Thoughts

[japancane]

This is all just common sense, and what anyone with half a brain should understand. Its even WORSE than the numbers Tito listed, because we have had some critical guys from those classes leave the program, like Storm Johnson (depth), EJ, Paul, Terry, guys who never qualified like AJL. Think of how much different this team is just with those guys, not even factoring in that those classes werent quite elite as it was. You add up the guys who have left the program, and the DISASTER that was the 2011 class, which I blame Shannon for, and you get what we had this year. Once Duke went down, we had no quality depth at all, and thus had almost no running game. Add that too a very inconsistent QB, and you have a disaster waiting to happen.

Storm left under Shannon.

Isn't part of recruiting being able to project whether kids will get into trouble, can't cut it academically, or don't have the grades to enter? Yeah, its on the kids, but Golden isn't some innocent bystander here.

 

[cowboycane]

Did we recruit Tre? How did he go unnoticed if so? Don't remember hearing much about him, we have to do a better job looking at the talent in SF.

fsu's defense looked pretty pedestrian at times last night. tre mason really went off on them. it seemed like auburn had a good plan and was able to exploit the weak spots. i don't think the gap is as wide as people think. we are a couple of d lineman (a few coming in this cycle), linebackers (a few coming in this cycle) and a safety (two coming in this cycle) on the defensive side away. on the offensive side we need more depth at all skill positions including QB (all coming in this cycle).

Randy didn't want him like Freeman, so we got there way to late when Golden got here. I don't even know if he was able to get to go after him.

I follow recruiting pretty vigilantly, almost to the point of neuroticism, and I don't remember Tre Mason's name ever even coming up.

 

[bear]

OP has a valid point and several other comments are rational empirically proven IMO

1. You win NATIONAL CHAMPINSHIPS with ballers on the field (5 and 4 stars and of course "overachieving" three stars.
2. Once the talent is in via recruiting classes (need 4 top ten classes) the coaches have the responsibility to take it to the next level which is to win a ship.
3. Even some coaches took longer to win it all.
4. Equally important to this is that ALL THE TALENT WE NEED IS IN OUR BACKYARD, so we have a definite advantage in step one which is a stepping stone to the others.

We were handcuffed by a variety of ailments and none more serious than NCAA investigation. However we did land ONE good top 10 class and added a second class that was not good but had some ballers. 2014 has all the potential and IF we win next year 2015 should have all pieces necessary to compete for a ship.

So as long as this class stays together and so far so good I would look for 10 wins next year and possibly ACC title game which we would be expected to lose to FSU most probably. 2015 is where all would be decided as our QB would NOT be a freshman and Duke, Coley, Tracy, Burns, Waters, Oline, Dline and other positions will be junior and seniors studs.

 

[FlipT]

People kill me with the recruiting ratings, they've always had good hauls Bobby just stopped developing.Herby said last night they get good classes and have very few busts. Our 5* on defense have been busts of late.

 

[freespirted305]

I see a theme of mistakes that have hurt our recruiting of talent:

(1) Shannon never had Plan B's only Plan D's if we struck out with the 2009, 2010, 2011 classes that would be upperclassmen. Guys like Delmar Taylor, Jeffrey Brown, Kelvin Cain, Gaines, Highsmith are wasted scholarships if you want to be a top 10 team.

(2) Always take stud out of state recruits like AQM to complement the Florida pool but don't take Andrew Tallman, Jake O'Donnell, etc. who are average talents at best when there is a quality South Florida player available. An example of this would be taking Rosier at QB over White or Treon at QB for me. Taking Kaaya (Stud OOC) over White and Treon is no question for me but if your taking 2 QB's than def those guys over Rosier.

(3) Golden is taking too many temple talent type kids at his camp or earlier on such a Hope, O'Donnell, Dillard etc. whereas he should be using those camps to under guys with measurables or talent that jump off the screen like Demetrius Jackson this yr, or a Devonte Freeman way back when before other schools see them. The camps should also be to put guys who may not yet be what the coaches want (i.e. under weight, over weight, grades) but were they can put them on a plan. I mean who wasn't screaming for Ryan Shazier even though he was a little light? He was a sure fire local stud.

(4) We need to pluck one or two stud recruits from the other areas of florida every year. If UF and FSU can take a south florida stud like a Cook for instance than we need to pluck a Timmy Jernigan, Dante Fowler, etc. etc. type recruit every yr.

(5) Lastly we need to flat out win more head to head recruiting battles. IMO from here on out Golden has had time to develop relationships and sanctions are done so there are no excuses.

 

[freespirted305]

As to Development vs. Recruiting a key is looking towards staffs. My belief is that you can get results as long as every assistant is a net positive as to recruiting or X's and O's. A team like Duke has coaches full of X's and O's at the expense of recruiters and they are successful against good teams but can easily be beaten with first round talents. Stacy Coley was going off on them until he got hurt in 1st Quarter. The yr before Duke went off on them. We would have lost to them last yr if not for Duke and would have beaten them with a healthy Coley and Duke.

The one big problem is D'Onfrio is a ****** recruiter and ****** X's and O's coach. Likewise, until this yr Franklin was a ****** recruiter and ****** X's and O's guy. We need to get rid of these coaches who bring nothing to the table. If we do then we will either see better results on the field or see commitments from more stud recruits.

 

[dudenate]

and sanctions are done so there are no excuses.

The investigation is done...the sanctions are actually just beginning. Just sayin'.