Stewart Mandel mail bag

[cheewgumm]

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/michigan-brady-hoke-dave-brand-rally-sec-notre-dame-mailbag-100114

If you want to know why people think Ole Miss is better than us, then this is the explanation....recruiting, period.

Hopefully, this weekend will prove us all right.

[ShotgunDawg]

When are people going to realize that MSU evaluated well and Ole Miss has enormous attrition?

McKinney 2*
Dak 3*

Not only that, MSU has had top 20 recruiting classes two of the last 3 years and will make it 3/4 this year. We are accumulating plenty of talent to win. Not sure where the perception comes that we don't recruit well.

[Bully Dee Williams]

That's the absolute dumbest thing I have ever read. That guy is an idiot. His argument is that because a guy could have chosen any college out high school that ole miss is better. Like BMac, JRob, Preston, Beniquez, Chris, etc couldn't suit up and get significant reps/start for almost any SEC school. He singles out Dak as a difference maker, but conveniently doesn't mention that Dak was a 3 star that wasn't recruited very much by big schools. Let's not mention guys like Malcolm Johnson, Tubby, or Derunnya either. Recruiting stars is only half the story.

And what about all of the highly rated kids that leave their program,

We have the best qb and defensive front 7 in the SEC, yet OM is better because the Yancys and McCreadys of the world say they cruit better. Wow!

[Johnson85]

What kind of moron would look at high school ratings rather than actual production in college? CJ Johnson is a good player, but if othe coaches had the chance to pick him or Preston smith at this point, this guy really thinks it'd be a slam dunk for Johnson because of how highly he was rated in high school?

[Jack Lambert]

That's the absolute dumbest thing I have ever read. That guy is an idiot. His argument is that because a guy could have chosen any college out high school that ole miss is better. Like BMac, JRob, Preston, Beniquez, Chris, etc couldn't suit up and get significant reps/start for almost any SEC school. He singles out Dak as a difference maker, but conveniently doesn't mention that Dak was a 3 star that wasn't recruited very much by big schools. Let's not mention guys like Malcolm Johnson, Tubby, or Derunnya either. Recruiting stars is only half the story.

And what about all of the highly rated kids that leave their program,

We have the best qb and defensive front 7 in the SEC, yet OM is better because the Yancys and McCreadys of the world say they cruit better. Wow!

I would like to know just how many five and four stars guys pan out?

[sandwolf]

I would like to know just how many five and four stars guys pan out?

This horse has been beaten to death.....4 and 5 star players pan out at a much higher rate than 2 and 3 star players. And more often than not, our coaching staff has the 4 and 5 star guys at the top of their board. Our staff has proven that they do an extremely good job of finding guys that have been overlooked and/or are a good fit for our system, but make no mistake about it, if it were completely up to them, they would sign very few recruits that were rated lower than 4 stars.

[LC Dawg]

When a 3 star succeeds its described as him overachieving. It could just be that the guy who evaluated him underachieved.

[Jack Lambert]

Got to ask the question to every coach in the college world this. Is there a 4 or 5 star guy you sign that you would be willing to trade for Dak, Smith Mckinney? I guarantee every coach would say yes. In fact I think every coach in the college world would love to have Dak and Mckinney. I may not have spell correctly but you know who I am talking about.

[Todd4State]

This horse has been beaten to death.....4 and 5 star players pan out at a much higher rate than 2 and 3 star players. And more often than not, our coaching staff has the 4 and 5 star guys at the top of their board. Our staff has proven that they do an extremely good job of finding guys that have been overlooked and/or are a good fit for our system, but make no mistake about it, if it were completely up to them, they would sign very few recruits that were rated lower than 4 stars.

I'm 100% sure our staff doesn't care how many stars are by their name. If they think someone is a good player and a fit for us, then he is offered a scholarship. Sometimes they are rated 2 stars and sometimes they are rated 4-5 stars.

The 4 and 5 stars do pan out at most schools- because the web sites are actually smart enough to realize that the guys that Bama, LSU, etc get are most likely going to the NFL. One of their rating tactics is "looking at the offer sheet".

[Coach34]

When a 3 star succeeds its described as him overachieving. It could just be that the guy who evaluated him underachieved.

exactly- it's ludicrous that Dakota Prescott was not a 4-star player coming out of HS. He is not overachieving in college. He was an exceptional HS player as well that played in a toughass league and put up big numbers. The people evaluating him were wrong.

[Coach34]

I'm 100% sure our staff doesn't care how many stars are by their name. If they think someone is a good player and a fit for us, then he is offered a scholarship. Sometimes they are rated 2 stars and sometimes they are rated 4-5 stars.

This all day. Our staff puts together their board based on what they have seen- not who Jean and Yancy have rated where.

[sandwolf]

I'm 100% sure our staff doesn't care how many stars are by their name. If they think someone is a good player and a fit for us, then he is offered a scholarship.

Completely agree. And 8 or 9 times out of 10, the guys that are at the top of the wish list have 4 or 5 stars by their name.


The 4 and 5 stars do pan out at most schools- because the web sites are actually smart enough to realize that the guys that Bama, LSU, etc get are most likely going to the NFL. One of their rating tactics is "looking at the offer sheet".

Are you saying this is a bad thing? I don't really care how a recruiting site comes up with their ratings - the point is that on the whole, the star system works and it really isn't debatable.

[Really Clark?]

Are you saying this is a bad thing? I don't really care how a recruiting site comes up with their ratings - the point is that on the whole, the star system works and it really isn't debatable.

I disagree with that somewhat, because "it works" is subject to the criteria being used. On the whole it's just a percentages game and highly rated recruits have better odds to "make it" but could still not live up to their ratings. Does a 5 star recruit who ends up as a 6th round pick actual pan out or not? He contributed and was probably somewhat successful but would be considered a disappointment. I may be wrong because I don't have the time to look it up but 5 star recruits I think translate to 1st round picks about 25-30% of the time. That is the best percentage by far but to me that means the sites are still missing on at least 1/2 of the top guys every year. If getting drafted in the first two rounds is the criteria for a 5 star.

[Dawgcentral]

It's going to play out in our favor. The signs are there already. Not sure how many players we have landed in the NFL in comparison to TSUN in the Mullen Era, but I feel pretty good about it.

Ed Orgeron was a lights out recruiter, and managed to assemble a defense that was tough as hell up front. Tore Croom a new one in Croom's last game. Came to Starkville the next year and showed why he shouldn't be a head coach. Houston Nutt inherited the same recruits, yet couldn't handle the Bear Slayer Relf, and the option attack.

While we don't get the # of stars that LSU and others do, we do well in our evaluations. The Stars will increase as we win. Just win. Isn't that what counts? Auburn has been recruiting well also, yet it always comes down to the wire with them. Make a play and we win,..every time. I love to sign the big guys as much as anyone. But I'm pretty happy with the guys we've landed. They work hard and stay out of trouble mostly. We're doing something very right.

[dawgs]

Last time I checked, chris jones and b-mac are considered slam dunk NFL talents. And we have lots more that could get there. And far more important than an NFL talent at OT or FS, is having a great college QB. I'd rather have Tebow on my college team than the best safety in the history of football. And Tebow sucked in the NFL. This isn't the NFL, this is college football, and talents translate differently.

[FlabLoser]

Winning fixes everything. Just win, baby. Rankings and big bowls will follow.

Bullshit preseason rankings (under-ranking and over-ranking) will correct themselves with W's and L's as the season goes on.

In later weeks, we and OM will be where we deserve to be and nobody will care about a week 4 poll.

Except Rebel Jacob. He'll invent a new stat like how many weeks in Sept each team was ranked.