Recruiting

[Distantute]

With anderson and ena gone, and taylor at leadt entertaining leaving, is anyone even recruiting?  Im sure anderson and ena werent, and who knows now how focused taylor has been.  Could possibly explain why utah has offered more scholarships than any other d1 team and has almost nothing to show as of yet. If we dont get a decent qb in this class the coming years could be scary (shelley doesnt have the arm strength or vision right now to be a good qb; maybe that improves but who knows). 

[EagleMountainUte]

“Offered more scholarships than any other D1 team…”

Source on that statement?

[gUrthBrooks]

Consider the Lillie’s of the goddamned field.

– Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

Utah has the Penn St. LB coming in, Pirtle, a 4 star LB, and is loaded at D-line. Utah doesn’t have a lot of schollies to give out this year. If Moss comes back, Utah is loaded.

[Anonymous]

Exactly. Stuff happens. This program is dealing from a position of strength st present. These hires are important and need to be done right. 

[EagleMountainUte]

I hear Urban is available soon. 

[Anonymous]

I’d give him $500k to consult Harding for a year. 

[EagleMountainUte]

It won’t happen but that would be a steal for his services and an absolute home run of a hire. 

He could do broadcasting once a week on BSPN for probably three times that.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. But we’d be crazy if we didn’t try. 

[EagleMountainUte]

I think Andersen is a loser for leaving and crawling back to USU. As long as Utah never plays him I don’t even care about him anymore. He really had a chance at something special for his Alma Mater in 2019. Ena leaving I think it was a good thing for him. Which I know I said It wouldn’t suck living in Logan. I think specifically for Andersen it was odd the way he left Oregon St.

TT leaving to Sacramento St?  Good hell beyond stupid. This season pans out with that schedule you get a HC in the G5 with millions on the line. Better staff hires and facilities to possibly get a P5 hire sooner rather than much later. 

[RiseasUtes]

I think it was a good move for Anderson.  Gets to stay in Utah and go to a program that he is comfortable at.

[EagleMountainUte]

I agree good move but I just think where he was in 2017 season. Maybe it is just my feel of betrayal because I felt like here is a replacement to Whitt.  

I kind of want Scalley to get a HC position expand his tree a little and come back someday. 

[Xanthis]

I wouldn’t want Andersen to replace Whitt even if he hadn’t have gone back to USU. He is going to be an easy target to recruit negatively against, especially if ended up with another PAC 12 gig.

[EagleMountainUte]

Great point. I wasn’t exactly all in on the idea. Not a fan of his again after him leaving this time. I preferred the idea I guess of him performing well enough in the position at Utah and wanting Whitt’s job. 

[AlohaUte]

You do know that Anderson can still be the replacement for Whitt if Utah wanted him too, right?

[AlohaUte]

Or hell, take a look at Hammer here as your paradigm of hope…

[RiseasUtes]

DE Bills, OT Maea, DL Lauaki and several other coming off missions or redshirted this year having just come off of missions.  We have way more players in the program than it sounds like you’re aware of.  We only lose 11 seniors and maybe Moss/Anae to the NFL so scholarships are very minimal to give out this year.  We only have 5 or so more to give out. Daniels would have been a great get, but there is some solid talent in this small class.  Plus several of our commits and potential commits are also mission bound.

[EagleMountainUte]

I feel like a Anae is coming back. I have no source or anything. Just he doesn’t look ready yet. He had an impressive season but I think one more year of film study on himself and strength training like a mofo turns him into DPOY and first round. 

[RiseasUtes]

I agree he doesn’t look ready yet, but kids usually have an inflated ego about themselves.  I think it will come down to his draft grade he gets.

[Distantute]

Utah has offered over 220 scholarships.  You guys dont understand football recruiting.  The number of seniors really doesnt matter.  Teams bring in talent and move others.  If we received 25 acceptances wed have 25 new players every year.  

[EagleMountainUte]

Source?

[Chidojuan]

He’s right about the number of offers, 224 from 24/7, but I don’t think an offer is the same as officially offering a scholarship. Also, I found 2 schools right away that have more offers out than Utah which are Virginia and Louisville, and I’ve only clicked through a handful. Virginia had 280+ and Louisville had 400+. Also, I don’t think Utah is actively recruiting all 224 offers, seems to be equivalent to setting up a relationship, and if the recruit doesn’t express interest, they likely don’t waste time on them. We’ll still have a good class this year, and I’m happy that we’re recruiting guys that will fit in our system and buy into the program.

[Distantute]

Louisville has a new coach.  I imagine that changes the math in terms of offers.

[Chidojuan]

There are still plenty that have more offers out.  Iowa State has 300+.  I’m sure there are plenty more.  I get that you were using hyperbole, but it tainted the narrative, Utah has to sort through more kids than the blue bloods.  If Oklahoma or USC come after you, they’re getting you 99% of the time, so they don’t offer as many kids.  Nothing needs to be explained a way.  This is not a metric that determines the success of a program.

[Chidojuan]

I don’t think that’s the kind of program Whitt runs. I can’t remember the exact number, but I think we have approximately 15 scholarships available with Seniors and non-impact transfers on the horizon. If we brought in 25 scholarship players then Whitt would have to pull 10 from people that have done all they can to earn it. Seems like a very un-Whittingham thing to do. I get that some people will lose their scholarships, but it’s likely a meticulous process, not a broad stroke.

[EagleMountainUte]

I understand how recruiting goes. Some websites report the kid has an offer without even verifying. As in not looking at the scholarship offer. 

[Distantute]

Explain it away, excuse it away all you want – the percentage of offer to accept is extremely low and perhaps the worst in p5.

[Chidojuan]

Does that translate to losses though?  Does it equate to recruiting failure.  I’ve never read an article anywhere stating that this is an issue, although we all know PK is looking for dirt on the forum a la J. Jonah Jameson.  I can see it now, “Utah ranked lowest in the PAC-12 in offers to signees ratio.”

[Distantute]

Source is 247, coach shaw, and recruiting pros on twitter.  Only oregon has offered more than us in pac12, but of course they have a top 5 class.  This class isnt looking good, and it doesnt appear many of our coaches are even recruiting as mentioned at top.  9 accepts from over 220 offers says a lot, and over 220 offers says a lot about class size limitations, or more accurately, lack thereof

[Feanor]

You keep stating that the rest of us don’t understand recruiting, but offer no facts to back up your statement. The fact is that DI programs can sign MAXIMUM of 25 “initials” a year, but can only carry 85 scholarship players at a time. So if a program has 75 players still on Scholarship after a season, they can only bring in 10 more. There is wiggle room with the initials as one can push forward initials to the following year, have a kid grey shirt, etc., but that 85 is a hard limit.

[User Suspended]

^ this 

You ever see a small Bama class?  LOL! – never.

[Distantute]

Georgia signs around 25 every year.  I guess 25 seniors graduate every year.  Only way to explain it.

[crazyute]

Geez I wonder if Georgia ever has a kid leave early for the draft?

[Central Coast Ute]

They put those out but most are not solid offers. Most of those kids would have jumped at the Utes if the Utes said we will sign you. Most of them are just back up plans. That’s how the Utes recruit every single year.

[Feanor]

Bama oversigns and forces unproductive upperclassmen out of the program to make room for more recruits. Following is my post from a previous thread. Follow the links and have a look for yourself.

““15.5.6.1 Bowl Subdivision Football. [FBS] There shall be an annual limit of 25 on the number of initial
counters (per Bylaw 15.02.3.1) and an annual limit of 85 on the total number of counters (including initial
counters) in football at each institution. (Revised: 1/10/91 effective 8/1/92, 12/15/06)”
http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/D114.pdf

An NCAA division 1 FBS program can have up to 85 scholarship players on their roster at any time. That is a hard limit. The 25 “initial counters” limit is a little more flexible. You can “push forward” a guy to count against the following year, and play the games I pointed out in the posts above. There is also the practice of “oversigning” some programs use. This wikipedia article explains it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oversigning Also points out what a sleaze Nick Saban is.

I fully admit that I’m not an expert on the subject, and there are plenty of things I don’t understand about recruiting, but saying that if we can get commitments from as many talented players as we can we’ll find room for all of them is clearly false.”

[EagleMountainUte]

I think Saban is a sleeze but I think a lot of kids know the risks and sign anyway.  

[Chidojuan]

[CincyUte]

There’s nothing to worry about.  The vast collection of helmet, uniform and visor combinations that Under Armour has provided the Utes will ensure significant interest from recruits and will result in high-quality classes, so I’ve been told.