Historically what school surprises you in recruiting?

#1
BADGER_VOL

BADGER_VOL

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2023
Messages
722
Likes
2,033
#1
I’ve followed recruiting for over 25 years. Many schools have consistently recruited at a high levels thru many coaches.

What is a school in your opinion that you always wonder why so many top players want to go there?

Whether is the school itself, the climate, the surrounding community, etc.

What is a college football program you still shake your head at and wonder “why are so many top athletes wanting to go there vs all the options they have?

Just curious as many of you follow recruiting and have followed it for decades.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volfan1000
#2
#2
BADGER_VOL said:
I’ve followed recruiting for over 25 years. Many schools have consistently recruited at a high levels thru many coaches.

What is a school in your opinion that you always wonder why so many top players want to go there?

Whether is the school itself, the climate, the surrounding community, etc.

What is a college football program you still shake your head at and wonder “why are so many top athletes wanting to go there vs all the options they have?

Just curious as many of you follow recruiting and have followed it for decades.
Click to expand...
I haven’t followed recruiting for as long as you, but one thing that has always surprised me is Oregon. Despite playing college football for 130 years, they don’t have a single national championship. Yet, recruits have flocked to that program even before NIL became a factor.

Consider their sub .500 bowl record and a win percentage that’s arguably inflated by beating up on subpar teams for decades. And yes, I’m fully aware of their 2014 run with Mariota, which ended with them choking to OSU. They haven’t come close to the playoffs since, yet they consistently find themselves around the top 10 in the polls every year!

If it wasn’t for Nike, Oregon would be in the same boat as Oregon State right now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SmokeyDaBear, Vol in Buckeye Land, swampfoxfan and 11 others
#3
#3
BADGER_VOL said:
I’ve followed recruiting for over 25 years. Many schools have consistently recruited at a high levels thru many coaches.

What is a school in your opinion that you always wonder why so many top players want to go there?

Whether is the school itself, the climate, the surrounding community, etc.

What is a college football program you still shake your head at and wonder “why are so many top athletes wanting to go there vs all the options they have?

Just curious as many of you follow recruiting and have followed it for decades.
Click to expand...
Auburn and Oklahoma, literally nothing to do in those areas. I think they are good colleges just would not want to live there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SmokeyDaBear, Vol in Buckeye Land, swampfoxfan and 2 others
#7
#7
Miami? Small commuter school, doesn't even have an on campus stadium.

FSU? Why, just why, I find nothing appealing about Tallahassee.

But I think ultimately it's about winning. If a coach can build a winning program, the recruits will come.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BADGER_VOL
#12
#12
GoodTimeVol said:
Auburn and Oklahoma, literally nothing to do in those areas. I think they are good colleges just would not want to live there.
Click to expand...
Auburn can recruit from GA and Oklahoma can recruit from north Texas.

Plus, all there is to focus on is football, ain’t so bad.
 
#18
#18
Some of these schools did/do well due to tradition and elite coaching.

More so of the coaching, now that I think about it.

Nebraska at its prime had Tom Osborne - once that went away they lost their luster.

Clemson went a long time without a lot of success. dabo is a pompous jerk but he is perceived to be a good coach.

Auburn is doing better recruiting right now because Freeze is considered to be a good coach.

Then you have anomalies like UCLA who had Chip Kelly, good school, great weather but still didn’t make much noise.

conversely, Miss State has none of these things going for them, and have never had a period of sustained success in my lifetime

Then you have schools like Notre Dame who will always recruit at a relatively high level due to name recognition alone.

For us, Butch Jones was a decent recruiter for a bit, but he was helped by all the legacy players for sure. When the players figured out he was a snake oil salesman the wheels fell off real fast.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cosmo Kramer
#19
#19
South Carolina is an awful football program, historically, and they consistently recruit decent classes. They’ve been better than usual the past 2 decades, but everything about them is second rate. Stadium is middle of the road in the SEC. Second fiddle program in their own state. Not a ton of NFL draft or on-field success, historically or now. Columbia is a dump. Mascot’s a chicken. I personally don’t care for the state itself at all. Current coach is a clown. They’re just a really lame program. Not a ton of reasons to go there, IYAM, and definitely not if you’re a 4 or 5 star player with options.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Vol in Buckeye Land, P.O.T.S. VOL and DarthVol1
#21
#21
DaddyChad said:
They literally got good bc we decided to suck ass for a couple of decades. They hit the areas we recruited well during the 90’s
Click to expand...
Yep. Clemson took our program when we fired Fulmer and gifted them Tajh Boyd. Then we made it worse when Coach Brick told Trevor Lawrence's dad that his son just didn't fit our offense.
 
#25
#25
I’ve felt Nebraska was almost all Osborne.

Notre Dame still recruits high but they’ve forever lost their luster of “if you’re a Catholic kid that’s your dream school.” From here on out they’re always going to have a top TOP flight coach to compete. They can’t recruit AS easily as they did for their entire history from 90s and earlier really 80s and earlier
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top