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Recruiting opinions/ thoughts

  • I know we've been more consistant over the last couple of years, and been bringing in quality players each class. I also know that our commitments really start picking up after spring game and summer...however, what will it take to get on the same level (recruiting wise) of UGA, UF and Alabama? Is it even possible to accomplish this task? The building of facilities really has helped and winning on the field, but is that the main receipe? I know we are at a disadvantage due to SC not always pumping out top D1 talent, but we've done an amazing job locking those kids up. Will another outstanding season, possible SEC title put us in the upper third in the SEC in the pecking order?? I'm just thinking out loud and wanted to get everyone's opinion on the bigger picture with recruiting and impact with top talent in the southeast US.

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    Follow me on Twitter, @chrisinstpete

    ChrisinStPete ●

  • We are never going to out recruit Fla, or Alabama. Might happen rarely by fluke, but generally impossible. We are very rarely going to out-recruit Ga. In Fla and Ga, its because of the amount of talent in proximity to the schools, same with bammer, plus their history. We can play with them in the fall, let them win in February. We do our work in December.

    Recruiting should, and will improve as we keep winning, but to recruit at the level of those schools is not happnin'.

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    Ally will beat the crap out of Uga.

    steve miller ●

  • Just win and the rest will take care of itself. Good news is we have a great qb and rb combo in shaw and lattimore the next 2 seasons. Those should be at least 9 win seasons IMO

    00Ws6

  • The last 4 years or so we have really begun to figure out what it takes to be successful at Carolina; make sure you identify and keep the big time, in state talent and actually evaluate well instead of blindly throwing offers out to what recruiting circles refer to as highly regarded prospects.

    sccoastdude

  • ChrisinStPete said...

    I know we've been more consistant over the last couple of years, and been bringing in quality players each class. I also know that our commitments really start picking up after spring game and summer...however, what will it take to get on the same level (recruiting wise) of UGA, UF and Alabama? Is it even possible to accomplish this task? The building of facilities really has helped and winning on the field, but is that the main receipe? I know we are at a disadvantage due to SC not always pumping out top D1 talent, but we've done an amazing job locking those kids up. Will another outstanding season, possible SEC title put us in the upper third in the SEC in the pecking order?? I'm just thinking out loud and wanted to get everyone's opinion on the bigger picture with recruiting and impact with top talent in the southeast US.

    Its simple, double the GDP of the state, which in turn would double the population. This means a larger pool of in state talent, asnd thus more in state top players. Our issue is SC is too small as a primary base, where as those other programs need only go out of state to enhance their classes.

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    rmctacdmc

  • ChrisinStPete said...

    what will it take to get on the same level (recruiting wise) of UGA, UF and Alabama?

    About 10 straight years of double-digit wins, BCS bowl games, SEC championships, and at least one national championship.

    Kelso Red ●

  • rmctacdmc said...

    Its simple, double the GDP of the state, which in turn would double the population. This means a larger pool of in state talent, asnd thus more in state top players. Our issue is SC is too small as a primary base, where as those other programs need only go out of state to enhance their classes.

    I agree to an extent, but Bama is one of the few programs that has the same issue we do: small state with two big, competitive programs in it. They get pretty much who they want off their history, tradition, and high profile, as well as with a very good recruiting coach/staff. Only winning more and winning big will ever put us on the same level as the schools that already have.

    The other fallacy in many of these discussions (not directed at the post above) is many folks act like the other schools are static while while are improving...they're not, and, in some cases, our improvements have not matched theirs in the same timespan as far as budgets, facilities, etc.

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    CockOfAges

  • From a talent perspective we're on par wit UGA and UF. If you're talking about beating them in the "recruiting" rankings I'm not sure we will or that it matters. We've shown the ability to develop guys better than them recently.

    Zenupe13 ●

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    E-mail: jc@247Sports.com/Twitter: @jcshurburtt/Instagram jcshurburtt

    JC Shurburtt

  • CockOfAges said...

    I agree to an extent, but Bama is one of the few programs that has the same issue we do: small state with two big, competitive programs in it. They get pretty much who they want off their history, tradition, and high profile, as well as with a very good recruiting coach/staff. Only winning more and winning big will ever put us on the same level as the schools that already have.

    The other fallacy in many of these discussions (not directed at the post above) is many folks act like the other schools are static while while are improving...they're not, and, in some cases, our improvements have not matched theirs in the same timespan as far as budgets, facilities, etc.

    Alabama is twice the size of SC

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    rmctacdmc

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    usc709 ●

  • rmctacdmc said...

    Alabama is twice the size of SC

    Not in population. AL has approx. 4.7 million people while SC has approx. 4.6 million.

    jimcmarshall

  • JC Shurburtt said...

    Spurrier is smart when he says you just have to recruit close to those teams and win on evaluations, player development and coaching.

    USC pretty much has done that. When there is elite talent in the state, the Gamecocks have done quite well in landing those guys and they've gone out of state for some finds.

    Winning also helps. Alabama never just got who it wanted under Mike Shula. The issue the entire SEC, not just South Carolina, faces with Saban is that he and his staff aren't just great recruiters, they are exceptional evaluators, developers and gameday coaches as well. Combine that with Bama's tradition and two National Titles in three years and it's a monster.

    I also think the tendency is for fans not to truly appreciate landing the top in-state players. They beat Bama on Clowney and Shaq Roland, Southern Cal on Jeffery and Auburn on Lattimore. That is impressive and continuously gets downplayed by the because. IMO, and don't take this the wrong way, it's simply because Clemson has had success with some big-time out of state prospects and you guys aren't winning the smack talk war on the Rivals mainboard because the perception is you are "supposed" to keep top players at home.

    Well, Clowney was No. 1 in the country. Think SoCal wanted to keep Ronald Powell at home? How about Virginia Tech and Percy Harvin? Or Texas and Adrian Peterson. It's not that easy. Lattimore could be the best running back in college football with Richardson gone.

    If you want USC to continuously rank high in recruiting, ahead of some of the bigger names, you may be waiting a while. But if you want them to win, then they are and any coach will tell you that's the bottom line.

    That sums it up right there. Great post JC!

    GamecockWorld

  • As always JC puts it in perspective, it seems Spurrier and the current coaches have done a good job of recruiting new pieces of the coaching staff; and w/ the turnover of that staff we gotta hope that we/they can continue to evaluate and develop the potential/talent of players. more effectively than UF & UGA as we have the last 3/4 years. I recall a post from Tony after last year's win over Clemson - something along the lines of our players being bigger, faster, stronger etc. and it had been a long time since he had seen that - proof's in the pudding considering we just had our best season in 105 years. Stating the obvious, let's hope we can continue to recruit "smarter",with the loss of some scholarships appearing eminent talent evaluation will be at an even higher premium than the last few years. To the OP, don't know if we will get to the level of those traditioned programs but there certainly has been some considerable progress made recently; considering our career won/loss record is only about a dozen games or so over .500, we have come a long way in just a short period of time and it appears the trend over the last few years will continue. Finebaum penned an article last year praising Spurrier and in it wrote something to effect that for years UGA has been looking in its rear view mirror at USC and do not see us anymore because we have passed them; for him to put something to that effect on SI.com - for me - It's a great time to be a Gamecock.

    "Act like you've been there before and expect to be back." - Bear Bryant

    cep ●

  • I think the biggest difference in the last few years has been our staff's commitment to recruiting character as well as talent. Both Meat and Lattimore have/had NFL talent. but look how the character of the two back has resulted in drastically different outcomes. The difference is character.

    Yes, we want raw talent, but character and work ethic are at least as important.

    This post was edited by GamecockDKC on 3/19/2012 at 6:02 PM

    GamecockDKC

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