Hicks commits
- Thread starter etowncoug
- Start date
Legit offers from some big schools and some smaller schools that know what talent looks like. Excellent commit.
Pluck a dude out of one of the best schools (private too) in the country while Kennedy and Eastside don’t give us the light of day. That’s why we should f what people say about recruiting this state. Not worth time or effort. Starting for Bishop Gorman would translate to the best safety in this state.
The in state kids don't wanna come. Head on down the road.
California
Arizona
Vegas
Hawaii
Start there and fill in as necessary.
He said in article about his commitment to WSU the coaches told him definitely safety. Sounds like they worked their butts off recruiting him.
The out of state kids are often better, too.
Nope. Make one trip thru. Whoever is interested, great. Otherwise, good luck and good bye.
It’s because they come from states where football matters.
I agree. Leach, just like Tony Bennett, saw that spending too many resources in Washington was a waste of time. You contact a player you like to see their interest, if you don't hear what you want to hear, you move on. Some act like WSU never recruits anyone from the state of Washington at all, but three current OL starters are from the state of Washington.
Agree. I give Rolo' credit for coming in hard and showing he wants to turn it around but we knew how it would turn out. They need to target kids that project and are receptive like the Andre Dillard's and Abraham Lucas'. Throwing too much at "Seattle" is a waste of time and resources better spent somewhere else.
He has a middle linebacker teammate that looks a little Peyton-like. He has an offer from ASU but has chosen San Diego State. 6-1 235, takes on big linemen and looks to have a high football IQ. DJ Herman. There's some big linemen in that league.
Because it is an investment, and not even a long term investment; more of a short term investment before we see some results. I don't think that Lake will be successful as the UW HC. Just my opinion based on his lack of maturity, more than anything else. Whether he succeeds or not is out of our hands, but should he stumble, our recruiting odds will get better. At the same time, our odds will also improve due to our effort, just as a previous lack of effort has reinforced the lack of recruiting success. Any sales territory takes some work if it has been neglected for a long time. With some effort we should be able to get back to pulling a half dozen worthwhile kids out of Oregon, WA, BC and Idaho. If Lake stumbles we will do better than that. And all of that assumes that we do OK from a won/lost standpoint. If we can stay similar to the Leach W/L level, with a HC who is a recruiting asset and with some effort in the home area, we will steadily improve. I've come into sales territories before where we had made little effort for years and had little success. It is easier & quicker to turn that sort of situation around than you might think, and if your main competitor helps by being inept, it becomes even easier.
The level of investment compared to the return is the question. The state of Washington has shown repeatedly that the level of investment should not be all that high. The investment will provide a better return outside of the state.
Kids will forgive the uw for losing or having a poor HC. They will still go. The uw has spent the $.
The same kids will not give WSU the benefit of the doubt. They wont even step on campus for a visit and they rule WSU out before even meeting a coach.
Whether lake is successful or not is irrelevant. Kids have made up their mind. Wanna change minds? Start blowing uw out in the AC. Stop pissing away games to FCS teams. Go to league championship games. Be a team that wins league titles. Spend some $ and have 4 or 5 star facilities, no, a 33,000 seat stadium isnt 4 or 5 star even if it is all you need or shiny and new.
The PNW isnt a sales territory where you can just match. You have to clobber them. With wins, with facilities, with people. How many kids on Oregon’s verbal list even considered WSU? WSU has beat them 4/5 and could have been 5/5.
If you wanna turn the PNW and be in consideration for top kids you gotta do what the schools getting those kids are doing.... and be better at it. Or find a way to be different that pulls kids. Not just different to be different. That was Leach. It didn't work.
WSU has a brand in the PNW. It’s cheap. Kids see it and choose uw or UO or go with an academic school like Cal or Stanford. They choose top facilities or top academics.
I hear you guys, but I am also of the opinion that we have not really recruited the PNW right since Price was there. As Biggs says, coaching matters. In the same way, the right recruiting effort matters. Just for sh*ts and giggles I pulled up Price's last few years recruiting. Here are the years and number of PNW kids: 1999/12; 2000/6; 2001/8; 2002/10; 2003/4. In reading the names and working my memory, I'd say that half or a bit more proved out; pretty much the same success ratio that we get from California. Now, California will always be the recruiting bread basket for WSU, just like most west coast schools. But back then we were even further behind UW in facilities than we are now, and with good recruiting we still did pretty well in the PNW. I suspect that under Rolo we will gradually see a return to that success.
I don't. I think Cal, Stanford and Oregon are making hay on the kids they like. In state kids with those 3 offers plus uw and WSU.... they wont even visit WSU.
If Rolo wants to see PNW kids on his roster he needs to pound PNW schools on the field.
I think it will be interesting to see how well he does in Hawaii.
When did Price beat out uw for anyone? Bledsoe in 1990? Plus for every Trufant there was a Wes Rainwater and an Aaron Joseph. For every Derrick Roche there were two Raymond brothers. It’s not a coincidence that Price had his boom bust cycles. That's been conveniently forgotten and replaced by nostalgia. Remember when Price won all those Apple Cups.... Yes, I remember all three of them. I also remember the beatdowns.
Competing with uw is what we’re really talking about. As soon as uw offers a guy nowadays it’s a foregone conclusion. Leach was recruiting Washington the right way. If you doubt that, consider we're coming off five straight bowl games for the first time in program history.
The only path to become more successful recruiting Washington is for Lake (or whoever the uw coach is) to faceplant in Gilbertson/Willingham fashion, while at the same time WSU be in Leach era upswing. uw's coffee cups of cash will dry up and WSU will be on the most even footing we've ever had.
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spending an inordinate time recruiting the 6 or 7 D 1 players from washington every year is a waste of resources. if they aren't interested move on to those that are
Im all for in state and NW kids. But if they refuse to acknowledge the strides your program has made, if they deny that you have advanced past the WSU of 1970, f em. Move on. Remove the scholarship opportunity for them.
Out of state kids commit sight unseen. Out of state kids post on twitter how thankful and grateful they are to get a WSU offer. In state kids? Cant be bothered.
Move on down the road. Whoever wants to come, great. Otherwise I am fine with SoCal and Hawaii.
I see what you mean...they have enough time to call and call coaches to try and reestablish ties. There is nothing else going on.
It will take more than a phone call. WSU is given 0 credit for beating 2 of 3 NW teams routinely. Don't wanna give WSU credit for the strides made? Fine. Go south.
of course you go south . But you make north feel like they are ultra important . It is sales .
It is a two way street. You cant over invest in kids that aren't coming.
You make them feel ultra important, they sign the LOI. You cant chase ghosts.
Sales is about closing, not about making friends. If the coaches want to make some drinking buddies in their free time with the locals, great. But when it comes to filling out a class our efforts should be focused out of state.
Oh ... thanks . A lot easier to “close” a warm lead than a cold one. It’s called establishing a territory . And btw please show me what they are so busy doing during covid they can’t develop better relationships with nw coaches . Seems to me there is a ton of extra time on their hands that is normally not available .
And it's pretty clear that the State of Washington is not friendly territory for WSU. At least it's clear for people that actually pay attention and are not stuck in 1983.
Ummm....didn't think I said the NW was "friendly". Still doesn't mean you don't plant the seeds, and continue to water. But maybe they are traveling and spending better time in other places and can't make calls.
As previously stated, some people here actually pay attention are not stuck in 1983.
Or... And hear me out on this... You can spend that same time building relationships with coaches who are less hostile and more open to us. Develop ties in the deep south. In Utah. Texas. Ohio.
Honestly, Washington is one of the last places I'd focus my energies on outside of the once over.
I would at least forward to 1990 when we sucked and couldn’t get talent out of this state . Unfortunately we had to settle for big sky talent like hunter, pointer, matt storm , Ron childs etc . So pay attention and fast forward to at least 1990ish
