It's long been a point of contention on my part that recruiting success is vital for more than the obvious reasons. For most of my life, IU football recruiting has shown up on the scoreboard week in and week out.
IU has had some wonderful players in that span. A.T., A.R.E., Ernie Jones, Van Waiters, Dave Schnell, Trent Green, Adewale Ogunleye, Vaughn Dunbar, Duane Gunn, Thomas Lewis, Robbie Turner, Joe Norman, and a few others. Some were highly sought after, high profile recruits. Most were not. Some of their team ;mates were just not very good. Hence, big slaughters on saturdays. They may have been starters on a Big Ten team, but in the immortal words of Daniel Dakich: "Even a lousy team has a leading scorer". Well, even a lousy team has a leading rusher, tackler, and receiver.
If you look closely at the numbers of players 4 yrs after they sign and enroll, you'll see that about 25% actually make an impact on the field. That's be a productive player. I didn't say all conference. I said simply "saw significant playing time". Of those 25%, only a few can really be said to have played WELL.
Kids flunk out. Kids get hurt. Kids get homesick. Kids get recruited over. Kids just give up football when it's too hard or not as much fun as they think it should be. What IU or any school is offering is "OPPORTUNITY". An opportunity to pursue football. An opportunity to get a free education. An opportunity to make more of themselves than they might otherwise be. It's up to the individual to make the most of it, catch a break when a break is needed, and hopefully succeed. But in football, as in business and life. There are no guarantees.
Some of IU's most high profile recruits didn't make much of an impact at all. While others with virtually no significant "pub" became pretty darn good players. Kids that worked hard, grew, matured, and got better. While others with "names" and "stars" peak early, or simply don't work out. So where am I going with this?
2 1/2 yrs ago, Coach Wilson signed a "milestone" recruiting class. It was universally lauded on this page as A football version of "the movement". (idiotic basketball cliche') that in the end EMPLODED. All four got immediate playing time. All four looked like valuable additions. All four made us excited for the future. Well, Darius Latham and Chase Dutra are the only ones left from that 4 man group.
At OSU, Bama and other big time schools, the numbers are the same. A big chunk of those kids can't find the field with a compass, map, GPS, and Apache scout either. They play when games are decided by others. But at OSU and BAMA, they sign big time numbers of elite kids every yr. They can absorb the flops and misses much better than say, IU. At IU, when a rare top level recruit doesn't pan out, it's truly felt. At Bama and OSU, they simply plug in another and go on.
So good luck with the 2015 season Coach Wilson. And good luck with the 2016 signing class. Because for some of these kids we will be excited about and predicting big things.... Signing day will be the highlight of their careers.
IU has had some wonderful players in that span. A.T., A.R.E., Ernie Jones, Van Waiters, Dave Schnell, Trent Green, Adewale Ogunleye, Vaughn Dunbar, Duane Gunn, Thomas Lewis, Robbie Turner, Joe Norman, and a few others. Some were highly sought after, high profile recruits. Most were not. Some of their team ;mates were just not very good. Hence, big slaughters on saturdays. They may have been starters on a Big Ten team, but in the immortal words of Daniel Dakich: "Even a lousy team has a leading scorer". Well, even a lousy team has a leading rusher, tackler, and receiver.
If you look closely at the numbers of players 4 yrs after they sign and enroll, you'll see that about 25% actually make an impact on the field. That's be a productive player. I didn't say all conference. I said simply "saw significant playing time". Of those 25%, only a few can really be said to have played WELL.
Kids flunk out. Kids get hurt. Kids get homesick. Kids get recruited over. Kids just give up football when it's too hard or not as much fun as they think it should be. What IU or any school is offering is "OPPORTUNITY". An opportunity to pursue football. An opportunity to get a free education. An opportunity to make more of themselves than they might otherwise be. It's up to the individual to make the most of it, catch a break when a break is needed, and hopefully succeed. But in football, as in business and life. There are no guarantees.
Some of IU's most high profile recruits didn't make much of an impact at all. While others with virtually no significant "pub" became pretty darn good players. Kids that worked hard, grew, matured, and got better. While others with "names" and "stars" peak early, or simply don't work out. So where am I going with this?
2 1/2 yrs ago, Coach Wilson signed a "milestone" recruiting class. It was universally lauded on this page as A football version of "the movement". (idiotic basketball cliche') that in the end EMPLODED. All four got immediate playing time. All four looked like valuable additions. All four made us excited for the future. Well, Darius Latham and Chase Dutra are the only ones left from that 4 man group.
At OSU, Bama and other big time schools, the numbers are the same. A big chunk of those kids can't find the field with a compass, map, GPS, and Apache scout either. They play when games are decided by others. But at OSU and BAMA, they sign big time numbers of elite kids every yr. They can absorb the flops and misses much better than say, IU. At IU, when a rare top level recruit doesn't pan out, it's truly felt. At Bama and OSU, they simply plug in another and go on.
So good luck with the 2015 season Coach Wilson. And good luck with the 2016 signing class. Because for some of these kids we will be excited about and predicting big things.... Signing day will be the highlight of their careers.
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