Hey folks - as a member of the DawgNation community, please remember to abide by simple rules of civil engagement with other members:
- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
Comments
Simple answer, a big portion of these "elite of the elite" HS 5stars already think they are developed and ready for the college game, therefore let the bidding begin…and when they don't get the results they thought, they enter the TP after a year or two and do it all over again. Development is overrated if you're already making millions a year on the talent you have shown…
@Kasey said "there’s also way more 3 star players which might have something to do with it."
Absolutely, that is why I added that there is only a 6% chance that a "3* or lower will get drafted but that is because there are so many of them" part. But with only 255 NFL selections and the draft availability pool of around 500 eligible former 4 and 5 star athletes each NFL draft day you would think the total of 4/5* selections would be higher than the 40% threshold, yes? Clearly the HS star rankings don't vet out the late developers vs the early developers when it comes to football talent and ability…I have always been of the mindset that the most pertinent data point when it comes to recruiting High School kids is that if most of your players signed are top 1000 in the country, you're going to have a very solid level of depth. Develop them and look out! Therefore I am good with not paying a HS kid 5 million dollars just because 247 comp says he is a can't miss 5* prospect…I'd rather see NIL spent on 10 top 500 kids making a half million who want to play for team and glory. If they develop, then perhaps pay them more to keep them.
@SloanDawg It isn't an overrated stat. Just because Kirby Smart doesn't value it doesn't make it wrong. Just as there are a lot of different ways to run a championship team - 3-4 versus 4-3 versus 3-3-5 defense, pro-style versus spread versus power offense - there are different ways to build it. The most recent Ohio State national championship team had tons of Ohio kids on it: 19 from the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes alone. Nick Saban most certainly prioritized Louisiana kids when he was at LSU and Alabama kids at Bama. AJ McCarron wasn't a 5 star recruit but he was the top QB in the state of Alabama his senior year, was perfect for the offense that Bama was running at the time and won Bama 2 titles. And speaking of two titles, SB IV was a Georgia product. So was Jake Fromm, who would have joined Bennett as a national champ had Javon Wims not gotten hurt during the game. And so is Gunner Stockton, who has led Smart to his second best regular season at Georgia despite not having the talent of the 2021 or 2022 teams or - though it was a less talented group overall - the stars at RB, LB, DE and OT that were on the 2017 team. And that 2017 team was built by a coach, Mark Richt, who DID value in-state recruiting. He just wasn't as good at keeping the guys that he really needed, OTs and DTs, away from LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida and FSU. (In fairness, those programs, especially when Saban, Tuberville, Fulmer, Meyer and Bowden were there, recruited A LOT BETTER in the Richt era.)
Not going to criticize Smart's approach when it has been so successful for him. Just pointing out that it has been very successful for Ryan Day, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban and a bunch of other guys who won titles. Including Dabo Swinney, and that is with South Carolina not producing nearly as much talent as Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Ohio do. Saying that Smart proves that in-state recruiting is overrated is like claiming that Kalen DeBoer, Curt Cignetti and Lane Kiffin have "proven" that high school recruiting is no longer relevant in the era of the portal and NIL. (No, they haven't won titles, but look at Washington, Ole Miss and especially Indiana before they got there. DeBoer in particular was doing better with his portal players at Washington than he is relying on high school recruits at Bama and really should take the Michigan job.)
Each to their own but I’m not gonna hit a panic button over a one year number five rated class. Which number five is not a bad thing at all, I mean top five in the entire country.
If Kirby did pretty well as a young HC with lower rated classes I think he can handle a # 5 rated class as a much more experienced HC.
After the Dawgs win the Ntl. Title which they will. Next year will probably be better.Its not like All or even most of our instate recruits went to our primary rivals the main one being Bama. They were spread out over a number of teams, some not even in the SEC.
Before someone says Oh but So and So went to Bama. So what ? So they got a couple of in state guys, is it time to concede to Bama or any other team ? I wonder how much more is Kirby gonna have to do to earn faith from some folks ? Win a Natty Every year ? Not gonna happen with ANY coach. Especially in the age of NIL and the TP. But I bet even in the years Dawgs don’t win a Natty they’ll be right there knocking on the door !! Want short term big bucks ? Go to another team. Want to be developed for the NFL and long term big bucks, come to UGA and Kirby Smart. Go Dawgs !! P.S. Oh and some of these guys will probably roll back around to the TP once they see the big mistake they made, the question Then will be will Kirby take them ?
Football is a TRUE team sport. It's not like Basketball where literally one superstar can change your entire program (you only need like 5 players anyway). Investing in unproven players is very risky and being "all-in" one one position is completely foolish. A QB needs an entire quality offense around him and that's just HALF of the picture.
The people who "have their heads on straight" and don't think they are gods (:cough: Diego) know that if they want a REAL chance to be in the NFL they have to be pushed to their limit and improve no matter how good they think they are. That's Georgia. Georgia doesn't coddle you. Georgia isn't going redesign their playbook to make it easier for a star Freshman to adapt.
Going the "easy" route is tempting especially if you can get huge stats playing on a team that basically has high school level players and plays against other high school level teams. Maybe that will get you to the NFL, maybe it won't, but did you push yourself far enough to be ready to STAY in the NFL?
You don't see many NFL "busts" that went to Georgia that aren't injury related. Players are ready for the NFL when they succeed at Georgia. That's the Georgia way.