Lack of Booms

Anyone else a little bit concerned about the lack of commits we have had so far for next year’s class? I know its May but Applewhite was supposed to be this “great texas recruiter”.

This happens every year, or so it seems. Little recruiting activity, then Boom (pun intended), 3 or 4 will commit on the same weekend. By early signing day we’ll have our guys.

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I really think this staff has a great eye for talent so im not worried.

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http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2017-18DIREC_BowlSubdivisionFootballRecruitingCalendar_20171116.pdf

So, what the heck does all that mean? What is a quiet period? What is an evaluation/quiet period? What is the difference between a quiet period and a dead period?

From the looks of that calendar, you can only contact players from Jan 12 to Feb 3; but we know they contact them in other times – like having on campus visits, camps, etc.

Last year, at this time, we had one commitment that ended up signing with us (Walker). Freeman then committed on May 8th which started a run of 16 commitments between then and July 1st.

In 2017, we had 3 guys committed at this point in the year that signed with us.

In 2016, we had 1 commitment at this point.

We have 2 commitments right now so we’re ahead of last year’s pace. Guys will start committing once the school year is over and finals are done.

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We had large classes the previous two cycles and are relatively young in a lot of skill positions. I’d like to see some O-Line and D-Line commits come in. DT is a question mark when Ed and Carter leave. I think Fleming will be back next year, but behind him we have…?

Fleming and Blake Young (who’s been nothing more than a practice body at this point) will both be seniors next year. Behind them are Isaiah Chambers, Payton Turner, Alexander Duke, Noah Jones and Tahj Brown, with only Turner having experienced snaps thus far. Chambers is the former 4star who should be a beast…but we definitely need to recruit the position more consistently. Especially getting a space eater at the nose.

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Agreed. I like length at DT (6-3+). If Turner can get to 280 by next season (2019-2020), I hope we move him inside, he looked pretty disruptive. He has the frame at 6-5 to hold the weight; it’ll be hard for running backs to run by those long arms up the middle. But yes, getting some more bodies at DT in this cycle will help us going forward.

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All this plus CMA is emphasizing that you better mean it when you commit to UH. I think it’s working as we only lost Aimee last year, I think. So that philosophy may be causing players to wait until they are very sure. I am OK with that.

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that philosophy can also mean they will be most likely looking elsewhere as well. Applewhite needs to pick it up with the recruiting.

If they are, they are. And they should be looking at multiple places to find the best fit. I don’t think CMA is saying don’t look at other places. I think he’s saying don’t commit to UH unless or until you really mean it. Nothing gets on my nerves more than decommitments unless it’s because a coach left. I can’t even imagine how frustrating it is for coaches who are trying their best to guess how many scholarships they really have available to offer. I like the tactic of getting solid commitments. It encourages early buy in and greatly reduces the guessing game that accompanies scholarship offers.

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Maybe, but does the talent have a great eye for this coaching staff ?

How do you figure? Is an athlete with an offer really going to say ‘Well if he wants me to not flip after I commit, I won’t commit to UH’? I don’t think so. Those who are seriously interested in UH will either commit now because they are absolutely certain or wait until they are. I don’t think people write us off because CMA wants a ‘no flip commitment’ so to speak.

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If the CKB offense delivers this fall, I expect some high 3 and 4 stars to commit and sign early.

It’s hard to say what might lure the same caliber athlete to our defense. We won’t be able to say ‘you have a chance to play with Ed Oliver’. If our D coaches show aggressive play calling and we average about 3 turnovers/game, I think we get some good defensive recruits too. Defenders love the chance to get their hands on the ball, sack the QB, get TFLs. If we just sit on our heels like we did a lot last year, not too many high recruits are going to be attracted to that style of play, imo.

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Lol explain please.

CMA…ain’t a ball of fire.

By “not a ball of fire” do you mean he doesn’t grab them, get a strangle hold on them, followed by a big, sloppy slobber?

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Until the kids actually announce their committment, we really don’t know how we are going, who we have on the line, and who the real possibilites are.I do expect to see some dominoes start to fall later this month and next month. Unless shown otherwise, I expect our staff to bring in a high quality class this December and next February; hopefully more of the former than the latter.

It’s truly about his ability to evaluate talent. The point that some of us are trying to make about CMA is that he can find a diamond in the rough, so there is no need for “great talent” to have an eye on his staff; he has his eyes on them. Also, there are many coaching styles, he doesn’t need to be a ball of fire. There are plenty of coaches who raise their blood pressure daily, who can’t get bowl eligible.

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