Welcome to the neighborhood!
The first few waves of incoming freshmen players are beginning to arrive on campus for about two weeks of informal workouts and to get acclimated to campus.
There's really no way to get reliable info about these workouts, who looks good, etc.
BUT we do have some positive news already to report:
It appears that the moment each of the new players comes on campus, they have been protecting their Twittter accounts.
YAY!
Seriously, the amount of potentially bad stuff being Tweeted by new and veteran players daily is still embarrassing.
After writing about 10-12 posts begging the staff to do something about this, it appears something has finally worked.
Still, the idea that "protected Tweets" are really protected is not entirely true. If you Tweet it, there's still a good chance it could get out there. So if you're a player or a parent of a player reading this, please just remember not to put offensive stuff online ever.
How Do We Recruit... Really?
About four years ago, then-Head Coach Norries Wilson was talking about this time of year for Columbia football.
He talked about all the preparation for the coming season, the summer camps for high school players, and the evaluation of the incoming freshmen.
One thing Wilson said that really haunted me and still does, was a comment he made about the first day of training camp.
Wilson said that the first day was like Christmas Day, because as he saw all the freshmen players arriving it was like opening up packages and you didn't know what was inside. He talked about how there was a mystery about how good these incoming players really were, etc.
That comment blew me away. I know there are variables and all, but why should someone who you've recruited and offered a one-in-a-million Ivy degree to be a mystery? Do we really not know if these guys are worthy of playing football at the Ivy level? And if not? what the heck is our very hefty recruiting budget for?
I know the athletic department recently sent out a few "updates" trying to describe the recruiting process in detail, but they really didn't answer the hard questions about recruiting that Wilson's comment put in my mind.
Remember, the value of an Ivy degree is greater than ever. We have to treat every spot like a very precious commodity, because it is.
When you think about how poorly the freshmen executed on the field last year -- I'm talking all the dropped passes and missed blocks -- you really have to ask some very hard questions about how Columbia is recruiting.
And here are my questions:
This may be the only question we need to ask, but at the very least it's my top question. I have a sinking feeling a decent number of our recruited athletes are never seen in live game action by our coaches.
Highlight videos and stat books for high school football can be very misleading.
And we DO have documented evidence that some players we get to come to Columbia are last minute afterthoughts.
Case in point: Incoming Punter Parker Thome, who didn't know really anything about Columbia and hadn't heard a thing about being recruited by us, was ON HIS WAY TO SIGNING A LOI to some D-III school in Minnesota when he suddenly got a call that we were dropping a Columbia degree on his head.
His case almost fills me with as much horror as Norries Wilson's "mystery Christmas present" comment.
2) Is there more pressure to get the best players, or to just fill out the roster?
I'm sure all the coaches want to get the best players, but at what point do they just start worrying more about getting a decent number of new bodies signed up? I'm thinking that point comes sooner than it should.
3) How do we sell the Ivy League and Columbia to recruits right now?
With so few Ivy grads in our coaching ranks, are we even sure these guys know how to sell the league and Columbia properly to the high school kids and their parents?
Even people over the age of 40 who DID go to an Ivy are most likely not aware of how things have radically changed to the point that getting into any Ivy is much, much harder than it was in the 1980's and 1990's.
We're giving these kids a winning lottery ticket, and in too many cases, we can't get them to take it. Why?
4) How do we hear about our recruits in the First Place?
I've heard the stock answers about how we see a lot of recruits at our summer camp days, etc. but do we have relationships with any high school coaches? Do we spend too much time on the Internet and not enough time on the road or in meetings with HS coaches, etc? Do the other Ivies use different methods to fish their recruits out?
5) Do we not get the best recruits because of Columbia's bad football reputation, or because of our poor execution at recruiting?
This is the most important question of all.
32 comments:
The new recruits will be on campus for a month, not 2 weeks. Jake, as an insider you should know the process of recruiting. No matter how well you think you know a recruit, they still may not pan out. U of Alabama has a roster full of scholarship recruits that won't ever see the field and were vetted as if running for public office. Coaches contact Ivies with qualified players. Schools have "feelers" out all over the country. Alumni contact Ivies over possible players. Ivies subscribe to recruit publications just like the big boys. Lastly, Ivies have their favorite schools they like to recruit from. Look at all the kids we get annually from Bishop O'dowd, Brother Rice and the rest not to mention brothers of current and former players.
Recruiting is not a science but an art guys
Most programs have a camp recruits who are interested can attend. I have only seen that advertised at Columbia as a youth skills camp. Unless The staff is out there hitting the available camps, being diligent about identifying prospects and getting face time so the kids know you are interested then you get what you get (mediocrity). The big question is really, how is this coaching staff spending their time in the off-season?
Also, I don't think Norries meant he didn't know his recruits with the Christmas present comment. It was a reference to how those recruits would turn out. Every athlete may be a study in HS but what they turn out to be in a college program is rarely a given.
Columbia has several camps in the summer including a lineman only camp. The coaches also work D1-A camps around the country that are sponsored by traditional academic schools like Rice, Stanford and Vanderbilt in hopes of catching the kid not quite able to secure their offer.
Curious what the numbers are to these camps. Even if it was 10 or less, if you got the kids in you wanted to look at it could be worth it. Then we should start seeing an overall uptick in talent matching up against other Ivy teams this season?
How many of these Rice, Stanford, Tulane, Duke kids do you land?
Jake as usual looking for every possible angle to put down the coaches. I for one am astonished at how many promising recruits we got considering last year's catastrophe, and respect Mango and staff for their efforts in overcoming that disaster. With a better showing this season we should do even better in recruiting next year, especially at the skill positions. I say we're on the way up!
This year's class seems more of a numbers game than a strategy. Better odds at finding 5 guys who break through if you bring in 20, etc. They wanted to make over the roster and fill gaps as quickly as possible. It's understandable but they need more than roster numbers to back up any claim of improving as a program. There has been plenty of talent injected into the program in past seasons and we know the results.
It is really hard to predict diamonds in the rough. My recollection is that nobody had a clue that Des Werthman's, for example, who was not heavily recruited, would turn out to be the best linebacker and occasional two way player in many years.
What rang truest for me here is the sad but accurate comment about skills.
These are all prime HS players? maybe not SEC level but still good?
Then how do we explain the poor basic skill level which was so evident last year? I'm talking about skills that any solid HS player would have absorbed years before coming here.
I've commented on this before. A) how do so many players NOT know or demonstrate basic skills and B) why aren't our coaches insisting on these?
Been told by a reliable source that several of last year's recruits had never lifted weights in their HS programs. Disastrous for a big lineman coming to the next level.
No names, but there should be a big change in one kid this year.
Powerhouse HS teams have coaches
that are highly paid and only coach football, not teach biology.
These are the schools we should be targeting.
Time for all the defenders of the coaching staff to put up or shut up.
How many games do you guys think we will win with this coaching crew this season?
I want no fence-straddling. Real predictions and I will repost them in real post and not in just the comments section so we can all see them clearly.
I want W-L record and the names of the team or teams you think the Lions will beat.
If possible make your case for why we'll beat that team or those teams.
Go for it.
Pat: So why the HELL did we recruit kids who never lifted weights? Geez, this should come as no surprise to those of us who saw us get manhandled game after game.
alawicius, where do you get your info from because this class's profile looks the same as any other class that comes in to me. How are you able to be astonished with all the promising recruits that are coming in if you read the same stuff the rest of us do?
WOF: I can't wait to see his prediction for our W-L record this fall if we get one at all. These guys don't really think the team or the coaches are that great, they're just angry people like us have the nerve to demand better.
The key to all of this is to make very clear what Danny, Alawicious, etc. really mean to do. Notice they never talk of winning. Never. They rarely have a word of praise for any specific player either. What they do talk about, and what always tweaks them, is any real or perceived critique of the coaching staff. That should tell you a lot about who these guys are. And their goal is to push back on criticism without promising or predicting anything specific. In other words, they want the criticism to stop even though we just put in the worst season in Ivy history. Their core goal is to shut up criticism, because with CU's administration being what it is, it's possible they'll get 2-3 more years of work without even winning another game... as long as the alumni don't complain too much.
Jake, why are you attacking me? I don't single out anyone on the team because they are a TEAM. Because I don't dwell on the negative makes me a bad person? I don't walk in lock-step with anyone especially cry babies because I can see and think for myself. None of you will change my mind. The glass is ALWAYS half full.
Pat, I'm not discounting your source but that is very hard to believe. HS programs not only lift but require it of their varsity players. Most programs lift as early as 5:30am before school even starts and practice after school on the field. I do agree with you about the OL. They should be a lot stronger after a year in a college program.
Nice try Danny. But I noticed you haven't made your prediction. And you won't, because your only job is to try to scare me off of critiquing what so desperately needs to be criticized.
Meanwhile, don't try to twist this around. You are the one who routinely attacks me and what I write. You have never praised a single post. Listen, I know who you are and you have a lot more important things to do for CU football right now than trying to save coaching jobs by commenting on a blog.
Jake, scare you off??? You are a narcissist. I have no problems with you or anyone else's opinion. This is football not life or death for anyone. I have, will and always support the program no matter who's coaching and playing.
You can't support the program if you support the coach and admin that are killing it. I don't understand why you don't get that.
And I am the furthest thing from a narcissist. I make no money and lose a great deal by being someone who gives a damn about the team.
By the way, cheering everything the team and program does is not support.
And we're all still waiting for your predictions for this fall.
Jake, I respect your blog as a forum for people to voice their opinions. Everyone wants the same thing, a winning football team and athletic department as a whole. It hurts when things go bad on the gridiron but its not going to make me second guess the coaches, admin or players. Those things have a way of eventually rectifying themselves. All concerned have their bonafides and I'm not going to pretend to know more than they do. As for my prediction, how can I legitimately do that not knowing anything about the other teams involved? I bring lots of info about Columbia to the table because I have many sources but I have very little knowledge about the other programs.
Oy, even though I sorta knew you wouldn't give us a prediction, I also sorta hoped I was wrong.
And these things don't have a way of rectifying themselves or we wouldn't be in the midst of a stretch of 17 straight non-winning seasons and only 2 winning seasons over the last 43 years.
So Danny is predicting that we will be better as a team but won't go out on a limb beyond that.
What if the 7 other Ivies improve more than we do, is that acceptable?
I seriously am flabbergasted that you and others have no appreciation for those of us who have had enough of being the doormat and won't take it anymore.
My predictions are on the newest feed.
I have brought up several time the concept that some of you diehard Pete supporters have no appreciatioin or respect for those of us who have a valid reason to be tired of all the losing and to be skeptical that this staff is the group to change things.
You would think that periodically you would at least acknowledge our plight.
It is comical and quite telling that you all ignore that and instead try to paint us as the fools...
Your complaints are understood and valid. However, they don't help anything. You guys have been saying the same stuff for 50 years and nothing has changed. It's a new season. Support the boys out there fighting.
Danny says it all.
alawicius must be smoking opium.
He has a lousy personality, shows no respect for the alums and fans, and has put out a lousy product on the field.
What has Pete done to earn any support or confidence?
Al, you are funny with the drug references. First crack and now opium. What's next?
Danny, can you answer my question about what you believe Pete has done to garner our supoort?
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