Cold Case

[Oklahawg]

A lot of recruiting forum angst builds up. From August 1 (start of HS summer camps) until Thanksgiving, the recruiting trail turns "cold" as recruits focus on their senior year. College staffs have to split time between prepping for games and recruiting. Certainly, senior season action cools the interest in some recruits and heats up interest in others.

But, for recruitniks (ie, those of us who read this forum regularly) the recruiting lull is crushing. We struggle to find clues to how we are standing with our top wishlist recruits.

My favorite example of this currently is the obsession with RB recruiting. It is not like the staff is ignoring the position. CBB and staff visited (it appears) 6 RBs during the bye week. When playing with the big dogs for the services of some we have to be patient. We should not conclude that the lack of additional RB options on our commit list means we are failing.

The trail may be cold but it is still there. Five more weeks, and then we'll have more news than we can keep up with.

Bet we wind up with two of the six we targeted last week: Porter, White, Whaley, Pennamon, Ragas and Boyd, fiww. Just not any time soon.

[Dropkick]

Excellent point.

[greenie]

This doesn't make the next 5 weeks any easier...but you're right, Okla. 

[Huds_HawgTide]

We needs it...we needs the precious

[HogWall Jackson]

A lot of recruiting forum angst builds up. From August 1 (start of HS summer camps) until Thanksgiving, the recruiting trail turns "cold" as recruits focus on their senior year. College staffs have to split time between prepping for games and recruiting. Certainly, senior season action cools the interest in some recruits and heats up interest in others.

But, for recruitniks (ie, those of us who read this forum regularly) the recruiting lull is crushing. We struggle to find clues to how we are standing with our top wishlist recruits.

My favorite example of this currently is the obsession with RB recruiting. It is not like the staff is ignoring the position. CBB and staff visited (it appears) 6 RBs during the bye week. When playing with the big dogs for the services of some we have to be patient. We should not conclude that the lack of additional RB options on our commit list means we are failing.

The trail may be cold but it is still there. Five more weeks, and then we'll have more news than we can keep up with.

Bet we wind up with two of the six we targeted last week: Porter, White, Whaley, Pennamon, Ragas and Boyd, fiww. Just not any time soon.

Those are the facts and you identified all of the Primary Suspects as you usually do. Good thoughts and excellent post. We simply need to finish as strong as possible by winning our Home Games. A win over either LSU or Ole Miss on the Road would be great.

[RedyorNot]

Very well said sir. Let the crescendo build!

[hawginbigd1]

A lot of recruiting forum angst builds up. From August 1 (start of HS summer camps) until Thanksgiving, the recruiting trail turns "cold" as recruits focus on their senior year. College staffs have to split time between prepping for games and recruiting. Certainly, senior season action cools the interest in some recruits and heats up interest in others.

But, for recruitniks (ie, those of us who read this forum regularly) the recruiting lull is crushing. We struggle to find clues to how we are standing with our top wishlist recruits.

My favorite example of this currently is the obsession with RB recruiting. It is not like the staff is ignoring the position. CBB and staff visited (it appears) 6 RBs during the bye week. When playing with the big dogs for the services of some we have to be patient. We should not conclude that the lack of additional RB options on our commit list means we are failing.

The trail may be cold but it is still there. Five more weeks, and then we'll have more news than we can keep up with.

Bet we wind up with two of the six we targeted last week: Porter, White, Whaley, Pennamon, Ragas and Boyd, fiww. Just not any time soon.

Unfairly if these 2 don't include at least one of these I think a lot are going to be less than satisfied. As many have said before however I don't believe we have to get the elite of the elite for our type of offense. RW3 and KW are great examples IMO. Okla I am not sure your post while accurate will help my angst any at all

[ARtillahog]

We needs it...we needs the precious

Haha, awesome!  +1

[Oklahawg]

I do realize that being honest is not necessarily what we all want to read.

[Oklahawg]

Unfairly if these 2 don't include at least one of these I think a lot are going to be less than satisfied. As many have said before however I don't believe we have to get the elite of the elite for our type of offense. RW3 and KW are great examples IMO. Okla I am not sure your post while accurate will help my angst any at all

What UA needs is a difference maker. Somewhere. Can easily be KW simply being in beast mode, fresh at this point in the season, and able to punish people. That isn't how we see it, of course. Speed doesn't have to happen at RB, it can happen at WR. It can be a TE who is fast enough to be a matchup nightmare (HH qualifies, methinks).

But, that said, I agree that we need either that elite bruiser or someone fast enough to run away from defenses. The other can be a 1000-yard rusher without either of those...I don't know that JWill or AC are "elite" RB but they prosper in our system.

[redeye]

Nice post Oklahawg!

[Steef]

We needs it...we needs the precious

+1

[gmarv]

A lot of recruiting forum angst builds up. From August 1 (start of HS summer camps) until Thanksgiving, the recruiting trail turns "cold" as recruits focus on their senior year. College staffs have to split time between prepping for games and recruiting. Certainly, senior season action cools the interest in some recruits and heats up interest in others.

But, for recruitniks (ie, those of us who read this forum regularly) the recruiting lull is crushing. We struggle to find clues to how we are standing with our top wishlist recruits.

My favorite example of this currently is the obsession with RB recruiting. It is not like the staff is ignoring the position. CBB and staff visited (it appears) 6 RBs during the bye week. When playing with the big dogs for the services of some we have to be patient. We should not conclude that the lack of additional RB options on our commit list means we are failing.

The trail may be cold but it is still there. Five more weeks, and then we'll have more news than we can keep up with.

Bet we wind up with two of the six we targeted last week: Porter, White, Whaley, Pennamon, Ragas and Boyd, fiww. Just not any time soon.

yeah I think you are spot on.its that anytime soon part,we also all know that some (supposedly hog fans) will have condemned and demanded more from the coaches .if things don,t happen right away or one of the six goes ahead and commits somewhere else.the sky will have fallen and we are doomed to failure.

[OneTuskOverTheLine™]

I do realize that being honest is not necessarily what we all want to read.

It is for me, and you are one of the reasons I lurk in this forum way more than I post. Hell, most of the time I just jump in with a joke or two to keep it light and that's about it.

[whosiskid]

Couldn't agree more with the OP. It is a terrible period of time to follow recruiting. I remember last year when we were reaching for every scrap of info about KJ Hill (oh, btw, great freshman year he is having - has not intentionally been redshirted, but he has ZERO receptions and has contributed nothing to Ohio State - does this sound familiar, like about 95% of all Arkansas kids who go out of state?).

Things will be a bit different this year, I believe, due to the fact that we already have most of our slots filled. But the interest will be intense for the few we still want to fill.

One thing I do want to point out and that is that we are probably going to have a slightly lower rated recruiting class than usual. Even one or two kids can make a big difference in your teams' rating. If we end up with 21 players, that is going to cost us ten or more slots. Instead of, say, the 23rd rated class, it could knock us down to the 32nd rated class.

Now, in 2017 the reverse could take place. We could end up taking 29 players and that could kick us up to the #16 class due to having extra players.