Are WE Fisching In No Man's Land?
I like that it seems we're getting a hat on the table with better recruits after nearly half a decade of mostly signing guys who they had to fight it out with Kansas and other Little Sisters of the Poor. My only problem is I go through the visits and the better recruits and I always see at least one school that seems like UW hasn't won recruiting battles against since the Pete years then the TBS "experts" say he had a great visit but he's ultimately gonna go to Alabama, Texas, USC, Georgia, the school whose dad gives them way too much money to go to the strip club, etc.
It seemed like there used to be a sweet spot of good recruits who had parents who cared a bit about academis and culture etc who UW could beat UCLA and Stanford for during the Pete era and more instate talent, but those days seem over. Seems like there's gonna only be 1-3 WA guys worth offering forever now.
Long story short, are we going to get some sexy visits but just end up signing the guys we were in the Jimmy/Kalen eras anyway?
Comments
-
I want results now especially when you open your big fucking flapper and say this is going to be the best class at udub ever. Dumb fucking fish… he didn’t realize it’s going to take tim.
This years going to suck ass and I honestly think the following won’t be much better but it’s going to take Fish time to get his guys in… yeah I know. His guys aren’t going to get in until they are proving they can win with this staff. Doesn’t seem like they are emphasizing the portal enough or they are not allocating enough to the portal but I expect that to change after this year.‘27 crooting class going to be speshul.
#visoronthetable
-
I'm officially worried. I trust Fisch's scouting and knowing which of the three star guys who you have to duke it out with Kansas to take. I just worry we're never getting those legit high four star guys like McDuffie, Fautanu, Rome, McMillan, Rosengarten types which UW needs to be a contender like they were.
Looking back, I think my periphery how is Jedd and Arizona in on these recruits may have been:
- I think he did a good job of taking Fifita when other schools didn't want him to get McMillan and other TBS higher rated guys to sign who were Fifita's teammates. Well played but a rare specific situation.
- Them getting visits like we see now with bigger recruits but who sign elsewhere.
- 5* Tucson product, Elijah Rushing, was committed to Arizona. I heard Arizona offered him a ton of money and he was local but then Oregon offered way more money so then his mom became one of those spoiled clam chowder social media parents who are all about the sco and bad blood.
-
I'm not worried yet. Every visitor that was here last weekend has trips planned most every weekend up until June 21. Most will be committing at the end of June or early July.
-
I'm not following recruiting as closely but have things circled back to where guys take their full 4-5 trips again and then decide? It seemed like that was the way then for a long time it moved to where guys would frequently not even taking official visits anymore and once they locked onto a school actually commit pretty early?
I'm worried in that it felt like for a long time if a guy was actually going to UW, he shut things down at or after the visit and just committed or committed early and the guy who do the full process almost never go to UW anymore and they're the guys probably auctioning themselves off to the highest bidder, which won't be UW.
-
i think guys stop their visits when they are sure way more often now.
Recruiting has changed. You have to be a good staff that offers comparable comp to whatever the other schools offer. If this was 2018 I think we would be doing very well based on this staffs efforts. Just not how the game is played any more. -
When DeBoer crooted like this I didn’t mind cause I knew we were gonna be a good team.
This isn’t gonna be that good of a team.
Demond Williams needs to save us in 2025 I guess🤷♂️🤷♂️ -
I have no idea. Fisch seems like a good salesman, and those guys used to clean up in crootin'. I just don't know how much it matters when cash is now directly involved.
With the conference changes losing out to any of the schools not in the B1G or SEC for west coast recruits is unacceptable.
-
I have some optimism in that:
- I think DeBoer was a good judge of who can actually play or not so the guys he brought in will actually be good, including the portal guys
- I think Fisch will find the spots like he did (see above with Fifita and the Servite guys) to win some battles in recruiting Deboer wouldn't
- I don't think we're going to not get recruits because of lack of effort
- I like Demond. He feels like the guy who has shredded UW for a decade + now even if he's on a shitty/average team.
- It seemed like he did well at Arizona building from hs recruiting and not trying to do a bunch of one year patches in the portal
-
I’m worried you’re right. Fisch is a salesman, and it appears we got sold on great recruiting and may have prematurely unleashed our inner doogs. I think you’re spot on that he’ll get some guys KDB wouldn’t have because he has a personality, but I don’t think we’re going to be pulling our best classes ever like he claimed.
-
As a reminder, fishers wife is hot so he can close the big deal. Just not with recruits.
-
I now wonder if Deboer could have gotten these guys to visit too but ultimately he knew they would cost energy and money that could be used for other stuff and he figured to just pass on hosting and stalking guys who aren't signing anyway.
I do think there is a bit of a bs game you have to play to land better recruits. I assume there's an appeal to creating a fake buzz that UW is a place you should visit and the same with signing or getting commits from overrated 4 stars just to bump up the rating so you don't look like some weird outlier school. I just don't know if UW can pull it off and the results seem to be mixed.
-
I think there are two things working against early commits now. One is that the extreme blue chips, like guys rated mid 90s or higher,want to create a bidding war and it's in their interest to let that play out.
The lower 4*and high 3* guys, if I understand correctly, haven't all been guaranteed cash just for showing up. Some get it, especially if they're one of the few higher rates recruits at a school that doesn't recruit with the big boys, but many/most don't. These guys are motivated to hold off as long as they can stand, with the hope that some money will eventually be part of the equation.
Uninformed guesses from the fringe...
-
I think these are decent theories. The problem is college football is so cloak and dagger you never really know with stuff so you kind of have to just guess and theorize a lot.
-
Exactly. I've always felt that way about college football. It's probably worse now though and it sure doesn't have the same intrigue for me that it used to. Maybe once all of this new shit settles out a bit.
I would think that at some point the $ being paid to players is going to become public and that would remove one of the bigger topics to speculate about.
-
It seems like the staff wants guys to take all their visits.
Money is always talked about but the glaring issue is that in an era where players will follow their position coaches around to random shit hole campuses, we've had 3 different staffs in 4 years. And the one consistently productive recruiter was the guy that survived multiple staff changes.
Fisch might need to do a little more than bullshit kids for a bit to get it going.
All I know is DeBoer had zero personality for it, had no track record of developing players for the NFL, and was liking posts on Twitter criticizing pay for play, and still put together a fringe top 25 class that many TBSers thought was much better than that ranking. So we will be fine.
-
I’ve been having a hard time understanding the angst over recruiting this early in Fisch’s tenure and going into a rebuilding season but this comment turned on a lightbulb for me-
Were y’all really expecting him to come in and put up a top ten class? In his first year?
-
I at least don't have angst yet, just worry. I'm not expecting a Top 10 class but he did big talk saying best recruiting class in program history and that would be Top 10. There's so many god damn things going against UW to make a Top 10 class right now and I think the system is more rigged and fucked up than it used to be. Still, I just wonder if what Deboer was doing may have been the way.
-
Agree on all this. Shepherd and Huff and possibly the DB coach seemed like the only real good recruiters on the staff and Huff seemed to even not recruit the higher TBS guys under DeBoer, but that also could partly be the West Coast OL talent being fucking thin.
I really liked Deboer's first class and what this one was gonna be before he took off. Until proven otherwise I did trust his strategy of seemingly taking guys who had great tools and not necessarily TBS hype and taking 4 star guys just to boost your rating. Plus, probably focusing on guys that are actually coming and not burning a million calories to get a hat on a table.
-
Thats just standard coach speak and puffery.
Top 25-30 should be expectations which is where Petersen was until maybe last couple years after they’d established dominance in the PAC.
-
I mostly agree with that but do think they have to swing more in the 11-20 range to be a team that can compete like the last two years. If you're getting Romes, Jalens, Troys, Rogengartens, Buddas, McDuffies you will be in that range and it's even trickier now with how shitty the talent is in-state and on the west coast. I think to actually win a natty last year they needed a couple Shaq Thompson types too.
-
I'm not angsty at all I just wasn't 100% sure what to expect.
I actually thought it possible that recruiting is so monetized now, with Fisch seeming very willing to play that game, that maybe UW pull some ridiculous first class. It looks like he's having to work though, and find some backup plans for most of the blue chips.
If I'm disappointed in anything right now it's that he didn't get any big time OL or DT in the portal.
-
I’m disappointed that it appears Steve Ballmer doesn’t want to play.
-
The idea that a coach can’t come in to UW and immediately reel in a good class is lazy. Brent Vennibles brought in the #5 and #8 recruiting classes his first two as a head coach. Right in line with Oklahomas numbers under Stoops and Riley. They didn’t take a year long step back for him to prove himself. Top 20-30 should be the floor for HS recruiting at UW. Sark and Pete were able to manage that. Jimmy couldn’t do it and strictly looking at HS recruits without the portal bump, DeBoer wasn’t there either. I do think to have the 11-20 classes at UW a coach will need to prove it by winning but 20-30 should easily be attained if you’re not a loser.
-
I think Sark topped out in the 20s for class ranking and that was driven more by numbers than quality. I think this cycle feels similar to a Sark cycle so far though. Plenty of early visits from the big $ guys but few commits if any. The determining factor when comparing them will be who gets the better guys from the backup bin.
-
Like I posted above, it does hurt having this much staff turnover and my one criticism of Fisch is that he hasn't really come out and at least lied "I'm here to be a husky for life and take over for Don James and build this thing".
And his message about NFL development is more aimed at 3*, the blue chips already think they're going to the league no matter what place they commit to.
-
Quite the fantastical narrative.
-
Are you 12 or 11 years old?
-
He absolutely wants to play, wants to be viewed as a big deal locally, the thing is he is an LA guy and his wife is a Duck… don’t expect much to happen with him in the Seattle scene except for fawning over the guy
-
Thank you for telling me what the thing is.
-
Like what data are you using to come to the conclusion that your team with the 18th ranked(in the B1G) recruiting class is in it for more higher end players? Children make shit up.
