Hagy, Why are you so fixated on "5 star" designations? Rankings are very subjective. If memory serves me correctly Heisman trophy winning Ricky Williams was a 4 star recruit, Jamaal Charles, a difference maker, was a 4 star recruit... I say as long as we are getting national top 100 guys, who cares whether they are 4 star or 5 star...if they are national 100 guys, they are difference makers, period. And going by that threshold, Mack has been doing pretty well over the years. I think video games and the recruiting sites are destroying people's perspective on recruiting. I trust the coaches. FYI, Derek Lokey and Michael Huff were both 3 stars...difference makers.
I think what he means is why can't Mack fill his class with mostly Texas players. If you miss on Texas 5stars, why not try to pull one out of Cali (like Scott), or Georgia, or anywhere else?
This is totally off the current state of this discussion, but I want to formally apologize to Hagy for my first post in the thread. Upon re-reading it, it was pretty *******-ish. Bad night last night.
Texas has the best[HS] players. That is debatable. Texas does have the most D1 recruits each year. However Fla. is getting closer each year and is second. Cal. is third #4 Georgia, #5 Ohio. This for the last two years.
Hagy...We're saying the same thing. Scott is that 5 star OOS player. But remember that the most exciting two players to come out of the NCAA in the past two years are both TEXANS. Peterson and Young. I think Mack's strategy has been good. I think he is constantly seeking better ways to recruit the OOS players.
Why would you assume players are getting paid to play at SC? Even in Reggie's case, the charges are that he (or his family) was paid by an agent and given benefits so that Reggie would in turn sign with him upon turning pro, not for playing at SC. That agent has no association with SC at all. In fact he couldn't give a **** about SC. He is not a booster. In Leinart/Jarrett's case, Leinart's dad paid for his apartment in L.A.(which is legit) and when Jarrett joined the team, he became roommates with Leinart. Now, sure, there should have been better oversight as to Jarrett paying what should have been his fair share of the rent, but that doesn't mean Carroll is telling recruits that Bob Leinart is going to pay for their rent for an L.A. apartment. The likelihood of players getting paid to play at SC is probably the same at any other major program, Texas included.
you gotta admit tho CAD that they shouldn't let the guy in the locker rooms or anywhere around the players inside the actual facilities if indeed he was doing that like it's being reported. In the end, I think if the Bush family was receiving money then more than likely Bush was as well and more than likely it was set-up from the get-go if he signed at a nearby location (not just USC) The thing they will not be able to prove is that USC knew it was going on. Much like in the OU case. Now, if they can prove than USC actually knew Bush was being paid then the **** will hit the fan like we haven't seen since OSU was hit back in the Hart Lee Dykes deal. USC will get probably about what OU did & most people, OU fans included, couldn't even tell you what the punishment was as of today other than the gist of it.
No, I agree, Since73. Pete has been pretty loose with having open practices and whatnot and I'm not certain if he has tightened that up or not, but I would assume Garrett has at least advised him to do so. With the amount of agents that are found in L.A. it certainly should be a consideration. However, it seems unreasonable to think USC is paying their players. Why would they need to? It is arguably the most desirable place to play football, not to mention a funnel to the NFL. People are going to assume the worst with SC because most people don't like them due to their success and exorbitant media coverage. People overlook the facts and go on emotion. It's human nature. I was the same way with FSU and Miami in the 90s, but there is enough benefit to playing at SC that paying the players is unnecessary especially given the potential consequences. I love SC beyond what I could possibly describe. I think Pete is an incredible coach, but to me he is too much a "player's coach." In my opinion, he is too loose with certain things (what we've discussed) and he lets players act like jackasses too much on the field. But I will definitely live with that to enjoy the success and it's difficult for me to really question the product he puts on the field. From what I've seen, he runs a clean, albeit loose program. I just don't see Pete or Garrett being party to a crooked program. They don't need to.
Crimony, this isn't that difficult. Why are people so hung up on "states"? Recruiting "in state" in Texas is one thing, but it's something else entirely in Oklahoma. Furthermore, unless I'm mistaken, the scouting services tend to limit the number of top-level recruits they'll allow per state, which is absurd when you consider the sheer volume of blue-chip talent a state like Texas supplies the rest of the country. A Texas 4-star could easily be the equal of a West Virginia 5-star. The simplest explanation for Mack's "failure" to land a large number of 5-star OOS recruits is this: it's a numbers game. Every great recruit will have the usual elite programs trying to sign him, and he'll probably have ~ 5 favorites. By defnition, that means at least 4 elite programs will whiff when it comes to a particular blue chip. So, they have to target something like 5 studs to land 1, and in the case of Texas, which is probably only targeting 2 or 3 OOS blue chips, the odds don't look all that good. But Mack doesn't really care all that much, because he knows that he has the state virtually locked up, and plenty of his 4-stars would be 5-stars elsewhere, anyway.
There is more to recruiting than stars, like academics and character. That accounts for some of the 5-stars going elsewhere.
You do realize USC lost two games last year? And Pete Carroll the Great lost in the Rose Bowl with The Greatest College Team of All Time to a bunch of no-account Texans who don't recruit nationally? You want these game-playing ***-clowns that put the three hats on the table at the Army All-Star game and move their hand towards your school's hat, then grab another one after telling the coach and fans he would go to the other school for three months? I'm not too thrilled at picking up a team full of this kind of person. What do they care about your state, your school, your fans? They care solely about themselves. Yes, some of them can play football well. I don't think Mack Brown likes dealing with these prima donnas, or babysitting them for four years, either.
