• Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts access private forums and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!

How Many MT Kids…

H

HookedonGriz

Well-known member
DONOR
Actually become All-Conference type players or big-time contributors for the Cats or Griz?

My Cats friends were giving me some crap about dominating this year’s recruiting class for MT kids, and we got into this exact discussion. It was pretty interesting.

I agreed that on paper, the Cats dominated this year. I argued though that on any given year, maybe 5-7 MT kids (at the most) will be major contributors at the D1 level….for Cats or Griz or anyone else. They seemed to agree.

So that means a lot of these recruits on either side of the divide may not amount to much, even though living out their dream of being a Cat or Griz is still absolutely amazing. I’m not down playing that dream or accomplishment…it’s absolutely awesome for them and their families regardless of how it pans out for them on the field or in the program.

It seems each year, about 15ish MT kids land on the Cats or Griz teams. If only 5-7 actually turn into a big time contributors or an all conference type player, then it’s hard to say who really wins these recruiting battles this early on. Out of those 5-7 each year who will be absolute studs, 1-2 of them may end up at FBS schools or another FCS school (Sellards going to NDSU, Reed Harris to BC, Ludwig and the Glacier QB next year, etc) so that leaves an even smaller amount of MT kids on either side who will become all conf type players (out of those 5-7).

Anyways just a deep convo we got into today that was interesting with different thoughts and views. Would love to hear from VIM or others who follow recruiting closely on both sides. Would be interesting to see hiw many MT kids on each side really do end up that caliber of player or what % of these 15ish young men who end up as Cats or Griz each year become big time difference makers.
 
Not sure the exact percentage but the Griz have a long history of taking kids from Montana high schools to great places. Tim Hauck prime example from playing 8 man football in high school to having a 13 year NFL career after UM.
 
MontanaBornFan said:
Maybe it’s an anomaly, but the neighbors had something like 8 Montana HS players receive BSC honors this year alone including OPOY, DPOY, and FOY.

So, maybe the in-state recruiting battle can be important, and maybe the coaching staff (or a new coaching staff) can do better in this area.
Click to expand...
There isn't going to be a new coaching staff.
 
Recruiting is such a crap shoot. One of the very best bobcat recruiting classes was ~2000 I think. It was Kramer's first year and they were 0-11. On paper both teams did well in this class. I am a big believer in getting a lot of home grown players on the roster because they have a better than average of over achievement. The griz have developed an insane amount of walkon types that turned into the best players on the field.
 
5280Griz said:
Not sure the exact percentage but the Griz have a long history of taking kids from Montana high schools to great places. Tim Hauck prime example from playing 8 man football in high school to having a 13 year NFL career after UM.
Click to expand...
Tim played at Big Timber in the Southern B. All B was/is 11 man.
 
He might have been thinking of Chase Reynolds from Drummond who did play Class C 8-man football, starred @ RB for Da GRIZ, and went in to play for the St. Louis and LA Rams for 5-6 years, primarily on special teams and as a backup RB.
 
5280Griz said:
Not sure the exact percentage but the Griz have a long history of taking kids from Montana high schools to great places. Tim Hauck prime example from playing 8 man football in high school to having a 13 year NFL career after UM.
Click to expand...
Tim Hauck did not play 8- man football. Sweet Grass Co HS has always played 11-man.
 
mthoopsfan said:
There isn't going to be a new coaching staff.
Click to expand...
I agree, but was just thinking this was an area that could be improved by the current staff and/or any future staff.

Looking at the BSC honors and the early signing classes, it seems like State has an advantage currently.
 
My thoughts have always been that recruiting is the most important thing a college coaching staff does, it has the greatest influence of future success. That being said it is also one of the most difficult, I am surprised each year with both players that washout and ones that elevate themselves into key players.

I usually ignore the recruiting process until a year or two down the road when these players see the field and we find out what they really are.

I think that instate players are the core of both teams, they are also the ones that probably require the most development to become high level players. This makes them high risk, high reward but they are a necessity for the continuity and support of the programs.
 
MontanaBornFan said:
I agree, but was just thinking this was an area that could be improved by the current staff and/or any future staff.

Looking at the BSC honors and the early signing classes, it seems like State has an advantage currently.
Click to expand...
As we well know it is cyclical, and a lot of things influence it.
 
Yes, please embrace the idea that in-state recruits don't matter that much and typically don't make significant impacts. I am all for this.
 
Honestly, I think people put too much weight into the "in-state recruits" being the top priority when it comes to recruiting. There just aren't that many high school athletes in Montana that are good enough that are going to make a huge difference. Yes, go get some in-state recruits, but this notion of "we need to prioritize in state first" is a recipe for failure. Go get the best athletes anywhere, and if that means most of them are out of state, then that's what needs to be done
 
get'em_griz said:
Honestly, I think people put too much weight into the "in-state recruits" being the top priority when it comes to recruiting. There just aren't that many high school athletes in Montana that are good enough that are going to make a huge difference. Yes, go get some in-state recruits, but this notion of "we need to prioritize in state first" is a recipe for failure. Go get the best athletes anywhere, and if that means most of them are out of state, then that's what needs to be done
Click to expand...
The cats are (and have for several years been) showing that it's actually a very viable path to sustained success at our level, though.

The Stitt years showed that prioritizing out-of-state recruits doesn't always lead to success.

There's a lot that goes into this, but the Griz have always been the best when they consistently got the best Montana HS recruits. It can certainly be done without them, but you'd better hit on all your out-of-state recruits because they are expensive and hard to replace.
 
get'em_griz said:
Honestly, I think people put too much weight into the "in-state recruits" being the top priority when it comes to recruiting. There just aren't that many high school athletes in Montana that are good enough that are going to make a huge difference. Yes, go get some in-state recruits, but this notion of "we need to prioritize in state first" is a recipe for failure. Go get the best athletes anywhere, and if that means most of them are out of state, then that's what needs to be done
Click to expand...
I agree that getting the best players is the priority.

It’s just that, at least this year, 3 of 4 BSC top awards went to MT HS recruits. The single best Griz player is a MT HS recruit. Shoot, the single best Idaho player came out of a MT HS, and both MT FCS schools missed on him.

I don’t think the Griz staff shouldn’t recruit out of state, but I do think they are missing on the in-state side of recruiting. Obviously MT high schools are producing elite talent.

I’m not an expert and opinions vary on it though.
 
MontanaBornFan said:
I agree that getting the best players is the priority.

It’s just that, at least this year, 3 of 4 BSC top awards went to MT HS recruits. The single best Griz player is a MT HS recruit. Shoot, the single best Idaho player came out of a MT HS, and both MT FCS schools missed on him.

I don’t think the Griz staff shouldn’t recruit out of state, but I do think they are missing on the in-state side of recruiting. Obviously MT high schools are producing elite talent.

I’m not an expert and opinions vary on it though.
Click to expand...
Recruiting Montana is always going to be a crapshoot. Nobody would have predicted the recruits who won BSC top awards were going to do so. Some of it comes from coaches and their ability to coach up players. But it's not that smart of a gamble to focus more on Montana recruits because of a rare season where 3 players received top awards. It just doesn't happen very often.
 
get'em_griz said:
Recruiting Montana is always going to be a crapshoot. Nobody would have predicted the recruits who won BSC top awards were going to do so. Some of it comes from coaches and their ability to coach up players. But it's not that smart of a gamble to focus more on Montana recruits because of a rare season where 3 players received top awards. It just doesn't happen very often.
Click to expand...
You’re probably right. Maybe I just see things through my Big Sky Country glasses. My favorite Griz of all time was a Montanan. I am undoubtedly biased towards Montana HS recruits.

Tommy deserved the award. Great player, great season, classy person, Griz gf.
 
MontanaBornFan said:
You’re probably right. Maybe I just see things through my Big Sky Country glasses. My favorite Griz of all time was a Montanan. I am undoubtedly biased towards Montana HS recruits.

Tommy deserved the award. Great player, great season, classy person, Griz gf.
Click to expand...
There have been some great football players that were born and raised in Montana. Over the years, Bobby Hauck has excelled in the development of players who had raw talent as freshmen and FBS level ability by the time of graduation. However, annually how many Montana kids possess the training and competitive higher level playing experience necessary for FBS——even FCS? Four or five? That isn’t very good when you consider how many more have God given talent, but don’t fit the bill because of poor coaching and better competition. How can this change? One route is a program to send athletes to training academies for a period of time where they receive improved coaching. There is a sacrifice because they are away from home, thus, not for all youngsters. Otherwise, we just accept the fact that the annual majority are NAIA level candidates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top