Props to the coaches

[RMH44]

It's more than just conference affiliation and IPF though. It's near impossible to prove - but I'd say this group of coaches are more than competent.

Considering the dreadful 3-9 season, I think this staff worked miracles holding this class together. And for the most part, they accomplished this without McDonald who was trumpeted as an "elite" recruiter upon his arrival.

 

[javadoc]

Isn't this a lower quartile class in the ACC? How can you win when 75% of your competition is bringing in more talented players? What am I missing?

I would check the margin of error on that measurement.

 

[orangenirvana]

For just absolutely crushing it on the recruiting trail to close out the 2015 class. I don't know how many of you "football board-only's" pay attention to the recruiting board, but we have held off some serious schools for 2 stud D-linemen in the last 2 nights. Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ole Miss and Penn State to name a few. This is the first time in a long time that we have closed out so strongly and did not get poached by the "marquee" schools. In addition to those 2 kids, we have already landed a number of other really good names. One thing is for sure, this year's DL class is absurd. Timmy Daoust has to be on another planet.

After finishing 2014 at 3-9, the odds of us landing these types of kids seemed distant. However, they truly stress the importance of a family atmosphere and that everyone in the program is your "brother". Shafer has had a rough start to his HC career, but adding kids like this will only help to improve the direction of our team. Fingers crossed...

Happy Birthday Coach Acosta. Job well done in NJ and a huge SHOUTOUT to the rest of the staff. This is an incredible feat.

LET'S GO ORANGE!!!!

For the first time since the late 90's I haven't followed recruiting whatsoever. It wasn't until I saw on Twitter that Pickard chose SU over Michigan and Wisconsin that I took a look at the commit list. And honestly, it looks like every other class we've had over the last decade.

Just read Stephen Bailey's article on PS and this class is dead last in our conference according to 247Sports and 13th out of 14 according to Riv@|s.

Don't mean to piss in cheerios here but aside from pure optimism I don't see how this class is expected to take the program to a new level any more than any of the previous classes we've had.

As always, the success or failure of this program is going to come down to how good this staff is at evaluating talent and landing overlooked diamonds (harder than ever) and player development. In addition to gameday management and how much more creative and intelligent our systems/schemes are compared to our competition.

 

[AAM62]

For the first time since the late 90's I haven't followed recruiting whatsoever. It wasn't until I saw on Twitter that Pickard chose SU over Michigan and Wisconsin that I took a look at the commit list. And honestly, it looks like every other class we've had over the last decade.

Just read Stephen Bailey's article on PS and this class is dead last in our conference according to No links to 247 allowed on this site and 13th out of 14 according to Riv@|s.

Don't mean to piss in cheerios here but aside from pure optimism I don't see how this class is expected to take the program to a new level any more than any of the previous classes we've had.

As always, the success or failure of this program is going to come down to how good this staff is at evaluating talent and landing overlooked diamonds (harder than ever) and player development. In addition to gameday management and how much more creative and intelligent our systems/schemes are compared to our competition.

247 and Rovals are garbage. Trust me, this class is at the very least better than wake .

 

[AAM62]

For the first time since the late 90's I haven't followed recruiting whatsoever. It wasn't until I saw on Twitter that Pickard chose SU over Michigan and Wisconsin that I took a look at the commit list. And honestly, it looks like every other class we've had over the last decade.

Just read Stephen Bailey's article on PS and this class is dead last in our conference according to No links to 247 allowed on this site and 13th out of 14 according to Riv@|s.

Don't mean to piss in cheerios here but aside from pure optimism I don't see how this class is expected to take the program to a new level any more than any of the previous classes we've had.

As always, the success or failure of this program is going to come down to how good this staff is at evaluating talent and landing overlooked diamonds (harder than ever) and player development. In addition to gameday management and how much more creative and intelligent our systems/schemes are compared to our competition.

Last post was meant to be a joke. We are 9th and potentially rising in the ACC according to scout. I feel they do a better job of updating and evaluating recruits.

 

[chakka3421]

For the first time since the late 90's I haven't followed recruiting whatsoever. It wasn't until I saw on Twitter that Pickard chose SU over Michigan and Wisconsin that I took a look at the commit list. And honestly, it looks like every other class we've had over the last decade.

Just read Stephen Bailey's article on PS and this class is dead last in our conference according to No links to 247 allowed on this site and 13th out of 14 according to Riv@|s.

Don't mean to piss in cheerios here but aside from pure optimism I don't see how this class is expected to take the program to a new level any more than any of the previous classes we've had.

As always, the success or failure of this program is going to come down to how good this staff is at evaluating talent and landing overlooked diamonds (harder than ever) and player development. In addition to gameday management and how much more creative and intelligent our systems/schemes are compared to our competition.

And you decided to ignore S-c-o-u-t rankings 9th out of 14 for your Debbie Downer post?

You don't get it do you? The only way to get better is to recruit better players each year - what's the trend with this staff? The last 2 ACC classes were better than the previous 2 BE classes. I would assume since they are so out in front for next year already I would expect the next class to be even better (should see IPF results too).

Jeez - 1 day before NLI and you post incomplete info to prove your point? I would suggest you go back to your breakfast table and eat those pissed on Cheerios...

 

[SWC75]

I agree with you. This turned out to be a solid class, but it's all relative. It should be a better class then 3 years ago because of the upgrade in facilities, conference affiliation, and us climbing out of that dark period. I still don't think it's enough if we want to get lpast that 6-7 win plateau, and still below what our conference foes bring in.

This is a good class, and certainly better then it was looking 2 months ago, but I wouldn't get carried away labeling anybody master recruiters just yet.

First step: Get back to the 6-7 plateau. One virtue of last season is that will now be an improvement and recruits might see us as a coming program if we improved that much.

 

[SWC75]

For the first time since the late 90's I haven't followed recruiting whatsoever. It wasn't until I saw on Twitter that Pickard chose SU over Michigan and Wisconsin that I took a look at the commit list. And honestly, it looks like every other class we've had over the last decade.

Just read Stephen Bailey's article on PS and this class is dead last in our conference according to No links to 247 allowed on this site and 13th out of 14 according to Riv@|s.

Don't mean to piss in cheerios here but aside from pure optimism I don't see how this class is expected to take the program to a new level any more than any of the previous classes we've had.

As always, the success or failure of this program is going to come down to how good this staff is at evaluating talent and landing overlooked diamonds (harder than ever) and player development. In addition to gameday management and how much more creative and intelligent our systems/schemes are compared to our competition.

I think rebuilding is less about getting a single, game-changing class than it about accumulating talent so you get better and deeper each year. Then you have a breakthrough fueled by players from several classes. Having another class that contributes to that after an injury-plagued 3-9 season would be a good thing.

 

[PhatOrange]

There are a fair number of solid prospects. Not a lot of star power but a few with potential to make some noise for sure.

We beat a lot of peer schools for these kids. That’s why these classes are better regardless of rankings.

Jordan Fredericks – NY Gatorade Players of the Year. "A lot of people tried to make a run at him here late and we were able to hold onto him. so we know we got a good football player"

Sam Clausman – 1st Team All-State Florida Class 7A, State Champ, Miami NIKE All Combine Team, Top SPARQ OL

Colin Byrne – 3rd Team All-State Florida Class 7A, State Champ

Evan Adams – (O) Maryland .. this kid is big, very athletic and nasty

Brandon Ginnetti – (O) Boston College, Illinois

Dontae Strickland – (O) Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Temple, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Wake Forest

Sterling Hofrichter – One of the top kickers Nationally by pretty much everybody’s measure

Chris Fredrick – late Stanford run trying to flip him and offer. (O) Minnesota, Miss State, Wake, others.

Marquise Blair – highly regarded. Grades might be an issue

Daivon Ellison – (O) Rutgers, Boston College

Troy Henderson – Michigan tried to flip him. (O) Nebraska, Rutgers

Trey Dunkelberger – I’m not sure who ended up offering but he become a hot commodity. FSU tried to flip him

Steven Clark – Late Florida offer and visit. Ole Miss, Vandy, PSU all tried to get him to flip

Amir Ealey – (O) (O) Cincy, Uconn, Lville, Maryland, UNC, Pitt, Buttgers, UCF, Virginia, WVU, Temple, Toledo, CUF

Qaadir Sheppard – (O) (O) Boston College, Uconn, Maryland, Pitt, Rutgers, Temple, UCF, Virginia

Jake Pickard – (O) Wisconsin Flip. Michigan, Boston College, Cincinnati, Uconn, Illinois, Louisville, Nebraska, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers, Temple, Virginia,


Class isn’t as good as last year. Heavy on the defensive side and frankly between last year and this year, the defense looks like it’s going to be a force.

Lacked offensive playmakers (but we went heavy on offense last year), the 3 running backs all have big play potential.

Really shored up the defensive line. Lacked some DB’s, look to be filling safety needs.

 

[Rocco]

For the first time since the late 90's I haven't followed recruiting whatsoever. It wasn't until I saw on Twitter that Pickard chose SU over Michigan and Wisconsin that I took a look at the commit list. And honestly, it looks like every other class we've had over the last decade.

Just read Stephen Bailey's article on PS and this class is dead last in our conference according to No links to 247 allowed on this site and 13th out of 14 according to Riv@|s.

Don't mean to piss in cheerios here but aside from pure optimism I don't see how this class is expected to take the program to a new level any more than any of the previous classes we've had.

As always, the success or failure of this program is going to come down to how good this staff is at evaluating talent and landing overlooked diamonds (harder than ever) and player development. In addition to gameday management and how much more creative and intelligent our systems/schemes are compared to our competition.

You're not pissing in my cheerios because I'm not fazed by your pessimism towards this class. This class fills vital needs across the board and the staff is completely jacked up about it. That says enough for me.

At the end of the day, I hate the rankings system. Had Steven Clark committed to Florida or Jake Pickard to Michigan, there would have been a chance that they bumped up to 4 stars. Why? Because there is a large level of political BS in the rankings IMO.

Why aren't you happy with these kids? Have you watched any of their highlight tapes? Some of them are going to be studs here and will be in the rotation this fall.

 

[Finwad32]

This was a huge meat n potato class... The offensive and defensive lines were brought extensive reinforcements... This is a very necessary thing... There were times at practice last year that guys were getting reps with the 2nd unit on the OL that were out of position or Walk ons, with the 2nd Unit! The depth was extremely necessary. All of the prospects being brought in along the fronts have quality size and frames.

On top of that, we brought in some really strong Safety prospects, really strong RB prospects, a sought after JUCO TE, a top tier K/P, a nationally recognized LS, high quality LB recruits.

I'm nervous that we don't have enough depth at CB... I'd like to have one more QB on the roster.

WR numbers were out of whack last year, we had way more than you'd like to carry. It was more or less bc they recognized that they needed some guys there and overrecruited the position. Attrition took the guys out of the equation that weren't going to make it onto the 2-deep. Next year will be heavier on skill position kids.

 

[TheCusian]

For the first time since the late 90's I haven't followed recruiting whatsoever. It wasn't until I saw on Twitter that Pickard chose SU over Michigan and Wisconsin that I took a look at the commit list. And honestly, it looks like every other class we've had over the last decade. Just read Stephen Bailey's article on PS and this class is dead last in our conference according to No links to 247 allowed on this site and 13th out of 14 according to Riv@|s. Don't mean to piss in cheerios here but aside from pure optimism I don't see how this class is expected to take the program to a new level any more than any of the previous classes we've had. As always, the success or failure of this program is going to come down to how good this staff is at evaluating talent and landing overlooked diamonds (harder than ever) and player development. In addition to gameday management and how much more creative and intelligent our systems/schemes are compared to our competition.

1. The last two classes have been much better than anything we did the prior 8 (on paper - who know how good they will end up). 2. If you don't follow recruiting much - don't rely on the PS and Bailey.

 

[anomander]

It's more than just conference affiliation and IPF though. It's near impossible to prove - but I'd say this group of coaches are more than competent.

I never said they weren't competent. This staff has a solid group of recruiters, just like this is a solid class. Solid isn't great though, and in comparison to the rest of the conference I still think it's equal to, or a step below the majority. I get they are coming off a 3-9 season, therefore making it a better sell job, but still the same staff that was responsible for this solid class, was also responsible for the 3-9 season.

 

[SWC75]

I never said they weren't competent. This staff has a solid group of recruiters, just like this is a solid class. Solid isn't great though, and in comparison to the rest of the conference I still think it's equal to, or a step below the majority. I get they are coming off a 3-9 season, therefore making it a better sell job, but still the same staff that was responsible for this solid class, was also responsible for the 3-9 season.

Which would not have been a 3-9 season without all the injuries. And that another subject anyway- it doesn't reduce the credit they deserve for getting a solid class in the wake of losing 9 games and MacDonald.

 

[orangenirvana]

And you decided to ignore S-c-o-u-t rankings 9th out of 14 for your Debbie Downer post?

You don't get it do you? The only way to get better is to recruit better players each year - what's the trend with this staff? The last 2 ACC classes were better than the previous 2 BE classes. I would assume since they are so out in front for next year already I would expect the next class to be even better (should see IPF results too).

Jeez - 1 day before NLI and you post incomplete info to prove your point? I would suggest you go back to your breakfast table and eat those pissed on Cheerios...

No, I get it. We all want to believe that each class is much better than the previous ones and full of future NFL HOF'ers. I'm sorry for pointing out the facts in a 'props to the coaching staff' recruiting thread. I should know better.

I stand by my last paragraph, though.

 

[orangenirvana]

You're not pissing in my cheerios because I'm not fazed by your pessimism towards this class. This class fills vital needs across the board and the staff is completely jacked up about it. That says enough for me.

At the end of the day, I hate the rankings system. Had Steven Clark committed to Florida or Jake Pickard to Michigan, there would have been a chance that they bumped up to 4 stars. Why? Because there is a large level of political BS in the rankings IMO.

Why aren't you happy with these kids? Have you watched any of their highlight tapes? Some of them are going to be studs here and will be in the rotation this fall.

I trust your info that the staff is "jacked up" about this class. That is certainly a good sign. I hope they're right about these kids and get the most out of them.

 

[TheCusian]

I never said they weren't competent. This staff has a solid group of recruiters, just like this is a solid class. Solid isn't great though, and in comparison to the rest of the conference I still think it's equal to, or a step below the majority. I get they are coming off a 3-9 season, therefore making it a better sell job, but still the same staff that was responsible for this solid class, was also responsible for the 3-9 season.

Fair enough. Just don't want the theme to be "the ACC and IPF" are the reason we are getting good recruits - when they all mention the coaches 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

 

[TheCusian]

No, I get it. We all want to believe that each class is much better than the previous ones and full of future NFL HOF'ers. I'm sorry for pointing out the facts in a 'props to the coaching staff' recruiting thread. I should know better. I stand by my last paragraph, though.

They are better by the numbers the last two years. Your statement that "it's like the last decade" is false.

 

[PhatOrange]

when you just take the kids who schools tried to poach coming down the stretch i see an improvement over the past decade.

these are all the kids who received January offers and/or visits

troy henderson - michigan
steve clark - florida (miss st, vandy, psu all made contact)
trey dunkleberger - fsu, clemson others
ty cross - wake forest
chris frederick - stanford
jordan fredericks - "A lot of people tried to make a run at him here late and we were able to hold onto him" Per Coach Smith
dontea strickland - rutgers
jake pickard - flip from a top 10 team

if there's others chime in ...this was off the top of my head

 

[javadoc]

when you just take the kids who schools tried to poach coming down the stretch i see an improvement over the past decade.

these are all the kids who received January offers and/or visits

troy henderson - michigan
steve clark - florida (miss st, vandy, psu all made contact)
trey dunkleberger - fsu, clemson others
ty cross - wake forest
chris frederick - stanford
jordan fredericks - "A lot of people tried to make a run at him here late and we were able to hold onto him" Per Coach Smith
dontea strickland - rutgers
jake pickard - flip from a top 10 team

if there's others chime in ...this was off the top of my head

Georgia went after Strickland

 

[Crusty]

I want this staff to succeed so much that it hurts. While I try not to let it cloud my judgment, but I it is increasingly harder to do.

On recruiting, I defer to those who are experienced at evaluating HS tapes and the judgment of the staff. That said, I think it is important to try and have some realism and perspective.

• With hindsight, the cupboard was less stocked than we had thought when Shafer took over meaning we had needs in many spots.
• Shafer had to scramble to save his first class.
• We have clearly reopened New Jersey, which is huge.
• We are clearly doing better in our backyard including downstate, CT and LI.
• We continue to work GA and FL effectively.
• The MW has become interesting for us.
• The staff has shown the ability to identify lightly recruited players early and to hang on as the big boys come snooping around. This is very impressive.
• We have some big time recruits looking seriously at us for the first time in quite a while.
• The trend is clearly up. How much is in the eye of the beholder. We will find out soon enough.
• We have improved the roster for ST. For our program this is extremely important as we don't have the firepower to overcome poor ST play. Kicking and the return game may improve sharply.

Apparently, sometime in the next 18 months we will get an announcement of the future of the Dome and regardless of what it is the program and recruiting will get a boost.

I am one who believe that the injuries last year were devastating to us and the W-L record does not properly reflect the staff's abilities. As SWC75 said getting those guys back is like an extra recruiting class (I would add - of JUCO players). While I am resigned to uninspired offenses, at least until we can build some depth and find a real passing QB, IMO we can win 6-8 games with what we have and that is something on which to build.

 

[Whitey23]

Georgia went after Strickland

And Georgia has a top 5/10 class depending on the site. Impressive

 

[SWC75]

We all want to believe that each class is much better than the previous ones and full of future NFL HOF'ers.

Step 1: Exaggerate what somebody said.
Step 2: Argue with the exaggeration.
Step 3: Declare victory.

 

[TheCusian]

Step 1: Exaggerate what somebody said. Step 2: Argue with the exaggeration. Step 3: Declare victory.

Step 4: Continue to drown in negativity while claiming to be a realist

 

[orangenirvana]

Step 1: Exaggerate what somebody said.
Step 2: Argue with the exaggeration.
Step 3: Declare victory.

This post is so off that I'm going to assume you attempted to reply to someone else.