Yall see the AJ McCarron interview about recruiting character?

[BeastMan]

McCarron believes some of the younger players thought they could live off their previous merits, instead of working even harder when they get to college.

?I think that?s one of the things that is wrong with recruiting out of high school. You have guys who have never played the game of football rating these guys that they are a 5-star, because they?re sitting behind a computer screen watching their highlight film. Well, their highlight film is supposed to be good, the last time I checked. That?s the kind of thing that ticks me off about recruiting and when these kids come in and they?re 5-stars and they expect to play right off the bat. It?s a little entitlement and when they don?t play off the bat, they get a little ticked off and they don?t want to work.?

Of course I added my 2 cents as well. I think AJ was dead on. http://3rdand57.com/aj-mccarron-says-recruiting-character-matters/

[TheRef]

If AJ were a coach, would he be like Saban?

[Todd4State]

The thing that resonates with me is the fact that AJ McCarron was a highly rated player himself. He was a 4 star guy that was an Army AA QB and was also an Elite 11 QB. You can't dismiss this as a guy with sour grapes.

I also think he nailed it on the head. You can't watch a highlight video and tell whether a player is going to work hard or not, you can't tell what kind of a citizen they are going to be, or if they are going to put the work in the classroom.

At the end of the day, those are still the things that in addition to talent win championships.

[rrog17]

I feel much better with Mullen and Collins evaluating talent than I do with with people like Yancy and Gene!

[BeastMan]

I feel much better with Mullen and Collins evaluating talent than I do with with people like Yancy and Gene!

Winner winner chicken dinner. And Todd, I think you nailed it

[RougeDawg]

There's no way this could possibly be true.** Had a bear buddy and actual state buddy the other day argue with me about the same thing. I was arguing that Mullen evaluates every aspect of the players he brings in and not solely on stars. My argument was, why go after a potentially overrated 4-5 star guy who has a shit attitude, character issues, doesn't fit your program, and is uncoachable if you can bring in a under the radar 3 star coachable guy with potential and good Character. The chances of getting the max performance with least attrition is the 3 star guy, with upside

I used OM'a classes over the last decade as my example of high attrition and low on field performance.

A second argument was that there are low and high risk 4-5* guys, a concept they couldnt wrap their minds around, and there's a reason the Bamas don't pursue all of them. They only bring in the high character coach-able highly rated guys and don't pursue the risks. Resulting in the ones who slip down to the OM's of the food chain. Programs who live and die by class rankings and would rather have the most stars possible at the expense of character, attitude, upside, and program chemistry. They argued to me that OM out recruits the top dogs for these 4-5* guys. I responded with there's a reason the big boys don't heavily pursue some of the particular highly rated croots that OM has been bringing in. They just couldn't understand these concepts and how a top program would pass on a top rated guy.

[Todd4State]

There's no way this could possibly be true.** Had a bear buddy and actual state buddy the other day argue with me about the same thing. I was arguing that Mullen evaluates every aspect of the players he brings in and not solely on stars. My argument was, why go after a potentially overrated 4-5 star guy who has a shit attitude, character issues, doesn't fit your program, and is uncoachable if you can bring in a under the radar 3 star coachable guy with potential and good Character. The chances of getting the max performance with least attrition is the 3 star guy, with upside

I used OM'a classes over the last decade as my example of high attrition and low on field performance.

A second argument was that there are low and high risk 4-5* guys, a concept they couldnt wrap their minds around, and there's a reason the Bamas don't pursue all of them. They only bring in the high character coach-able highly rated guys and don't pursue the risks. Resulting in the ones who slip down to the OM's of the food chain. Programs who live and die by class rankings and would rather have the most stars possible at the expense of character, attitude, upside, and program chemistry. They argued to me that OM out recruits the top dogs for these 4-5* guys. I responded with there's a reason the big boys don't heavily pursue some of the particular highly rated croots that OM has been bringing in. They just couldn't understand these concepts and how a top program would pass on a top rated guy.

Character evaluation and intangibles is a big part of Saban's recruiting philosophy. That may be ironic since we're talking about AJ McCarron and Alabama here- but there is no doubt that they value it very highly and they have had their share of high caliber people come through their program over the years.

[Coach34]

outstanding thread- everybody is making great points.

It's not just about talent guys- you have to have "glue" guys as well. You have to have talent, nobody is saying you dont. But you also have to have those glue guys on your team.

An example of a glue guy on our team is Taveze Calhoun. Underratedout of HS, matured and developed while sitting a couple years- steps up in 2013 and makes alot of plays the 2nd half of the season. Made the pick to seal the UPig win in OT and just manhandled Ole Miss 5 days later. You cant have an entire team of glue guys- but you got to have them

[Todd4State]

outstanding thread- everybody is making great points.

It's not just about talent guys- you have to have "glue" guys as well. You have to have talent, nobody is saying you dont. But you also have to have those glue guys on your team.

An example of a glue guy on our team is Taveze Calhoun. Underratedout of HS, matured and developed while sitting a couple years- steps up in 2013 and makes alot of plays the 2nd half of the season. Made the pick to seal the UPig win in OT and just manhandled Ole Miss 5 days later. You cant have an entire team of glue guys- but you got to have them

Even Alabama has guys like Anthony Steen who was a three star guy. And I don't know off the top of my head what he was rated, but that team was a lot different when Vinny Sunseri went down with an injury. I would suspect that him getting hurt negatively affected their environment and focus like McCarron was talking about.

When you really get down to it, there are four different types of recruits:

Blue Chips- the 4-5 star guys that anyone can tell are good players
Blus Collars- the "glue guys"
Raw athletes- Like Jonthan Banks
Walk-ons- You don't want a lot, but occasionally a Beckwith and maybe more prevalent- special teams guys like kickers and long snappers.

To win a championship, you have to have a little bit of all of those ingredients.

[FlabLoser]

outstanding thread- everybody is making great points.

It's not just about talent guys- you have to have "glue" guys as well. You have to have talent, nobody is saying you dont. But you also have to have those glue guys on your team.

An example of a glue guy on our team is Taveze Calhoun. Underratedout of HS, matured and developed while sitting a couple years- steps up in 2013 and makes alot of plays the 2nd half of the season. Made the pick to seal the UPig win in OT and just manhandled Ole Miss 5 days later. You cant have an entire team of glue guys- but you got to have them

Great point.

Another glue player would be Market. Guy comes in and and works his ass of so that when needed, he can make that one play to save a game. Good teams needs star playmakers, and they also need workhorses at all the other positions.

[State82]

I feel much better with Mullen and Collins evaluating talent than I do with with people like Yancy and Gene!

This right here sums it up in a nutshell. I was thinking the exact same thing earlier today after reading Mullen's comments in the paper about his staff's philosophy on this very subject. His example was Elijah Staley. Mullen has been on him as a top priority (in other words, 5*) from the get-go. But the "gurus", in all their wisdom/talents, had him as a 3*. It does not take a genius to tell you who they would trust at evaluating football talent. A D1, SEC head coach knocking down almost 3 mil a year? Or a journeyman hack from some rag who sits behind a computer screen looking at "highlights" and yappin' on the phone with other, similar hacks from similar rags that have never deposited a paycheck from so much as a single A academy football program, much less a program at the highest level of collegiate football. Its mindboggling. But don't try to insert these facts into the heads of most delusional fans, especially some of those near and dear to our hearts and message boards.

[FlabLoser]

Recruiting ratings are like preseason football polls.

In both of those, folks far removed from reality cast opinions which are then accepted as truth and carried until the end of the season/class. Preseason polls dictate who can and can't leapfrog other teams. Recruiting rankings dictate who is said to be a good/bad recruiter or who can/can't coach with a little or a lot of talent on the squad.

It is asinine that the amount of talent on a team is judged by how many stars their players got. We let the Rosebowls of the world tells us how talented a team is.

[Drugdog]

Great Points. You do need the guy who is an UNSELFISH LEADER. Aj proved he was the leader of Bama. Your leader cannot be a thug or the one who yells the most. We have that in Dak.

[TheRef]

From what I've heard, Gerri Green is another natural-born leader that we got. High GPA (In contention for Valedictorian at Greenville-Weston) and a high moral standard. Mullen even said in his press conference that when he thinks about Gerri, that he wants to not only put him on schedule posters, but billboards and everything else because that's what he wants out of a player. Smart kid, high motor, high moral attitude, and a natural leader. He's going to be a leader for our Defense in the future, just you wait.