MGB: Sunday recruiting blog (updated at 8:30)

[Brett Vito]

MGB: Updates on Rico Bussey, Keenan Johnson

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2016/01/sunday-recruiting-blog.html/

 

Edited January 18, 2016 by Brett Vito

[southsideguy]

so we are at -1 in current players and -1 in recruits.  I was hoping for a little good news this weekend.

[Tyler Maryak]

11 minutes ago, southsideguy said:

so we are at -1 in current players and -1 in recruits.  I was hoping for a little good news this weekend.

Yeah, I thought I saw someone saying we should be seeing quite a bit of chatter today.  The day isn't over, but I'm starting to get depressed...

[UNT90]

This isn't going to be easy this year, especially when Litrell only inherited 2 recruits. 

Hope for good news, but I wouldn't expect much until guys start losing offers from bigger programs. 

[GMG24]

3 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

This isn't going to be easy this year, especially when Litrell only inherited 2 recruits. 

Hope for good news, but I wouldn't expect much until guys start losing offers from bigger programs. 

The fact he left an OV and didn't commit is a good thing. Now let's get him in here for an OV!! 

[Harry]

I35 near Denton shut down for construction today.  Reroute through Bonnie Brae!

[greenit]

Schools are closed tomorrow, so today may be more like a typical Saturday, but ya, would like to hear some good news.

[outoftown]

Yeah I am quickly starting to run out of reasons to tell myself why this may still be a good start to the recruiting period.

[Tyler Maryak]

[Brett Vito]

Updated with an expanded list of players who visited, quotes from wide receiver prospect

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2016/01/sunday-recruiting-blog.html/

[JesseMartin]

Honestly, I was expecting next to nothing, so what the new staff has been able to pull out of their asses already seems like a freaking miracle compared to what I thought would happen.  Kick as much ass as possible this coming season with what they've got and use that period to recruit like mad men, and next year's class could be the best UNT has ever seen.  If things come together as hoped, I'm willing to see very little progress beyond what we've already gotten in recruiting this year as long as next year is killer.

But I also agree about waiting to see what happens when offers get pulled from bigger schools.  Remember, that's how we ended up with Johnny Quinn!

[BillySee58]

42 minutes ago, JesseMartin said:

Honestly, I was expecting next to nothing, so what the new staff has been able to pull out of their asses already seems like a freaking miracle compared to what I thought would happen.  Kick as much ass as possible this coming season with what they've got and use that period to recruit like mad men, and next year's class could be the best UNT has ever seen.  If things come together as hoped, I'm willing to see very little progress beyond what we've already gotten in recruiting this year as long as next year is killer.

But I also agree about waiting to see what happens when offers get pulled from bigger schools.  Remember, that's how we ended up with Johnny Quinn!

Quinn was never offered by bigger schools.

IMO, I think you should raise your expectations at least a little. Chad Morris came in on the same time restraint and really made some impressive pickups and won some recruiting battles.

Hell, look what Mccarney did with the 2011 class immediately after being hired. Flipped players from Tulsa when they were rolling (Chaz Sampson), Arizona (Kerry Swarn), got players with good offer lists like Cyril Lemon, Derek Akunne, Freddie Warner, Terrell Brooks, etc and Mccarney proved to be an awful recruiter. 

Recruiting on short notice isn't easy, but coaches get an added pitch just by being a new coach and being able to sell that to high school kids. No reason we shouldn't at least make some noise.

[JesseMartin]

Wasn't Johnny offered and then had them pulled?  Or was he just "talking to" them and they never made a commitment?

[UNTLifer]

We were Quinn's only offer.  Same with Patrick Cobbs.

[GreenFlag]

1 minute ago, UNTLifer said:

We were Quinn's only offer.  Same with Patrick Cobbs.

OSU offered Patrick late. 

[untjim1995]

15 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

Quinn was never offered by bigger schools.

IMO, I think you should raise your expectations at least a little. Chad Morris came in on the same time restraint and really made some impressive pickups and won some recruiting battles.

Hell, look what Mccarney did with the 2011 class immediately after being hired. Flipped players from Tulsa when they were rolling (Chaz Sampson), Arizona (Kerry Swarn), got players with good offer lists like Cyril Lemon, Derek Akunne, Freddie Warner, Terrell Brooks, etc and Mccarney proved to be an awful recruiter. 

Recruiting on short notice isn't easy, but coaches get an added pitch just by being a new coach and being able to sell that to high school kids. No reason we shouldn't at least make some noise.

The funny thing about McCarney sucking as a recruiter was that in his first couple of recruiting cycles here, he didn't do that bad--he wasn't beaten down yet by the issues that always seem to haunt us in recruiting. After 2012, it just seems like it went completely off the mountain.

Morris had a few advantages that Littrell doesn't have when he got hired here. His connections to Texas High School Coaches is well-known and SMU being considered a high-end private school by most outsiders because of academic ranking gave him the opportunity to get going faster. Littrell will really have to look under a lot of rocks to get us up in recruiting circles within Texas High Schools. Its why I think his Oklahoma connections and much less competition up there for recruits that can't go to OU or OSU could help us a lot. That state produces good football players, too.

[BillySee58]

1 hour ago, untjim1995 said:

The funny thing about McCarney sucking as a recruiter was that in his first couple of recruiting cycles here, he didn't do that bad--he wasn't beaten down yet by the issues that always seem to haunt us in recruiting. After 2012, it just seems like it went completely off the mountain.

Morris had a few advantages that Littrell doesn't have when he got hired here. His connections to Texas High School Coaches is well-known and SMU being considered a high-end private school by most outsiders because of academic ranking gave him the opportunity to get going faster. Littrell will really have to look under a lot of rocks to get us up in recruiting circles within Texas High Schools. Its why I think his Oklahoma connections and much less competition up there for recruits that can't go to OU or OSU could help us a lot. That state produces good football players, too.

I disagree. 2011 was decent for a short-notice class, but 2012 was absolutely his worst class. Both in offer lists and production.

Look how many players from that class had no other or just one other offer, and many of those players transferred/quit after not cracking the two deep. A few redshirt seniors remain from that class, but it is yet to produce an all-CUSA player. Harris has really been the only consistent starter from that class.

He had one impressive class, and that was 2014 where we picked up a lot of good commitments during and immediately after our bowl run. Then things went back downhill and very, very far downhill at the end.

Edited January 18, 2016 by BillySee58

[Tyler Maryak]

On 1/17/2016 at 5:58 PM, greenit said:

Schools are closed tomorrow, so today may be more like a typical Saturday, but ya, would like to hear some good news.

And now I am super sad.

 

23 hours ago, outoftown said:

Yeah I am quickly starting to run out of reasons to tell myself why this may still be a good start to the recruiting period.

Ditto...

[Green P1]

2 minutes ago, Tyler Maryak said:

And now I am super sad.

[Wag Tag]

5 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

I disagree. 2011 was decent for a short-notice class, but 2012 was absolutely his worst class. Both in offer lists and production.

Look how many players from that class had no other or just one other offer, and many of those players transferred/quit after not cracking the two deep. A few redshirt seniors remain from that class, but it is yet to produce an all-CUSA player. Harris has really been the only consistent starter from that class.

He had one impressive class, and that was 2014 where we picked up a lot of good commitments during and immediately after our bowl run. Then things went back downhill and very, very far downhill at the end.

Could Seth benefit from the Dodge Factor? Inheriting players that take you BOWLING!

[BillySee58]

19 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

Could Seth benefit from the Dodge Factor? Inheriting players that take you BOWLING!

Possibly. That 2014 class is good, and they could have a similar impact as the 2010 class had that bowl year. We still need other good pieces from other classes, including a QB.

[JesseMartin]

1 hour ago, BillySee58 said:

Possibly. That 2014 class is good, and they could have a similar impact as the 2010 class had that bowl year. We still need other good pieces from other classes, including a QB.

Since you're on top of evaluating talent more than pretty much anyone on here (other than maybe some of the coaches), what do you think of our new QB recruits?  Are we still worried?  Worried-lite?

[BillySee58]

1 hour ago, JesseMartin said:

Since you're on top of evaluating talent more than pretty much anyone on here (other than maybe some of the coaches), what do you think of our new QB recruits?  Are we still worried?  Worried-lite?

Eh, I just follow it. But thanks, ha.

I'm not sure. We've offered two QBs (Starkel and Debiase) and we've visited and will see another throw (Nyc Burns). I wouldn't mind Debiase, but it's been very quiet there from both sides lately, and Starkel seems like a long shot. Tough situation to read right now.

[JesseMartin]

58 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

I'm not sure. We've offered two QBs (Starkel and Debiase) and we've visited and will see another throw (Nyc Burns). I wouldn't mind Debiase, but it's been very quiet there from both sides lately, and Starkel seems like a long shot. Tough situation to read right now.

What about Alec?

[outoftown]

12 hours ago, JesseMartin said:

What about Alec?

He's here, but we also need a HS QB for the long term development.