It’s Crunch Time In the Recruiting Season and That Means Time To Be Real

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

Maybe you know it or maybe you don’t but when your senior season of high school football ends,  you are now in the 4th quarter of the recruiting process.  This is also known as crunch time.  If you know anything about crunch time,  it’s when things start getting real and I mean fast.

What does real mean in the world of college football recruiting?  It means that if you don’t possess a certain amount of self awareness then there’s a chance you can end up signing with a school you don’t really want to go to or worse yet,  end up sitting in the crowd during the signing day ceremony wishing you were on the stage with a pen in hand.

Self awareness is a gift but fortunately,  it’s a gift that one can be taught to have to a certain point.  To learn it will require a little bit of a shot to the ego.  Everybody wants to play big time football in one of the major conferences.  Perhaps you want to play for the biggest school in your state and be the hero of your local town.  These things are great but as they say,  you can’t always get what you want.  Often times what you need is probably what’s best so let’s discuss what it is you may need.

If USC, Texas or Ohio St. have not come calling and it’s December of your senior year I wouldn’t be putting much hope into that happening.  If the other schools that play in their conferences and conferences like theirs have not come calling then I would not put much stock in that happening either.  At this point in the process,  most of the major D-I schools have their classes filled already.  All that is available are a couple of spots that are meant to be filled by very specific athletes at certain positions. Sure you may be able to persist and put hours in trying to court the attention of these college football heavyweights.  You may even be able to coerce them into including you in their class but if you have to go that far to get onboard after they have seen you multiple times then you may be doing yourself an injustice.  Those schools are likely to spend the next few recruiting classes trying to recruit the guy they “really” want at that position.  This means they’ll be brought in and given more opportunities to win the starting job than you.  That’s certainly going to lead to a certain amount of ill will from you towards the staff, program and university.  Soon thereafter,  it’s transfer time and that’s not a fun process.

For others,  you can spend your time running down the big names and forgo the opportunity to connect yourself with a smaller school that can provide you a much better experience.  Just because they don’t play on ABC at 8 PM on Saturday Night does not mean that it’s not a great place for you to continue your academic and athletic career.  There are several reasons why big schools may not have contacted you or offered you by this time in your high school career.  They can range from they have not seen you to they simply don’t feel that you can help them win games at their level.  If they haven’t seen you,  then the only way you are really going to catch their attention now is to really pass the eyeball test (be tall and look athletic).  If you know that you do not pass that eyeball test then you can be up against a really lost cause.  Face with this fact,  you can do one of two things.  You can get emotional about it or you can get strategic about it.

Getting emotional about it will leave you exhausted, bitter and off of a college football roster.  Getting strategic about it involves researching schools that have had success with your type of player,  play the kind of offense or defense you can excel in and will be willing to give a player of your caliber a chance.  Perhaps you can compete with the likes of those with the big time scholarship offers but you are going to have to take a different route to prove it.  Those different routes are FCS – Division III schools,  walk on or go to a junior college.

Set your sights at this point in your senior year (December / January) on the schools that will be likely to take you on so you can secure your spot and continue your playing career.  If you are dead set on going big time despite the lack of an offer then you can walk on at one of those schools but beware,  walk-on life at a big time school is far from glamorous.  If you have the measurables but feel you lacked exposure and experience then you can try the junior college route.  However,  a beware about going to a JUCO,  not everyone there is serious about football,  the living conditions are not always ideal and politics can also play a part.  If you are going to go to a Junior College,  do your research.  This article Four Things You Have to Know When Going the Junior College Football Route,  is a must read before you begin the search for a junior college.  Any way you look at it,  it’s the 4th quarter meaning it’s time to call your best plays and put yourself in position to win.  Focus on the schools that you will most likely have some success in receiving a scholarship from.  Failing to do so can wind up in you on the outside looking in when it comes to being a college football player.

 

The First CFP Rankings Are Out and the Message Is Clear – Schedule Tough

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

The much anticipated first college football playoff rankings are out and there were a few surprises for the common fan.  Through the years of major college football, the fans, writers, etc. have been conditioned to put on a pedestal undefeated football teams.  In this year and perhaps into the future,  the message may be “not so fast”

The initial college football playoff rankings as comprised by the committee of 14 has the University of Georgia as it’s number one (sorry Bama) and Wisconsin dropped to number nine overall.  In comparison,  the AP poll has Alabama at #1 and Wisconsin sitting in the playoff cone at #4.  However,  the committee is not as impressed with Alabama’s on field accomplishments this season as they are with Georgia’s.  Buoyed by their one point road win at Notre Dame,  the committee feels that for now,  Georgia is numero uno in the country.  Kudos is being given here to Georgia for scheduling a tough non-conference opponent like Notre Dame as opposed to the cupcakes that Bama has feasted on.  Unfortunately,  for Alabama,  one of those cupcakes happens to be preseason Top 5 team Florida St. that is mired in on of their worst season’s since Burt Reynolds was a box office hit.  If all things stay the same,  the true #1 out of these two SEC giants will be settled on the field in the conference championship game.

The team with more pressing problems are the Wisconsin Badgers.  Wisconsin’s pile up of under the level opposition like Utah St., FAU and BYU has given them that sinking feeling in the college football playoff rankings.  Undefeated is good enough for the writers in the AP poll but the committee is seeing past the standings. With Wisconsin being in the weaker half of the Big 10,  it is imperative that they take more chances in their non-conference scheduling.  They simply won’t be able to get away with avoiding Power 5 conferences in September anymore.  The rest of the season does’t provide any opportunities to jump over teams either.  The only remaining heavyweight on Wisconsin’s schedule is Michigan who is having a hot and cold season.  Wisconsin must rely on some slip ups by the 8 teams ranked ahead of them and / or be in a must win situation in the Big 10 championship game against what looks to be Ohio St.

Some other discrepancies in the CFP poll in comparison to the AP poll is Oklahoma at #5 vs. an AP #8.  Oklahoma is getting credit for scheduling and beating Ohio St. in September and is essentially getting a pardon for their loss to Iowa St. who does not at all resemble your daddy’s Cyclones of old. Notre Dame also got a lift from the committee as they should.  Few can argue with some of the teams the Irish have taken on this season including Georgia, USC, Michigan St. and NC State.  They have triumphed over all except Georgia who they fell to by a point.  Notre Dame looks a like a true player in this playoff picture.  We will see how their lack of conference affiliation affects them when the final tally is made.  Notre Dame is 3rd in the CFP poll as opposed to 5th in the AP.

Finally there is Miami who sits at #10 and #9 in the CFB and AP polls respectively.  Two things are currently plaguing the Canes.  First is Florida St.’s attrition and Miami’s ugly wins over the last four weeks.  When you look at Miami’s resume it’s tough to point at a game and say that was an impressive win but the good thing for the Canes is what lies ahead.  A date with #13 ranked Virginia Tech and then #3 Notre Dame could have the affect of a Harvard cum laude on their resume if the Canes can get wins of any kind.  Should this happen,  Miami would be in prime position to enter the college football playoff should they also win the ACC Championship.

I have often wondered why,  the powers that be don’t lean on power rankings from the Vegas oddsmakers when constructing these rankings but oh yeah,  the optics of doing such a thing would not be best. Don’t get me started on that.

NFL Teams Searching for Success With A Return to Rushing

Chad Wilson

By Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

We all know that the NFL is a quarterback driven league right?  The QBs get the endorsements, they get the limelight, the press and a majority of the accolades.  They also get protected by most of the new rules being put together and there has also been a push to up their production through the way the game is played.  Despite all that,  the trend in 2017 in the NFL is to recapture the ground game.

For the last decade,  the NFL has fueled its high point, passing fancy agenda but what has withstood the test of time is that a good ground game can get you through the rigors of the late season, playoffs and win you a Super Bowl.  Throwing the ball around the yard may excite fans and make fantasy geeks giddy.  However, it has not been lost on many a NFL team that the Dallas Cowboys dominated the 2016 regular season by unleashing the most prolific ground attack in the league. It seems Zeke Elliott and the boys were what finally made the league, at large,  open their eyes.

How did I come to this conclusion?  The proof is in the numbers.  Granted we are only approximately half way through the regular season but the trend is very noticeable. In 2016,  only six NFL teams finished the regular season averaging 120 yards rushing per game or higher (Buffalo, Tennessee, Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta and Oakland).  Our two Super Bowl participants in 2016, Atlanta and New England ranked 5th and 7th overall in this category.  This is quite a contrast to what we are seeing currently in 2017.  As of the completion of week seven,  13 NFL teams are currently averaging 120 yards rushing or more per game in the NFL (Jacksonville, Dallas, Kansas City, Houston, LA Rams, Baltimore, Chicago, Tennessee, Minnesota, New Orleans and Atlanta).

Two of the teams averaging more than 120 yards rushing per game in 2017 have used their ground attack to make a complete turnaround of their 2016 season.  The league leader in rushing, Jacksonville with 169 yards per game, is currently sporting a 4-3 record which eclipses their win total for all of 2016 (3-13).  The Los Angeles Rams,  a 4-12 team in 2016,  is currently 5-2 and is averaging 127.6 yards rushing per game.  The Rams rushed for 78.3 yards per game in 2016 which was second to last in the league. Jacksonville was 22nd in the league in rushing last year with 101.8 yards per game.

No doubt that this is an interesting trend.  Over the last decade,  defenses have gotten smaller and more athletic to handle all of the pass happy multiple wide receiver schemes throughout the league.  Teams making the early return to the physical ground game may reap the rewards of capitalizing on defenses not particularly equipped to handle it. It will also be interesting to see what the return to rushing has on the odds and betting trends.  I will revisit this trend at the end of the 2017 regular season.

Hot Seat Coaches Cool Their Cushions With Big Win

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

Few things are more brutal than Monday morning traffic on the way to work.  That is unless you have opened up the Twitter app on any Sunday morning during the college football season.  It can be the purest of entertainment to watch fans meltdown and fire entire coaching staffs, administration and swear off their program loyalty.  At first it can be comedy but when it persists, it can turn into problems for coaches, teams and programs.  With that said, some coaches that social media fired a few weeks ago have reclaimed their temporary pass with big wins last week.

Comeback LSU

Not even halfway into his first full season as LSU’s head coach,  Ed Orgeron had received his pink slip from LSU Twitter.  Getting blown out by Mississippi St. was a sobering experience for the Tiger faithful but when that was followed up by a home loss to Troy St.,  LSU fans were driven to drink and offered to drive Orgeron to the nearest airport.  Fortunately, fans don’t directly do the hiring and firing so Orgeron kept his job past Troy St.  Since the Troy St. debacle,  Orgeron and the Tigers went on the road and upset the Florida Gators then pulled a rabbit out of a hat last week to defeat the Auburn Tigers.  LSU was down 20-0 at one point during the game and fans had plugged in Orgeron’s hot seat only to have him and the Tigers unplug it with a dramatic come from behind win 27-23.  Orgeron can enjoy a lukewarm seat until their trip to Tuscaloosa to face the Fighting Nick Sabans.  That game is in two weeks.  Yikes, no one said this coaching thing was easy.

The Benevolent Gators

The Florida Gators were gracious enough to cool Orgeron’s seat off for him two weeks ago and once again were feeling the early holiday giving season spirit when they allowed Kevin Sumlin to get some relief after losing the Texas A&M 19-17 last week.  It’s been a long time since the Gators lost back to back home games but in so doing,  Jim McElwain may have transferred the heat from his two SEC foes’ seat to his own.  Sumlin’s rear end was getting blistered after the UCLA collapse earlier this season and mediocre performances vs. Nicholls St. and Louisiana Lafayette.  A win at Florida was needed and Sumlin got it.  Now he can enjoy some comfort as his 5-2 Aggies take a bye week before hosting Mississippi St.

Graham Pass Granted

On the heels of back to back losing season’s in Tempe,  Arizona St. head coach Todd Graham entered this 2017 season with a flame broiled keister.  Most in the desert consider Graham to be a dead man walking.  He did himself no favors by struggling to get by New Mexico St. in the opener and then losing consecutive games to Texas Tech and San Diego St.  A good showing against Oregon and Stanford left Graham in a holding pattern until last Saturday night.  The Washington Huskies were / are everyone’s pick to win the Pac-12 and represent the conference in the college football playoff.  However,  Graham’s Sun Devils threw a king Craftsman sized monkey wrench in those plans when they upset the Huskies 13-7.  Now Graham is the man in the Tempe (well not quite) but at least he can breathe easy.  That is until he travels to Utah this Saturday to face a strong and angry Utes team seething after their one point loss to USC last week.  Don’t remove that real estate listing just yet Todd.

I wonder if any the sportsbooks are offering odds on whether these guys will get fired this year.

 

It’s Time To Stop Firing College Coaches

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

If you’re a college football fan like me,  then there’s nothing you like more than taking in the action each and every Saturday.  It’s a ritual whereby you park yourself in front of the TV at noon and move only for bathroom breaks and hot wings until midnight.  An increasing part of the Saturday ritual for many though is commenting on Twitter and it may be ruining the game.

Coaching pressure is nothing new but the level and scale has increased dramatically with the advent of message boards and social media, most specifically Twitter. As the results poured in last Saturday,  the messages from fans were loud.  “Get rid of Butch Jones” and “How much is Ed Orgeron’s buyout?”  Orgeron is in his first season as head coach of LSU and Butch Jones has produced winning seasons in three of his last four years and is yet to lose a bowl game at Tennessee. Last week it was those two guys,  in weeks before, it  has been Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M, Mike Riley at Nebraska and Jim Mora at UCLA.  What has happened to us? I realize that social media is a medium for the loudest and a lot of times the most ignorant amongst us but one can not deny it’s increasing power in decision making these days.  My message here to the college football programs is turn down the volume,  perhaps even mute it.

Many of the fans of these programs lack a general understanding of the game of football to begin with.  Second, they largely have unrealistic expectations for their programs.  Let’s take Tennessee for example.  Their coach Butch Jones may be sitting on the hottest seat in college football after getting dunked by a pretty strong Georgia team 41-0.  Should Tennessee be losing 41-0 to anyone,  probably not but sometimes things happen.  You want to know what drives performances like that one?  Pressure from a fan base especially with unrealistic expectations drives those type of performances.  It seems Vol fans have learned nothing from their previous misdeeds.  They pressured the program to get rid of the most successful coach in their history Phillip Fulmer in 2008 and things have not been as golden ever since.  They did so because Fulmer couldn’t pile together national titles after winning one in 1998.  What in God’s name did they expect? 113 seasons of college football and Tennessee has one national title.  Fulmer ran a clean program that produced high quality young men and NFL football players.  This seems to be the same situation for Butch Jones but Tennessee fans don’t want that.  They want what Alabama has.  Alabama has Nick Saban and he’s not coming to Knoxville.  Tennessee fans want the next Nick Saban. Ok boxing would like to have the next Muhammad Ali,  I guess they grow on trees.

Nick Saban wasn’t even Nick Saban before he became Nick Saban.  College football’s greatest coach had to do some growing before he became college football’s coaching statue.  Mixed into that long resume for success for Nick were some very mediocre seasons like 6-5, 6-6, 8-5 at LSU and 7-6 Alabama.  College football fan bases now won’t even allow the next Nick Saban to develop.  Butch Jones is undefeated in three bowl game trips for Tennessee.  Last Saturday aside, one thing I have noticed about Jones’ Volunteer teams is that they will fight you all the way back into the tunnel.  I’ve also noticed that he has not been wrapped up in any NCAA scandal nor has he had a long list of law breakers.  Does that mean anything to the fan base?  Fans are quick to criticize when the youngsters act up but are blind to the factors that lead to such a situation.  Maybe this is just a bad season for the Vols.  There are things known as cycles in life.  What about the core principles under which Jones was hired in the first place?  Do all those things evaporate under the weight of a 41-0 loss to Georgia?

Programs thrive on stability. When unnecessary fan pressure starts,  then the decision making and attitude within the team begins the downturn.  Team and player development gets sacrificed as the coaching staff goes into win now crisis mode. Players lose focus as they really begin to wonder about their future.  Trying to beat a division rival is tough enough without having to wonder about the fate of an entire coaching staff that brought you out of high school.

Ed Orgeron just got on at LSU.  Give him some time to catch his bearings, craft the new direction for LSU and make adjustments.  Orgeron’s predecessor Les Miles went 8-5 in 2008 and 9-4 in 2009 after producing three straight 11+ win seasons.  This new era of cranked up social media sports fan would have called for his head and missed out on four more 10+ win seasons including one 13-1 season in 2011.  F0r most programs,  the performances are cyclical.  As long as there aren’t consecutive tragic seasons, scandal or moral abandonment,  most programs would do well to be patient and provide resources for coaches they had ultimate faith in at the hiring announcement press conference.

Nick Saban may be the best thing to ever happen to Alabama but he may end up being the worst thing that ever happened to the SEC.  These rabid fan bases running around comparing their programs to Alabama every week deserve the same fate as a husband who compares his wife to a stripper with a pair of DD fake breasts.  I think we all know what happens there.

Texas A&M’s R.C. Slocum went 6-6 in 1996, his 14th year on the job.  He then went on to produce 9-4, 11-3 and 8-4 seasons for the Aggies.  In his fourth year at UCLA,  Terry Donahue went 5-6 to captain the first losing season for the Bruins in 8 years.  He then went on to become the most successful coach in the program’s history winning seven of eight bowl games over the next nine seasons including six 9+ winning seasons.

Only one team is going to win it all every year in the conference and in the NCAA.  I get that every program thinks it should be them but I would say a revolving door of coaches decreases that chance dramatically.  Let the programs build,  let the coaches coach and allow them the opportunity to overcome adversity.  If you find that to be too much to ask please save me your outrage when the hookers, boosters, paid recruits and overzealous shoes companies run amok,  they’re only catering to your hyper-inflated expectations.

Recruiting School: Don’t Go Chasing Brand Names in Recruiting

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

One thing I have always emphasized in my recruiting articles and discussions on The GridironStuds Show, its that the best asset you can have in recruiting is self awareness.  80% of the mistakes that are made in recruiting are done so because the recruit and / or the parents lacked a certain amount of self awareness.  This article will discuss another reason why self awareness is key when it comes to college football recruiting.

We all love brand names don’t we? iPhone, Nike, Gucci, etc.  Name brands make you feel worthy.  Name brands make you feel like you made it.  Name brands are expensive.  Many a recruit will get into the process and get a multitude of offers from non Power 5 or even FCS schools.  They’re ok with those offers but the moment a Power 5 comes along,  they thumb their nose at the smaller programs that really would like to mold them. For many in this situation,  a reality check is needed.

If you read one of my other articles,  Recruiting is Like Beauty Contests,  It Has A lot to Do with Looks,  then you have an idea of what most college football programs are after in recruiting.  The recruiting game has become all about the measurable. What’s his height?  What’s his weight?  It’s not just the Power 5 schools,  this mentality has trickled all the way down into the Division II ranks.  The fastest way for an assistant coach to rise up the ladder is through recruiting.  If they can successfully land a big time recruit or find the undercover freak athlete,  their resume gets a boost.  However,  the smaller schools have problems securing that type of athlete consistently.  That is not the case for the Power 5 schools that get all of the media attention.

For the high school football player,  it’s great to get that mail or even that offer from Alabama, Florida St., USC or Oklahoma.  However,  you have to take stock of your situation.  Go look at the Top 100 players at your position at the recruiting sites.  Does your height and weight matchup up with theirs?  Click on their highlight video,  do you run like they run?  Those things alone don’t make you a great player but it is what the teams are looking for consistently.  So you may be a bit of a backup plan for one of these big time schools.  They could add you to the their recruiting class to complete it but next year they’ll be out hunting for the guy that’s 6’4″ 235 lbs.  and runs 4.5.  The question now is can you overcome that if those aren’t your measurables?  To overcome that coach’s desire to get that freak athlete on the field,  you will have to have exceptional effort, have an exceptional IQ and a ton of intangibles like punctuality, personality and self discipline. Did you notice the word that I used?  I used the word “exceptional” meaning off the charts and better than anyone else on the roster.

If you aren’t any of those things that I described in the paragraph above then you better give serious thought to one of those non-power 5 schools that are contacting you daily and calling you weekly.  They will be willing to wait for you to develop into those things.  That coach breathing down your neck will be excited to have you and can wait a year or two for you to mature mentally and physically.  They are more likely to put you on the playing field while they wait for you to develop those areas.  At the Power 5 schools where they can get what they want,  if you aren’t ready for that first opportunity when you get it then it may be a year and a Tuesday,  if ever,  before you get one again.  Suddenly it’s transfer time and that is a situation to be avoided at all costs because it’s not what it’s cracked up to be.

So the moral of the story here is to dance with the one that brought you.  The program that really wants you should get the more serious looks.  Just because it’s power 5 doesn’t mean it should be in your Top 5.  Any shame or inferiority you may feel on the stage on national signing day can turn to complete joy when you are on the field as a redshirt freshman making plays and conference player of the week.  You will earn maximum respect when people start saying you are one of the best to ever play the position at this school.  This is infinitely better than someone having to squint at a team bowl picture to try and find out if you were on the team your senior year.