I think Miles recruiting will stand on it's own merits from what i heard from last year's recruits and this year's commits. Sure he is getting the benefit of LSU's recent success and thank goodness we have that in the bank. We all tend to dismiss how much influence the assistants have on these recruits though, they are a very integral part of the process and I'm hearing some really good things about them as well. And yes, playing on national TV so much makes recruiting a little easier too, as long as we keep winning most of them. I'd imagine that is one of the reasons we are getting so much interest from recruits in far flung places.
Nick's success will only get his foot in the door. The hard work and recruiting prowess of the staff is far and above the determining factor in whether kids decide to commit here.
who wants to rip the guys recruiting? I simply said his recruiting will stand on its own merit based on his ability to win here. just like anyone else. if he turns out to be Curley jr, it doesnt matter how much they like him. And much of his current recruiting success is very much a byproduct of 2003 :crystal:. I'm sure once he adds one or two more to our collection it won't hurt his cause. I agree with Caj as well. Much of the grunt work to get players here is attributed to the assistants who rarely get the credit.
Assistants are very, very important & obviously Miles deserves credit for making the hires. But let's not forget the recruiting class Miles managed to put together last year with most of his staff still unnamed & unfamiliar with Louisiana recruiting. He managed to keep a lot of our current (at the time) commits & grab a few extras, including the number 1 recruit in the nation. That was nothing short of amazing & something that none of the other new coaches in the leage could even come close to matching. Miles worked his a$$ off & it showed. edit: In fact, this was the first thing that ever made me feel comfortable about Miles. After I saw how hard we was willing to work I knew there was no way he was NOT going to succeed here at LSU.
Great minds stink alike. They aren't signed yet, and the class is half full at 13 "gerbals". A great recruiting finish is possible only with field results. Top 5 won't happen this year (3 reasons): 1) unLES brings home an SEC Championship, a Sugar Bowl win and a Top 5 finish. He's got to run the table to do that. He loses any of the big 3 games left and you can forget it. I'll be amazed if Miles can deliver anything close to a Top 10 recruiting class in 2006, his first full year. What was our 2005 class ranked at? 2) LSU out-of-state recruiting, especially in FLA, must pick up! To finish at the top, LSU needs to OWN the Gulf Coast, barging (not sneaking) into Florida for some of the best "speed" plays at LB, WR & secondary. LSU owned the Gulf Coast from 2000-2004, having the best overall SEC recruiting with FLA a distant 2nd. 3) Miles has already posted his recruiting philosophy. It doesn't jibe with #2. To recruit big, you got to think big, and you've got to establish roots where the talent is, not just try to lock down the home state and make trips to Houston & east Texas. The only positive thing I can say about Miles & LSU's current coaching philosophy that helps recruiting is the large numbers in the area of player participation ... kids talk when they get a chance to play ... and the word gets out, and that's good.
I think that Miles can pick up a top 10 class with just an 8 win season. No way to know who's right, so we'll just have to disagree on that part. Saban had the same philosophy about recruiting the state of Louisiana first. Look at our roster - mostly Louisiana kids & all recruited by Saban. The only way to maintain long term recruiting success is to have a strong base in your home state. It's not like Miles is adverse to recruiting other states - his forte happens to be the Midwest, Saban's was Florida. Both produce phenomenal athletes, although I agree that Florida generally generates more speed & I'd like to see us recruit a few more of those kids. Our 2005 recruiting class was very good based on average recruit stars. Of course overall wasn't that impressive, although I believe still top 25-30, because of the scholarship limitations due to not many players graduating that year.
No worries ramah, we've nabbed the top prospect out of Mississippi and we're still very much in it for multiple prospects out of Miss. (Dickson, Walker, Odom, and Markeith Summers), Alabama (Hawthorne, White, Gray, Hawkins, and Lott), and there are a few others from Florida we could still pick up (Sims, Jones, others). Throw in a few guys still on our board in Texas (Cox, Stewart, Williams, Chinasa, Lufkin boys) and California (Mouton, Ward, Johnson) and a few other states and we're looking good as far as out of state prospects go.
Now, we're talkin' my language ... Locking up LA IS A GIVEN ... EXPECTED!!! ... the "cherry picking" from adjacent GULF COAST STATES IS MANDATORY ... If you want to talk about a Top 10 or "GREAT" Class. You want to talk "TOP 5" Class ... the stuff that NCs a made of ... That means: Locking down LA - Cherry pickin' MS/ALA/ARK - Landing 2-3 prospects on the ALL-Texas First/Second Team (Dave Campbell) - Landing 2-3 prospects from FLA/CA/elsewhere ... that are impact players (usually rated 4 or 5 stars) Gotta at least try to recruit FLA ... that's where the highest concentration of the best players are! Miles seemingly has circled the wagons and is playing it conservatively ... IMO