Deion Sanders vs. Mel Tucker - Recruiting
I know a little late to the game, but I found an article about Deion Sanders and his very first recruiting class at Jackson State.
I've also read quite a bit about the excuses being made for Mel Tucker and MSU with the intricacies of a Pandemic and his late arrival to the team being the most often used "explanations" for the relatively poor recruiting this past cycle.
Meanwhile, all Deion has done with much the SAME "explanations" is bring in the #84 class (ranked alongside FBS teams despite being FCS).
He landed THREE 4-Stars, while MSU signed ONE. And the transfers he is bringing in aren't even included.
"He landed three composite four-star players in the 2021 class: quarterback Shedeur Sanders, his son who had been committed to FAU, former Georgia cornerback commit De’Jahn Warren, and former Florida wide receiver commit Trevonte Rucker. That number of blue-chip commits is more than all but 31 FBS programs."
https://thespun.com/college-football/deion-sanders-jackson-state-recruiting-class-ranking-transfers
In case you were wondering, MSU is at 43 with WAY more "prestige" and resources.
https://247sports.com/Season/2021-Football/CompositeTeamRankings/
February 10th, 2021 at 11:39 AM ^
Don't you think some of this has to do with the fact that he's DEION SANDERS?
February 10th, 2021 at 11:51 AM ^
That part...also, the dude beat Michigan in his first year there. We aren’t in position to “throw shade”. Trying to clown that particular coach feels corny & undeserved until we beat him enough to justify it
February 10th, 2021 at 12:47 PM ^
Dunking on a rival coach for not recruiting well while his team beats us on the field is a very "Michigan fan" thing to do.
February 10th, 2021 at 1:10 PM ^
Corny...there is a word I didn't expect to read today. I applaud you
February 10th, 2021 at 1:36 PM ^
That one win has probably earned Mel a minimum of 10 years at MSU if he wants to stay.
February 10th, 2021 at 1:38 PM ^
In fairness, though... they aren't the same topic. If you really think about it, from a component standpoint, there are three "games" at play: (1) recruiting, (2) development, and (3) performance. Yes, performance is the one that ultimately matters, but it's nonsensical to say that you can't have a comparative conversation about (1) and (2) because of (3). What Tucker did is beat Harbaugh at (3), but Tucker had literally NOTHING to do with (1) and (2) - that was ALLLLLLLL Dantanio's staff's work.
February 10th, 2021 at 2:54 PM ^
To take that the next step. Tucker beat Harbaugh in spite of 1 and 2. Tucker in his first year with that talent had no right being within 3 scores of U of M. It shows how basic our offense is that they figured us out. The defense was personal and decisions that came home to roost years ago (man coverage with piss poor speed). That offense has all the tools to put up 50 plus on MSU. Until our offense un-breaks itself we will always be a bad bounce or a fly ball hail mary away from losing to ANYONE.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:52 PM ^
We’ll see over the next year or two, but I strongly believe it’s exactly the opposite: that he won on (3) because of the tremendous work on (1) and (2) - mostly (2) - done by those who came before him.
February 10th, 2021 at 2:45 PM ^
Obligatory...
February 10th, 2021 at 5:07 PM ^
Come on now. I know they beat us this year but lets not act like they were even a decent team. We had a perfect storm of stupid things happen this year and we were a joke. That doesn't mean I am going to respect Tucker, he's a shitty coach for a shitty program. 1 win over our hapless team this year means nothing. We will be much better than them next year, I don't think it's a stretch to say that.
February 10th, 2021 at 5:48 PM ^
Not to mention Michigan made their shit QB, who had a career 8 ypc average prior to that game look like the love child of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning... with a much higher ranked recruiting class no less and to the OP's supposed point.
February 10th, 2021 at 7:44 PM ^
So you’re suggesting that Brady & Manning would have this child out of wedlock. Interesting.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
Seems petty beating up on MSU's situation given our own situation as it relates to our main rival. Kind of like a JV kid who repeatedly gets his ass beat by the Varsity team then makes fun of the freshman team, even after that freshman team has kicked his JV's ass several years in the last decade. Weak.
Less talk more walk.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:44 AM ^
Do people not remember that Mel Tucker embarrassed UM this past season?
February 10th, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
mel tucker didn't embarrass anyone
February 10th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Did you not watch the game? MSU basically ran 2 plays and won the game.
Rocky Lombardi looked like Tom Brady.
So, yes Mel did embarrass UM.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
do you think that constitutes some genius master plan?
February 10th, 2021 at 12:24 PM ^
No, that's why the loss was even more embarrassing. First year head coach Mel Tucker just had his QB throw deep to a WR nobody knew of and it worked.
Meanwhile, our staff and no answers for it.
You dont think that was embarrassing?
February 10th, 2021 at 12:29 PM ^
Silly take. That's not mel tucker embarrassing anyone. That's michigan embarrassing itself. It looked like a brady hoke win.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:43 PM ^
An embarrassment by any other name would smell as shit.
February 10th, 2021 at 1:38 PM ^
there's a pretty clear distinction. You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him think :)
February 10th, 2021 at 12:19 PM ^
I think the nuance of the OP was lost - Mel didn't embarrass our team...our team embarrassed themselves.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:32 PM ^
precisely correct. MSU didn't muster up some outstanding performance. They played adequately well for a below average football team with the effort you would expect in a rivalry game.
Michigan on the other hand pooped in their own diaper and threw themselves down a flight of stairs for 60 minutes.
Final result: MSU 27 - M 24
February 10th, 2021 at 11:56 AM ^
Don Brown should’ve been fired after that game.
February 11th, 2021 at 6:39 PM ^
Don Brown should have been fired after the 2018 OSU game.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:03 PM ^
That win may turn out to be a curse in disguise for them. It may very well have bought a coach who is likely to have a career w/l record well under .500 (maybe under .400 when it's all over) an extra season or two.
Make no mistake about it, Tucker didn't do much to win that game. And the fact that a coach who was hired because he's such an excellent recruiter is failing at recruiting is ominous for them and hilarious for us. Regardless of whether we lost to them, MSU is really terrible, and is a long way from being anything better than terrible.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:49 PM ^
I keep hearing this take, "great recruiter", but who annointed him that? He was only a head coach for 1 yr with a class that ranked 44 nationally. Where did this narrative come from?
February 10th, 2021 at 12:52 PM ^
From what I can tell he was known for being a good recruiter when he was in the SEC as a coordinator. But as we all know, recruiting to an SEC school is not the same as recruiting to MSU. And that goes way beyond the bagman stuff.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:55 PM ^
Brutus, I hope you didn't take this as a shot at you. It may have come across like that, but it wasn't, it was an honest question. I just wondered if that was an MSU way of justifying the coaching choice or if it came from a history of snagging some top flight recruits.
February 10th, 2021 at 1:07 PM ^
Not at all!
February 10th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
Hilarious that the program Michigan has that people should pound their chest about (basketball) doesn't get nearly the amount of bravado the football team does, despite the fact the basketball team actually has won something of importance over the last decade. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact the football program and its excessive amount of mouthpieces can't wait to get a mic in front of them to spew off program talking points while Beilein and now Howard just go about their business and win...
February 10th, 2021 at 12:30 PM ^
Great analogy, Clord, but I have a few questions. Who's the JV kid? Is Deion's kid the freshman, because technically he's not a freshman yet, is he? If Deion's part of this, don't you need a guy on a pro team? Can we work Rayshaun Benny into this?
February 10th, 2021 at 4:26 PM ^
OSU - Varsity squad
UM - JV squad
Sparty - Freshman squad
That is just for the purposes of this analogy. Personally to me, UM will always be mother effing varsity and needs to start investing in the program and getting Varsity results. With our resources and appeal there is no excuse for OSU having developed this big of a gap on us. That must change. Until it does, I'm remaining humble about this program and not going to embarrass myself clowning on MSU.
February 10th, 2021 at 1:27 PM ^
Less talk more walk.
I cannot tell you how much I hate it when fans say stupid shit like this. We're. Not. On. The. Team.
How, exactly, is a fan supposed to "walk?"
February 10th, 2021 at 1:39 PM ^
Perhaps fans could contribute to the "less talk" aspect of that equation?
February 10th, 2021 at 2:23 PM ^
I thought that was understood, but thank you for pointing it out for those who could not connect the dots themselves!
February 10th, 2021 at 2:26 PM ^
We’re fans. What we say has no effect, in any conceivable way, on the outcome of games.
February 10th, 2021 at 3:10 PM ^
Yet even more reason to avoid gum flapping under the circumstances.
I get that fans don't have a concrete effect on the outcomes of games. Running one's mouth when one's team has pooped the bed isn't going to influence the outcome, it'll just make that person look like a doofus.
February 10th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
"Less talk more walk" applies to the combined product offered both by the team (the walk) and by the fans (the talk). It's just embarrassing to pound the chest in contempt of a lesser foe when your main rival kicks your ass all over the place every year, and that lesser foe has been kicking your ass quite a bit over the last decade as well.
Our football program and our football fans need to find humility at this point in time. We have virtually zero to be proud of as it relates to results on the field the last ten years. Slamming Sparty's new coach as he tries to rebuild from Dantonio's ashes is just kind of pathetic.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:44 AM ^
I dislike Sparty but this is a silly comparison. Deion Sanders is one of the most recognizable football players alive. That is a huge advantage when trying to build relationships remotely. The other major advantage he has is being located in the South. Also, one of those 4 stars is his son.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
^^^This.^^^
OP, your post is ridiculous in an "apples and oranges" way.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:00 PM ^
Also, his son wanted to be a QB, and no one seems to think he's good enough to do so.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
Agree wholeheartedly with less talk more walk.
Win on the field, win the game!!!
February 10th, 2021 at 11:51 AM ^
are you talking about Mel Tucker who outcoached Jim Harbaugh by dialing up exactly 2 plays?
Are MSU and Jackson State playing each other any time soon?
This is an embarrassing post. Mods nuke this
February 10th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
MSU’s greatest recruiter is a down Michigan program.
February 10th, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^
In the words of Marky Mark Dantonio:
"It's much easier to beat Michigan on the football field than it is when you're recruiting"
As many have already said - who gives a shit if Deon Sanders is out recruiting Tucker when Tucker is 1-0 against Michigan.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Deion stole my pizza too. Took it right from my finger tips.
February 10th, 2021 at 11:59 AM ^
Eat at Arby's
February 10th, 2021 at 12:17 PM ^
Arby’s got their shit together with all the meats. Wife just went to taco bell and asked me what I wanted—mentioned make sure it’s on the new menu. I said 2 quesaritos which are on the menu. Nope, quesaritos are only available if ordered through the app. I will never eat there again, since chicken burritos are also not on the menu. Less explosive diarrhea in my future so I’ve got that going for me.
February 10th, 2021 at 2:02 PM ^
This really seems like something you should have posted on Facebook.