If anyone is disappointed in missing out on the top recruits today, they should read this article on Willie Williams. A can't miss recruit touted as the next LT, that never was.....
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Kid had been around.
I think this has more to do about an incredibly gifted athlete throwing it all away because he refused to get his act together. I dont feel sorry for the guy, or miami for that matter because f*** miami. Beamer Co. would never have taken a chance on this guy. Its sad to see something like this take place, but its impossible to feel sorry for the dude when he was given way more extra chances than any ordinary citizen would've been given and still threw it all away
I love my Hokies but let's not pretend we have all high character guys. Marcus Vick was certainly not a saint, or even Michael Holmes for that matter.
The whole reason I posted it, is because just because guys are ranked high does not always mean they pan out. Harley comes to mind most recently and even Trip Carrol was one of most highly touted recruits we ever got but he never saw the field. It's the harsh reality.
Our coaches tend to do more with less.
Highly ranked recruits don't always pan out, for sure. But they are much, much more likely to pan out than lower ranked recruits. There's a reason they are ranked as high as they are, and there's a strong correlation between early round NFL draft picks and recruiting ratings.
I completely agree with both of you. To VTFootballGrad's point, which I tried to make but failed because I started angrily rambling, is that Beamer consistently makes a lot using a little, and I think many of our fans seriously take that for granted
No, I think most of us completely understand that he does a lot using guys that aren't as highly rated out of college. (I hate it when people say Beamer does a lot with a little at Tech. Sounds like such a ridiculous insult to the players we bring in)
What we're saying is that... if he can do THAT with classes loaded with 3* recruits, we'd be unstoppable if he could coach up 4* and 5* recruits in the same fashion.
I agree with your statement. Its a double edged sword however, since when you bring in 4 and 5 star recruits there is a sense of entitlement with them because they were the man. The lower ranked players come in with a chip on their shoulder and ready to prove themselves.
I do agree that for our program to take the next step, we need to be able to grab higher ranked players. The more of them you have the better probability of success.
I don't think this is true at all. It's true for some players, but it's true for players at all ranking levels there are 2-3 star players who were "the man" wherever they are from. The insinuation that 4 and 5 star recruits didn't have to work very hard to get where they are and don't have good work ethics is beyond the pale, IMHO.
I would actually call it a moderate correlation at best. It is definitely not a strong correlation.
However the correlation between success and 5* recruits is higher than with 4* -- and 4* is higher than with 3* -- and so on. But even that is WAY overstated.
For instance, just look at the Class of 2010 Virginia Top 30 -- a class that is just now coming to fruition. FAR, FAR more misses than hits. At a glance:
#1 thru #10 were all Rivals 4* and has a couple of NFL players (Ego Ferguson & J.Hunter - LSU), but the rest are mostly misses (transfers, part-time starters, etc.).
#11 thru #20 has a couple of 4* and mostly 3* -- and has an All-American(Ed Reynolds - Stanford), an all-conf caliber player (Derrick Hopkins @ #20) & couple of okay OL starters (Russell Bodine-UNC & Connor Davis-UVa)
#21 thru #30 is all 3* and has 1 all-conf caliber player (Q.Spain-WVU) and an okay OL starter (Caleb Ferris).
So out of a roughly a dozen 4*, you've got 2 NFL players and little else. Out of roughly 18 3*, you've got an All-American, a couple of all-conf level players and a few starters.
This is just one quick look at a limited sample size, but I would say that the correlation between being a 4 star recruit and not succeeding is much higher than succeeding. And the correlation between a high ranked player getting arrested or transferring to a D-1AA school is about as high as the correlation with success.
You can disagree with it all you want, you even admit that your sample size is limited. I don't mean to be rude, but you're simply wrong when you suggest that a 3* player is just as likely to be an All American or make the NFL as a 5* player.
On the macro level, the facts just simply don't support this conclusion.
You're right, the Hokies don;t have all high character guys, but I would guarantee that none of them have been to six high schools in five years.
Six high schools in five years??? WTF? That's not so much a red flag as it is a glowing red hot billboard.
who is that you speak of?
My takeaways:
1. "The process is disgusting, only most people have no idea," says Xavier Lee, the former Florida State quarterback. I feel like being a college recruit or just being in the recruiting world in general is like some secret society you'll only really know about if you're invited to be involved. I'm sure shady shit goes on all over the country with pretty much every major program (us included to an extent) but it's one huge collective effort to keep it under wraps. There's no way a diary could be written and the recruit be 100% honest, just no way, the whole ncaa would get turned upside down.
2. Letting off fire extinguishers is a felony?
It can be.
Rendering safety equipment inoperable is taken pretty seriously.
Yeah I guess that makes sense. Wasn't really thinking about the "inoperable" part. He had to be drunk to do something dumb like that, which is why I think the "no drugs or alcohol" clause was added to his probation. Why tell a minor they can't drink alcohol unless it's already proven to be a problem.
That was a real petty move by the Gainesville pd though. I'm not justifying his actions but I'm not fond of theirs either.
I disagree with it being a petty move.
1 is a childish stunt that costs money for someone to fix and creates a potential hazard.
3 is borderline malicious, costs someone a couple of hundred to fix and has the potential to be really hazardous should there be a fire sometime before the extinguishers could be repaired/replaced.
The business would be in violation of OSHA and unable to operate legally until they're replaced and probably became a felony because it caused more than $1000 worth of impact to the company.
It doesn't sould like much but, when carefully considered, the impact to others is quite large.
I meant the fact that they reacted to him not going to UF. Like the article said, if he would have chose Florida do you really think those charges would have came out? I don't. They could have charged him once it happened but they so conveniently waited for signing day, after he announced he wasn't going there.
As I said, I'm not justifying his actions or saying he shouldn't have been charged, just saying the timing was pretty petty of them.
Yeah it seemed really petty of them to do that. Makes you wonder if he did any of the same on any of his other recruiting trips.
Favorite part of the story.
When talking about being offered spinach dip Williams said "But I told them, 'I ain't no animal, and I ain't going to eat no plant.'"
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