WT football

[Brandon]

Re: WT football

Chip, if I ever I need someone to run interference, you are hands down the person I am calling. WT football should be paying you as a spokesperson. I did some checking on Whitten since it appears he knows how to turn a program around in a short period of time. His recruiting classes are as follows: 2016 was 22, 2017 was 26, and 2018 was 35. So it appears that trying to get over 100 players is not necessary. You just need to get quality in the number of players you do sign. Now, I am sure Tarleton picked up some more players along the way but no where near the scatter blast shot gun method of lets invite everyone and see who shows up.

When you say I am looking for certain type of player for WT and then you pass out invitations to everyone it kinda makes you look........

WT has to offer a lot of kids because of where they are in the current pecking order.

You can't offer 25 and expect to get 25. Angelo beats you out for one. The Dallas kid decides Canyon is too far and wants to go to Commerce instead. Carthel was in on two of them and they follow him to SFA. Now you're down to 21 offers. Think you're going to win them all?

It would be ridiculously stupid to only offer exactly what you need. Maybe 100 is too much. I'd argue 50 is far too few. If 75 is the right number, they're only 33% too high.

['89HOG]

Re: WT football

WT has to offer a lot of kids because of where they are in the current pecking order.

You can't offer 25 and expect to get 25. Angelo beats you out for one. The Dallas kid decides Canyon is too far and wants to go to Commerce instead. Carthel was in on two of them and they follow him to SFA. Now you're down to 21 offers. Think you're going to win them all?

It would be ridiculously stupid to only offer exactly what you need. Maybe 100 is too much. I'd argue 50 is far too few. If 75 is the right number, they're only 33% too high.

So how many does TAMUK (still makes me sick typing that name) have to offer to get them to come all the way down to Kingsville? 200?

[Techster88]

Re: WT football

WT has to offer a lot of kids because of where they are in the current pecking order.

You can't offer 25 and expect to get 25. Angelo beats you out for one. The Dallas kid decides Canyon is too far and wants to go to Commerce instead. Carthel was in on two of them and they follow him to SFA. Now you're down to 21 offers. Think you're going to win them all?

It would be ridiculously stupid to only offer exactly what you need. Maybe 100 is too much. I'd argue 50 is far too few. If 75 is the right number, they're only 33% too high.

[Brandon]

Re: WT football

I think getting 1/2 the players a team offers to commit is EXTREMELY optimistic unless you're talking about the Grand Valley, Northwest, Valdosta level programs.

If they are getting 1/2, it means they aren't reaching high enough.

I bet their offers break down something like this. All offers are not equal.

Linebackers (want 4)
1. Johnny $3,000
2. Jimmy $2,500
3. Joe $2,250
4. Zayne $1,500
5. Parker $1,000
6. Bob $500
7. Brandon $500
8. Richard $500
9. Matt $500
10. Kent $500

They might take the first four that commit, which would then mean the other six offers are rescinded.

[We-Are-Lions]

Re: WT football

Commerce under Colby offered a ton of guys, and that worked out well. Other schools have won it all without offering as many players.

It seems to me that either approach can work, except for maybe at a private school. At a place like Commerce the cost is low enough that it is still cheaper to go to TAMUC with a small scholarship than to a place like Harding even with a larger scholarship offer.

[ASURAM2010]

Re: WT football

Commerce under Colby offered a ton of guys, and that worked out well. Other schools have won it all without offering as many players.

It seems to me that either approach can work, except for maybe at a private school. At a place like Commerce the cost is low enough that it is still cheaper to go to TAMUC with a small scholarship than to a place like Harding even with a larger scholarship offer.

Which if you talk to people in the athletics department at UIW and ACU, that is why they wanted to move up.

[ASUPops]

Re: WT football

When recruiting, you first look at your immediate TOP NEED(S). You TARGET that/those recruits HARD. If you can attract a top TARGETED recruit, you ARE going to pay him (high scholly).

Example....lets say you must sign 3 WRs. You may have 10 WRs on your board. They are ranked 1-10. Of course you want 1-3. You talk to all 10, but you TARGET 1-3. A GREAT recruiter will get 1 to 2 out of his 3 targeted. A good recruiter may get 1. And everyone else will every once in a while get one of the three.

MAJORITY of the HS HC I know will tell recruiters if players have D1 offers, and if so, will not allow the DII to even speak to those players. Remember, this is a VERY stressful time for the HS Sr. If they are getting 1 D1 offer, they are getting several....and they don't need the added stress of DIL. A good HS HC will make sure this doesn't happen.

However, there ARE circumstances where players who received DI are also talking to DII.....SOME of those circumstances include:
D1aa offers; players who are low on the offering schools recruiting board; players who may not have the grades for the offering school(s); a bench player @ D1 vs playing @ DII.

[BuffaloChip]

Re: WT football

At today's WT monthly sports luncheon, coach Hughes showed video clips of 9 new transfers. 1 QB, Nick Gerber, 3 OL's, 1 WR, 2 DB's. 1 safety, and 1 DL. They'll be bringing in over 100 HS kids during the next 5 weeks for Thur-Fri and Sun-Mon recruiting visits. He also told me they have a core 40/50 targeted that they are really recruiting hard-at the top of their most wanted list. He said retention of returners is excellent. RB's Vallo and Carter are doing well with their rehab and will be back full speed next fall.

He interviewed 12 OC candidates at the annual coach's meetings (out of 137 applicants). He's down to 2/3. Those 2/3 have offers from WT and other schools on the table. Hughes says he'll have someone soon. He's in no hurry. He says this has to be the right hire. Someone asked if the scheme would change. Hughes said "Yeah, we need to score more." Ha! He said, "as a DC, I'd be happy winning all my games 10-7. But, we need to score points, build a cushion, so that we're not one busted play away from losing."

He's also hired a new DC. The new DC is getting all his paperwork squared away and will be announced soon. He's a former DC and HC.

[ASUPops]

Re: WT football

The recruiting process is simple: watch film, talk with HS coaches, invite a all players on your radar to have an unofficial visit...usually a bus load of kids. From that point, some will drop off the radar, others will commit to other schools. Then comes the official visit. If its a TOP TARGETED recruit, it's a one on one visit.....HC also makes trip(s) to their house and a great offer is made. Other targeted & needed players will come on official visits....and meet with the HC in his office and receive an offer.

Of course there is much more detail to it...but that's the basic process.

So.....recruiting 100+ players is a absolute norm. Signing 100+ is absurd to even think of and will never happen.

Of course D1 can only sign up to 25 new players each year to a max player count of 85.

Remember in DII 36 max schollies broken up between 4-5 years worth of players. But some conferences don't allow all 36...and MANY programs can't fund all 36.

So if someone tells me they have 100 players being signed I call BS. I believe the national average for DII is 26 NLIs per year. (Not sure if this avg changed in '18 recruiting class)

[ASUPops]

Re: WT football

At today's WT monthly sports luncheon, coach Hughes showed video clips of 9 new transfers. 1 QB, Nick Gerber, 3 OL's, 1 WR, 2 DB's. 1 safety, and 1 DL. They'll be bringing in over 100 HS kids during the next 5 weeks for Thur-Fri and Sun-Mon recruiting visits. He also told me they have a core 50 targeted that they are really recruiting hard-at the top of their most wanted list. He said retention of returners is excellent. RB's Vallo and Carter are doing well with their rehab and will be back full speed next fall.

He interviewed 12 OC candidates at the annual coach's meetings (out of 137 applicants). He's down to 2/3. Those 2/3 have offers from WT and other schools on the table. Hughes says he'll have someone soon. He's in no hurry. He says this has to be the right hire. Someone asked if the scheme would change. Hughes said "Yeah, we need to score more." Ha! He said, "as a DC, I'd be happy winning all my games 10-7. But, we need to score points, build a cushion, so that we're not one busted play away from losing."

He's also hired a new DC. The new DC is getting all his paperwork squared away and will be announced soon. He's a former DC and HC.

All EXCELLENT news for WT. I knew the 100 signee thing was a misunderstanding. It sounds like Hughes is definately driving the program in the right direction.

You may have been right Chip....WT may be competing for the top spot sooner than later.

[WT_ALUM08]

Re: WT football

At today's WT monthly sports luncheon, coach Hughes showed video clips of 9 new transfers. 1 QB, Nick Gerber, 3 OL's, 1 WR, 2 DB's. 1 safety, and 1 DL. They'll be bringing in over 100 HS kids during the next 5 weeks for Thur-Fri and Sun-Mon recruiting visits. He also told me they have a core 40/50 targeted that they are really recruiting hard-at the top of their most wanted list. He said retention of returners is excellent. RB's Vallo and Carter are doing well with their rehab and will be back full speed next fall.

He interviewed 12 OC candidates at the annual coach's meetings (out of 137 applicants). He's down to 2/3. Those 2/3 have offers from WT and other schools on the table. Hughes says he'll have someone soon. He's in no hurry. He says this has to be the right hire. Someone asked if the scheme would change. Hughes said "Yeah, we need to score more." Ha! He said, "as a DC, I'd be happy winning all my games 10-7. But, we need to score points, build a cushion, so that we're not one busted play away from losing."

He's also hired a new DC. The new DC is getting all his paperwork squared away and will be announced soon. He's a former DC and HC.

Thanks for the info! Glad my source was mostly correct, lol.

[BuffaloChip]

Re: WT football

All EXCELLENT news for WT. I knew the 100 signee thing was a misunderstanding. It sounds like Hughes is definately driving the program in the right direction.

You may have been right Chip....WT may be competing for the top spot sooner than later.

I hope so. The OL, DL, and QB are critical. The 3 transfer OL's look to be legit, top quality. Same for the Tyler juco DB's. The safety is from Dixie State, 1st team all-RMAC last year. Hughes said the defensive backfield guys are able to cover, but he loves their ability to lay the wood, play downhill. He wants more physicality from his defensive backfield. The OL's are all in the 6'3/4 300 pound range. One of them played at Georgetown last year. as a freshman A really smart kid, top student. Didn't like the DC area. Wanted to move back closer to home. A Texas kid. He's a monster, a right tackle. Hughes showed him making several pancake blocks last year as a D1 freshman. It's one of those cases where WT recruited him hard as a HS kid, but the kid went D1. Kid called Hughes and asked if he still had a spot for him. At D2 that's how you hope it works.

This recruiting class is key for Hughes. A great haul will solidify the foundation. WT won two or three more than most of us expected last season. We could have beaten Commerce and Midwestern. Had we had an offense that was mid-pack LSC rather than the worst offense in the conference..........who knows.

New OC. New DC. 80% of the team returning. Some new talent competing at QB (mobile RPO type), better, bigger, more experienced OL play. Continued improvement defensively. Shiny new SOTA stadium. I hope the Buffs can win more games next year than they won in 2018, which was 6.

[WT_TKW]

Re: WT football

At today's WT monthly sports luncheon, coach Hughes showed video clips of 9 new transfers. 1 QB, Nick Gerber, 3 OL's, 1 WR, 2 DB's. 1 safety, and 1 DL. They'll be bringing in over 100 HS kids during the next 5 weeks for Thur-Fri and Sun-Mon recruiting visits. He also told me they have a core 40/50 targeted that they are really recruiting hard-at the top of their most wanted list. He said retention of returners is excellent. RB's Vallo and Carter are doing well with their rehab and will be back full speed next fall.

He interviewed 12 OC candidates at the annual coach's meetings (out of 137 applicants). He's down to 2/3. Those 2/3 have offers from WT and other schools on the table. Hughes says he'll have someone soon. He's in no hurry. He says this has to be the right hire. Someone asked if the scheme would change. Hughes said "Yeah, we need to score more." Ha! He said, "as a DC, I'd be happy winning all my games 10-7. But, we need to score points, build a cushion, so that we're not one busted play away from losing."

He's also hired a new DC. The new DC is getting all his paperwork squared away and will be announced soon. He's a former DC and HC.

What happened to the old DC?

[BuffaloChip]

Re: WT football

What happened to the old DC?

Kochevar left for the DB coach position at Northern Colorado. He has a lot of family in that area.

[WT-Dad]

Re: WT football

KCBD in Lubbock is reporting that former Levelland QB, Nick Gerber (TTU Preferred walk-on) is transferring to WT. He threw a State record 77 TD's as a Senior.

Any thoughts?