their minds and signing with the Vols. The rest of the day should hold few surprises, with the exception of a kid from Virginia who is considering the Vols, though it's considered unlikely he's coming to Knoville. By 4:00, the recruiting class of 2006 will be set.

Keep this in perspective: 2 years ago, we had the consensus #1 class in the nation. It got us 5 wins last year.

[ February 01, 2006, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: TomVols ]

 

I heard the coach at ALabama was talking to a prize recruit the other day, when asked what number he wanted to wear said "oh about $30,000"

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, the best recruiting class the Razorbacks have seen in a long time. I am so excited, I might even pull a Ken and start advocating for Hillary or Wesley Clark or some nut job like that.

 

The Razorback recruiting class is great at the top(Mustain, Williams, for example) but falls off drastically - at least according to the rating services which are way overrated as highly-rated players don't pan out or transfer or don't even make it on campus because of grades or test scores, etc. And, of course, some unheralded players coming out of high school end up being quite good.

 

It looks like Pitt is starting to do well with Wannstedt recruiting now.

They are ranked 10th by Scout.com and 21st by Rivals.com with this class.

 

I echo Scott here. I was also around Chicagoland when Wannstedt was there. He always appeared clueless to me.

 

My beloved Bayou Bengals are 7th according to rivals.com, not the best...by far not the worst. They are also coming off of a couple of years where they had the 1 or 2 ranked recruiting class.

Miles has managed to keep a lot of the best Louisiana recruits in state and going to LSU, so that is a huge plus.
The last time anything like that happened was during Gerry Dinardo's first recruiting class where he signed a record number of players from LSU...and a lot of them played on Sabin's first Sugar Bowl team.

When it is all said and done, the SEC will once again be the best conference, and i expect my Tigers to be in the national championship chase.

 

Do you mean that the Bears were talentless? That would be my guess.

Wannstedt was the defensive coordinator with the Hurricanes during the 80's when they played in four national championships. 1983 Won Orange Bowl vs. Nebraska 1986 Lost Fiesta Bowl vs. Penn State 1987 Won Orange Bowl vs. Oklahoma 1989 Won Sugar Bowl vs. Alabama.

His career has produced three championship rings, including a Super Bowl title and two national collegiate championships. (One as a player though).

Wannstedt's 14 years of collegiate coaching experience include 11 winning campaigns and a 112-48-4 record.

In his 30-year coaching career, Wannstedt has been a part of 10 bowl teams, six NFL playoff teams, two college national champions (Pittsburgh in 1976 and Miami in 1987) and one Super Bowl champion (Dallas in 1992). How is that "clueless"?

 

Wannstedt was a product of the success that Jimmy Johnson had, it was no doing of his own.

What has he done as a head coach?

In Chicago? Nothing.

In Miami? Nothing.

Please show me one accomplishment as a head coach.

Although the Bears did not have Superbowl talent during his years, they did have much better talent than their record shows under Wannstedt. He was completely clueless as how to best use the players that he had on his team and to leading his team to victory.

Yep. Clueless.

 

Well, the Bears couldn't have won with Chuck Noll or Don Shula as coach.
http://espn.go.com/chrismortensen/s/000906dolphins.html

With the Bears he was 41-57. How have his replacements fared since then? Are they morons too, or do the Bears just stink every year no matter who coaches them? I suspect the latter.

So I'll mention Wannsteadt's record at Miami.

He went 11-5 and won the AFC East title for the first time since 1994 his first year. The Dolphins went 11-5 again in 2001, 9-7 in 2002, and 10-6 in 2003.

That's an average of 10+ wins a year. In 2004 the year was a disaster because Ricky Williams decided that pot was better than football and he was fired. Not Wannstedt's fault. He still had a record of 41-25 at Miami.

BTW, how has Miami fared since Dave, you know, with Ricky?

Answer 9-7 at the helm of that college coaching "genius" Nick Saban. Kinda sounds like Wannstadt in his first years doesn't it? (Only not as good of course)

So how is Saban a better coach than Wannsteadt? And please try to give me some stats or something this time.

 

Ok I will grant you that he has a better run of things in Miami.

How about these stats?

What was his record in the playoffs????

Superbowls appearances as a head coach? None.

Superbowls as a head coach? None.

If you think he is a good coach, then lets wait and see what he does with Pitt. There are 50 other coaches out there I would running my program. But good luck to ya.

Oh, and for the record. I never said anything about Saban as a coach.

 

How about Pete Carroll as a pro coach? He was a real loser. But boy can he recruit.

That's where Wannsteadt is good. And sadly that what wrong with college sports. Recruiting is more important than anything. If you have the players you win.

Wannsteadt started out with a 5-6 record and still had a great recruiting year. Wait and see what happens when they start to win in the weak Big East. I'd predict the BCS Bowl every other year.

 

I think you are dreaming. But good luck to ya.