NT Recruiting

[Green Crazy]

Why is it that the HS players won't even consider NT when looking at colleges to play for?

I was looking over the rivals area top 100 recruits on DMN and there is only one player that has us on his list! I'm not expecting verbals or anything like that, but at least to show up on their list. These are two star athletes, nothing special and yet La. Mon., Wyoming, Ark. St. and Indiana have made more lists by far then we do. What the F? Whats our problem, they just want to get away from the Metroplex to play? I don't understand, someone explain this to me.

On a side note, it looks like Indiana has increased it's recruiting in the D/FW area quite a bit.

rivals area 100

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

We couldn't have someone indicate that they were interested in North Texas because the 'big boys' might take him away.

We've likely made a few contacts but recruiting will not start in earnest until the season is over.

[Green Crazy]

We couldn't have someone indicate that they were interested in North Texas because the 'big boys' might take him away.

We've likely made a few contacts but recruiting will not start in earnest until the season is over.

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Can't that happen to La. Mon., Ark. St. and Indiana? What stops the bigger colleges from taking recruits away from us in December or January?

[Texas Stranger]

Can't that happen to La. Mon., Ark. St. and Indiana?  What stops the bigger colleges from taking recruits away from us in December or January?

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It does happen to them. And by Dec/Jan, the BcS programs have already offered many, making the chances of keeping our recruits greater. Do not trust what you see on Rivals. Their ratings change based on who a player declares interest in. For example, an Arkansas recruit that is 3-stars might decide to go to Ark St instead for whatever reason (playing time, close to home, whatever). He will "lose" a star in their rating system, and it has nothing to do with his ability. Rivals is selling memberships, nothing else. They feed their customers what they want to eat.

[MeanGreenBuzz]

He will "lose" a star in their rating system, and it has nothing to do with his ability.  Rivals is selling memberships, nothing else.  They feed their customers what they want to eat.

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I seem to remember an old saying... somthing about hitting a nail...

[GrandGreen]

IMO DD does not think he can compete with the "big schools (defined as any school in 1A and not in the Belt)" and does not bother. 70 to 80% of the players that get 1a offers will have committed before DD gets around to getting his first committment. This secret stuff is total BS, DD waits for the "big schools" to get their limit and then starts to truely recruit.

Two years ago DD commented that he signed all but two or three that he offered ships. I had much rather he be turned down a lot more and actually go after players that have other choices. DD and staff do a good job of identifying players but awful in getting players that are recruited by other programs. A coach that does not believe in the program/university cannot sell the program. No I do not expect NT to be able to recruit against BCS level programs, but if we can't recruit at least at the CUSA level; how is the program ever going to advance?

[OldTimer]

Welcome to DD's recruiting. North Texas started out with over 500 prospects initially, is in process of narrowing them down.

I have IDed 26 players who have expressed interest in NT including 5 or 6 in OK. Heard rumors that NT offerred 8-10 offers to players attending one of their Sr. camps...also rumors ID at least one of those players. Just because a player indicates an interest in NT it does not necessarly mean NT is interested in him.

You must be fairly new to DD's recruiting tactics...NT tells the players to not indicate they are interested in NT and that they have offers from NT. We've lost prospective players one day prior to signing day when a BCS schools loses a prospect to another school and reaches down to the mid level schools..where we are.

I heard we had a fairly large group of prospects at the SMU game...some of which NT was highly interested in.

A lot of the players we wind up with are those who played behind more highly recognized players their Jr. year...and bloom out when they start as Sr. Last year at least two of the players we recruited played Baskeball until their Sr. year when they switched to FB...as a result they were recruited very much under the radar.

[Cerebus]

He will "lose" a star in their rating system, and it has nothing to do with his ability.  Rivals is selling memberships, nothing else.  They feed their customers what they want to eat.

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I remember that when we were recruiting JaMario, he was listed on the Colorado list as a 4 star recruit, at the exact same time he was listed on the North Texas list as a three star recruit.

Apprently putting on a gold hemlet instead of a green one was going to make a huge difference in JaMario's playing ability.

BTW, if we find out thats true, I think we need to change our helmet color

[Eagle1855]

BTW, if we find out thats true, I think we need to change our helmet color

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we could probably just use Baylor's old ones...

[BleedGreen64]

I can live with the "keeping them under the radar", but I always wonder how many highly rated recruits we might if we just let them know we had an interest. A lot goes into a recruit's decision - prosimaty to home, BCS, girlfriends, majors, etc. At least give them a chance to say "no". It may be happening and we are just not advised. I hope so.

[Green Crazy]

Why does it matter whether or not a recruit expresses intrest in NT? If a bigger school wants that recruit their going to go after him whether we gave him an offer or not, right?

[good_ken]

It does happen to them. And by Dec/Jan, the BcS programs have already offered many, making the chances of keeping our recruits greater

It can happen to us. DD has proven he can find a gem that has truly overlooked. I remember reading somewhere that some of the directional Louisianna's actually base some of their recruiting on who DD is looking at.

IMO DD does not think he can compete with the "big schools (defined as any school in 1A and not in the Belt)" and does not bother. 70 to 80% of the players that get 1a offers will have committed before DD gets around to getting his first committment.

No, and no.

Do you remember the article comparing Adrian Peterson and Jamario Thomas? It made mention that DD did try and recruit Peterson, but received a postacrd in the mail saying No thank you.

Do you remember the article 6 months ago that mentioned that we are heavy after some of the South Grand Prairie lineman?

Just because DD doesn't report recruiting to the fans doesn't mean it doesn't happen. That's not very exciting for the fans, but its something that we have to live with.

[IslandEagle]

It can happen to us.  DD has proven he can find a gem that has truly overlooked.  I remember reading somewhere that some of the directional Louisianna's actually base some of their recruiting on who DD is looking at.

No, and no.

Do you remember the article comparing Adrian Peterson and Jamario Thomas?  It made mention that DD did try and recruit Peterson, but received a postacrd in the mail saying No thank you.

Do you remember the article 6 months ago that mentioned that we are heavy after some of the South Grand Prairie lineman?

Just because DD doesn't report recruiting to the fans doesn't mean it doesn't happen.  That's not very exciting for the fans, but its something that we have to live with.

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Woody didn't list us during the recruiting process until very late in the game. He had Arkanasas, Oklahoma State, and Kansas listing him on the rivals site. But, that didn't mean we weren't trying. In fact, our persistence paid off. He's the perfect example of the kind of recruit Dickey has been getting. If I had to choose between Woody and Justin, who got a lot of recruiting publicity at Ryan, I'd take Woody.

[chrisfisher]

I don't know jack about recruiting so I will put my comment in the form of a question. Why don't we look for more standout JUCO and Division 2A players? I am sure there are plenty of overlooked players. In fact, there are numerous D2A teams ranked higher than many D1A teams, and I'm sure most JUCO players would love to play D1A. Where am I wrong here? Or what don't I understand? Maybe they already do this?

[GrandGreen]

No, and no.Do you remember the article comparing Adrian Peterson and Jamario Thomas? It made mention that DD did try and recruit Peterson, but received a postacrd in the mail saying No thank you.

Do you remember the article 6 months ago that mentioned that we are heavy after some of the South Grand Prairie lineman?

Just because DD doesn't report recruiting to the fans doesn't mean it doesn't happen. That's not very exciting for the fans, but its something that we have to live with.

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[good_ken]

DD has stated that he does not commit players until their official visit which only occurs in the last 6 weeks or so of the recruiting season. Do you disagree that most of top recruits have already committed by that point? Can you name over a handfull of NT recruits that had other "big school" real offers?

I have found this pattern: There are 3-4 "stud" type players targeted every year. These would be the Jamarios, Roy Covington, the Missouri Qb, the Missouri lineman from the previous year, and the D-lineman from McKinney who went to TCU. I think our success will lie in the ability to get more of these type kids to come to campus.

Yes, I do believe in the stealth recruiting theory. I honestly can't answer why a recruit would buy into it; dunno.

I do believe that DD wants a certain kind of player: team oriented, with a great work ethic who will keep his nose clean. I think our players stay out of trouble better than a lot of schools because of this.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

I agree with everything Grand Green said with the exception that DD doesn't have official visits until the last six weeks of the season. That would make since since most before that are OOC games and he wouldn't want to see us lose.

I do not understand how or why we recruit the way we do. Why do we not go after the top players even if we don't get them. If any of you spent a lot of time in sales then you know that a 20% acceptance is generally considered good. I'm not saying that we have to offer the #1 in the nation, or even state, but go after some top-rated prospects. The worst is that they say no and that's already the answer when you don't go after them at all.

Why do only a minimum number even list North Texas as an interest? If we tell others not to list us, how can we certain that they would keep that promise? Do we really think that other Division 1-A schools don't rank several humdred recruits as well? With blessed few exceptions the CUSA and MWC have a very similar list to our own. I believe the truth to be that no one is just sitting there saying let's raid North Texas. They would go after the next person on their ranking regardless of whether that person had publicly made a verbal commitment or not. In fact, it seems that they might be more prone to go after the highest person on their list who had not verbaled to a 1-A school because precious few change their commitments once they've been made.

As to us not being interested in some, or even all, of those who show interest in us, I've got a new flash....that applies to every Division 1-A university. TCU, SMU, Houston and UTEP have more interested in their program than they could possibly take. Rice will probably join them soon. But, it's publicity. It puts our name before the public.

Yes, there is a caste system in the number of stars that an athlete gets, depending on who is showing interest. The players that initially show three stars and above have been selected by the top recruiting services so most will be strong contributors. If we get one of those I don't care if they reduce it by a star we will still have a major producer. Don't let the number of stars get to you but the majority on that list will be bona fide Division 1-A players. By the way, the star system also works in reverse. They now usually give us two stars for anyone that signs with a 1-A program, even when not previously listed.

I'm aware that we've been doing this all during Dickey's tenure and he's not about to change now but I'd rather see us go after some of the top talent than continually picking the majority of our classes from those "under the radar." Not that there isn't some good talent that doesn't get noticed but the majority of the recruiting class?

[DeepGreen]

I agree with everything Grand Green said with the exception that DD doesn't have official visits until the last six weeks of the season.  That would make since since most before that are OOC games and he wouldn't want to see us lose.

I do not understand how or why we recruit the way we do.  Why do we not go after the top players even if we don't get them.  If any of you spent a lot of time in sales then you know that a 20% acceptance is generally considered good.  I'm not saying that we have to offer the #1 in the nation, or even state, but go after some top-rated prospects.  The worst is that they say no and that's already the answer when you don't go after them at all. 

Why do only a minimum number even list North Texas as an interest?  If we tell others not to list us, how can we certain that they would keep that promise?  Do we really think that other Division 1-A schools don't rank several humdred recruits as well?  With blessed few exceptions the CUSA and MWC have a very similar list to our own.  I believe the truth to be that no one is just sitting there saying let's raid North Texas.  They would go after the next person on their ranking regardless of whether that person had publicly made a verbal commitment or not.  In fact, it seems that they might be more prone to go after the highest person on their list who had not verbaled to a 1-A school because precious few change their commitments once they've been made.

As to us not being interested in some, or even all, of those who show interest in us, I've got a new flash....that applies to every Division 1-A university.  TCU, SMU, Houston and UTEP have more interested in their program than they could possibly take.  Rice will probably join them soon.  But, it's publicity.  It puts our name before the public. 

Yes, there is a caste system in the number of stars that an athlete gets, depending on who is showing interest.  The players that initially show three stars and above have been selected by the top recruiting services so most will be strong contributors.  If we get one of those I don't care if they reduce it by a star we will still have a major producer.  Don't let the number of stars get to you but the majority on that list will be bona fide Division 1-A players.  By the way, the star system also works in reverse.  They now usually give us two stars for anyone that signs with a 1-A program, even when not previously listed.

I'm aware that we've been doing this all during Dickey's tenure and he's not about to change now but I'd rather see us go after some of the top talent than continually picking the majority of our classes from those "under the radar."  Not that there isn't some good talent that doesn't get noticed but the majority of the recruiting class?

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GreyEagleOne, you think like I do when it comes to recruiting. Let me add that our recruiting methods may get us a handful of good players like Quinn, JaMario, Kennedy, Spencer, etc. The problem is our depth. Not enough of the truly good players to man the 2nd team.

And the way I look at it, you reap what you sow. Our talent and depth may be just the ticket to compete in the Sun Belt.

Why not offer and get committments from some of the top recruits. Hell, now I see Boise State is after a top receiver in the Metroplex. And Tulsa, ULL, ASU, UTEP do quite well in recruiting.

[PlummMeanGreen]

I agree with everything Grand Green said with the exception that DD doesn't have official visits until the last six weeks of the season.  That would make since since most before that are OOC games and he wouldn't want to see us lose.

I do not understand how or why we recruit the way we do.  Why do we not go after the top players even if we don't get them.  If any of you spent a lot of time in sales then you know that a 20% acceptance is generally considered good.  I'm not saying that we have to offer the #1 in the nation, or even state, but go after some top-rated prospects.  The worst is that they say no and that's already the answer when you don't go after them at all. 

Why do only a minimum number even list North Texas as an interest?  If we tell others not to list us, how can we certain that they would keep that promise?  Do we really think that other Division 1-A schools don't rank several humdred recruits as well?  With blessed few exceptions the CUSA and MWC have a very similar list to our own.  I believe the truth to be that no one is just sitting there saying let's raid North Texas.  They would go after the next person on their ranking regardless of whether that person had publicly made a verbal commitment or not.  In fact, it seems that they might be more prone to go after the highest person on their list who had not verbaled to a 1-A school because precious few change their commitments once they've been made.

As to us not being interested in some, or even all, of those who show interest in us, I've got a new flash....that applies to every Division 1-A university.  TCU, SMU, Houston and UTEP have more interested in their program than they could possibly take.  Rice will probably join them soon.  But, it's publicity.  It puts our name before the public. 

Yes, there is a caste system in the number of stars that an athlete gets, depending on who is showing interest.  The players that initially show three stars and above have been selected by the top recruiting services so most will be strong contributors.  If we get one of those I don't care if they reduce it by a star we will still have a major producer.  Don't let the number of stars get to you but the majority on that list will be bona fide Division 1-A players.  By the way, the star system also works in reverse.  They now usually give us two stars for anyone that signs with a 1-A program, even when not previously listed.

I'm aware that we've been doing this all during Dickey's tenure and he's not about to change now but I'd rather see us go after some of the top talent than continually picking the majority of our classes from those "under the radar."  Not that there isn't some good talent that doesn't get noticed but the majority of the recruiting class?

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Harry, is there a way to bronze this post of Gray Eagle One's for posterity?