New Twist To A-States "Funky" Recruiting Methods

[Seminole Indian]

A-State coaches spend a lot of time explaining their  "funky" recruiting tactics, to their fans when discussing their signing classes ever year. They assure the fans that while their "funky" approach to recruiting  kills their "traditional" class  rankings on the various recruiting sites, it helps them win championships by allowing them to have the best roster of talent in the SBC.

Now they appear to be adding a different twist to their "funky" recruiting methods, bringing up players from smaller schools to fill out their 105 man roster.

This year they have the following "move-ups" on their roster:OL Tyrell Reed (6-5, 332, Henderson St), DB  Logan Wescott (6, 190, Delaware St), DB Colby Sigeares (5-8, 155, Arkansas Tech), RB Katon Hill (5-10, 209, Harding), and QB Blake Devers( 6-4, 215, Savannah St).

Reed, Wescott, and Devers had FBS offers out of HS and Reed had P5 offers, so there is talent in the move-ups.

Wescott, and Devers will have to sit out 2017, but both started as true freshmen at the FCS level, and played well.  Devers, who was All-State in Florida, had offers from SBC and CUSA schools out of HS.

While their fans would prefer they recruit the old fashion way, as long as they keep winning SBC Championships I expect they will continue with their "funky" recruiting.

[hawginbigd1]

This looked like their worst recruiting class in a decade, but this kind of additions go unrated. I hope it continues to work.

[Seminole Indian]

IMO it is one of their best, and like their coaches, I know that how they recruit will hurt their "class" rankings. Don't get me wrong they do get a lot of good players in the traditional way, but it is the other players that give them the edge. Remove Kendall Sanders and maybe they don't win their bowl game.

Safety Jeff Gibson( who played in all of Clemson's games as a true freshman, and whose loss was called a "surprise blow"), LB/DE Ronheen Bingham( maybe the best player on the field where ever he played, including A-State this spring), DT Josh Curry( big, very fast and very mean), OT Nour-Eddine Seidnally( most athletic offensive OL this spring at A-State), WR  Jonathan Adams( considered  maybe the best to come through Jonesboro in the last half century, if not ever), OL Marvis Brown( imagine a 330 pound point guard) , Athlete Larry Wooden, Safety Caleb Bonner were all rated 2-star recruits and everyone that watched them last year knows they are big-time players, and the media that covered them point that out. These are not just P5 caliber players they are SEC caliber P5's, everyone of them, and better than their 3-Star signees, that people assume are good players.

Each ones story is different but there were reasons, mostly of their own makings, they did not get all the offers early on that would have insured the rankings their talent warranted. While some  of these players did pickup late P5 offers, A-State benefited by the fact the best  P5's cannot take all the P5 caliber players( they have to recruit players for all the positions) , and the contacts A-State coaches have with the best P5 coaches, including Arkansas, got them in on these P5 caliber players(except for Adams who was always going to A-State).

They still have the best roster of talent in the SBC, and I fully expect they will have a successful season, contend for a championship, and go to a bowl game.

http://247sports.com/Season/2016-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite?Conference=SBC

[Seminole Indian]

The A-State HC did say when discussing their last signing class that they would be recruiting more by the traditional methods going forward, and that should help their class rankings, but if I were A-State fans I would not hold my breath.

One of the best things that has happened for schools further down the recruiting "food chain" is the trend by the really big fish in the pond to push for early commits, and it is becoming  more the rule than the exception that they are offering players after their Junior and even Sophomore year in HS.

Most of the top schools have most of their 2018 prospects  either committed or players waiting to commit when their commitment will be excepted by the school, and are  already excepting  commits for the 2019 and 2020 classes.

Moving the signing date up even a couple of months is going to insure this trend continues, and that means there are going to be even more quality players available. This "rush to judgement" has been a godsend for not only A-State but the UofA, and it is only going to get better.

I also expect that in addition to seeing more P5 players that transfer stay in FBS, you will see more of the FBS caliber players that ended up in FCS because of the "rush to judgment" by the FBS schools moving up after displaying  their talents early at that level. The money is just to good at the FBS level, and the pressure to get the best players available to great, for these trends not to continue.

[Seminole Indian]

Finally, you cannot under estimate the effect of the APR and the "stars", on spreading the talent around. The APR forces ALL schools, not just the better academic schools, to make sure they sign their share of student/athletes. This assures that there are plenty of pure athletes available down stream that were not there in the past.

There is also increasing pressure on all coaches to explain why they passed on a player with lots of "stars", or why their signee's don't have as many "stars" as other schools, and this is forcing some coaches to sign players that they really did not need. It is not uncommon now to look at any of the top schools and see more RB's, QB's, WR's etc., than can ever play, yet be short handed at another position's where "stars" are not as easily assigned.