Draft dilemma

[troycbullock]

It has been posted regularly that our guys make mistakes jumping to the NFL early. I am definitely one that believes this is the case. However there is something afoot that needs to be addressed to assure that we change our fortunes with the draft. There is no doubt that a schools success in the draft plays a key role in recruiting. We have struggled mightily in recruiting because I believe recruits no longer see UM as the path to being drafted (not simply making) into the NFL. choosing a school which increases their chances of getting drafted. There is a surely a correlation with choosing schools that win, but choosing a school that can get a recruit can be drafted is as important or in some cases more important. The point is, will never be great again until we address the draft problem. Once the NFL values our players and they begin to draft our players, the more recruiting battles we will win. The more recruiting battles we win the better talent and sustained winning.

The solution:
Our staff needs to figure out what the NFL values in there picks. We need to get a real sense of what each organization (GM’s, coaches, scouts). There are no doubts that many of you as I do scratch your heads at some of these picks and ask yourself why the **** are some of the players that get picked earlier then ours. There was a LB from Charlotte that got chosen before any of our LB’s. So ultimately, it’s not necessarily the school as much as it is the talent and skills teams are looking for. Our coaches need to understand this. That means identifying and recruiting kids that not only demonstrate what we want but also what the NFL wants. Coaching them up to ensure that talent is demonstrated on the field. As a means of motivation, remind players of these traits and the importance of consistently demonstrating them. This approach will not only mean better performances on the field but also make our players more valued and appealing.

This means adding to the budget in a way that we are able to add to support staff or create an internal service that enables us to gain NFL intelligence. There is not doubt the top college coaches spend time meeting and speaking with NFL execs and coaches. Have we been doing the same? Have spent an adequate amount of time and energy. Our coaches should be building relationships with all NFL coaches and execs. The days of us relying on our past CFB glory, our run of current and future HOF’s, the amount of players in the NFL and other means to market to recruits are over.

 

[Memnon]

Solutions:

- Spend more money on better coaches
- Increase the recruiting budget
- Evaluate better
- Recruit better
- Develop better
- Win more games

 

[troycbullock]

I agree with your solutions, but lack of details to your solutions make it hard to identify and fix the problem. It lacks the how. Your solutions only lead to more questions. It like brainstorming which is a good start, but it can’t lead to a change. For instance.
- what does a better coach entail?
- increase recruiting budget in what ways?
- what is the evaluation based on?
- what does recruiting better mean?
- what is the standard of development?
- is winning more important than having players drafted high?

 

[Ethnicsands]

Folks be chasin their tails here. Cause: evaluate and recruit well, have a competent staff, S&C program. Effect: players get drafted high.

 

[Torocane]

I agree with your solutions, but lack of details to your solutions make it hard to identify and fix the problem. It lacks the how. Your solutions only lead to more questions. It like brainstorming which is a good start, but it can’t lead to a change. For instance.
- what does a better coach entail?
- increase recruiting budget in what ways?
- what is the evaluation based on?
- what does recruiting better mean?
- what is the standard of development?
- is winning more important than having players drafted high?

Not remotely as knowledge as LCE but I'll take a shot

what does a better coach entail?
Coaches with proven track record that are at the top of their profession. They cost more money.

- increase recruiting budget in what ways?
More money equals more staff. More analyst. More people proven recruiters.

- what is the evaluation based on?
Not sure what you mean here

- what does recruiting better mean?
Better recruiters on staff.

- what is the standard of development?
Produce the best players possible.
Maximize there ability.


- is winning more important than having players drafted high?
Winning is obviously the most important but Im sure there is a correlation. If you are having a lot players being drafted high there is a good chance you are also winning.

 

[troycbullock]

Same problem as the last response. No specifics. I will give you one example. Assuming Rousseau is drafted in the 1st round next year, who here believed that Rousseau should have been a take. No BS please. Was that offer based on “better recruiting”? Was is based on a characteristic that NFL craves in their DL, length. I believe it’s more closely connected to the latter. We need to evaluate more like that because it serves both purposes of winning through performance and getting our kids drafted. Problem is we haven’t enough of those type of commits in lieu of the blue chips we missed out on.

 

[Torocane]

Same problem as the last response. No specifics. I will give you one example. Assuming Rousseau is drafted in the 1st round next year, who here believed that Rousseau should have been a take. No BS please. Was that offer based on “better recruiting”? Was is based on a characteristic that NFL craves in their DL, length. I believe it’s more closely connected to the latter. We need to evaluate more like that because it serves both purposes of winning through performance and getting our kids drafted. Problem is we haven’t enough of those type of commits in lieu of the blue chips we missed out on.

I think we are kinda saying the same thing.
We need better recruiting to land a better percentage of those blue chips.
Once we get them on campus we need better coaches and support staff to maximize their development.
I understand what you are saying about recruiting physical traits that can be developed that the nfl looks for. Hopefully we are doing that.
Hopefully Rousseau continues on the path he is on....but a lot of our players hit a wall on their development so its not a given.
We shall see.

 

[Empirical Cane]

Solutions:

- Spend more money on better coaches
- Increase the recruiting budget
- Evaluate better
- Recruit better
- Develop better
- Win more games

Evaluate better + Recruit better + Develop better + Improved gameday strategy and adjustments =
Win more games

 

[skyman]

Solutions:

- Spend more money on better coaches
- Increase the recruiting budget
- Evaluate better
- Recruit better
- Develop better
- Win more games

Exactly. Invest in program like you actually want to win. Dont just tweet developing champions while pocketing ACC checks while you lose. Then hire coaches off failed staffs for cheap crying broke. It starts from the top down.

Also burn the whole NFLU culture to the ground, we havent won **** since that whole era/error began. FOcus on winning college games and building a winning college culture by running updated college schemes. Its not our job to be a NFL-lite program (terrible one at that as we can see) while neglecting to win the actual games that matter. College teams that have success automatically get more looks for their players. Screaming NFLU off of the backs of the early 2000s players who actually WON COLLEGE GAMES does everyone a disservice.

Kids come here, make a couple plays in one game early in their career and they have reporters and fans asking if they are ready to go to nfl first round. WTF. Throw it all in trash.

 

[canesarchitect]

It has been posted regularly that our guys make mistakes jumping to the NFL early. I am definitely one that believes this is the case. However there is something afoot that needs to be addressed to assure that we change our fortunes with the draft. There is no doubt that a schools success in the draft plays a key role in recruiting. We have struggled mightily in recruiting because I believe recruits no longer see UM as the path to being drafted (not simply making) into the NFL. choosing a school which increases their chances of getting drafted. There is a surely a correlation with choosing schools that win, but choosing a school that can get a recruit can be drafted is as important or in some cases more important. The point is, will never be great again until we address the draft problem. Once the NFL values our players and they begin to draft our players, the more recruiting battles we will win. The more recruiting battles we win the better talent and sustained winning.

The solution:
Our staff needs to figure out what the NFL values in there picks. We need to get a real sense of what each organization (GM’s, coaches, scouts). There are no doubts that many of you as I do scratch your heads at some of these picks and ask yourself why the **** are some of the players that get picked earlier then ours. There was a LB from Charlotte that got chosen before any of our LB’s. So ultimately, it’s not necessarily the school as much as it is the talent and skills teams are looking for. Our coaches need to understand this. That means identifying and recruiting kids that not only demonstrate what we want but also what the NFL wants. Coaching them up to ensure that talent is demonstrated on the field. As a means of motivation, remind players of these traits and the importance of consistently demonstrating them. This approach will not only mean better performances on the field but also make our players more valued and appealing.

This means adding to the budget in a way that we are able to add to support staff or create an internal service that enables us to gain NFL intelligence. There is not doubt the top college coaches spend time meeting and speaking with NFL execs and coaches. Have we been doing the same? Have spent an adequate amount of time and energy. Our coaches should be building relationships with all NFL coaches and execs. The days of us relying on our past CFB glory, our run of current and future HOF’s, the amount of players in the NFL and other means to market to recruits are over.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

[troycbullock]

Exactly. Invest in program like you actually want to win. Dont just tweet developing champions while pocketing ACC checks while you lose. Then hire coaches off failed staffs for cheap crying broke. It starts from the top down.

Also burn the whole NFLU culture to the ground, we havent won **** since that whole era/error began. FOcus on winning college games and building a winning college culture by running updated college schemes. Its not our job to be a NFL-lite program (terrible one at that as we can see) while neglecting to win the actual games that matter. College teams that have success automatically get more looks for their players. Screaming NFLU off of the backs of the early 2000s players who actually WON COLLEGE GAMES does everyone a disservice.

Kids come here, make a couple plays in one game early in their career and they have reporters and fans asking if they are ready to go to nfl first round. WTF. Throw it all in trash.

I agree with your take on abandoning the NFLU as a marketing ploy or hype engine. It really has no true relevance to how we are valued. However, there is something real about NFLU that seems to motivate a culture of hard work and focus on performance. Unfortunately, It hasn’t resonated at the college level. I can’t qualify this but, I would venture to speculate that many of our players currently on NFL rosters are late round pics or UFA. Despite this, our players typically out play higher drafted players at similar positions from from winning programs. How is this possible? I don’t believe the reason is related so much to talent. I believe there is a larger motivating factor for our kids to produce at the Pro level than at the college level. Many of our more recent kids who have made the jump seem to have more passion to excel for the game at the NFL level then college. It seems they have more to prove. This has caused NFLU brand to be more prevalent than the U brand itself. The two don’t seem to correspond with one another. The reason is accountability of the U professional brotherhood. I believe our players hold each other to a higher level of accountability at the pro-level than in college. For our kids It’s almost like a badge of honor to just get into the NFL, knowing they will have all the intelligence and support needed to succeed. Getting drafted early means less to our kids than getting away from the culture at the college level because they know they will be a part of something bigger and more rewarding. This despite the fact that we having a tight alumni that comes back. In any event, things won’t change or the two brands will never become ONE until our kids see the need to uphold the U standard and brand period. The way we prepare and perform in college matters to themselves and their respective futures but to the past and future as well.

 

[DemCanesByke]

Solutions:

- Spend more money on better coaches
- Increase the recruiting budget
- Evaluate better
- Recruit better
- Develop better
- Win more games

Another solution too hire alonzo highsmith someone who helped teams make draft picks for 20 years

 

[OldhamA]

I think the solution is to recruit more freak athletes and less football players.

 

[Saltycane]

Recruit better

 

[troycbullock]

I think we are kinda saying the same thing.
We need better recruiting to land a better percentage of those blue chips.
Once we get them on campus we need better coaches and support staff to maximize their development.
I understand what you are saying about recruiting physical traits that can be developed that the nfl looks for. Hopefully we are doing that.
Hopefully Rousseau continues on the path he is on....but a lot of our players hit a wall on their development so its not a given.
We shall see.

It’s not just about landing blue chip recruits. Its about better evaluations to get the kids to fit a relevant system that gets results. I feel like we have done that on the offensive side by getting guys who have produced. Coach Likens is perfect example of the type of hire that makes sense (though it may not have been popular). He has an eye for talent and the ability to coach it up. His kids have been highly productive and are obviously valued by the NFL. I am not sure if his kids have been elite level recruits but he has surely gotten the best out of them.

 

[troycbullock]

I think the solution is to recruit more freak athletes and less football players.

By in large, it’s the football players that get drafted. For example. I believe I saw a report that revealed that most of the OL drafted avg 6”3. If that is true, either there are no freak OL available or teams are more concerned with kids that are nasty and can play ball.

 

[troycbullock]

Another solution too hire alonzo highsmith someone who helped teams make draft picks for 20 years

I agree with Highsmith hire I. The sense that he would help our staff develop a better idea of what the NFL values. His college & NFL intelligence and ability to evaluate is very relevant.