recruiting rankings

wardly · January 16, 2017

As of today North Texas is ranked 10th in C.U.S.A. as regards recruiting rankings, and would be 6th in the S.B.C.Personally I find this very disappointing, as I expect us to be in the top 1/3 of C.U.C.A.,not the bottom. What are your expectations, and why?

UNT90 · January 16, 2017

Hoping things change in the next 3 weeks. If it doesn't, this is not a promising sign for the future of UNT football.

GreenN'walinsVet · January 16, 2017

Don't forget our rankings are going to be low this year due to the lack of class size.

oldguystudent · January 16, 2017

Honestly, I think there's a bit of a reporting bias in that if anybody commits to UNT, their reported recruiting stars ranking or whatever the hell metric they use automatically gets downgraded. It'll take a while to change that perception. I don't care how we're ranking a year ahead of taking the field again. I care that we're recruiting the pieces of the puzzle that we need, which right now is nearly all of them.

SHOSS · January 16, 2017

10 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Hoping things change in the next 3 weeks. If it doesn't, this is not a promising sign for the future of UNT football.

At this point, I am still alarmed at being this far down in the CUSA rankings with "hot" new coaching staff and a better than expected season...

I hope things turn around, and maybe the "new" coach gave me false hope... but man, I still feel like this should have propelled us closer to the top of CUSA by now in recruiting... I would gladly trade a couple of the wins from this past season for a couple more highly rated and sought after prospects....

wardly · January 16, 2017

While UNT90 and I probably will never go camping together, he hit a nerve when he said we should "expect more". If fans and alumni are looking for a slogan that should apply to our Athletic Department,this is it. "EXPECT MORE!"

UNT90 · January 16, 2017

49 minutes ago, oldguystudent said:

Honestly, I think there's a bit of a reporting bias in that if anybody commits to UNT, their reported recruiting stars ranking or whatever the hell metric they use automatically gets downgraded. It'll take a while to change that perception. I don't care how we're ranking a year ahead of taking the field again. I care that we're recruiting the pieces of the puzzle that we need, which right now is nearly all of them.

That's why you look at offer sheets.

16 minutes ago, wardly said:

While UNT90 and I probably will never go camping together, he hit a nerve when he said we should "expect more". If fans and alumni are looking for a slogan that should apply to our Athletic Department,this is it. "EXPECT MORE!"

Reminded me of the old "you wanna go campin'" joke. Lol

52 minutes ago, GreenN'walinsVet said:

Don't forget our rankings are going to be low this year due to the lack of class size.

I'm concerned by who is beating us out and the offer sheets of those committed.

Wag Tag · January 16, 2017

I would atleast expect top half and mid 90s on a national level. I could see the defense going the Juco way again based on current signing!

GMG24 · January 16, 2017

We do need to continue to work, but we did beat West Virginia out for Guyton. We beat plenty of schools out for English when he transferred. It appears this staff can definitely recruit, now we need to see it make its way into the HS ranks. Hell we fended off an ALABAMA offer, yes I know he hasnt played a down for us but the fact that we beat Bama out is a miracle. Yes I am concerned, but when I look back to last class I see guys like Wilson who IMO is one of the best receivers we've brought in, in a long time. Dude had no offers. Fine performed admirably for a true freshman QB, again no offers. Ham-bone, yes I would love to have more highly regarded players and have the top ranked class absolutely. But after looking at last years class and the contributors we brought in with no offers or very few offers I am ok with it. The staff has gained my trust to let them evaluate and make those decisions. I realize others don't feel the same way, but that is my justification for not panicking.

UNT90 · January 16, 2017

1 minute ago, GMG24 said:

We do need to continue to work, but we did beat West Virginia out for Guyton. We beat plenty of schools out for English when he transferred. It appears this staff can definitely recruit, now we need to see it make its way into the HS ranks. Hell we fended off an ALABAMA offer, yes I know he hasnt played a down for us but the fact that we beat Bama out is a miracle. Yes I am concerned, but when I look back to last class I see guys like Wilson who IMO is one of the best receivers we've brought in, in a long time. Dude had no offers. Fine performed admirably for a true freshman QB, again no offers. Ham-bone, yes I would love to have more highly regarded players and have the top ranked class absolutely. But after looking at last years class and the contributors we brought in with no offers or very few offers I am ok with it. The staff has gained my trust to let them evaluate and make those decisions. I realize others don't feel the same way, but that is my justification for not panicking.

Come on, man. Vito has said that kid isn't in the program. That's the reason we "beat Alabama out."

Transfers and JUCOs are ALWAYS a dicey deal, the list of former four star recruits that transferred to UNT and never started is pretty well known.

I want to see this staff recruit high school kids and win battles where the recruit has at least 5 other offers.

There is no proof this staff can recruit, not yet. Hoping the next 3 weeks bears out your opinion.

GMG24 · January 16, 2017

2 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Come on, man. Vito has said that kid isn't in the program. That's the reason we "beat Alabama out."

Transfers and JUCOs are ALWAYS a dicey deal, the list of former four star recruits that transferred to UNT and never started is pretty well known.

I want to see this staff recruit high school kids and win battles where the recruit has at least 5 other offers.

There is no proof this staff can recruit, not yet. Hoping the next 3 weeks bears out your opinion.

I agree we have to recruit more HS kids with more offers, until we win those battles I look at the kids we offered with little to no offers and their production. Proof is in that pudding as far as the "Non-recruited, under recruited kids" we signed from last class. You can bring me up into the club level for a game next year when Raveon is playing :) lol

UNT90 · January 16, 2017

5 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

I agree we have to recruit more HS kids with more offers, until we win those battles I look at the kids we offered with little to no offers and their production. Proof is in that pudding as far as the "Non-recruited, under recruited kids" we signed from last class. You can bring me up into the club level for a game next year when Raveon is playing :) lol

IF he is playing, you got a deal.

But a one year player, no matter how talented, isn't a guy you can build a program around.

Edited January 16, 2017 by UNT90

ntmeangreen11 · January 16, 2017

Yes we beat out Bama... for a kid who has never played a down here. Who knows the validity of that offer anyways.

I guess we can hold on to that story like the one about Harbaugh almost coming to UNT when that was NEVER going to happen.

We are still losing battles just as much as Mac did. Why would you expect to be at the top of CUSA in recruiting while we have a laughable recruiting budget?

We are about to a sign a class littered with players who didn't have any other FBS offers, which has worked out so well over the last 13 years.

GrandGreen · January 16, 2017

21 minutes ago, ntmeangreen11 said:

Yes we beat out Bama... for a kid who has never played a down here. Who knows the validity of that offer anyways.

I guess we can hold on to that story like the one about Harbaugh almost coming to UNT when that was NEVER going to happen.

We are still losing battles just as much as Mac did. Why would you expect to be at the top of CUSA in recruiting while we have a laughable recruiting budget?

We are about to a sign a class littered with players who didn't have any other FBS offers, which has worked out so well over the last 13 years.

Recruiting budget has little to do with it. I doubt NT is losing recruits to UTEP, La Tech, and nearly everyone else because NT does not have the money.

Frankly, I don't know what the recruiting issues are. I can't think of one Western CUSA team that should have a recruiting advantage on NT.

NT has a lot to sell, the question is do they have the right salesmen.

Mickey · January 16, 2017

3 hours ago, GreenN'walinsVet said:

Don't forget our rankings are going to be low this year due to the lack of class size.

This. Rankings are heavily influenced by the quantity as well as the quality.

greenminer · January 16, 2017

51 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Recruiting budget has little to do with it.

It's not that big of a reach. We are at the bottom of the class rankings and at the bottom in terms of budget.

Anybody that suggests we don't need to put in as much money because of our location should maybe reconsider. Whatever we are doing, it's not working.

GTWT · January 16, 2017

5 hours ago, wardly said:

What are your expectations, and why?

I expect a signing class composed of good athletes that fit UNT's needs. I care about what our coaches think. What the rest of us thinks means damn little.

dmaxel · January 16, 2017

I just realized that Devlin Isadore doesn't even show up in our class according to 247sports. Having him included (with original ranking, for whatever reason he has no stars now) would bump up our total class ranking for sure.

UNT90 · January 16, 2017

14 hours ago, GTWT said:

I expect a signing class composed of good athletes that fit UNT's needs. I care about what our coaches think. What the rest of us thinks means damn little.

So you can read the coach's mind on whether they think they have a good class? Because I promise they aren't going to tell you if they are disappointed in a class.

And what we think ABSOLUTELY freaking matters. We are the consumers of the product they are putting out.

14 hours ago, dmaxel said:

I just realized that Devlin Isadore doesn't even show up in our class according to 247sports. Having him included (with original ranking, for whatever reason he has no stars now) would bump up our total class ranking for sure.

Considering he is a preferred walk on, it wouldn't bump this class one bit. Don't believe the hype you hear from unreliable posters.

Edited January 17, 2017 by UNT90

Caw Caw · January 16, 2017

5 minutes ago, dmaxel said:

I just realized that Devlin Isadore doesn't even show up in our class according to 247sports. Having him included (with original ranking, for whatever reason he has no stars now) would bump up our total class ranking for sure.

He is not included because he is a preferred walk-on I think. Which means he doesn't officially count towards our scholarship numbers. Therefore, he won't count towards the rankings.

That aside, we need to go on the player ranking average as far as rankings go. We aren't taking a full 25-player class. If we judge base off of the sum, we'll short ourselves five numbers off of the total. Offer list are a good way to go like @BillySee58 does every year when the class is complete. I'm content to see how this class shakes out. I think we have some promising talent. We're also taking a couple gambles on guys coming off injuries that would have had a lot more looks.

I don't understand where peoples expectation of our national/local perception are realistically at. You want to finish in the top half of the country and/or top third of G5s. We've only finished our season that way once in the last decade. Perception, both of players who come to North Texas and of the school will take consistent competitiveness to elevate ourselves. Holding someone to a standard is one that has been proven achievable. We'll know the value of the class and it's contributions in a couple of years. For me, i'd like an emphasis of getting kids with other offers, being able to redshirt as many as possible, talent development and system based recruiting. I love that we're taking the best athletes we can find and making a place on the field for them. I wouldn't be surprised to see this staff pull a couple rabbits out of the hat, but our success will be through sustained incremental improvement. We're not going to become Houston or Memphis overnight.

Last year the staff was desperate to get contributors for right now, and the gambled heavily on blue shirts and jucos to play now, with the improvement we saw with the roster we had was great. These coaches have gotten more out of their players, most of them the same, than McCarney ever did. They'll get some redshirted guys now to help fill and a couple of JUCOs at positions of need. By doing so they secure that we can keep developing through this formula. It's not perfect, the process will take time, but i'm happy with the coaching and direction thus far.

PlummMeanGreen · January 17, 2017

I've said for years we need to raid & pay handsomely key assistants from CUSA rival schools who are beating us on the recruiting trails. Hell, we built what would now be a $150 million stadium so can we afford such an assistant coach? (The answer is...yes).?

correcamino · January 17, 2017

1 hour ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

I've said for years we need to raid & pay handsomely key assistants from CUSA rival schools who are beating us on the recruiting trails. Hell, we built what would now be a $150 million stadium so can we afford such an assistant coach? (The answer is...yes).?

That's pretty delusional. TDECU cost $130 million.

Regarding UNT's struggles recruiting, I just don't think the typical athlete can relate to UNT or Denton very well. It's full of hipsters that are proud of being weird and can be pretty stuck-up towards outsiders. If you're a star athlete, which all these recruits are in the HS ranks, that probably isn't your scene. I mean you have a new stadium, new young, energetic coaching staff, bowl game...at some point you have to start pointing the finger at UNT and Denton. Just my opinion.

FirefightnRick · January 17, 2017

Here's an informative article on Shannon Terry from 2012,...a basketball player out of Lipscomb back in the late 80's...and also the guy out of Nashville who's current opinion on our Texas high school football recruits everyone is crapping the bed over.

http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/college-football-recruitings-22-million-dollar-man-030612

Rick

Edited January 17, 2017 by FirefightnRick

BillySee58 · January 17, 2017

13 hours ago, oldguystudent said:

Honestly, I think there's a bit of a reporting bias in that if anybody commits to UNT, their reported recruiting stars ranking or whatever the hell metric they use automatically gets downgraded. It'll take a while to change that perception. I don't care how we're ranking a year ahead of taking the field again. I care that we're recruiting the pieces of the puzzle that we need, which right now is nearly all of them.

That's very rarely true, and far from automatic. They just don't ever get reevaluated or given a chance to improve their rating.

The only time a kid gets downgraded after they commit to us is if they have a high rating to where they're closer to a 4-star than a 2-star, and they "only" commit to us and don't pick up P5 offers. Then the recruiting services chicken out on their high rating of a kid. This happened with Cameron Johnson and Willy Ivery in recent years, but that's really about it.

9 hours ago, greenminer said:

It's not that big of a reach. Anybody that suggests we don't need to put in as much money because of our location should maybe reconsider. Whatever we are doing, it's not working.

I believe La Tech has a lower recruiting budget than us. We just haven't had coaches who excel in recruiting, compared to their peers. Littrell and this staff don't appear awful, but they haven't shown me anything to suggest they're the type of staff to compete for the top classes in CUSA. And that is very attainable here. Frank Wilson would be pulling a top two class in CUSA, by the composite rankings, if he was here. I have no doubt about that.

Edited January 17, 2017 by BillySee58

PlummMeanGreen · January 17, 2017

11 hours ago, correcamino said:

That's pretty delusional. TDECU cost $130 million.

Regarding UNT's struggles recruiting, I just don't think the typical athlete can relate to UNT or Denton very well. It's full of hipsters that are proud of being weird and can be pretty stuck-up towards outsiders. If you're a star athlete, which all these recruits are in the HS ranks, that probably isn't your scene. I mean you have a new stadium, new young, energetic coaching staff, bowl game...at some point you have to start pointing the finger at UNT and Denton. Just my opinion.

UNT's struggles? Oh, like a school that has no D1 venues on its campus but rather plenty of commuters who need UBER to get to your games is CUSA's new standard bearer? I think not.

Did you see all those people wearing green at the HOD Bowl game on that ESPN televised game a few weeks ago? Pretty dismal situation you say? (For you I'm sure it was disheartening--but more amazing is how only "2 years earlier" there were even more fans in the Cotton Bowl wearing green in a Mean Green bowl win).