I'm sure folks have all sorts of stuff that they can discuss, but I like to look for the less emphasized factoids which are telling in their own way.

The JUCO Hall of Shame: Every school signs them, but when programs rely heavily upon JUCOs, it’s usually a bad sign. JUCOs are like free agents in pro sports; they have limited eligibility left, and offer little more than an immediate splash which is gone in 2 years. When I see more than 4 JUCOs in any signing class, I usually think "Uh oh! Somebody's worried about their existing roster for the next 2 years, and they're willing to sacrifice a long term signing for a band-aid."

Here are the worst offenders in the 2006 recruiting war, with the number of JUCOs compared to their total # of signees.**

Purdue – 10 of 25 (40%)
Arizona State – 9 of 24 (37.5%)
Kansas State – 12 of 33 (36.4%)
Washington – 8 of 22 (36.4%)
Nebraska – 7 of 22 (31.8%)
Oregon – 6 of 19 (31.6%)
Washington State – 7 of 24 (29.2%)
Missouri – 6 of 23 (26.1%)
Oregon State – 8 of 31 (25.8%)
Ole Miss – 7 of 29 (24.1%)

** - As of 5pm, so the #s might change before the day is done.

Thoughts?

Thought #1 -- I think JUCOs are more common in some parts of the country (such as the Midwest), so in those areas it may be more common to have transfers (but Nebraska??)
Thought #2 -- You might see more JUCO transfers in programs where the coach feels the need for some immediate success rather than waiting a few years for the new recruits to develeop. (Willingham at Wash?)
Thought #3 -- Herr "Peace Dove" Tiggee has too much free time.

Coker (Miami) needs to pick up an impact JUCO receiver for this upcoming year. His neck is on the chopping block.

How 'bout some JUCO coaches? wink

Heel, I agree that there is somewhat of a regional bias toward this - all 4 Pac NW schools are on the list, and there's an inordinate amount of JUCO's on the list at Nebraska, Mizzou, and Kansas State.

Still, Nebraska didn't always rely on JUCOs. I think they do now because the pressure to win, and soon, has been cranked up. A heavy presence of JUCOS signals "desperation," from my persepctive anyways. There's blood in the water, and although some of these programs may have good seasons the next 2 years I wonder where they'll be 4 years from now.

JUCOs = cutting corners

here is sports illustrated's take on this year's signing classes.

it's worth noting that there is no overlap between this list and tigee's list of juco recruits. perhaps if you can't afford (figuratively, of course!) prete a porter, you go to the bargain basement just to cover your ass.

glad to see penn state come up big on the d-line and snag a good qb prospect!

Don't you worry, Croc-Girl. We're about to sign two defensive coaches today--one from FIU and one from Wisconsin.

How's that trophy polishing going?

FIU - Florida International. You guys are getting a coach from an airport. Make sure you get the coach from Concourse B.

He's a homer, Tiggee. Played for the Canes; that trumps any taint he's acquired by coaching at the preztel stand in Concourse B.

....and back to our topic - recruiting.

Me too!!! Now let's hope Paterno will actuall play more freshmen as he did this past season.

One top recruit from my area in PA, LeSean McCoy, has decided to go to Miami. Unfortunately he is not able to go until 2007 because he has not met the academic requirements. Didn't know they had those for football players at Miami

It's odd that the new self proclaimed Beast of the East West Virginia is not on the list. From what I've read on several boards, EVERYONE who plays high school football wants to be a Mountaineer.

Penn State, however, is still able to recruit heavily in the East...just ask the state of Maryland (if you can find anyone left).

I understand Buffy's assertion that their low number of signings (15 LOIs) has something to do with the heavy number of frosh & sophs already on the roster. However, it's impossible to spin the low quality of what they did sign.

Of 15 LOIs, they have ZERO 5-stars, ONE 4-star signee, and FOUR 3-star rated kids (according to scout). TEN of their 15 LOIs are kids rated 2-stars. I can excuse their quantity based upon the underclass lean of the existing roster, but the quality of what they got is rather underwhelming.

Scout listed WVU as #57, and I don't have the rivals #s in front of me, but I recall that it's close to that as well.

They also lost out on that Heath kid Buffy was braggin' about.

[ February 02, 2006, 11:54 AM: Message edited by: Herr Tiggee ]

Oh, don't you start with me! wink

Btw, we don't care that you poached our QB recruit because we replaced him with some kid who had committed to Arkansas St. eek!

Well Herr Tiggee since WVU Fluffy-Betty-Buffy isn't responding, I'll give you a response along the lines of what he might say:

**You obviously don't understand Eastern Football. We don't need any good recruits. We have the best freshman and sophomore classes already and were only looking to find a few backups for the future 3-time National Champions. Those handful of 2-star recruits will develop into All-Americans and will beat any team in the over-rated SEC by at least 30 points. GUARANTEED!**

Can I channel him or what?

And these words of wisdom from Auburn's coach:

Gotta love that example!

Can VT borrow him if the canes don't use him? For some reason we now have a bit of a hole in our QB roster....

KWG - you realize that there were only a handful of recruiting "experts" when Tubs was at Miami? It's difficult to support the idea that recruit tracking was the same as it is today. There are far more outlets that research the kids today than there were back then.

That said, I agree to some extent - "Experts" don't know it all. But there are so many sets of eyes on the kids today that you can survey the various services and come to a more reliable conclusion about a kid's talent. While one service might tag a kid as 5-star and another rates him as a 4-star, you'd be pretty safe betting that the kid will do VERY well, barring some calamity. Similarly, a 2-star kid has a serious gap, talent-wise, between himself and a kid who's rated a 5 or 4-star.

There are always going to be 5-stars who don't pan out b/c of injuries, or grades, etc. And there are always going to be some 3-star kids who step up and can be coached into performing better than expected. But a 2-star rarely, if ever, does anything more than serve as the 3rd or 2nd stringer.

Ranking recruits is still a long way from being considered an exact science. But it's more reliable today than it was 10 years ago.

[ February 02, 2006, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: Herr Tiggee ]

Now, now... it's easy to find everyone from Maryland. They're all on the bus to Happy Valley! We took 7 of the top 10 recruits from MD. On top of some little no name that we picked up down there last year... what was his name? Oh yeah, Derrick Williams. The Fridge is doing a good job keeping the boys in state.

[ February 02, 2006, 05:45 PM: Message edited by: Penn State ]

As the inimitable Dr. Phil would say: "How's that working for ya?" Guess it's a little early to tell... but if the airport coach is your new QB coach, I'd be a little scared. eek!

[ February 02, 2006, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Penn State ]

Purely in the interest of piling on...

WaPo: Penn State's Lure Is Not A Good Sign for Maryland

After Penn State's showing this year it is no surprise that it's harder than ever for the Fridge to compete with the Old Man, especially now that he has a good assistant to take over the offensive coaching strategy, and maybe the team.

But the recruting kudo goes to a team South of the Mason-Dixon. Not only does the House of Horrors now have the nation's cutest BBall coach, they may have the hottest quarterback in the nation in hometown product Tim Tebow if he can survive the hype.

The guy has already shown drawing power in helping so-called twin towers of Virginia finalize their decision to choose Florida to stay together.

Love this T-E-B-O-W cheerleading squad. The guy on the left alone could get me back into college.

As for me, I'm getting an early start on lusting after this young phenom before he has the chance to be swallowed up by the Heisman curse. (He already has the college equivalent.)

Freeballing - a necessary college talent

Those lips have a certain downhome lusciousness about them

The man already does wonders for the flat-top

This body in high school? Not much room for improvement

Correction. No room for improvement

Can't get over that mouth

Yup. 6' 3\" Tiny Tim has got some big hype to live up too (especially if you click the bottom right icon to "blow" him up)

"Brokeback Gators"

k state has always made a living on jucos. in fact i really think it was bill snyder who made it "fashionable" for some of the powers to start plucking talent from the junior colleges. when he first got to k state he had little competition for some of the juco talent.

The recruiting wars have certainly cracked the back of my Terps, competing against those Nasty Lions. But our day will come. Hard work, made easy works.

Just remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. wink The NE Patriots are the model.

The trick in a team sport is to find coachable second-tier players who combine as a group to be more than the sum of the parts. Synergy Fridge!!

Hmmmmmmmmmm... how about you find coachable top-tier players who combine as a group to be more than the sum of the parts? I think I like that plan just a little better.

Penn State Amen, my Nittany friend.