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2018 Recruiting Thread

https://nypost.com/2018/02/07/jim-harbaugh-is-a-big-loser-on-national-signing-day/



Not only is the honeymoon over at Michigan for Jim Harbaugh, the marriage could be veering toward “we should meet with a counselor” territory.

What’s worse — Penn State might be passing Michigan as Ohio State’s biggest threat. The Nittany Lions have won the Big Ten and won a New Year’s Six bowl game in the past two seasons. Now, they just landed the No. 4-ranked class in the nation, just behind the Buckeyes in the battle for Big Ten supremacy.

The ride to this point has gotten bumpier than expected, though. Harbaugh has climbed trees and held sleepovers and taken his team all over the globe, but if he doesn’t win more games, beat some rivals and recruit better players, his time as coach might not last longer than Hoke’s.
 

For all the talk about hairball, I'm surprised michigan isn't on that list. Was there a disastrous class at the end of hoke's tenure?

What happened to bama? I'm sure they are stocked from last year's team, but only 9th? I'm also surprised that wisconsin fell down. Granted, they don't typically get the studs, but I'm surprised that they dropped to 43.
 
For all the talk about hairball, I'm surprised michigan isn't on that list. Was there a disastrous class at the end of hoke's tenure?

What happened to bama? I'm sure they are stocked from last year's team, but only 9th? I'm also surprised that wisconsin fell down. Granted, they don't typically get the studs, but I'm surprised that they dropped to 43.
Bama only signed 19 kids keeping their score down. Georgia and Ohio State took 26.
 
Thanks. Is saban cutting down on the number of kids getting processed?

;)

Bama's problem is alot of the kids they normally signed were already signed.

Bama typically targets the best of the best. They lose their fair share of them - and in the past swooped in and took other players who were committed elsewhere. This year they couldn't do that as the players were locked into other schools.

I heard an interview with saban - and he was asked his thoughts about the early signing day. he said he felt it wasn't the best for athletes because they are locked into schools when better options might come available. I translated to be that he felt that kids were stuck at Miss St/etc when if they waited a better option (Bama) might be available.

The one benefit of the early signing day - that may not have been thought of is it may limit oversigning/running players off. If the best players are locked up by December - a team can't oversign too much as they need to ensure there will be room. It is one thing to have the uncomfortable talk with a player AFTER the season - but can you imagine the having the talk the week of the SEC title game or prepping for the playoffs. It may backfire - and thus coaches probably won't do it.
 
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Bama's problem is alot of the kids they normally signed were already signed.

Bama typically targets the best of the best. They lose their fair share of them - and in the past swooped in and took other players who were committed elsewhere. This year they couldn't do that as the players were locked into other schools.

I heard an interview with saban - and he was asked his thoughts about the early signing day. he said he felt it wasn't the best for athletes because they are locked into schools when better options might come available. I translated to be that he felt that kids were stuck at Miss St/etc when if they waited a better option (Bama) might be available.

The one benefit of the early signing day - that may not have been thought of is it may limit oversigning/running players off. If the best players are locked up by December - a team can't oversign too much as they need to ensure there will be room. It is one thing to have the uncomfortable talk with a player AFTER the season - but can you imagine the having the talk the week of the SEC title game or prepping for the playoffs. It may backfire - and thus coaches probably won't do it.


Saban and Alabama were like the best looking guy at the high school dance who all the girls waited for at the end of the dance. The guy had his choice. Well now those girls aren’t waiting on mister handsome any more.

Nick is gonna have to change his approach of swooping in at the last minute to get whoever he wants.
 
Saban and Alabama were like the best looking guy at the high school dance who all the girls waited for at the end of the dance. The guy had his choice. Well now those girls aren’t waiting on mister handsome any more.

Nick is gonna have to change his approach of swooping in at the last minute to get whoever he wants.

With Saban turning 67 in October, you'll also see the negative recruiting getting ramped up against Bama. "He won't be your head coach by the time you are a senior." They just won the MNC, but no dynasty lasts forever. Wonder if recruiting gets more and more difficult down there. Recruits still get their choice of vehicle, so they got that going for them.
 
Penn State's recruiting rankings the last two cycles with 10 decommits, plus coaching changes, further point to the amazing job Franklin is doing. He doesn't merely have Plan B's. When he loses a Plan A, he regroups and finds another Plan A. The man does his homework and then some.

10 decommits in 2 years is a lot. Who are they?

Rivers in 2017
Fields
Is SAB considered a decommittment?
Young
Bleich
Is Parsons considered a decommittment even though he later committed?
 
10 decommits in 2 years is a lot. Who are they?

Rivers in 2017
Fields
Is SAB considered a decommittment?
Young
Bleich
Is Parsons considered a decommittment even though he later committed?
Hardy and Reed are 2 others this year
 
2017:
Rivers
Pitts

2018:
Fields
Parsons
Reed
Bleich
Anderson
Young
Hardy

That's only 9 counting Parsons. Was this going back to 2016?

2016:
Hill
Dioubate
Pryts
Mathews
Nordin
Colon
Dwumfor

That's still only 9 for 2016 / 2017. Is someone missing?

247 has Rivers listed twice on the 2017 decommitment list. Wonder if the author missed that.
 
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I think there is a direct correlation to the number of early committments, but not necessarily an indication of whether the program is doing well or not. Some of the de-committments could be from 3 star guys who bail when they see more talented guys commit and they don't want to compete. Obviously, this isn't always the case and I can't think of any examples of that with Penn State's class, but I just wouldn't put much weight into this as a metric.
 
I think you hit it on early commits. Some appear to improve dramatically and become the new, latest thing in recruiting. Possibly getting an offer from another school they wanted to attend but thought they would never receive that offer. Or, the highest bidder comes along? In our case that is an easy loss as I have no reference to cases where we play that game. So many things happen in a 16 & 17 year olds life and heads can sometimes easily turned by a silver tongue (true or not).
 
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10 decommits in 2 years is a lot. Who are they?

Rivers in 2017
Fields
Is SAB considered a decommittment?
Young
Bleich
Is Parsons considered a decommittment even though he later committed?

Ten decommits in two years? Hell, Rutgers can do that in two weeks!
 
https://nypost.com/2018/02/07/jim-harbaugh-is-a-big-loser-on-national-signing-day/



Not only is the honeymoon over at Michigan for Jim Harbaugh, the marriage could be veering toward “we should meet with a counselor” territory.

What’s worse — Penn State might be passing Michigan as Ohio State’s biggest threat. The Nittany Lions have won the Big Ten and won a New Year’s Six bowl game in the past two seasons. Now, they just landed the No. 4-ranked class in the nation, just behind the Buckeyes in the battle for Big Ten supremacy.

The ride to this point has gotten bumpier than expected, though. Harbaugh has climbed trees and held sleepovers and taken his team all over the globe, but if he doesn’t win more games, beat some rivals and recruit better players, his time as coach might not last longer than Hoke’s.
did-someone-say-semi-sober-sleepover.jpg
 
2017:
Rivers
Pitts

2018:
Fields
Parsons
Reed
Bleich
Anderson
Young
Hardy

That's only 9 counting Parsons. Was this going back to 2016?

2016:
Hill
Dioubate
Pryts
Mathews
Nordin
Colon
Dwumfor

That's still only 9 for 2016 / 2017. Is someone missing?

247 has Rivers listed twice on the 2017 decommitment list. Wonder if the author missed that.

Any updates on the decommits from 2016? Have they had success? I know Nordine started for Michigan.
 
http://thespun.com/college-football...kley-was-once-committed-to-this-big-10-school

Did You Know Saquon Barkley Was Once Committed To This Big 10 School?
Penn State’s star running back was once committed to a different Big Ten school.

We’re approaching a huge day in the 2018 college football recruiting cycle. National Signing Day is this upcoming Wednesday.


As we approach the big day, 247Sports’ Chris Hummer wrote a cool piece on some of the biggest “what-ifs” in college football’s recent recruiting years. One of the big “what-ifs” involves Saquon Barkley.

Barkley, the best running back in college football in 2017, was once committed to a Big Ten school not named Penn State. It’s probably not a school you’d think, either.

Hummer detailed what went down. Check it out:


Did you know that arguably the best running back of this generation was once committed to Rutgers? Seriously, Barkley didn’t attend many camps as a prospect and flew under the radar in the early part of his recruitment. That led to Rutgers, the first school to offer Barkley, securing his commitment in September of Barkley’s junior year. Barkley rooted for Rutgers growing up in New York – his family moved to Pennsylvania in 2001 – but he eventually flipped to Penn State because it “provided more opportunity for me the rest of my life.”

So what happens if Barkley ends up at Rutgers? The Scarlet Knights would have arguably the best player in their program history to grease their transition into the Big Ten in Year 2. As for Penn State, it would’ve been without the foundational piece of its turnaround. James Franklin might eventually turn the Nittany Lions into a contender again, but it takes a lot longer without Barkley. More than a running back, Barkley, in his three years in Happy Valley, became a positive on-field football symbol of a new era of Penn State football.

Barkley probably would’ve gone on to do great things at Rutgers, but he clearly made the right choice flipping to Penn State. That’s something even Scarlet Knights fans can likely admit.


The star running back was a phenomenal player for the Nittany Lions. He’ll likely be a top 10 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
 
Any updates on the decommits from 2016? Have they had success? I know Nordine started for Michigan.

nordine missed an extra point in the blowout loss to Penn State and grabbed his balls in the bowl-game give-up loss to south carolina. That was his 2017 season.
 
Saban and Alabama were like the best looking guy at the high school dance who all the girls waited for at the end of the dance. The guy had his choice. Well now those girls aren’t waiting on mister handsome any more.

Nick is gonna have to change his approach of swooping in at the last minute to get whoever he wants.
He will have to really evaluate talent now and not let everyone else do it for him! Luckily CJF can identify the talent early and is a leader not a follower, therefore early sighing a boon for PSU!
 
He will have to really evaluate talent now and not let everyone else do it for him! Luckily CJF can identify the talent early and is a leader not a follower, therefore early sighing a boon for PSU!

You really think Saban can’t identify talent??? Come on ...
 
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