(shakes head) some Utah fans baffle me?

[sweetgrass]

On twitter I keep seeing fans down on this years’ class.  Mostly because they look at Utah’s small class composite ranking and immediately equate that score with failure.  When in reality this class almost identically resembles many of the best classes Utah’s ever had when you factor in Avg. player ratings (its the 3rd highest rated ever in that aspect per 247).  Additionally many have forgotten this is the early signing period, there are still 6 weeks left for kids to sort all of this out.

Holy hell, simmer down.  It’s like dealing with people who’s daily horoscope tells them that Mercury is aligned with Venus and that proves they are going to have a horrific day.  

In addition to Utah women’s football clinic that teach basic fundamentals, we need to have another for ultra-anxious, jump the gun types.  

[EagleMountainUte]

Pace needs to be sponsored for that class. 

[Woodutail]

PACE who o wait i have him blocked.

[NarfUte]

New to Utah fans? For some reason our fanbase has an inordinate amount of chicken littles and debbie downers. It’s maddening

* I realize a lot of our older fans had to weather through the constant ass kickings of the 70’s/80’s but those years were a looooooonnnnnnggggg time ago

[Stone]

I think their numbers are not great, but they are a very vocal bunch.

[Anonymous]

We don’t have a higher percentage of “chicken littles” than other fan bases. Read the Cal or USC boards for confirmation. 

[Stone]

Agreed. The mentality is present everywhere. Our fanbase is largely the same as others.

[Puget Ute]

Those of us who remember the 70s/80 likely are more forgiving.

[AlohaUte]

I think too many still have PTSD from the 80’s and being BYU’s little brother for so long.

[Dwight89]

To be fair, this type of analysis is the exact opposite of the “sky is falling” meltdown and should be equally derided. I think it’s dumb to be overly excited about this class OR overly p**sy about it. Here are some facts:

1. We’ve got some great recruits in this class. Flipped a 4* lineman from UCLA. Great grad transfer in Manny Bowlen and hopefully another 4* signee in Darron Jones (spelling?)

2. This is our third highest rated composite score, so far. That’s not bad

3. Still have some other irons in the fire that might work out in our favor

On the other hand….

1. We lost out on our top rated qb and prospect.

2. Still haven’t been able to secure the top in state prospects.

3. While our composite score is our third highest ever, it’s only ranked 9th in the Pac 12. 

 

As always, some good, some bad. Need to be realists about where we stand. Recruiting is better than in the MW but still not where it needs to be if we are ever going to be year in, year out Pac 12 championship contenders. Whitt and company needs to keep pounding the rock and developing talent so that we can start winning these 4 and 5* recruiting battles more often!

[sweetgrass]

as things currently stand, we are never going to out recruit:

USC
Oregon
Washington
Stanford

and in most years we’ll lose head to head battles with ASU and UCLA because of factors beyond anyone’s control.

I think Utah’s ceiling at present is 5 in the conference. I agree this isn’t a lights out class, but its not bad.

[Dwight89]

I’m not in love with this mentality. Tides are always changing. Heck ten years ago no one in their right mind would have put Oregon and Stanford on your list. Keep winning and recruits will come. I think we have the right head coach in place to accomplish that. Whitt develops talent like no one’s business, and that’s exactly what we need in order to overperform.

 

If we continue to overperform we will develop more cache with recruits and eake our way into the upper echelon of the Pac 12. But, we have to continue to overperform. 2018 can’t be a flash in the pan. 

[Chidojuan]

Yup, just look at how fast bluebloods can drop out of relevancy.  Tennessee, Louisville, Rutgers, even USC this year was disappointing.  We can work our way up, and may even potentially out recruit some of the bluebloods in our conference, but our coaches will have to have the mentality of never being completely satisfied and never getting complacent.

[Distantute]

I dont think you know what blueblood means.  Rutgers? Louisville? Tennessee? Wow

[Chidojuan]

Yup, the birthplace of college football, Tennessee speaks for itself, Louisville might be pushing.

[Stone]

Agree with all of this. Sky is not falling, but there is also plenty of room for improvement.

My biggest wishlist for recruiting is for Utah to lock in more of the state’s top prospects. I get it that many kids want to go away to school (I did too) and the grass often appears greener elsewhere, so there are often hurdles in that regard. Plus, there is a certain mystique to telling people you are going away to college rather than going to the local school. I think most everyond can relate with that mindset. The flip side is that staying near home allows one to play in front of friends and family.

But can you imagine if Utah were getting most of the top high school kids in-state every year?! It would be amazing. The school has certainly made efforts (with the hometown hero billboard campaign, etc.), but I hope to see things improve more.

[EagleMountainUte]

Yes losing the big recruits in state isn’t going to be a long-term success plan. This is the part that is bugging me most. 

[Distantute]

Lets not kid ourselves, this class is bad.  Saying it is top 3 average is laugh out loud spin.  We arent ever going to consistently beat the other teams for top hs recruits.  Given the change in teansfer rules and the number of transfers each year, we need to hit the transfer market.  Become one of the go to programs.  The current recruiting approach will very rarely get us competing for conference championships.  You just cant when youre always being outrecruited.  The fact that we won the south and nearly the conference and we turn in this stinker is upsetting.

[Stone]

If truth is considered spin, then I guess I agree. The original poster’s comment about this class being Utah’s third highest average class is either true or not. If true, you can view it as positive (cool, top 3 alltime) or negative (lame, this wasn’t the first or second best class alltime). But truth is not spin.

[EagleMountainUte]

It was a needs addressed class. I am mostly bummed by Mosley. The QB thing he clearly wanted to play now which wouldn’t happen. 

[prestitute]

On the QB front, I really don’t think it was that big of a deal. I see 1 year from now as when we really need a QB. Next year, they should be hitting it hard, but worst typical case, we still have Shelley as a potential starter and bring in a Stud. We really have 2 years, IMO, but I would like to bring a stud in next year. 

[alharmon]

EXACTLY.