Blowout Victories' Impact on Recruits

[Cornerback6]

Without leaving the starters in for four quarters (ala Texas, Florida), does anyone else here think that it's (slightly) important to get a few blowouts when it comes to leaving an impression of dominance on recruits? Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but a 13-9 victory doesn't exactly leave prospective athletes (especially QBs/RBs/WRs) blown away.

I personally think that winning is winning, but we all know about the "sexy factor". When some 17-year-old is watching a game on ESPN with his friends and sees tOSU 56, Minnesota 6, you know it leaves that powerhouse impression on his head. Even moreso if he's already committed and gets to brag about his school choice.

I would never suggest pouring 70 points (Rice/Pitt of the 90's) on everyone come Hell or highwater, but I do wonder what everyone else's opinion on this topic are. How much impact do you think blowing opponents out has on recruits? Try not to go off past recruiting classes either because everybody knows today's recruit is no where near a 2005 recruit even...hype-wise.

Thoughts?

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

I would think there is very little impact on recruits. There may be a handful of kids who are wowed by the blow outs, I suppose, but as a rule - I'd say No. Even if it does play a role, I have to believe it is a significantly reduced role to factors such as how far from home, tradition and facilities, "reputation", depth chart considerations and the like. Actually, a lot of the time, I don't think the depth chart is high on a recruits mind - as any recruit should think "Well, I'm good enough to play no matter who's there"

I like a good blow out as much as the next guy, don't get me wrong.

 

[Cornerback6]

Actually, a lot of the time, I don't think the depth chart is high on a recruits mind - as any recruit should think "Well, I'm good enough to play no matter who's there"

I agree with you totally on this point...hence USC's recent over-stockpiling of HB's and UF's ability to get kids to commit when they may already 9 five-star WR's on the depth chart.

I don't think the impact is HUGE either, but you have to think...go to an 11-2 IOWA who has coaching consistency, a more stable program, one that has recently won a BCS bowl game (I chose Iowa because they're about as sexy as hemorrhoids), but wins most of their games by 3-7 points or go to FSU who keeps losing 4-6 games a year season by season...but has that "sexy" factor, a leftover from the late 90's/early 2000's.

 

[zincfinger]

I personally think it has no meaningful impact at all. And I disagree that recruiting has fundamentally changed in the last year or two. Elite recruits perhaps get a bit more attention today than they did in 2005, but that in no way means that recruits are considering different criteria today than they were 5 years ago, or even 30 years ago. And nationally elite recruits got plenty of attention 5 years ago, or 10 for that matter. In my opinion, the factors that go into a school's recruiting success are:

1a) Tradition, meaning consistency of playing in big games, consistency of contending for conference championships, and consistency of somewhat regularly contending for national championships. Consistency of beating overmatched opponents by 40+ points has no meaningful impact on the perception of tradition, in my opinion.

1b) Location. This is the real reason, not sexiness differential, why FSU has a built-in recruiting advantage relative to Iowa. FSU is located in Florida and Iowa is located in Iowa. In just a couple of cases, location can be overcome by tradition (for example, Notre Dame), but Iowa doesn't have the tradition to do this.

3) Recruiting skill of the coaching staff. A great recruiter is not going to bring top-flight classes to a school with a mediocre tradition and a disadvantageous location, but for a school that has the tradition and/or location, it can make the difference between consistently great classes and consistently merely good classes.

 

[Taosman]

As LJB has pointed out on numerous occasions, the depth chart/playing time is the biggest factor by far and what happens on the field(blow outs) has little.
Friendships seem to count but not as much as we might think,also.
Immediate playing time is a huge factor.

 

[BrutusBobcat]

Proximity is the biggest factor. 22 kids in this year's Texas class are from Texas; their lone Ohio kid since forever was a transplant from Texas. Michigan has 11 kids from Ohio. Draw a 200-300 mile circle around most campuses, and you're going to find that 80+% of the players they've ever successfully recruited grew up inside that circle. Even the great Miami teams were built primarily on South Florida talent.

Notre Dame is national because it's unofficially America's Catholic school, and gets at least courtesy consideration from any Catholic school grad. No other program is truly national in the same sense.

If on-field performance were an issue, Michigan would have a class that looks more like Eastern Michigan. Clearly, kids aren't scared away because they currently suck.

 

[Block-O]

I personally think it has no meaningful impact at all. And I disagree that recruiting has fundamentally changed in the last year or two. Elite recruits perhaps get a bit more attention today than they did in 2005, but that in no way means that recruits are considering different criteria today than they were 5 years ago, or even 30 years ago. And nationally elite recruits got plenty of attention 5 years ago, or 10 for that matter. In my opinion, the factors that go into a school's recruiting success are:

1a) Tradition, meaning consistency of playing in big games, consistency of contending for conference championships, and consistency of somewhat regularly contending for national championships. Consistency of beating overmatched opponents by 40+ points has no meaningful impact on the perception of tradition, in my opinion.

1b) Location. This is the real reason, not sexiness differential, why FSU has a built-in recruiting advantage relative to Iowa. FSU is located in Florida and Iowa is located in Iowa. In just a couple of cases, location can be overcome by tradition (for example, Notre Dame), but Iowa doesn't have the tradition to do this.

3) Recruiting skill of the coaching staff. A great recruiter is not going to bring top-flight classes to a school with a mediocre tradition and a disadvantageous location, but for a school that has the tradition and/or location, it can make the difference between consistently great classes and consistently merely good classes.

In addition to these three great points, potential recruits consider the relationships/comfort level with the coaches and players at each program. Many of the players from western PA who are at Ohio State are here because of the relationships developed by Joe Daniels with these kids and their coaches. Matt James ultimately chose ND over OSU because of his comfort level with staff and players in South Bend opposed to a lesser comfort level with Buckeye players.

The location factor (as stated above) is huge. While you will have some kids who just want to 'go away' for college (either Ohio kids going elsewhere or elsewhere kids coming to Ohio), the majority of kids want to play close enough for their families and friends to be able to watch them in person. Jake Ballard's parents shuffled back and forth from Columbus to Athens to watch their two sons play. If Jake was at Michigan or Nebraska (or another program), this may have not been possible. Pryor's dad has physical limitations, so Mr. Pryor can make it to Columbus much easier than he could Eugune or Gainesville, etc. These same types of situations happen all the time with kids who are considering one school vs. another school that is farther away.

The only people who worry about margin of victory and 'impressive' bowl wins are fans, rival fans, and talking media heads. For the most part, coaches and players have already moved on to the next game/next season/next phase of their lives by the time they walk off the field that day.

 

[cincibuck]

but you have to think...go to an 11-2 IOWA who has coaching consistency, a more stable program, one that has recently won a BCS bowl game (I chose Iowa because they're about as sexy as hemorrhoids), but wins most of their games by 3-7 points or go to FSU who keeps losing 4-6 games a year season by season...but has that "sexy" factor, a leftover from the late 90's/early 2000's.

Let me see; sun, beach, coeds in bikinis, Tallahassee or clouds, corn fields coeds in babushkas, Iowa City? Yep, running up the score makes the decision easier.

 

[zincfinger]

Proximity is the biggest factor. 22 kids in this year's Texas class are from Texas; their lone Ohio kid since forever was a transplant from Texas. Michigan has 11 kids from Ohio. Draw a 200-300 mile circle around most campuses, and you're going to find that 80+% of the players they've ever successfully recruited grew up inside that circle. Even the great Miami teams were built primarily on South Florida talent.

I agree that when you only consider schools that have roughly comparable elite tradition, proximity becomes the single most important factor. But you're implicitly assuming the earlier cutoff that is made by tradition, and everything that goes with it. No elite recruit from Ohio would ever choose Ohio U. over Alabama, or Texas, or USC. I think it's virtually impossible to compare the impact of tradition to the impact of location; they operate independently, and both are of paramount importance.

 

[buckin_sa]

What's more important, the perception of the media and some potential recruits or the readiness of your football team? How many snaps had Garrett Gilbert taken prior to the national championship game? I'm sure they wished he would have been in there more during the season. He was a deer in headlights the entire game, even when he made some completions. You can't get away with having 2nd stringers that raw. That mistake falls on the HC.

 

[cincibuck]

What's more important, the perception of the media and some potential recruits or the readiness of your football team? How many snaps had Garrett Gilbert taken prior to the national championship game? I'm sure they wished he would have been in there more during the season. He was a deer in headlights the entire game, even when he made some completions. You can't get away with having 2nd stringers that raw. That mistake falls on the HC.

How many did Bauserman take this year?

 

[buckin_sa]

Bauserman

Navy - 3/5; 2 rushes
Toledo - 1/4; 1 rush
Indiana - 1 play
Minny - 0/1; 2 rushes
New Mex St - 2/9; 3 rushes

I would have liked to see him much more than this, but we needed Pryor out there getting as many reps as possible. He needed it.

And to correct myself, Gilbert participated in 8 games prior to the NCG. Not exactly green. Just looked it against 'Bama, although Bama & the setting probably had more to do w/it.

 

[cincibuck]

Bauserman

Navy - 3/5; 2 rushes
Toledo - 1/4; 1 rush
Indiana - 1 play
Minny - 0/1; 2 rushes
New Mex St - 2/9; 3 rushes

I would have liked to see him much more than this, but we needed Pryor out there getting as many reps as possible. He needed it.

And to correct myself, Gilbert participated in 8 games prior to the NCG. Not exactly green. Just looked it against 'Bama, although Bama & the setting probably had more to do w/it.

I tend to agree with you. It seems to me that almost all college coaches play as if their #1 is invincible, unless they have no QB in which case they hand out the ol' "We'll let them settle it on the field," line. I'll give Mack the benefit of the doubt, he'd watched his kid get screwed out of the Heisman the year before and he was going to do all he could to try and make it happen this year and if that meant keeping in games longer than necessary, so be it.

 

[stxbuck]

I don't think having blow-outs per se has any effect. If you have a consistently great team, and only beat teams by 20 instead of 35-40 b/c the coach pulls back sone, I don't think that would have a great impact. Recruits are smart enough to know the difference between OU,New Mexico State and PSU,Oregon,etc.

 

[BigWoof31]

I think for most specialty/speed players - it's playing time.

Quick Anecdote:

Calvin Johnson was all set to committ to UGA after a visit to campus, a meeting with David Green and Coach Richt and a big win during an on Campus visit.

However - he would have to sit for a year behind Fred Gibson and Reggie Brown and that was simply unacceptable for him. So he went to Tech and only won one bowl game and never beat UGA.