Thank you🙏🏽#AGTG @cosimp4real @rjja1617 @McCallieFB pic.twitter.com/nYevdawaVM— Marcellus Barnes Jr (@marcellus_jr) November 19, 2023
Sounds like interest from UGA and others led to this.
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I get it. These 16,17,18 year old kids are making a pretty serious decision. There's likely a whole lot of people in the ears of these kids and they are just trying to take the next step on their journey.
I hate that we lost him, but I certainly don't blame a kid for adjusting his mindset along the way, particularly when you get some new interest.
I made the wrong decision out of high school even waiting until the last possible second and had to change it during freshman year
Welp...honestly not surprised. Play for championships and big NIL or struggle to lose to NC State?
Maybe. Most of the time the fan reaction that equates losing a commit to the loss of a game seems ridiculous in so many ways to me.
I agree the current staff has a ways to go in terms of real game plans and schemes, but at the same time if we are finding and sometimes eventually signing players that get the big boys calling on them - well we must be getting better at evaluations. It also means we are not settling for lower level players.
Unless we lose ten players I think there is much more balanced viewpoint that is closer to the truth. Every year any class has kids who "decommit" prior to signing. That's just how it is unless you are the reigning champs.
I am just using the NC State game as an example of the significant difference at least at this point between Tech and Georgia. Not saying the one game was the sole reason. The chance for an 18 yo kid to go to a much higher profile school is a no brainer. If he performs there the exponential long term benefits are significant. I can't get upset with any kid given that option. I also am not "blaming" the staff. It's just the reality of where we are at this time.
Sucks, in order to build a program that will compete with the best you have to find a way to keep these top players in the boat
I do think this is where the transfer portal can help us. If we can repeat the APR get with Clark, Barnes, etc, then you can start to change perception. People will start saying 'I wish I went to VT from the start'
Well shit.
Not surprising..given multiple "Big name" programs have been on his trail for a while now.
The Portal and NIL have simply made it too easy for the Blue Bloods to sell kids on being their "Insurance policy" rather than committing elsewhere.
There is no real risk to them and the player knows they will always have schools like VT, MD, NC State, Miss St., ect. in their back pocket since the Blue Bloods siphoning off their verbals leaves them endlessly in need of functional Roster Depth.
Blue Blood then rids themselves of a player that was not likely to be a significant contributor which leaves more room for them to sign more low-4☆ or high-3☆ that might have otherwise signed elsewhere.
And the process repeats itself over and over again.
"Come to UGA. If you're not starting by the end of your third year, you can always transfer to Virginia Tech. But if you go to Virginia Tech now, we're not going to offer you a scholarship again."
What's the "safer" choice?
Come to Georgia and ride the pine for three years and be our 3rd string safety net, then you can transfer back to Virginia Tech while not getting any NFL scoutable film; or come to Virginia Tech and be in the two deep off the bat and most likely start in year two while putting out NFL scout worthy footage
Unfortunately, that argument doesn't always hold weight.
We have a position of severe need at LB next year. The top three VA recruits this year were LBs. We offered them a chance to compete for a starting spot as a true freshman and the opportunity to be coached by Micah Parsons' mentor. All three chose to go to SEC schools.
That's kind of my point..
Taking the glitz and glam of the now over probably the more sensible choice. Tyler Nickel did it and found out, at least there were no burned bridges and he's getting the minutes he's capable of while honing his skills. The Laborns, Slades and Fords not so much. However for some, Corum, Tyree and Hines still found great success elsewhere.
It is what it is and ultimately their decision, however most of us have a few of those 'I wish I would've done things differently' moments in retrospect
Have been seeing articles from UGA sites for the last 3 weeks that they were pushing hard to flip him. He's been to two of their games in Athens recently. I know the staff is working their tails off to build relationships and try to turn recruiting around, so I'm sure this hits them hard. You start asking what in the world do you have to do? We know we need to upgrade our talent, but it becomes a chicken and egg scenario.
Keep the relationship solid. Keep in touch with his HS coach, his 7v7 coach, his pastor, etc. VT will have about 5 to 10 or so high caliber near misses in which they got "big dogged." Keep those relationships solid, and with the portal, maybe a few come back in 2 years.
For my emotional health, I'm not paying anymore attention to recruits until they show up for August camp. My best wishes to the staff and their success.
Big dogged again
Atleast it was by a dog this time
A dawg.
THE dawg
It just feels slimier with NIL money now.
Eh, a defensive player going to UGA doesn't hurt my head, if he decommits to Vandy then absolutely yes ir feels slimy.
So would this count as feeling slimy?
Yes, obviously
We are after a similarly sized and rated DB outta Tennessee who's currently committed to Michigan state. He has set an official to VT in December and apparently we are sitting well with him. Coaches are out in front of this one.
https://247sports.com/Player/Jaylen-Thompson-46117923
Was he 900% committed to MSU or only 110% committed?
Considering the turmoil of Michigan State's head coaching situation earlier this year, I don't blame him one bit to look around
Decommitted and got a rating boost
Well if UGA is after him then they MUST not have ranked him high enough. That's guy math
I was very skeptical of the "recruiting rankings conspiracy" angle for a long time, but it's getting harder and harder not see the obvious bias that the recruting services have for certain programs.
Is it a conspiracy or is it strategic?
There's thousands of recruits each year. It's impossible to watch all the tape on all of them. If a proven scout deems said player to be talented enough to earn an offer at a school that is churning out NFL draft picks, doesn't it make sense to at least (re)watch (more of) that kid's film and reevaluate his rating?
Counter theory:
If their whole premise of the ranking system is 5 star is nfl draft picks, 4 star likely drafted, 3 potential etc etc then they are trying to keep their system record intact seeing as most players taken by Georgia are more likely to be drafted
Yep - 100% agree
My problem with this is that it leads to a vicious cycle of the rich getting richer and the poors getting poorer. How many times have we legitimately been in the final 2/3 of elite prospects only for them to say they wish they could have committed to Tech but they need to make a business decision. Elite players want to make lay with elite players and when a 4/5 star looks at our class rankings they see average (assuming the conspiracy/strategic rerankings are happening). If all of the players we were in on commit to Tech we're a legit program again. We just can't seem to get over that hurdle to get the snowball effect, and I'm starting to think the system is working against us in that regard.
Not sure I follow... If VT offers a 3-star, then Blueblood U offers the kid, then 247 makes the kid a 5-star, does it matter? The kid has already decommitted from VT.
Even if 247 regrades the player after they get offer from Blueblood U, but before they decommit, it still doesn't stop us from getting big dawg'd.
Scouts from the big schools aren't cruising 247. They're talking to coaches, other players they've already recruited, they're sending scouts out, they're watching hudl film, etc
I think the cycle is perception from a recruit's perspective. It just makes it a little easier to get a top recruit to a join a recruit class that's better ranked, or that was highly ranked the year before.
Yes it's much harder to get recruiting momentum when you sign a 4* that gets downgraded to a 3* after they commit and it's much easier when a 3* gets upgraded to a 4*
From a fans perspective, I agree. But from a players perspective, the ranking doesn't make a difference.
In the social media world that we live in you don't think players are keeping really close eye on where they are ranked?
Higher ranking = more attention = more social media followers. More social media presence means more "value" from an NIL perspective.
They are definitely monitoring where they are ranked.
Still not tracking... the recruit receives the 'better' offer before his ranking improves. Presumably, his ranking stays at its new spot regardless of if he accepts said offer.
Mid-high 3☆ recruit verbal to school A.
High-profile School B comes along and offers them.
Recruit stays committed to school A and remains a 3☆. By simply decomitting from school A, recruit moves up to 4☆. Plus, the decommittment creates its own internet buzz, so the process is partially self-fulfilling.
There really isn't a verifiable way to "prove" this process but to deny that it could definitely influence a 17 year-old naive at best.
Kids decommit for much less. There was a case a few years ago of a player who said he decommitted because one school had a Chick-fil-A on campus and the other didn't (Auburn was one of the involved schools, don't remember the other). Underestimating the superficiality of teenagers is always a bad bet.
Okay... so you're suggesting that the ratings boost is not attributed to (a) the new offer, or (b) the new commitment, but is in fact a result of the decommittment?
Even if it was "unfair" 247 doesn't care as they're a private business and have no obligation to be fair if people pay for the product
Where do you see his rating changed? For some reason 247's history tool no longer works; I assume ON3 probably has something similar.
His 247 Composite is 89.68
On3 did a rankings update recently for the entire class of 2024. They didn't just bump Barnes individually because he was decommitting/likely to commit to UGA/Ole Miss now.
Thank you- I wasn't getting the 247 Ranking History to work earlier on my desktop.
Committed to Syracuse...smdh.
I seem to be noticing the S on a lot of the graphics for dudes where we have made the final list lately, so I think this will be the story on the recruiting trail the next year or two. I know when he was hired everyone was scratching their heads as this dude seem to really ONLY be a good recruiter. Who knows if he can coach, but it for sure seems like he will at least bring up the talent level.
I think you're selling Fran Brown short - he's very highly regarded as a great DBs coach in a lot of coaching circles. He's been an Assistant HC at multiple spots, and coached at Temple (during their good years) and Rutgers - so he has experience in the north east.
It was definitely an outside the box hire, but calling this guy 'ONLY a good recruiter' is unfair. He's assembled a pretty interesting staff. Definitely something to watch over the next few years.
No hire is a sure thing, good or bad. But this one is the type that generally fails horribly
Is it? Feels like the same type of hire as LSU/Coach O, Clemson/Dabo, Arkansas/Sam Pittman, Vandy/James Franklin, SCar/Shane Beamer, etc
Not saying it will work out, but it could.
Coach O had been a P5 HC before LSU, Beamer, Pittman had been associate HC at major P5 schools. Franklin had been an OC at several P5 stops.
Coach had been a failed HC over 10 years prior
Fran brown has been an associate Hc at temple and Rutgers I believe, the latter is a similar level school to Syracuse.
True forgot about his stint at ksu
To me, it feels similar to Elko at Duke or Franklin at Vandy
Could work, but if it does will he be around long enough to change the program? My hunch is if he strings together a few 8 win seasons at 'cuse with good recruiting classes, another program is calling
Probably only 1 or 2 if the turnaround is that fast
Doesn't matter, you take it. If a coach can come into Syracuse and win 18 games in two seasons, that signals to future coaches that the job is not a dead end job.
Pittman, Beamer and Dabo all had at least 3 years of experience coaching at the school they were hired to coach. Pittman (3), Beamer (4), Dabo (6). Pittman and Beamer both had 8+ years coaching in the conference they were hired to coach in.
This one reminds me a lot more of the Frank Wilson UTSA hire. Hired basically only as a recruiter (had AHC experience as well) didn't have the experience or understanding of how to manage a program. (And ended up being the wrong type of recruiter for that school, may or may not be the case for Brown and Syracuse)
We can do ourselves a favor by kicking their asses next year. Let's see if we can top 62-0.
You can see why a guy like Fuente hates this shit. I agree with him on that- these fucking recruiting games.
Friends don't let friends commit to Syracuse.
Don't worry if I will have to recruit him 7 more times from here until the time he sees the field. He will have plenty of opportunity to bail.
Syracuse. ...damn
The big dogs came rolling in...
* Big oranges
Good for him, I guess
What does Marcellus Barnes look like?