Hopson hitting paydirt in Mississippi???

Joey Chestnut is a pussy.

All of the Barwis buzz - talking about all of the NFL players or NFL players in waiting coming to work out with him... once the NCAA starts getting a whiff of that kind of P.R., they'll come up with some dumb rule to make that illegal. Schools could then use it as a "recruiting tool." You know, like they did with the rule about Media Guides. Yeah - kids are gonna come to your school because of your Media Guide. Whatever. But your S & C coach showing off his street cred... that may be too much for the party poopers at the NCAA. I hope not, but it seems they pretty much dump on everything else that could be considered ANY way to attract kids to a school. Don't believe me? Go to the M Athletic Dept and see if you can get a signed football or basketball to raffle for your favorite charity. It'll take weeks if not months and you have to sign an NCAA compliance form stating that nobody in middle or high school who is an athlete will receive the ball - because that could be a recruiting tool to make kids want to go to your school. So it's not a reach to think they'll look poorly on all of the hype about who's hanging around the weight room. But I hope not.

No one shall be held in higher esteem than Comrade Rodriguez!

"The cocksure mentality has even lured outsiders like Walker, a No. 1 draft pick out of Florida State, and New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress, a first-rounder from Michigan State, both of whom have become regulars." I only quoted that because it said "cocksure"

Further, players cited in this article by name: Frank Gore, Vilma, Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss, DJ Williams, Roscoe Parrish, Kenard Lang, William Joseph, Ed Reed, Alex Rodriguez, Clinton Portis, Jeremy Shockey, Bubba Franks, Will McGahee, Edgerrin James. It even says "No camp attracts more NFL talent".

OK, the link doesn't work. But, if you google "NFL Players training at university of miami", it will provide you with an article that cites a group of over 20 NFL players in Men's Health. Your inability to cite any source for an assertion you made makes me believe that you were, actually, making your number up.

Jim Tressel once sucked a male stripper for oatmeal money. I don't know where I read that at this moment. But I've read several things in the past. Go find the info yourself. I'm obviously right.

OK, so where is the number of NFL players training at Miami quantified in any way?

So you observed, or reported on, the number of NFL players that train at the University of Miami.

From what I understand Gittleson was sort of a pioneer in his heyday. The thing is that his methods have become outdated and he was kept around too long. But it seems like you could also blame Lloyd for allowing players to coast. Re: recruiting in the South: The article about Thames really sums it up well.  It talks about how family bonds tend to be very important in Mississippi so players don't really want to leave their families.  This might have something to do with the fact that Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the country, right along with West Virginia. (The two states are very different, and yes, racial demographics does have a ton to do with cultural differences between the two.) The fact that Thames' uncle plays for the Tigers seems to help a lot. 

Hopson got CROOMED

I don't doubt that some guys were believers in Gittleson (given that he was the only S&C coach they ever had in college), and stayed loyal to him into their NFL careers, but I know that we routinely would have guys leave town to prepare for the NFL draft with private trainers. And we'd always hear about how these trainers would improve their speed and strength, which led to the inevitable message-board bloodletting over what we weren't doing to achieve those results.

http://www.topix.com/city/philadelphia-ms/2008/07/philadelphia-tackle-jo... Miss. State, fyi.

Took some sheen off the Hopson recruiting machine.  Let's see how OK turns out. Dennis Thames doesn't need Barwis because he's already country strong. \Rod Allen

Barwis is bulletproof. And, he'll sic his pack of wolves on you if you try to shoot him.

I disagree with BGH. I think the Barwis hype is not high enough. In fact, I think it would be in the best interest of the team to fire RR and just keep Barwis. Barwis will get them so strong and fast that they won't even need a coach. Then, we can use the money we're saving each year to "entice" players to come to UM, a la OSU-Pryor. It's bulletproof.

David Boston gave himself the date rape drug. That's about the only awesome thing David Boston has ever done.

David Boston is in shape, and he's the best NFL WR ever.

Cosign BGH.

Ok, but he's a novelty right now. He's in the news, in the media, and people naturally want to see what it's all about. Maybe he'll sustain it, maybe he won't. Yeah, he's probably better than Big Git. Look, I'm not saying Barwis isn't a good S&C coach who has had and will continue to have an appreciably positive impact on both recruiting and on-the-field play, but what I am saying is that this Barwis worship has reached critical mass. He'll help M be better, sure, but he's not automatically going to turn every Michigan player into a sinewy beast of achievement. Because, you know, being in shape doesn't totally translate into success on the field.

That's a straw man. You're comparing one kid's random guess at how many pros were there to a number that you're probably making up for Gittelson and almost certainly making up for Miami.

Gittleson would have half a dozen guys on campus on a good day in the offseason, not more than half of an NFL roster.  You have to understand the effect seeing not just a few guys, but 25 guys in the gym at once has on a 16-18 year old kid.  They're not going to see that on any other visit.  Barwis is a HUGE boon to recruiting. It's unheard of, even in Miami.

But he had WOLVES. That translates to the field 100% of the time.

How is Thames paydirt? One marginal prospect and suddenly Hopson is "hitting paydirt?" I mean, come on. And, Gittleson, as pointed out, had players come back and train with him. In fact, this goes on at most major programs. Barwis is a really good S&C coach who is a bit crazy. He's become the cause celeb of the new coaching regime. But, some of you are hitting the kool aid waaaaaay too hard.

Actually, it's pretty common. Pro players actually used to come back to work out with Mike Gittleson. As much as he gets slammed and people may not want to believe it.

I only remember a Men's Health article about the U. of Miami S&C coach training with former players (Edgerrin James, Kenard Lang, Santana Moss, etc) over the summer. It didn't seem like a huge group, at least not 25.