Recruiting 2011
CFN Archives - How To Build
Recruiting 2011 |
Recruiting 2010 |
Recruiting 2009
CFN Top Prospects for 2011
-
No. 1
to 50 | No. 51
to 100 | No. 101 to 150
- No.
151
to 200 | No. 201
to 250 | No. 251
to 300
-
Quarterbacks |
Running
Backs | Receivers
- Tight Ends |
Off. Tackles
| Guards & Centers
-
Def. Ends
| Def. Tackles |
Linebackers |
Corners |
Safeties
-
2009
CFN Top 150 | 2010 CFN
Top 200
CFN Recruiting Archives
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All-Name Teams
2010 |
2009 |
2008 |
2004 |
2003 |
2002
- How To Build A Team
Through Recruiting
-
The 5 Star Prospects of 2006
-
The 2-Star Prospects Who Became 5-Star Players
-
The 2006 All-Recruiting Class Defense
-
The Unheralded Stars ...
The 2005 Class
- Recruiting Busts ... the
2005 Class
- Recruiting Booms ... the
2005 Class
-
Re-Ranking the 2004 Recruiting Classes
- Late Bloomers ... the
2004 Class
-
Re-Ranking the 2003 Recruiting Classes
- Booms & Busts
... the 2003 Class
- Booms & Busts
... the 2002 Class -
- The Blue Chippers
... the 2001 Class
- The Busts
... the 2001 Class
- The Late Bloomers
... the 2001 Class
By
Pete Fiutak
Welcome to my annual
filibuster about how a program should recruit, and what a team, in
general, should do when it comes to recruiting.
While the entire process is overblown, of course recruiting is the lifeblood of a college football
team. Biff the evaluation of an incoming recruiting class or two and
your program hits the skids. So, in general, how should teams go about recruiting?
For
purposes of this year's version of my exercise on how to recruit,
assume I'm the recruiting coordinator of XYZ
State. Unfortunately, my job is made more difficult because of the
discouragement of recruiting visits with $100
handshakes and babes shaking their booties and belly rings
(my goodness do I miss college). I personally would like nothing
more than to pull out the Blue Chips/He Got Game
recruiting handbook on acquiring
talent, but I'm not allowed to. Here's my game plan for 2011 ...
Step
One: Hit
the JUCO ranks hard for depth
When
doing anything requiring speculation, whether it be recruiting,
drafting, stock analysis, or ordering Chinese food, the key is eliminating as many elements
of chance as possible. When you recruit a high school prospect, you
have to hope he can immediately get used to the collegiate life, you
have to put him in a college weight room and get him to add 15
pounds of muscle, and then you have to hope he can actually play as he matures.
When going after a JUCO player, you get a kid that you know is
already used
to collegiate life, has at least two years of maturity on high school
prospects, and is more likely to be able to play right away.
Essentially, you know what you're getting with a JUCO player. While
you can't build your whole team around JUCO players, just ask Kansas
State, and you have to
go mostly after the top high school talent, you'll get a nice base to
provide some decent depth. Maybe, just maybe, you can hit the
jackpot on a Cam Newton or a Nick Fairley. You can't succeed long term
without getting good high school talents to develop. Even so ...
Step
Two: Don't get too hung up on superstar high school recruitsÂ
Of
course some of the high school players on everyone's list are going
to be superstars, but that's not always the case. Every year there
are going to be players who come out of the gates roaring,
but getting a true freshman superstar requires as much luck as
anything else. For example, Florida State went yard in 2001 by
getting superstar prep quarterbacks Joe Mauer and Adrian McPherson.
How'd that work out? Chris Rix turned out to be the quarterback for
the next four years. West Virginia was all excited about getting
Jason Gwaltney a few years ago, but Steve Slaton turned into the impact player.
Arkansas based its whole future of the program on getting Mitch
Mustain ... oops. If you spend too much time courting the
superstars, you might lose focus on one of the several bazillion
unpolished gems that are out there. Most top recruits turn out
to be merely average.
Step
Three: There's
one position that we must go after, and go after hard
What's
the toughest college football position to fill? Quarterback? Nah,
they're a dime a dozen. Running back? Puh-leez. Left offensive
tackle? Possibly. No, the hardest position to fill is defensive tackle. The
first problem is finding guys with the needed size. The second is to find a guy
with that necessary beef that has the quickness to handle the position. Most
really big guys end up playing on the offensive line, and many teams try to
convert offensive linemen to the defensive side or else try to pump up defensive
ends. A top-notch 275+ pound defensive tackle prospect is worth his weight in
gold. Check out the best teams in America and check out their tackles; they're
likely to be killers. Which leads to step four.
Step
Four:
Find high school linebackers who look like they can add a few pounds,
and then put them on the end
It's
easy to forget that we're dealing with 17 to 18-year-old bodies
here. There's always room to develop, grow and improve. I believe the number
one key to a winning football team is being able to get to the
opposing quarterback. Just ask Tom Brady after getting flattened by
the Giants in the 2008 Super Bowl. Rare are the college quarterbacks
who can
handle consistent pressure and consistent shots since they don't have
the poise, or the options, to check out of plays. 99% of all college QBs can't throw
consistently well on the run,
and when you can
get to the quarterback, you make life easier for the
secondary. I'm not talking about necessarily finding great sack
artists, but there need to be players who can get into the backfield and make
quarterbacks worry. You can take a fast 215 to 225-pound high school
linebacker, bulk him up, and move him to the end and make him a
playmaker (TCU and head coach Gary Patterson have made a living off
of doing this). However, to do this, you have to
get the defensive tackles in the middle to be able to handle the
run. In today's day and age of spread offenses, you can never have
too much talent on the defensive front seven.
Step
Five: Do
the homework and find out which star high school players are being
asked to switch positions
The star
high school athletes will always play several positions. A top
running back might also be the team's top defensive back. The top
defensive lineman might also be a stud offensive lineman. The thing
about these precocious talents is that there's always one position
they really want to play. I'm not talking about the guys on the top
100 recruiting list, but maybe the next tier. Time and again a
recruiter will go into a player's home and tell him that he projects
to play at a certain spot. I want to find the guy that tore it up as
a high school running back, wants to be a running back but is being
courted as a defensive back. I want to find the record-setting quarterback that
people want to move to safety. Why did Marshall Faulk go to San
Diego State? Everyone but the Aztecs wanted him as a defensive back.
If you're a mid-level recruit that desperately wants to play a
certain position, come to my school and play that position. If it
doesn't work out, then we'll deal with it. You can never be too deep
at a position.
Step
Six: Don't
beg
If you
don't want us, we don't want you. If you need to get your butt
kissed and fall for continued flattery, the chances we're getting a
potentially soft drama queen will go up ten-fold. Rule number one on
a team has to be that every position is always open to the best
player performing at his best. For everyone involved with the
program, that's the only fair policy. If you're a hotshot recruit,
you'll get a chance to play right away if you've earned the job. Of
course, the
starting position isn't guaranteed to you. Essentially,
its most important to be as upfront and honest as possible at all
times with recruits. If you sell a kid something just to get him to
sign, you're going to end up with a disgruntled player down the
road. On the flip side, if you're a school like USC under Pete
Carroll, Alabama, Ohio State
or Florida that has a track record of playing freshmen in prominent
spots, recruits see that and will respond.
What
to look for at the positions
(This doesn't necessarily apply to the top 150-type recruits who are the
elite at their positions.)
Everyone wants big and speedy players, but there are a limited
number of them out there. Here are a few basic guidelines I want my
program to follow.
Quarterback - Obviously the basics have to be there, but in
today's day and age of college football, some mobility is an
absolute must. Not everyone is going to be Cam Newton or Vince Young, but an
ability to move if necessary adds a whole other element. Unless the
recruit is an upper-level talent, like Matt Leinart or Matt Ryan, the quarterback can't be a statue.
Running
back - Breakaway speed is overrated. If a back can get five yards
past the line of scrimmage with some sort of consistency, that's all
that matters. The back has to be able to make the first guy miss
and has to be able to follow blocks. That might sound basic, but too
many runners are used to taking the ball and using their speed to make
plays. In the faster college game, backs must show running back
skills, patience and instincts, and not just simply be great athletes.
Receivers
- Must block, must block, must block. This is one of the biggest
hit-or-miss collegiate positions. Obviously, speed is at a premium
and good hands are nice (although this can be worked on), but the
receiver, no matter how big he is, has to at least have the potential
to grow into a solid blocker. Most college teams are going to run more than
pass, and being able to make a big block on a defensive back will be
the difference between nice gains in the ground game and big game
breakers.
Offensive
Linemen - Versatility. How many positions can the recruit
potentially play? How much room is there to grow? Just because a
high school prospect is 290 to 300 pounds, that's not necessarily
a good thing. A lot of that might be fat, and he might not
be athletic enough to grow into the position at the collegiate
level. Unless the prospect is out-of-this world, the ideal recruit
will be relatively athletic at about 255 to 270 pounds with a frame
that looks like it can support an extra 15 to 20 pounds of muscle.
Defensive
Linemen - As stated above, finding defensive tackle prospects is a
top priority. The most time needs to be spent finding and courting
them. The ends can be bulked up linebackers to provide the necessary
speed. An interior pass rusher would be a bonus, but mostly, the
tackles have to hold up against the run. The ends have to be quick
enough to handle reading the spread options on the outside.
Linebackers
- Athleticism over production. At no other position does the term
"football player" apply more, but slow linebackers means
death to a defense. Preferably, these aren't bulked up safeties, but
sideline-to-sideline linebackers. If the job has been done in
getting the right defensive tackles, size at linebacker can be
sacrificed for speed. If the tackles are light, the linebackers
generally have
to be bigger.
Safeties
- Tackling ability is more important than coverage skills. A college football safety will have to make more run stops
than pass breakups. If a high school safety looks like he has
tackling problems, he most likely won't work out even if he's a
sensational athlete. There's also a chance that a good run-stopping safety can be bulked up to become a great outside
linebacker.
Cornerbacks
- Speed, speed, speed, speed and speed. Technique can be taught, but
if the corner can't stay with a fast receiver, the safety will need
to provide more help and the defense will have some serious
problems. Obviously everyone wants speed at defensive back, but if
you have to find a relatively obscure high school receiver,
quarterback or running back to get that speed, do it and hope you
can teach him how to cover.
Punters
and Kickers - Not enough attention is paid to this. This might be
the flakiest position to recruit, but there should be as much time
finding consistent kickers as is paid to the other major positions.
Look at what an advantage Ohio State had in the 2002 championship
season with Andy Groom
and Mike Nugent. USC has had one of the best kicking games in the
nation over the last few years. Considering most teams need to win
with the running game, field position is a big deal.