South Florida recruiting myth.

[Hstokes1447]

Howard Schnellenbeger 1980-1983

• 3 of 8 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Jimmy Johnson 1984-1988

• 4 of 10 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Dennis Erickson 1989-1994

• 4 of 12 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Butch Davis 1995-2000

• 9 of 25 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Larry Coker 2001-2003(His number would be different but this only covers 2001-2003)

• 3 of 6 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Who compiles the list of top Dade 100 of all time? Is it the Herald? Every year, when I see a list of top Dade, it seems like we're often not in it for a majority of the kids. Often, who the paper regards as tops in Dade are not the players we want. There's a disparity between the top as determined by the newspaper or whomever, and what we want to recruit for our needs. Besides, a lot of the top Dade kids have always had academic issues. They could get in somewhere else, but not at the U. I know that a statewide group, maybe the FHSAA compiled an alltime list of the best in the state. Do you have a link to the list of the Dade top 100?

The reason for using the list is to have some reference point to show elite Dade talent. If you look back through the post I also listed all of the guys who were on the list that were also offered and heavily recruited by Miami, so its safe to say Miami wanted them. That post also has a link to the list.

To your point about "Dade kids have always had academic issues" is a huge part of my argument. The poor Dade county education system will always be a issue for these kids. So regardless of how hard you recruit these kids there will always be a percentage of "elite' kids who get away simply because they couldn't get past admissions.

 

[TheMatador]

Howard Schnellenbeger 1980-1983

• 3 of 8 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Jimmy Johnson 1984-1988

• 4 of 10 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Dennis Erickson 1989-1994

• 4 of 12 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Butch Davis 1995-2000

• 9 of 25 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Larry Coker 2001-2003(His number would be different but this only covers 2001-2003)

• 3 of 6 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Who compiles the list of top Dade 100 of all time? Is it the Herald? Every year, when I see a list of top Dade, it seems like we're often not in it for a majority of the kids. Often, who the paper regards as tops in Dade are not the players we want. There's a disparity between the top as determined by the newspaper or whomever, and what we want to recruit for our needs. Besides, a lot of the top Dade kids have always had academic issues. They could get in somewhere else, but not at the U. I know that a statewide group, maybe the FHSAA compiled an alltime list of the best in the state. Do you have a link to the list of the Dade top 100?

The reason for using the list is to have some reference point to show elite Dade talent. If you look back through the post I also listed all of the guys who were on the list that were also offered and heavily recruited by Miami, so its safe to say Miami wanted them. That post also has a link to the list.

To your point about "Dade kids have always had academic issues" is a huge part of my argument. The poor Dade county education system will always be a issue for these kids. So regardless of how hard you recruit these kids there will always be a percentage of "elite' kids who get away simply because they couldn't get past admissions.

I followed recruitiing very closely in the late '80's, and I talked to more people down in Miami who had close ties to the football staff. I used to hear some things, from time to time. I remember Joey Veargis came out the same year as Marvin Jones. We really had no shot at Jones because of his brother who had gone to FSU. We wanted Veargis badly. The kid was in bad shape, whether it was grades, or test score, or both, I don't remember. I recall that later his senior year he was still playing other sports like basketball. I was wondering why this kid didn't drop the other sports and spend the time studying so he could do whatever he needed to do to get into Miami. That just wasn't in the cards with this kid. Some kids make some sacrifices to get prepared academically--I think Devin Hester did. Others didn't care. I don't remember whether Veargis went to Alabama or to a Juco. The last I saw, he was at that small black school. Maybe he played in arena football. One of the best players in Dade, ended up in obscurity. Happens so often. Look at Tommy Streeter's father--I don't know if that was grades, though. So many others--who was that safety at Gables-Cyril McKinnon, or something like that? Had learning disabilities (can't blame him for that) and ended up at Bethune Cookman. Elite player in HS, disappeared in college.

A lot of reasons why kids disappear--some have injuries, some don't work hard, some are so messed up academically and maybe have poor discipline anyway.

I didn't follow the draft this year, but before the draft the Herald ran a top 50 prospects list, showing, first of all, that a majority were three stars or less, and showing whether UM recruited the kids. One kid that was missed was Ryan Shazier. This stuff happens. I don't even know if Derrick Thomas was that highly regarded coming out of HS. To some degree, it is a crapshoot. As AG said, when you recruit, you try to make a projection as to where a kid will end up three or four years later. Jimmy Johnson reportedly had this uncanny ability to assess a kid's athletic potential just by looking at how he stood and walked. He could even tell by looking at their parents! A fabulous sports writer, Sally Jenkins, once old me this. She used to love the Canes, back in the late '80's, when she worked for the Washington Post.

 

[Hstokes1447]

Howard Schnellenbeger 1980-1983

• 3 of 8 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Jimmy Johnson 1984-1988

• 4 of 10 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Dennis Erickson 1989-1994

• 4 of 12 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Butch Davis 1995-2000

• 9 of 25 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Larry Coker 2001-2003(His number would be different but this only covers 2001-2003)

• 3 of 6 signing Dade County top 100 of All time.

Who compiles the list of top Dade 100 of all time? Is it the Herald? Every year, when I see a list of top Dade, it seems like we're often not in it for a majority of the kids. Often, who the paper regards as tops in Dade are not the players we want. There's a disparity between the top as determined by the newspaper or whomever, and what we want to recruit for our needs. Besides, a lot of the top Dade kids have always had academic issues. They could get in somewhere else, but not at the U. I know that a statewide group, maybe the FHSAA compiled an alltime list of the best in the state. Do you have a link to the list of the Dade top 100?

The reason for using the list is to have some reference point to show elite Dade talent. If you look back through the post I also listed all of the guys who were on the list that were also offered and heavily recruited by Miami, so its safe to say Miami wanted them. That post also has a link to the list.

To your point about "Dade kids have always had academic issues" is a huge part of my argument. The poor Dade county education system will always be a issue for these kids. So regardless of how hard you recruit these kids there will always be a percentage of "elite' kids who get away simply because they couldn't get past admissions.

I followed recruitiing very closely in the late '80's, and I talked to more people down in Miami who had close ties to the football staff. I used to hear some things, from time to time. I remember Joey Veargis came out the same year as Marvin Jones. We really had no shot at Jones because of his brother who had gone to FSU. We wanted Veargis badly. The kid was in bad shape, whether it was grades, or test score, or both, I don't remember. I recall that later his senior year he was still playing other sports like basketball. I was wondering why this kid didn't drop the other sports and spend the time studying so he could do whatever he needed to do to get into Miami. That just wasn't in the cards with this kid. Some kids make some sacrifices to get prepared academically--I think Devin Hester did. Others didn't care. I don't remember whether Veargis went to Alabama or to a Juco. The last I saw, he was at that small black school. Maybe he played in arena football. One of the best players in Dade, ended up in obscurity. Happens so often. Look at Tommy Streeter's father--I don't know if that was grades, though. So many others--who was that safety at Gables-Cyril McKinnon, or something like that? Had learning disabilities (can't blame him for that) and ended up at Bethune Cookman. Elite player in HS, disappeared in college.

A lot of reasons why kids disappear--some have injuries, some don't work hard, some are so messed up academically and maybe have poor discipline anyway.

I didn't follow the draft this year, but before the draft the Herald ran a top 50 prospects list, showing, first of all, that a majority were three stars or less, and showing whether UM recruited the kids. One kid that was missed was Ryan Shazier. This stuff happens. I don't even know if Derrick Thomas was that highly regarded coming out of HS. To some degree, it is a crapshoot. As AG said, when you recruit, you try to make a projection as to where a kid will end up three or four years later. Jimmy Johnson reportedly had this uncanny ability to assess a kid's athletic potential just by looking at how he stood and walked. He could even tell by looking at their parents! A fabulous sports writer, Sally Jenkins, once old me this. She used to love the Canes, back in the late '80's, when she worked for the Washington Post.

 

[Freddie Bear]

Recruiting from South Florida is different than Schnellenberger's "State of Miami" recruitment. South Florida recruiting is Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Schnellenberger defined the "State of Miami" as roping off Florida from Cocoa Beach through Orlando and to Tampa. So if the OP was referring to the "State of the U" he is correct. If referring to South Florida than Fort Myers is out.

 

[TheMatador]

Recruiting from South Florida is different than Schnellenberger's "State of Miami" recruitment. South Florida recruiting is Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Schnellenberger defined the "State of Miami" as roping off Florida from Cocoa Beach through Orlando and to Tampa. So if the OP was referring to the "State of the U" he is correct. If referring to South Florida than Fort Myers is out.

We recruited all those areas in the northern part of the State of Miami very well--a lot of kids from Brevard (Cocoa Beach--actually, I would exclude Cocoa Beach, that was my old HS. Start with Merritt Island, go down to Satellite Beach, Melbourne, Cocoa, and now, Palm Bay) across to Orlando and area, and over to Tampa Bay area. We've gotten tons from the northern section of State of Miami.

 

[CaneAlmighty]

Add Orpheus Roye to that list of South Florida talent that ended up at FSU.

 

[CaneAlmighty]

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1985-02-14/sports/8501050814_1_corey-johnson-broward-dade

The University of Miami`s philosophy toward national football signing day was summed up by coach Jimmy Johnson late Wednesday afternoon as word on several high school signees` commitments reached the Hurricane office.

``I`m not concerned that not everyone likes the University of Miami,`` Johnson said. ``We want people to come here who are excited. If they don`t like it, we`ll ask them to leave. And we`ll go down the road and find someone who wants to come here.``

Johnson and his staff did that Wednesday. While signing eight players from South Florida -- a total of six from Broward and Dade counties -- Miami went out of state to get two all-America quarterbacks, Steve Walsh and Bill Turkowski, and running backs Eric Metcalf and Robert Thomas, who combined for 2,201 yards last year.

As of Wednesday night, Miami had 17 signed letters of intent from high school players and two letters from junior college players. Ten of the 19 signees are from Florida. Last year, 18 of the 25 high school players who signed letters were from Florida (11 from Dade and Broward), and 19 of 26 who signed in 1983 were from Florida (nine from Dade and Broward).

But neither Johnson nor UM`s recuiting coordinator, Corey Johnson, seemed disappointed that they had lost a few local players.

``The only thing that`s disappointing is that we didn`t have 10 more scholarships to give,`` Jimmy Johnson said. ``We lost three players we really wanted (running backs Randy Keiser of North Miami and Michael Timpson of Miami Lakes and linebacker Keith Carter of South Miami) who we thought were three of the best in South Florida, but I`m still extremely pleased.``

Corey Johnson said he wasn`t surprised that UM lost Timpson, Keiser or any other running back because of Miami`s depth at that position -- the Hurricanes have sophomores Alonzo Highsmith and Darryl Oliver and freshmen Melvin Bratton and Warren Williams.

But Miami lost other quality players from their back yard. In Dade, there was offensive lineman Chris Pettaway (LSU), running back Roman Nelson (West Virginia) and defensive back Edward Holliman (West Virginia). In Broward there was punter Scott Johnston (FSU), running back Rod Baker (Missouri) and tackle Rodney Lowe (Mississippi).

``I think one of the things possibly may have been the turnover in coaches,`` Corey Johnson said. ``First (assistant coach) Bill Trout left, and then (assistant) Christ Vagotis, who picked up Trout`s area, left. And when (graduate assistant) Danny Brown picked up that area on an interim basis, he went. So we lost three contacts.

``I think all the ink we got didn`t help because some of it wasn`t positive. Kids listen to that, and it influences them sometimes.``

But it didn`t influence everybody. All-America quarterbacks Steve Walsh (St. Paul, Minn.) and Bill Turkowski (East Versailles, Pa.) signed with UM, as did defensive back Jason Hicks (brother of San Francisco 49ers defensive back Dwight Hicks) and defensive lineman Greg Mark from Pennsauken, N.J.

Locally, Miami signed offensive lineman Marcus Kinlaw (brother of Los Angeles Raiders defensive tackle Reggie Kinlaw) and defensive back Basil Proctor of Miami Edison High.

At 10 a.m. today, the Hurricanes are expected to sign John Hunt, a tight end and defensive end from Ansonia, Conn. On Friday, wide receiver Tony Page of Eisenhower High School in Lawton, Okla., is expected to sign.

WOW... Replace JJ's name with Golden and the recruits from back then to the ones now and its the same story..

 

[Hstokes1447]

facts