Recruiting Update; Busy Friday on Tap

Just some food for thought. A big deal has been made about the “friendships” that were made at the All-star games and how it has helped UOM put together a very nice recruiting class, and it has. It is great for them that all of that raw talent will be assembled in one class. But are they going to UOM because they love the school, the spirit, the program, the coaches and the academic enviroment? Or because they had a really good time at one of the local hangouts with a bunch of strangers fawning over them? Or are they going because they like the attention that will be brought upon them because of their class rating, the brief bit of glamour from the appearance they receive on ESPNU, or because they think “so and so” was real cool at the All-star camp and they liked hangin’ with them. I would have reservations about a class that was built that way, on ” friendships” built in a week. What happens when one or two of them don’t make it to campus because of academics or for some other reason, what happens when one or two of them have peaked in their developement and don’t really amount to much, or get injured? What happens when they find out that this new “friend” that they made over a five day camp turns out to be someone totally different than what they thought they were and it ain’t so cool hangin’ with them anymore? Are they going to still “love” the school and its spirit, are they still going to fight and give everything for the dear old team, the coaches, the program and the fans? Are they there to contribute to the team and help build the program or are they there just to be with their new found “buds” and draw some attention to themselves? Are they going to be happy with the academics in case a career in football is not in their futures. There are a lot more things that make a recruiting class successful than the star ratings.
That being said, I wouldn’t be overly dissappointed that the school you are a fan of doesn’t get as high a rating as your rival school does. On the same note, I wouldn’t get overly excited if the school I pulled for got the same kind of highly- rated classes built in the same manner. Now, if a school has sustained success like that over a period of 3 to 5 years and they start building a “brand” that young men have been watching for a period of time, for several years, as they play h.s. ball, look at that school and dream of going there some day, then that class will have had significant impact. Roll Tide, Geaux Tiger, Hook ‘em Horns, Boomer Sooner, even the next tier of JayHawks, Horned Frogs, Beavers, Cardinal, etc. brands were not built overnight, they were built in a steady and methodical manner, one building block at a time. These ” brands” have been some of the choices young 4 and 5 star athletes have been dreaming of since their childhood days tossing the ball around in the neighborhood backyards.
Only time will tell the true value of a highly rated recruiting class, progress must be made incrementally and steadily over that same period of time.