I'm honestly surprised by how little losing this kid affected me. In the time since I've been following recruiting, this is probably the 10th or 11th "cant miss, program changer, local kid that we HAVE to get".
Let's see, before Emeka there was Smalls, before Smalls there was Eason, before Eason there was Fozzy, before Fozzy there was Kasen/ASJ, before Kasen/ASJ there was Garnett/Banner. Before Garnett/Banner there was Heaps/Brown, before them there was Jonathon Stewart, and way back there was Reggie.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some in there and there are also guys like Joe Ngata that werent in state but had a connection to the program. We went through this same thing with all those guys.
Emeka and JTT may end up being better than all those guys but I'm more worried about the relative shittiness of the REST of our class than those 2 guys. Not getting a blue chip db, taking another lay-up RB recruit, taking only 2 linemen (one of which is a project), taking 2 guys that are walk-on level, taking an edge rusher who has never played varsity football, taking only 1 ILB that can't keep his grades up or weight down. Those are all way bigger to me than not getting this years "local program changer"
The 05 class is most similar to this one. Elite QB who bleeds purple (Locker), arguably best defensive recruit in state history (Mays) and another five star offensive recruit who picked a Big Ten power (Schilling).
We went one for three that year too and it cost us dearly.
Yes the rest of the class is a big issue but we have plenty of four star depth. We had a shot to get the elite playmakers we have long needed and failed.
I'm honestly surprised by how little losing this kid affected me. In the time since I've been following recruiting, this is probably the 10th or 11th "cant miss, program changer, local kid that we HAVE to get".
Let's see, before Emeka there was Smalls, before Smalls there was Eason, before Eason there was Fozzy, before Fozzy there was Kasen/ASJ, before Kasen/ASJ there was Garnett/Banner. Before Garnett/Banner there was Heaps/Brown, before them there was Jonathon Stewart, and way back there was Reggie.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some in there and there are also guys like Joe Ngata that werent in state but had a connection to the program. We went through this same thing with all those guys.
Emeka and JTT may end up being better than all those guys but I'm more worried about the relative shittiness of the REST of our class than those 2 guys. Not getting a blue chip db, taking another lay-up RB recruit, taking only 2 linemen (one of which is a project), taking 2 guys that are walk-on level, taking an edge rusher who has never played varsity football, taking only 1 ILB that can't keep his grades up or weight down. Those are all way bigger to me than not getting this years "local program changer"
Sobering as hell.
What really concerns me is that getting the "splashy" signee was something I thought we could take for granted. Any shit talking up and comer with charisma like Lake can land a handful of blue chippers. But could he sustain the incredible evaluation and development apparatus that Pete built? Could he consistently reach that 65-80% hit rate that was such a marker of Pete's success?
What's funny or frustrating is that there's barely a peep from all the usual recruiting outlets plus comments from the (lack of) recruiting staff as far as I can see.
What's funny or frustrating is that there's barely a peep from all the usual recruiting outlets plus comments from the (lack of) recruiting staff as far as I can see.
Such a shit show
I still don’t think Ektard has shown his face on the Doogman boards since Emeka announced his impending commitment the day after Ektard said “he’s a long way from announcing.”
Washington pretends to care about football on the surface, but really if the team is semi competitive in the P12 N and exchange students can sing along while the band plays Pharrel - Happy in the 3rd Q with the Dawgs down 10pts to Utah or Stanford, that’s probably good enough for the AD. 8 wins/yr with a 10 win season every 4 or 5 will keep Jimmy boating over from Bellevue as long as he wants to.
Comments
We went one for three that year too and it cost us dearly.
Yes the rest of the class is a big issue but we have plenty of four star depth. We had a shot to get the elite playmakers we have long needed and failed.
#FireJimmyLake
What really concerns me is that getting the "splashy" signee was something I thought we could take for granted. Any shit talking up and comer with charisma like Lake can land a handful of blue chippers. But could he sustain the incredible evaluation and development apparatus that Pete built? Could he consistently reach that 65-80% hit rate that was such a marker of Pete's success?
Early returns say he can't do either!
Such a shit show
Washington pretends to care about football on the surface, but really if the team is semi competitive in the P12 N and exchange students can sing along while the band plays Pharrel - Happy in the 3rd Q with the Dawgs down 10pts to Utah or Stanford, that’s probably good enough for the AD. 8 wins/yr with a 10 win season every 4 or 5 will keep Jimmy boating over from Bellevue as long as he wants to.
I like to think I could make a killer sales pitch out of all this to the local stars but I'm no recruiting expert