(02-04-2016, 01:26 PM)TrumpCard link Wrote:[quote author=OutsiderFan link=topic=9617.msg155596#msg155596 date=1454613400]
I'm really beginning to wonder about the de-commits.Â
Traded Ulloa for Pryts = could see staff preferring Pryts
Traded Edmonds for Eboh = could see staff preferring Eboh
Traded Stephens for Maddox = could see staff preferring Maddox
Traded Bisharat for Hamilton or Powell = could see staff preferring either or both to Bisharat
The only one that I couldn't see the staff willingly passing on was Long.
Not saying anything more, because this gets into a very touchy subject nobody on here has any facts about.
This is absurd.Â
First, if you look at the 5 year history with this staff, you'll see that the academic rejections are consistently painful, not helpful from a football perspective. For example, the staff lost a couple of coveted DL recruits in January last year. So, I am giving the coaches the benefit of the doubt that they have more integrity than the Harbaughs of the world.Â
Second, although we don't (and don't need to) know the full academic story on all of these kids, the data we have is telling. Stephens' self-reported gpa/act was not close to the admissible range. Edmonds reported that he was admitted and then that he was no longer admitted, meaning that he obviously blew his seventh semester report card. Do you have any academic data on any of the kids who didn't make it through admissions that would suggest they should have been admitted?
Third, the staff evaluated Eboh, Powell, Harrington, Segina and Maddox very early in the process and chose not to offer any of them until January. It's not as though the kids expressed no interest in Stanford for a long time and then suddenly decided that they would entertain an offer. The kids were so interested in Stanford that they took otherwise unnecessarily challenging classes in order to qualify for admission in the event that the staff ultimately decided to offer.Â
Fourth, if you just look at the ratings, film, and HS stats yourself, none of them except Eboh is comparable to the guys Stanford lost. For example, looking at Maddox's film (he does not have D1 speed), HS stats (especially considering he had two high end D1 OLs in front of him), and ratings, it should be clear as day that anyone would have preferred Stephens or Bisharat at RB.
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Fully agreed with TrumpCard, with one exception. You could reasonably prefer Pryts to Ulloa, but then again, Pryts wasn't a January offer--IIRC, he was one of the first or second waves of offers in this class, but we lost out to Penn State then and only seemed to reemerge as an option once Penn State's DC decamped for Tennessee.Â
Also, given our lack of RB depth on the coming roster, I simply cannot fathom our coaching staff deciding to revoke offers to two 4-star RBs and instead hand them to a 2-star RB who appears to have the lowest (or at least narrowest) ceiling of our 2016 signees. Bisharat seems to be telling precisely that story, however (
http://www.sacbee.com/sports/high-school...73243.html), though I cannot accept it. It feels more like a kid feeling burned by Stanford and lashing out. I mean, does Dorian Maddox even think he was preferred over Stephens or Bisharat? If we'd turned around and nabbed another 4-star RB to replace those guys, then maybe wondering would be reasonable (though I think our current staff has absolutely earned the benefit of the doubt on this, though Coach Shaw's immediate predecessor obviously isn't/wasn't above such tactics), but the only explanation on Maddox that makes sense to me is that when Stephens/Bisharat got dinged, our staff was legitimately surprised, and went down the RB list to see who was the next best option--and they had to go down that list for a little while. Heck, when Maddox committed, there were people here and elsewhere who presumed he was committing as a preferred walk-on, given his otherwise complete lack of Power 5 offers. Maddox may well outperform his recruiting profile (and I sincerely hope he does), but there's just no way the staff preferred him to Bisharat or Stephens.Â
Bottom line: I'll concede that football-wise, Pryts for Ulloa and Eboh for Edmonds are relatively even trades, though I have more faith in Coach Shaw's honor than you apparently do (I can't imagine him stringing a kid along and cutting him loose just a couple weeks before Signing Day--sorry, I just can't). But our RB depth after next year is so weak that I just can't accept that we would have voluntarily let go of Stephens/Bisharat in exchange for anybody, let alone a relatively lightly-recruited OG like Powell at a position of solid current depth. Especially since with McElwain going the prep school route and Fehoko/Kaufusi going on missions, we'll have just 23 initial counters in the incoming class. There was room for Stephens/Bisharat
and Hamilton/Powell in the class. Someone might have had to delay signing a financial aid agreement until June, but there was room.Â
OutsiderFan, I think it's the "outsider" in you questioning the legitimacy of the decommitments as opposed to being impressed that we managed to shepherd so many quality Plan B options through admissions. ;)
