Serious question about recruiting...

Has Dan Mullen made it clear what his opinion on going after five stars is? The feeling I get is that he would rather have 3s and 4s that want to play on a team than a 5 who is a primadonna... Do you think DM would not pursue a 5 if he gets the feeling this guy would want to be treated special?

I like the procedure to go after the lower ranked players who want to improve and play as a team than to drop it all on paid players... After all, we are the People's University...

Your comprehension of Dan Mullen's recruiting strategy is sub-optimal.

Mullen wants all 5 stars on his team. He wants the best players in the country & will recruit his tail off to get everyone of them. However, what he is not going to do is promise them things. He's not going to offer them a starting position. He is not going to give them things that they have not earned.

Due to that, we often times struggle to compete for highly rated players that feel entitled & like they are owed something, which honestly, is a ton of them.

Why is Mullen like this? Because he saw how doing the opposite of this destroyed Florida's program under Urban Meyer. The things that Percy Harvin got away with at Florida forever changed the way Dan Mullen approached recruiting.

FWIW, Saban recruits the same way Mullen does but just gets more traction from the top players in the country due to his & Alabama's success.

I think he goes after the best talent available but has his sell on the program and doesn't change it for anyone. Some kids buy in and some don't. If they don't, Dan moves on and doesn't concede.

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Originally Posted by ShotgunDawg

Your comprehension of Dan Mullen's recruiting strategy is sub-optimal.

Mullen wants all 5 stars on his team. He wants the best players in the country & will recruit his tail off to get everyone of them. However, what he is not going to do is promise them things. He's not going to offer them a starting position. He is not going to give them things that they have not earned.

Due to that, we often times struggle to compete for highly rated players that feel entitled & like they are owed something, which honestly, is a ton of them.

Why is Mullen like this? Because he saw how doing the opposite of this destroyed Florida's program under Urban Meyer. The things that Percy Harvin got away with at Florida forever changed the way Dan Mullen approached recruiting.

FWIW, Saban recruits the same way Mullen does but just gets more traction from the top players in the country due to his & Alabama's success.

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Spot on but it was more than Percy Harvin at uf. It was the inmates running the asylum there, lots of em

I would also add that some players who are graded as 5 stars may not necessarily be 5 stars when he evaluates them.

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Originally Posted by ShotgunDawg

Your comprehension of Dan Mullen's recruiting strategy is sub-optimal.

Mullen wants all 5 stars on his team. He wants the best players in the country & will recruit his tail off to get everyone of them. However, what he is not going to do is promise them things. He's not going to offer them a starting position. He is not going to give them things that they have not earned.

Due to that, we often times struggle to compete for highly rated players that feel entitled & like they are owed something, which honestly, is a ton of them.

Why is Mullen like this? Because he saw how doing the opposite of this destroyed Florida's program under Urban Meyer. The things that Percy Harvin got away with at Florida forever changed the way Dan Mullen approached recruiting.

FWIW, Saban recruits the same way Mullen does but just gets more traction from the top players in the country due to his & Alabama's success.

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This. Exactly this. And I support DM fully in it. We may lose some guys but we are building a program where we will eventually start getting the 5 star who is willing to work like Simmons.

Mullen will make every 5 star he gets a first rounder barring injury or their change of attitude.

Aaron Hernandez killed a guy.

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Originally Posted by Reason2succeed

This. Exactly this. And I support DM fully in it. We may lose some guys but we are building a program where we will eventually start getting the 5 star who is willing to work like Simmons.

Mullen will make every 5 star he gets a first rounder barring injury or their change of attitude.

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Bingo!

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Originally Posted by ShotgunDawg

Your comprehension of Dan Mullen's recruiting strategy is sub-optimal.

Mullen wants all 5 stars on his team. He wants the best players in the country & will recruit his tail off to get everyone of them. However, what he is not going to do is promise them things. He's not going to offer them a starting position. He is not going to give them things that they have not earned.

Due to that, we often times struggle to compete for highly rated players that feel entitled & like they are owed something, which honestly, is a ton of them.

Why is Mullen like this? Because he saw how doing the opposite of this destroyed Florida's program under Urban Meyer. The things that Percy Harvin got away with at Florida forever changed the way Dan Mullen approached recruiting.

FWIW, Saban recruits the same way Mullen does but just gets more traction from the top players in the country due to his & Alabama's success.

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Pretty spot on. Too add, there aren't that many 5 star guys we have a legit shot at, unless they are in state. We don't pay to come on a visit if you are from Georgia, or South Carolina or Illinois for example***

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Originally Posted by Leroy Jenkins

Aaron Hernandez killed a guy.

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CJK5H

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Originally Posted by Reason2succeed

Mullen will make every 5 star he gets a first rounder barring injury or their change of attitude.

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This

It's not a coincidence that we have 7 players ranked in the top 200 players in the NFL.

What we lack in quantity, we make up for in quality. When you draft a Mississippi State football player, you are getting a FOOTBALL PLAYER

Here's what I'll say. Look at our guys in the NFL. You have Chris Jones and Fletcher Cox. But you also have Benardrick McKinney, Preston Smith, and Dak Prescott.

Look at our current roster. You've got Jeffrey Simmons, Leo Lewis, Aeris Williams, Donald Gray and a few others that were pretty highly wanted by many teams. But you've also got Nick Fitzgerald, Mark McLaurin, Elgton Jenkins, and a few others that didn't have any other offers or only a few low end offers. Weren't highly rated guys.

If your system is consistent, your message is clear, and you are able to put people into situations where their strengths are magnified, you can win big without having majority elite talent. You have less room for error in a system like this, but once it's established and you can consistently identify your needs, it works great.

To me that's the key with the Grantham hire. He was perfect for what we wanted to do to be successful and we had the pieces in place in order to be successful. We need to retain that man for as long as possible.

I don't think Dan cares all that much about how many stars a player has by his name. If he thinks you can play, he will recruit you. I think I remember him saying one time that he doesn't always agree with the recruiting sites evaluations.

Being in Mississippi, even with all of the technology that is out there now the recruiting sites are going to miss on some of our recruits. I think a lot of it is because some of the Mississippi guys don't go to as many showcases or camps for whatever reason. How many times have we recruited a player who was unrated and then when some of our fans ask about the player the web site recruiting guru says "I haven't seen him play yet."

That's why a guy from Madison Central might a four star guy but if that same player is at Tishomingo County he may be unrated.

And then we're never going to be able to cherry pick the other states for top recruits- the top guys in Alabama are going to Alabama or Auburn, Louisiana to LSU, and etc. But we can certainly get quality 3 star players that they don't have room for and make them into quality players. But that doesn't help our recruiting ranking.

We're also getting more four-five star guys that people may realize. Key, Aeris, Kylin Hill, Nick Gibson, Stephen Guidry, Heath, Todd, Kwatrivious Johnson, Rankin, Simmons, Adams I think- he played in the Semper Fi game if not, Kobe Jones, Rivers, Charles Moore, Leo, Gay, Gerri Green, Peters, and maybe McLaurin were all 4-5 star guys off the top of my head- maybe Abrams too. And then we have Day and McPherson who are kicking or have kicked in National All-Star games. That's pretty much a player from every position group that's represented on both sides of the ball and doesn't include guys that were overlooked like Fitz, Bryant, Jenkins, Green, and Gray who probably should have been four stars.

I have heard him say that he will evaluate him self and go after who he thinks will fit what he wants. I have heard him say he does not worry about stars.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

I don't think Dan cares all that much about how many stars a player has by his name. If he thinks you can play, he will recruit you. I think I remember him saying one time that he doesn't always agree with the recruiting sites evaluations.

Being in Mississippi, even with all of the technology that is out there now the recruiting sites are going to miss on some of our recruits. I think a lot of it is because some of the Mississippi guys don't go to as many showcases or camps for whatever reason. How many times have we recruited a player who was unrated and then when some of our fans ask about the player the web site recruiting guru says "I haven't seen him play yet."

That's why a guy from Madison Central might a four star guy but if that same player is at Tishomingo County he may be unrated.

And then we're never going to be able to cherry pick the other states for top recruits- the top guys in Alabama are going to Alabama or Auburn, Louisiana to LSU, and etc. But we can certainly get quality 3 star players that they don't have room for and make them into quality players. But that doesn't help our recruiting ranking.

We're also getting more four-five star guys that people may realize. Key, Aeris, Kylin Hill, Nick Gibson, Stephen Guidry, Heath, Todd, Kwatrivious Johnson, Rankin, Simmons, Adams I think- he played in the Semper Fi game if not, Kobe Jones, Rivers, Charles Moore, Leo, Gay, Gerri Green, Peters, and maybe McLaurin were all 4-5 star guys off the top of my head- maybe Abrams too. And then we have Day and McPherson who are kicking or have kicked in National All-Star games. That's pretty much a player from every position group that's represented on both sides of the ball and doesn't include guys that were overlooked like Fitz, Bryant, Jenkins, Green, and Gray who probably should have been four stars.

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Abram*

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

I don't think Dan cares all that much about how many stars a player has by his name. If he thinks you can play, he will recruit you. I think I remember him saying one time that he doesn't always agree with the recruiting sites evaluations.

Being in Mississippi, even with all of the technology that is out there now the recruiting sites are going to miss on some of our recruits. I think a lot of it is because some of the Mississippi guys don't go to as many showcases or camps for whatever reason. How many times have we recruited a player who was unrated and then when some of our fans ask about the player the web site recruiting guru says "I haven't seen him play yet."

That's why a guy from Madison Central might a four star guy but if that same player is at Tishomingo County he may be unrated.

And then we're never going to be able to cherry pick the other states for top recruits- the top guys in Alabama are going to Alabama or Auburn, Louisiana to LSU, and etc. But we can certainly get quality 3 star players that they don't have room for and make them into quality players. But that doesn't help our recruiting ranking.

We're also getting more four-five star guys that people may realize. Key, Aeris, Kylin Hill, Nick Gibson, Stephen Guidry, Heath, Todd, Kwatrivious Johnson, Rankin, Simmons, Adams I think- he played in the Semper Fi game if not, Kobe Jones, Rivers, Charles Moore, Leo, Gay, Gerri Green, Peters, and maybe McLaurin were all 4-5 star guys off the top of my head- maybe Abrams too. And then we have Day and McPherson who are kicking or have kicked in National All-Star games. That's pretty much a player from every position group that's represented on both sides of the ball and doesn't include guys that were overlooked like Fitz, Bryant, Jenkins, Green, and Gray who probably should have been four stars.

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Congrats on knowing there is a Tishomingo County. If there was a football player at Tish Co. or Belmont, they still might not get their name in the Daily Journal. I don't know if there has been anyone besides baseball players that have played at Division 1 from the entire county. Richey Haralson at UM and now Luke at MSU is pretty much it for my lifetime.

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Originally Posted by ShotgunDawg

Your comprehension of Dan Mullen's recruiting strategy is sub-optimal.

Mullen wants all 5 stars on his team. He wants the best players in the country & will recruit his tail off to get everyone of them. However, what he is not going to do is promise them things. He's not going to offer them a starting position. He is not going to give them things that they have not earned.

Due to that, we often times struggle to compete for highly rated players that feel entitled & like they are owed something, which honestly, is a ton of them.

Why is Mullen like this? Because he saw how doing the opposite of this destroyed Florida's program under Urban Meyer. The things that Percy Harvin got away with at Florida forever changed the way Dan Mullen approached recruiting.

FWIW, Saban recruits the same way Mullen does but just gets more traction from the top players in the country due to his & Alabama's success.

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^^ THIS