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Whatever happened to being down for your city?

Playing devil's advocate, and I have no evidence whatsoever that kid's are thinking this, but how many times have we heard stories of kids not being able to get into UM, but being able to get into **** near any other school? Maybe a good amount of kids don't feel as if UM is "down for your city."
 
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No. 1 Kids need to get their grades. We lose a lot of kids because of this.
No. 2 We need to win.
No. 3 Kids need to learn what the definition of "commitment" means.
 
Playing devil's advocate, and I have no evidence whatsoever that kid's are thinking this, but how many times have we heard stories of kids not being able to get into UM, but being able to get into **** near any other school? Maybe a good amount of kids don't feel as if UM is "down for your city."

So true.

Yet another reason why MIAMI is not MIAMI anymore.
 
Also, how about the stories we've heard regarding the last two regimes ignoring a lot of the south florida schools? I mean, if that's true, that could also breed a lot of anger/hatred towards the hometown school. I guess my thing is, while I'm not trying to absolve the kids or the high school coaches, maybe the university of Miami has also played a role in the lack of loyalty to the hometown school.
 
Personally I think "repping your city" or "puttin on for your city" is pretty dumb. The players have to determine what is best for them and only them. There are many more roads to fame and fortune other than US1 to I-95 north.

Larry said it, we are irrelevant. If I was a baller coming from Miramar(where I live) and the SEC was calling, see ya S.Fla. I'll be back to purchase a condo with my NFL millions.
 
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Those borderline kids like Ali Highsmith and Ricky Jean-Francois went on to LSU who could not get into UM. Those two panned out real well for LSU. So did Bowe and Peterson. How many kids bleed UM and get turned down at the last minute because of borderline kids? You do not think that ****es kids off and they tell it like it is to the other kids. Why all the hassle of maybe getting in or not when they can go were they are really wanted and get into a good school. What else do some of these kids got?

That is just the start and they were not the only ones. Once LSU's or Alabama's foot is in the door a pipe line starts. Kids are talking to other kids how they liked these other schools and no administration bs and that is the start. I know we can not get every kid but you got to work a little harder. Keep that wall up.

Donna was not working hard enough when the options were only Coker and Alvarez. WTF? That is why the kids wanted Coker. Maybe has to do more with the front office and is the reason why the top coaches are not looking this way. That is called failure. But to get Randy Shannon after the Coker failure was a joke.

After the best college football team of all time. Where are we at now? There is a reason. Can not hide from that.

You got to convince people and sell the U a little more. This used to be a power house that was eating every other big school up. Got to do more than just throw a little money around and hope something happens. What about the assistants? Got to have money for them as well. How many were coming and going? UM was the best team in the last 30 years and they were acting it was some mid American league team.
 
CANE1775 said:
Playing devil's advocate, and I have no evidence whatsoever that kid's are thinking this, but how many times have we heard stories of kids not being able to get into UM, but being able to get into **** near any other school? Maybe a good amount of kids don't feel as if UM is "down for your city."
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Miami merely asks a kid to be average in the classroom...we will lose a kid or two per year due to extreme circumstance in the classroom, but overall, this is down the list a bit on the reasons why some local kids aren't coming here anymore.

They can go to better schools with a lot more to offer them at the moment. We'll still get the biggest piece and most of the SoFla pie, but we're going to miss out on some of the pieces with the best toppings at times, for one, we've sucked for a while, among other reasons that have nothing to do with Miami (SEC influence, again, among other reasons)...if Golden can bring this team back to national prominence with some of the less heralded kids (and he'll have to do it with these kids) these high end kids, most being front runners, will start to come back into the fold. But for now, gotta work with what we got...the sooner we win, the sooner the Tracy Howard's come back into the fold.
 
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Larry, I'm not saying that it's the main reason, but instead just looking at things from the opposite point of view of the original poster. Sure it sounds like it's no biggie that "Miami merely asks a kid to be average in the classroom" but when the kid can get into other bigtime programs that have a lot to offer, that's a problem. Also, the fact that you brush off a kid or two per year as if it's nothing is alarming. I'm thinking that's the same line of thinking that the university has. A kid or two per year can make a huge difference.

At any rate, I don't want this to get into a back and forth about grades because that wasn't my main point. I just think it's a bit disingenuous to ignore the role that UM may have played in this.


Edit: One last thing. According to some on this board, the Tracy Howard's of the world appear to be up for bid.
 
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CANE1775 said:
Larry, I'm not saying that it's the main reason, but instead just looking at things from the opposite point of view of the original poster. Sure it sounds like it's no biggie that "Miami merely asks a kid to be average in the classroom" but when the kid can get into other bigtime programs that have a lot to offer, that's a problem. Also, the fact that you brush off a kid or two per year as if it's nothing is alarming. I'm thinking that's the same line of thinking that the university has. A kid or two per year can make a huge difference.

At any rate, I don't want this to get into a back and forth about grades because that wasn't my main point. I just think it's a bit disingenuous to ignore the role that UM may have played in this.


Edit: One last thing. According to some on this board, the Tracy Howard's of the world appear to be up for bid.
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I'm not saying those 1 or 2 players aren't important. They definitely are. But at the same time, we can't continue to focus on these kids that get away. Its that "aw shucks" mentality that kind of gets us to this spot to begin with...SoFla has always had these kids up for bid. Instead of kicking rocks when you lose Patrick Johnson or Tracy Howard, you should already have Ricardo Allen, Kayvon Webster, and Jayron Holsey on your roster...know what I mean? Then, who gives a **** if Patrick Johnson and Tracy Howard go play for the SEC, you already have stud corners that you plucked in-state without the headache.
 
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I still think Miami's main problem in getting high level recruits has everything to do with what most other major programs offer compared to Miami. The lack of a decent college football stadium (no a barely average pro stadium is not better or even close), the lack of even a decent home crowd, the lack of AAA facilities comparable to the top programs...

Miami is very different from every major program and most of it is not in a good way. What about that? Why does that get ignored? Because it's probably never going to change? Since that is most likely the case, our struggles in getting top notch South Florida recruits on any kind of basis has a good chance of continuing.

Will we be able to be competitive in the future if things don't change? Yes. But not on any kind of major level. I personally think that the days of us competing for NC's and even top 10 rankings are over. This is not the 80's anymore. The college football landscape is dictated by many things and as a football program, Miami does not have enough of them. We like to compare ourselves to Alabama, Florida, LSU, Florida State, USC.... but the reality is, 5 NC's aside, we can't even match up with Clemson. Schools like Louisville have us beat if one is comparing stadiums, home crowds, facilities, and the like. Basically all the things that most college football recruits care about these days.

Correct me if I'm wrong. Sorry for the harsh, pessimistic take on things but this is what I see.
 
Good point Larry.

Off topic a bit, but 718's post got me to thinking about a thread that was bumped in the WEZ today. The articel on Will Lyles stated taht Bama paid over 200 grand in recruiting services last year. Good Lawd!
 
Kids like Duke Johnson will go a looong way, dude is looked up to by a ton of kids, spent time with my nephews on christmas and they started talking about Duke, I was surprised as they are middle school aged and was soo used to grown men on the internet bringing him up, lol. Well anyway they know what optimist team he played for and everything, then I thought back and its true when I was younger we used to know where are these older cats played because we played in the same parks. Nephews know more about Dalvin from Central than even the best high school recruitnik, why because he was ripping it up last year and carried their team. Those are the kids we need, the Antrels, The Dukes, etc. Basically ambassadors of a whole generation (for lack of better word)

Those kids see guys leaving in droves, that lets them know its ok. Thats where it starts to go wrong, when guys like Patrick Peterson leave it lets other kids feel its ok. We just have lost wayy to many topshelf players in our back yard. Regardless of what others say you need your top guys, its tougher to get national top guys. If we can just keep our home talent home we would be in good shape.
 
Preach Larry. You are right on.

I love when people say well all the local kids are loyal to USC. Guess what, they weren't loyal between 1983-2001 (few decent years sprinkled in) when they were an average team for almost 2 decades. You can say that about almost any top program, you still have to win to get the top kids consistently. And to win, when your program is down, you have to recruit smartly and be able to develop football players. We hope that Golden can do that.

Also, I hate when people blame our facilities or stadium, do people not remember the Orange Bowl being half empty when we were bad or only drawing 40K for the Temple's when we were an amazing team?
 
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Larry said:
CANE1775 said:
Larry, I'm not saying that it's the main reason, but instead just looking at things from the opposite point of view of the original poster. Sure it sounds like it's no biggie that "Miami merely asks a kid to be average in the classroom" but when the kid can get into other bigtime programs that have a lot to offer, that's a problem. Also, the fact that you brush off a kid or two per year as if it's nothing is alarming. I'm thinking that's the same line of thinking that the university has. A kid or two per year can make a huge difference.

At any rate, I don't want this to get into a back and forth about grades because that wasn't my main point. I just think it's a bit disingenuous to ignore the role that UM may have played in this.


Edit: One last thing. According to some on this board, the Tracy Howard's of the world appear to be up for bid.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying those 1 or 2 players aren't important. They definitely are. But at the same time, we can't continue to focus on these kids that get away. Its that "aw shucks" mentality that kind of gets us to this spot to begin with...SoFla has always had these kids up for bid. Instead of kicking rocks when you lose Patrick Johnson or Tracy Howard, you should already have Ricardo Allen, Kayvon Webster, and Jayron Holsey on your roster...know what I mean? Then, who gives a **** if Patrick Johnson and Tracy Howard go play for the SEC, you already have stud corners that you plucked in-state without the headache.
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Correct. This is what it's about...evaluating. How many kids have UF, FSU, and Miami let go to the Wake's, VT's, Auburn's of the world and then had then turn out to be All-American types? When Meyer got to UF he was maniacal about scouting. He was on the road scouting a majority of the players personally, kids wouldn't get offers until he watched them live, etc. As years passed, he relied on assistant coaches much more and started offering guys at FNL and such. I knew it was getting bad when he started referring to class rankings on signing day. It all went downhill from there. Sure we got highly ranked classes on paper but most of those guys couldn't play and there was no evaluation.

People complain about these kids leaving the state but why should they stay? UF, Miami, and FSU have all been chasing OOS kids for years...they all declined when they went overboard chasing national kids. So the schools don't have any loyalty, why should the kids? I also think all three got way too caught up in the NFL or bust mentality. Kids came in expecting to go to the NFL because of the logo on their helmet. That and these coaches running boring NFL-type systems. Why go to Miami or FSU and play in a boring prostyle offense when you can go to Oregon or Clemson and play in high-flying attacking systems? I don't think it's a coincidence UF loaded up on skill guys when we ran the "spread." This state produces skill players for days and yet all 3 schools insist on running systems ill-suited to that talent.
 
Interesting that you mention meyer offering kids at Friday night lights. Golden seems to put a premium on his camps, and I think I'm the only person on this board that seriously questions that approach. lol
 
CANE1775 said:
Interesting that you mention meyer offering kids at Friday night lights. Golden seems to put a premium on his camps, and I think I'm the only person on this board that seriously questions that approach. lol
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I mean it's hit or miss to me. I think it should be a part of the process but not THE main part. Early in Meyer's tenure I know fans on the board used to ***** because they felt we were falling behind for recruits. He wouldn't offer guys until he saw them live in games...multiple times. The guy was a workaholic about scouting. We got a lot of uneralded guys that turned out to be ballas like James.

Then he got FNL's up and running and **** just went downhill. Too many guys who were unheard of then had a good camp and suddenly had an offer. We started getting tons of guys who looked the parts in shorts but couldn't play worth a ****.
 
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If Coach is only looking at them while they are at the camp and offering then he is a moron. If coach is not putting in more time looking at recruits than these ***-wipe services such as scout and rivals, then he is a moron.

BUT, I have a hard time believing he would do that. So I do not have a real issue with him seeing them in person and offering then.

I unknowingly have the faith that the coaching staff has done their homework prior to the camps. When the kids arrive, I hope they are test driving them in as many fascists as possible. Particularly attitude, willingness to work, how they take to coaching...

CANE1775 said:
Interesting that you mention meyer offering kids at Friday night lights. Golden seems to put a premium on his camps, and I think I'm the only person on this board that seriously questions that approach. lol
Click to expand...
 
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