That's great & all and you're right to a certain degree but in the long run how much does it matter or will it matter? Truth is Luke is playing his games again.
I think it matters a lot. Coach Coley believes it's critical to offer kids first. You saw it with Kaaya. Conversely, we were late on Davante Davis last year and he went to Texas (who offered him about two weeks before us).
Luke usually sends his kids to Miami. When he was at Northwestern, we got all of his guys except Amari Cooper. And that was because we botched his recruitment. Luke is not the problem.
Davis was going to flip to auburn and they told him no because they took Carlton davis & Dinson instead. Aubun offered three months after Texas and Miami.
There's a huge difference between being two weeks late and 6 months late (iirc usc and UCLA were around 6 months after the miami offer). For the most part I feel we've done a good job offering the local kids early and not waiting for the Al golden camps. DCW, Rice, and a few others are exceptions but it's an improvement from the 2014 and 2015 cycle. Not at optimal level yet, but I'll take the improvement
Auburn was in a unique situation because T-Rob had the pre-existing relationship.
The first thing Schnellenberger said in the U Documentary when discussing the "State of Miami" was that we need to be the foremost expert on every kid down here. What information did FSU and Alabama have that led them to offer before we did? And what new information did we get in two weeks that led us to offer? He hasn't played a snap.
Everybody is looking for an edge, and we give an edge away when we wait to offer a kid.
T-Rob was an advantage but again, did the early offer lead to a direct advantage?
I am not trying to downplay the importance of having the most knowledge on prospects, but the timing of the offer is a difference of only two weeks. A year before signing day. We can still obtain the most information on a prospect and be a couple days late to an offer.
We offered Collins, Rudolph and Bryant first, they all committed and left. We offered Cronkrite two weeks late, and he commited then left. We offered Chris Lammons first and he never came. We offered Brandon powell late, and he commited then left. The offer will not have any effect on Emmit's recruitment. When we offer kids in Decemeber, January, or February, then we have a major problem (which has obviously happened multiple times with Skai moore, fenton, redwine, etc.). If usc or UCLA wouldve offered two weeks late Jake Heaps would've been our starter last year IMO.
Also on the opposing end, we were on kids such as Zach mccloud, Richards, and Allison before others.
