Good, Bad, Ugly - UNC

[Missoula223]

Perfect? No. Do coaches work harder and evaluate talent in Texas better than you? Yes.

Question. The number of kids who won't be considered because of academics, even though they are talented. In your mind, is this a significant fraction of kids to work through or is that done before you spend any real time evaluating?

I alluded to this in an earlier thread. To answer your question, yes. Lots of talent fall through the cracks, not because of their talent level or lack of recruiting in the area, but because of academic issues, failing references, and off the field issues.

Junior colleges around the nation have players with elite talent level on an individual basis, you know? That is rarely because FBS schools missed on those evaluations. More often than not, they were non-qualifiers and were forced to go JC.

 

[AZGrizFan]

Perfect? No. Do coaches work harder and evaluate talent in Texas better than you? Yes.

Question. The number of kids who won't be considered because of academics, even though they are talented. In your mind, is this a significant fraction of kids to work through or is that done before you spend any real time evaluating?

I will say this: Since UTSA, UIW, Houston Baptist, Abilene Christian and a couple other schools either started football programs or moved up to FCS (Texas A&M Commerce, for example) the number that slip through the cracks has dropped. The amount of talent going under-recruited in their back yards was astounding.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Question. The number of kids who won't be considered because of academics, even though they are talented. In your mind, is this a significant fraction of kids to work through or is that done before you spend any real time evaluating?

I alluded to this in an earlier thread. To answer your question, yes. Lots of talent fall through the cracks, not because of their talent level or lack of recruiting in the area, but because of academic issues, failing references, and off the field issues.

Junior colleges around the nation have players with elite talent level on an individual basis, you know? That is rarely because FBS schools missed on those evaluations. More often than not, they were non-qualifiers and were forced to go JC.

More often than not?

 

[Missoula223]

I alluded to this in an earlier thread. To answer your question, yes. Lots of talent fall through the cracks, not because of their talent level or lack of recruiting in the area, but because of academic issues, failing references, and off the field issues.

Junior colleges around the nation have players with elite talent level on an individual basis, you know? That is rarely because FBS schools missed on those evaluations. More often than not, they were non-qualifiers and were forced to go JC.

More often than not?

Are you asking what I meant or are you being sarcastic? I only meant to say that it’s rare that elite talent is missed in an area that is highly recruited as DFW.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

More often than not?

Are you asking what I meant or are you being sarcastic? I only meant to say that it’s rare that elite talent is missed in an area that is highly recruited as DFW.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm not being sarcastic or trying to be a dick or anything. I was just trying to ask if it was a statistic that guys from some areas who could play DI, but go unsigned, and play JC ball are majority non-qualifiers. There are a lot of them, sure, but I would be surprised if it was the majority. I know of several who went the JC route with 3.5+ GPAs that I would love to have on the Griz, but I don't have a large sample size. That's why I asked. I guess the only real way to get an idea is to look at guys who go JC->DI and see what their academics were like coming out of HS.

What I do know with respect to a non-headcount sport like FCS FB is that a coach could be less likely to go after a kid who can't make up the difference with academic aid but would otherwise be a qualifier.

I definitely agree with you that the truly elite HS talent isn't getting overlooked and forced to JC ball unless there's an issue with something.

 

[AZGrizFan]

More often than not?

Are you asking what I meant or are you being sarcastic? I only meant to say that it’s rare that elite talent is missed in an area that is highly recruited as DFW.

And to be clear, while I used Wilson as an example, I wasn’t necessarily referring to the DFW area as an area that’s under-recruited…it’s not necessarily the major metropolitan areas where players are missed. Was merely trying to point out that there are lots of “Wilsons” out there who slip through the cracks (and not so many now with the addition of several D-I schools in the past several years.

 

[Missoula223]

Are you asking what I meant or are you being sarcastic? I only meant to say that it’s rare that elite talent is missed in an area that is highly recruited as DFW.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm not being sarcastic or trying to be a dick or anything. I was just trying to ask if it was a statistic that guys from some areas who could play DI, but go unsigned, and play JC ball are majority non-qualifiers. There are a lot of them, sure, but I would be surprised if it was the majority. I know of several who went the JC route with 3.5+ GPAs that I would love to have on the Griz, but I don't have a large sample size. That's why I asked. I guess the only real way to get an idea is to look at guys who go JC->DI and see what their academics were like coming out of HS.

What I do know with respect to a non-headcount sport like FCS FB is that a coach could be less likely to go after a kid who can't make up the difference with academic aid but would otherwise be a qualifier.

I definitely agree with you that the truly elite HS talent isn't getting overlooked and forced to JC ball unless there's an issue with something.

Oh ok. Junior college football players consist of basically just a few types of kids. Non-qualifiers that couldn’t get into NCAA programs, guys that felt like they were under recruited and wanted to give themselves another shot at being recruited (usually, the same level that recruits you in HS recruits you after JC),, and then oddities of guys that maybe didn’t have the money and didn’t get a scholarship or had something happen to them etc.

I dont have the exact numbers, that was just always my experience with recruiting JCs!

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm not being sarcastic or trying to be a dick or anything. I was just trying to ask if it was a statistic that guys from some areas who could play DI, but go unsigned, and play JC ball are majority non-qualifiers. There are a lot of them, sure, but I would be surprised if it was the majority. I know of several who went the JC route with 3.5+ GPAs that I would love to have on the Griz, but I don't have a large sample size. That's why I asked. I guess the only real way to get an idea is to look at guys who go JC->DI and see what their academics were like coming out of HS.

What I do know with respect to a non-headcount sport like FCS FB is that a coach could be less likely to go after a kid who can't make up the difference with academic aid but would otherwise be a qualifier.

I definitely agree with you that the truly elite HS talent isn't getting overlooked and forced to JC ball unless there's an issue with something.

Oh ok. Junior college football players consist of basically just a few types of kids. Non-qualifiers that couldn’t get into NCAA programs, guys that felt like they were under recruited and wanted to give themselves another shot at being recruited (usually, the same level that recruits you in HS recruits you after JC),, and then oddities of guys that maybe didn’t have the money and didn’t get a scholarship or had something happen to them etc.

I dont have the exact numbers, that was just always my experience with recruiting JCs!

I get that. And I agree with the three categories you described. I don't have exact numbers, either, but I feel like UM might do well to target more of this category: "guys that felt like they were under recruited and wanted to give themselves another shot at being recruited". I think there a more of them now than ever before.

Qualified guys get overlooked for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes they are guys who dominate very competitive HS leagues in very competitive areas. Don't let them slip to Goldenwest College or Mt. SAC, tell them to come play DI ball at UM to get "re-recruited" in the portal. If they aren't good enough to go next level, we get to keep/cut them. If they are good enough to go next level, we get the production that proves it before they go. I honestly believe that the first FCS program that runs itself partially like an FBS farm team could be very successful. I know I'm a broken record on this, but I really feel like we're only utilizing the advantages of the portal in one direction. Just my opinion.