Monday Recruitin' Gets Unlimited Plan
Today's recruiting roundup covers the latest NCAA rulebook changes, a change in plans for Durham Smythe, a possible 2014 commit, and more.
NCAA Deregulation: All Of The Text Messages
Kelvin Sampson, presumably after hearing about the latest NCAA rule changes
On Saturday, the NCAA approved several rule changes that will have a major impact on recruiting. As part of an ongoing effort by NCAA president Mark Emmert to slim down a bloated rulebook, the changes are largely of the deregulation variety. To wit:
- Proposal 13-3 "will eliminate restrictions on methods and modes of communication during recruiting."
- Proposal 13-5-A eliminates restrictions on mailing printed recruiting materials.
That means, starting with the class of 2014, coaches can call, text, tweet, facebook, snapchat, or use whatever other form of communication they so desire to contact recruits as often as they want (recruiting dead periods aside, of course). It'll be open season on snail mail, too.
On the positive side, this means the NCAA can stop paying investigators to tally phone calls, and coaches can no longer get a recruiting edge by ignoring limits on communication (looking at you, Mr. Sampson). The negative is obvious: big-time recruits, already inundated with calls and texts from coaches and reporters alike, now must brace themselves for more of the same—especially with the potential for a recruiting arms race as coaches fall over themselves to make sure they're recruiting a prospect the "hardest".*
The other notable changes to recruiting involve the NCAA removing limits on which staff members can recruit. The Bylaw Blog's John Infante outlined the ramifications for Proposal 11-2, which eliminates the rule that recruiting functions must be performed by a head or assistant coach, in conjunction with deregulated communication with recruits:
The potential model of recruiting that develops is very clear. A general manager/director of player personnel will have a staff of recruiting coordinators who do much of the early grunt work in recruiting. They’ll watch film, gauge interest, rank prospects, and evaluate needs. The coaching staff will go see top targets in person, invite prospects on visits, and go see recruits at home or at school. The player personnel staff and the coaching staff will then meet to make decisions and send offers.
That would free coaches from much of the busy work of recruiting and let them focus on coaching their current teams. Player personnel will become the major track for aspiring coaches as well as a career path in its own right. Recruits may see more sophisticated and intense recruiting from a dedicated staff.
If Infante is correct—and you can bet he is—this means we'll start seeing separate player personnel staffs at the schools that can afford to create them. This is good news for Michigan and other big-budget athletic departments, and unlike the deregulated communication measure there isn't an obvious downside for the recruits themselves. The impact from a competitive balance standpoint is clear: the rich will get richer unless the Indiana States of the world successfully push for staff limits on these new player personnel departments.
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*It's not hard to imagine Lane Kiffin screaming at his recruiting coordinator, "Mr. Orgeron, we must not allow a Snapchat gap!"
[Hit THE JUMP for Durham Smythe's visit plans, potential commitment watch for a 2014 in-state four-star, and more.]
Smythe Changes Visit Date
Michigan has two major targets left in the 2013 class. The first, VA RB Derrick Green, will make his decision on Saturday afternoon between Michigan, Auburn, and Tennessee. The second, TX TE Durham Smythe, originally planned to visit Ann Arbor on Friday, but per 247's Clint Brewster there's been a change of plans: he'll visit on February 1st instead ($).
The Wolverines are one of Smythe's three finalists along with Notre Dame and Stanford; he was slated to visit Oregon last weekend but eliminated them after Chip Kelly left to coach the Philadelphia Eagles. Stanford is his presumed leader after a good visit there two weekends ago, but both Michigan and Notre Dame have upcoming official visits to make their final impression befoe he decides on signing day.
Two prospects who won't be in the class: five-star AL LB Reuben Foster, who mentioned interest in a Michigan visit at the Under Armour game but has neither followed through on those plans nor mentioned the Wolverines in subsequent interviews, and FL DB James Crawford, who had interest but no offer and committed to Illinois this week.
Buckle Up?
Grand Rapids Christian OL Tommy Doles has already visited campus four times and now, according to 247's Steve Lorenz, will be back again this weekend—intriguingly, Doles didn't rule out the possibility of a commitment ($):
"I wouldn't rule it out at this point. I wouldn't say I am in a rush to make a decision, but you could say Michigan is the leader at this point. I want to make my choice when I'm comfortable though, so I don't know if anything is concrete right now, but I wouldn't rule it out."
Doles, a four-star who projects to the interior of the offensive line, should end up in the class sooner or later. With this visit, it could very much be sooner.
The top overall prospect in 2014, Da'Shawn Hand, has already named Michigan to his top five. While the Wolverines still need to get him on campus, an interview with ESPN's Dave Hooker reveals that the coaches have already made quite an impression ($) [emphasis mine]:
"I like all the coaching staffs of each school (among his finalists), but Michigan has my favorite coaching staff," Hand said. "Virginia Tech has my favorite coach -- [defensive coordinator] Bud Foster. But as a staff, Michigan, they have character. You can tell everything is smooth. There's a lot of team chemistry. The coaches get along. But when you've got to get the job done, you've got to get the job done. It's not all fun and games. But at the same time, they're not like robots."
Yes, please.
Per The M Block, top-ranked 2014 TE Tyler Luatua has Michigan in his top five with Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and USC.
Timing
January 21st, 2013 at 2:03 PM ^
I suspect that it's impossible to get a consensus from this demographic, but what do the plurality of parents and prospects think about essentially deregulation of recruiting?
Also, are we discontinuing the Sunday B1G(+ND) recruiting rankings for now?
January 21st, 2013 at 2:50 PM ^
The recruiting rankings will be back—between basketball season and the increasing number of teams in the rankings update, I've had a harder time finding a chance to update the spreadsheet on the weekend. I'll have a pre-NSD update and obviously final rankings post-NSD.
January 21st, 2013 at 2:58 PM ^
Ah yea - very understandable.
The important thing, of course, is to have your Hello Derrick Green post ready to post the instant he announces for us this Saturday!
(if that doesn't happen, I accept my exile to Boblivion)
January 21st, 2013 at 5:29 PM ^
January 22nd, 2013 at 8:17 AM ^
Auburn's been trying to get another running back, anyway. Wilkins has always seemed to be a tiny bit flaky. It doesn't surprise me that he's flipping. I never really thought he would stay solid throughout the entire process, anyway.
January 21st, 2013 at 2:11 PM ^
Hiring guys specifically to recruit used to be the way in the old Southwest Conference, and Big 8. They featured recruiters heavily in the Pony Express documentary, and the Courting of Marcus Dupree. I think many coaches will still prefer to be hands on evaluators of talent and character, though.
January 22nd, 2013 at 3:48 PM ^
January 21st, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
January 21st, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
Not to burst your bubble, but Michigan has very rarely out-recruited OSU or ND. In a geographical sense alone it is very difficult to get a recruit here without him (or her) visting ND and OSU as well. Michigan has a history of doing more with less (less - meaning more poorly ranked, if you buy into that sort of thing). So I guess I would just caution you not to expect us to have higher ranked recruiting classes than OSU or ND. More often than not we don't out-recruit those two schools.
January 21st, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^
Is that really true?
Just looking at the scout team rankings, which are available since 2002, it seems as though Michigan has outrecruited Ohio State at least half the time. Included in that is a long streak between 2003 and 2007.
January 21st, 2013 at 6:02 PM ^
January 21st, 2013 at 6:09 PM ^
OSU has not had a history of out-recruiting us, and if ND has, it's be a slim margin. I'm not sure what you're basing your stance on, but it's not reality. No real surprise, considering the other shit you spout.
January 22nd, 2013 at 8:38 AM ^
I go off Rivals rankings because they don't give extra points for class size (as Scout does.)
It is tough for Michigan to out-recruit OSU because Ohio is a hotbed of talent (like Texas or Florida) and they don't have a B1G school in their state so they tend to win out on most of the home grown talent (Howard and Woodson, etc. excluded obviously). And ND has always out-recruited us. They have a national recruiting base due to the mythical "tradition" and the nationally televised games. That is my reality I get my stance from.
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^
Notre Dame has had a higher-ranked class than Michigan 5 times. Unless there are big changes between now and signing day, Michigan will have a slightly higher-ranked class in 2013.
January 22nd, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^
Excluding the 2013 class (since it's not finished yet), from 2002 to 2012:
Michigan's class rank averages out to be #11.6.
Notre Dame's class rank averages out to be #22.7.
That includes a 2004 Notre Dame class that was #91 in the nation, but they also had a #40 ranking in 2005.
Over the last four years, Michigan averages #14 and Notre Dame averages #16.3.
In other words, Notre Dame doesn't "out recruit" Michigan.
January 21st, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^
...to imagine kiffin and orgeron having a conversation about snapchat.
unfortunately, the mental image of a semi-nude orgeron snapchatting pics of himself to some gigantic samoan lineman is not offset by the general wonderfulness of imagining that dreamy lane kiffin in a snapchat. thanks a lot for planting that one, brian. i won't sleep for a week.
January 21st, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^
Seriously, Brian. What's wrong with you?
January 21st, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^
Stanley Williams reminds me of that kid who verbally commited to a school he never got an offer from. If I remember correctly the kid had the hats on the table and chose one and later when other recruits started talking about it the coaching staff was like "Uhhh who are you? We never offered you."
Both funny and tragic.
January 21st, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^
didn't have any offers. But he told his friends and family and the local paper he did. He just kept the lie going until it fell apart. That sounds a lot like somebody who's been in the news lately. Williams is already committed to UGA and I'll give him credit for a good sense of humor.
January 21st, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^
January 21st, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^
If I ran an executive recruiting business, I would immediately go into athlete recruiting, and market my company as a "turn-key solution" for college athletic departments.
January 21st, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^
I bet their is an alum of big time school who's football and basketball programs are not doing so well who works for a head hunting company saying we finally found a legal way to recruit with the big boys lol
January 21st, 2013 at 4:02 PM ^
We Aren't ND, We aren't Notre Dame. Freakbass coming out with the sequel! I can't wait
January 22nd, 2013 at 3:43 PM ^
January 21st, 2013 at 5:41 PM ^
Green up to number 8 in the new Rivals rankings. FWIW.
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:11 AM ^
What a surprise. It's amazing how a throwaway, offhand, meaningless remark led so many to start fondling themselves over the possibility of him coming here.
January 22nd, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
January 22nd, 2013 at 12:56 PM ^
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:02 PM ^
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