You're a recruit: Which school do you pick?
If you we're a college football recruit for the 2011 class, which school would you pick and why? Let's exclude Michigan because we are all biased. Let's ignore depth charts, or what position you are. You are a 4 star recruit, good enough to play anywhere at whatever position. Where do you go?
- Do you choose a school because of great academics: Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, Northwestern?
- Do you choose a team because of rich college football tradition? Texas, Tennessee, Nebraska?
- Do you choose a team that is having a good season and hope it is the start of something big? Michigan State, Texas Tech (2 years ago)?
- Do you choose a solid program that is now a powerhouse and looks like it could rattle of multiple national titles: Alabama, Florida from two years ago, USC from a few years ago, Miami from the 99-2001 era?
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^
I would go to whichever school paid me the most. I would not go to michigan however to keep them out f trouble. Probaly would end up at florida or USC or a school like that
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:27 PM ^
1. Oregon
2. USC if they didn't have Kiffin, but they do so I'd go to UCLA
3. Texas is too hot, so is Arizona, but 'Zona is a party school and I'd visit there.
4. I'd also probably be scared of getting murdered in Miami so I'd stay out of Florida all together.
5. Oklahoma. I know it would be boring, but almost gauranteed a conference title.
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:42 PM ^
Just Kidding.
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:46 PM ^
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:07 PM ^
Beautiful campus.
Great academics.
Great national visibility right now; good chance to go the the NFL.
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Ok, seriously - it's all about the girls, so any Pac 12 Cali. school will do just fine, thanks.
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^
They have to be near the top of the list. I have never been able to understand why they can't recruit better. They have great Academics, just a couple of small steps behind Michigan. Madison is a great college town. Atmosphere at games is incredible, just ask Ohio State about how tough it is to play there. Plus, they have proven over the years that they can get the most out of their players. They consistently finish in the bottom half of the Big Ten in recruiting, but will almost always finish in the top half in the standings. They can turn a 4-star into a five star with no problem and have a pretty solid reputation for producing NFL talent.
The biggest drawbacks: Ridiculously cold weather and the women are cows. I think I just figured out why they can't recruit.
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:33 PM ^
I didn't grow up with college football in my blood (born in Pittsburgh, the only college football in my family tree was an uncle who played at Dartmouth in the 60s, dad went to RPI, mom didn't go to college, no fandom whatsoever for any school...), and I really only chose Michigan because of the academics and the fact it was far cheaper for engineering than anywhere else I could have gone and still received a solid education. When I was figuring out where to apply, I had my list narrowed to Michigan, Cornell, Cal, and Stanford.
Since I can't choose Michigan, and if I'm a 4-star guy there's no way I'm going to a non-FBS team, it's either Cal or Stanford. I'm also more of a "what have you done for me lately" than a "how was your team 20-30 years ago" person, so I have to go with Stanford.
Though, since I'd have a decent shot at the NFL regardless of what team I went to, I'd have to go to ASU, Texas, Florida, etc. just to compare the female populations. Those 30k+ women at ASU would be awfully tempting...
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:19 PM ^
In dreaming of my kids alleviating much stress from me for paying for their college education, I would pick academics first, then pick a school for athletics like UNC, Texas, Stanford, Michigan, etc.
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:22 PM ^
Penn State. Joe Pa is the biggest reason. There's something about him that makes me want to go there. And the stadium is insane.
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:51 PM ^
Would you not be deterred by the fact that he probably won't be around after this season?
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:19 AM ^
I'd go to whatever school would be the easiest to transfer to Michigan from.
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:50 PM ^
...any school where I can play early and the classes and girls are easy! Oh, and good weather. It's why UM will have to REALLY get good at developing players because it's going to be hard to get the tippy top players from the South to come up North. Now, I know some of you are going to read this and have a typical mgoblog knee jerk reaction to my last sentence. Don't confuse NEVER WILL with "going to be hard" because UM might just get some this year. It's a wait and see. The main point here is "development" of players.
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:53 PM ^
Northern Michigan University, hell yeah big wood (lol) dome ftw.
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:54 PM ^
Without a doubt I would commit to Stanford, especially with the great coach they have now. And academics, even if I were to make it to the pros I'd want to go to an elite school like Stanford to get good business connections to invest my NFL paycheck.
October 22nd, 2010 at 3:57 PM ^
I'd pick Cal.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:01 PM ^
If I were a big time recruit and I could get playing time at a D1 school, I'd pick Michigan. I'm MSU alum so I'll take them off my list. I'd pick UM because of the education and it's close to my family.
I'd also look at Florida since it's also close to family. Both schools would offer a good education and have a tradition of success. However, if I'm a QB or TE or something on offense in general, I'd question both schools. I'd want a pro offense so I would ideally want to go to MSU.
If it's likely I'm not going to play in the NFL and am borderline D1 player, a school like Duke or Northwestern would be on my list too. My GPA was decent when I was applying to schools so it's likely I wouldn't have been accepted to a top university so I'd take advantage of the athletic scholarship and get a solid degree with all that is offered to help athletes. Perhaps Ivy league if possible? So much to consider though with coaching staffs and where I felt comfortable. Who knows?
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:09 PM ^
Arkansas. SEC girls, and close enough to the Texas girls.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:15 PM ^
They have some hot cheerleaders.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^
Pictures or it's not true.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
Academics would be important to me, so that if i don't go to the nfl i have something else to do.
With that said, I would also like it to be a good football school.
So, Stanford, Notre Dame (tradition lulz), or Florida. Possibly Northwestern since their team has been getting better....
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^
Comfort with the coaching style.
Quality of my likely position coach, and coordinator. If I had something approximating future NFL talent I'd want to go somewhere that would likely heighten my chances of making it to the NFL. Position coaching would be an important consideration.
Quality of the head coach. Stability in the coaching situation. Would I expect if the coaching situation went south(which my mean the coaches left for the pro's not necessarily were canned.) that the likely replacement would be good and/or that I like the academics and culture of the University that I would like to stay ie. if you weren't playing football, at all, would you be happy here?
Comfort with the academic and football culture. Probably wouldn't be as comfortable at Texas Tech than at UM/UW/Texas.
That would be some of them, I'm sure academics(overall quality and likely major.) would be one of the more important considerations.
Region. It would be some consideration, if my parents were alive, that they could see me play and that I could see them regularly. Personally, I prefer living in the west but, it would likely be a lesser consideration than some others listed above.
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:40 PM ^
Hawaii
October 22nd, 2010 at 4:59 PM ^
I would choose a tradition laden program (Texas/'Bama'/UM etc), to me there is no subsitute to being a part of something bigger than you, something that trancenses time and in the case of Zoltan space.
October 22nd, 2010 at 5:02 PM ^
Oregon is overrated. Yeah I know that sounds funny to say about the No. 1 team in the country. I know they're doing great now with Phil Knight's money infused in the program, but historically they're not a power house. But the main reasons I wouldn't go to Oregon are the academics aren't that great and Eugene is not an ideal place to spend 4 years. If it was a college town, that'd be one thing, but Eugene is full of hippies. If you want to be a PNW, go to Washington. The academics are much better and you get to live in Seattle. The football team is not on Oregon's level right now, but it's much better historically, it's on the uprise, and the coach (Sarkisian) seems like a coach you'd really want to play for (not sure I'd say that about chip Kelly).
If not restricting to the PNW, I'd probably go to any of the California Pac-10 schools (UCLA, USC, Cal, or Stanford). Excellent academics, weather, pretty women, and all decent programs with well known coaches. I'd also look at Texas, and probably Florida.
October 23rd, 2010 at 12:24 AM ^
It would be Stanford in a landslide. The undergraduate education would be amazing, and I would be in a power conference.
October 23rd, 2010 at 1:17 AM ^
1. Cal-weather, education and its cali
2. UCLA-see above
3. Stanford-see above
4. USC-see above
5. Oregon-amazing facilities, insane offense
6. UNC-powder blue, education and being a tar heel
7. Texas-burnt orange, tradition, education, not in the crazy deep south
8. Miami- The U, Miami
9. Wisconsin- consistenty and continuity gets in due to nebraska being in nebraska
10. Washington-Seattle, good school, Sarkisian is the truth
Honorable mention: Nebraska, LSU circa 06, Zona, Northwestern, Pitt, Boise State
October 26th, 2010 at 7:14 PM ^
My top five would probably be something like this:
Northwestern
Cal
Stanford
Texas
Oregon
Virginia
Good locations, good academics, and not a religous school in sight (peace out, Notre Dame).