Following recruits as intensely as we do is humbling, exhilarating and addicting. It can make you punch a hole in the wall and do cartwheels (in Bud Foster's case, probably within 24 hours of each other).
After really getting into recruiting for the past two years, I've developed some rules for handling it so I don't go overboard and/or lose my sanity. Here's my list (feel free to add more):
1) French is always right. Never disagree with French unless you're prepared to defend your argument to the death. If you choose to debate French, know that you're always be wrong but you'll gain respect for trying.
2) Stars are like SAT scores. There are a standardized, quantifiable and uniform way to judge a high school student-athlete and they do a decent job of predicting success in college. Using a star rating in substitute of a holistic evaluation is ignorant and foolish.
3) Stars don't measure intangibles. A prospect's intelligence, work ethic, sense of humility, competitive nature, dedication to team success and ability to lead his peers is just as important as his 40 time.
4) These kids are 16-18 years old. Their decisions won't always be rational.
5) Twitter is a double edged sword. It's cool to follow a recruit on twitter and send him general tweets like "@PlayerX would look great in Maroon and Orange!" Never negatively tweet, never feed the trolls from other schools. Nothing is gained from trashing other universities...the only exception is UVA. Fuck UVA.
6) There are only 11 starters on offense and 11 starters on defense. Recruits generally want to play right away and want to take the path of least resistance to do it. However, it's never cool for a recruit to demand early playing time. It's always cool that a recruit wants the ability to compete for playing time early in his career.
7) The same argument for Player X to come to Virginia Tech will not always work for Player Y. Every recruit is different. Some use football as means to pay for college and/or go to a school they couldn't get into otherwise. Some just want to get shitfaced for 5 years. Some are willing to sacrifice everything to make it to the NFL. Some want to leave college as a national champion.
8) A commitment is not a commitment until a recruit shows up for the first day of class.
9) The world won't come to an end if we don't get a specific recruit. We're not going to the national championship because we got a specific recruit.
10) Coaches have more invested in recruits than fans. They spend way more time on recruiting. They have a higher football IQ than 99% of fans. Tech coaching staff uses their own methodologies when it comes to evaluating recruits. They know good players when they see them. When in doubt, always defer to the person who's livelihood is on the line.
Comments
Amendments to the above -
#2 - Always remember that the Tech coaching staff uses their own methodologies when it comes to evaluating recruits. They know good players when they see them, no matter how they're rated by the various recruiting services.
#8 - Signing an LOI increases the chances that a player will report to their chosen school, but they still have to get past the NCAA Clearinghouse and Tech's academic entry requirements. A better measure of a commitment is when he actually reports to his first class.
Good catch with #8, changed it
Something I found helped me stay levelheaded this year:
Rather than directly follow recruits I followed as many news/media types that follow recruits. That way I got to see retweets of interesting tidbits the prospects put out there but I didn't hang on every little word an 18yo kid said. I felt rather childlike following them directly.
9) The world won't come to an end if we don't get a specific recruit. We're not going to the national championship because we got a specific recruit. *
*Unless his name is Michael Vick.
MV7 was special yes, but even w/o him that team was stacked
The team was stacked all the way around. But without Vick, we most likely go down against West Virginia. I know Shane made the kick to win it, but Vick put that game on his back to get us in that position. Vick revolutionized the game of football at the qb position in my opinion.
MV7=The Original Magic Mike
I always wonder what those other 5 were???
XI. Thou shalt not pop thy collar.
XII. Thou shalt not drink Zima.
XIII. Thou shall attend thy Spring Game.
XIV. Thou shalt not rely on a president's legacy if thou hast nothing to do with him.
XV. Thou shalt not attend UVA.
XXVI. Thou shalt not coach if thou ist an ex-cop.
Thou shalt savest all thine timeouts for YOU
#9 I have to say I 100% disagree. National Championship teams have a special player or two that pushes them over the top. If FSU doesn't have Jameis Winston, do they win the title? No. That's the answer.
I'd say that's a bad example. Winston was great because of the unbelievable amount of talent around him. 3 NFL OL, 3 NFL WRs, 2 NFL RBs, and that's just on offense. But I see what you're saying. For example, Cam Newton took a BCS bowl/10-win team and made them into a national champion team.
Gotcha, but weren't all of those guys were on the team the year before he became the starter? I am honestly asking that question. I do not keep up with their roster.
I know that Winston was the only new guy on FSU's offense. EJ Manuel had those same guys and didn't quite make it as far as Jameis did.
All I know is that every game I watched him play, Winston made a couple nice plays, but the plays his teammates made FOR him for outweighed his contribution. Shoot, if Jimbo had just stuck to running the ball in the NC game instead of putting so much on his freshman QB, that game wouldn't have been close. There is no doubt at all in my mind that he's a talented QB and will be very successful in his college and likely in his pro career. However, I also think he's just a tad over-hyped at this point.
Same with Auburn when they had Cam, or Texas when they had Young... or let's look at Mike Vick who got us to the National Championship game. One player can make a difference on a season.
I think that rule means something slightly different. It means that unless you have a full team, you're not going to win the national championship, even if you have Michael Vick. Think of it this way. Imagine Michael Vick is on the field, but all of the wide receivers are long distance runners and all of the linemen are javelin throwers. That's not a team that's going to succeed.
The spirit of the rule is to not get too high or too low because of one recruit.