I-AA's Best Recruiters

[Ronbo]

Bobby Hauck comes in #1 and had another great recruiting season landing 3 players that had 1A offers on the table and a transfer Sophmore from Oklahoma State that was the #2 reciever in Colorado coming out of HS.


Here is a snip from the article.

From American Football Monthly.

The Country's 30 Best Recruiters (http://www.americanfootballmonthly.com/Subaccess/Magazine/2005/april/best_recruiters.html )

Division I-AA

Bobby Hauck, Montana
The Montana native and former University of Washington assistant has kept the Grizzlies atop the I-AA pack, using his connections to recruit high school players from Montana and Washington. Along with recruiting coordinator Pete Kaligis, Hauck landed two I-A transfers this season, a quarterback from Bowling Green and a wide receiver from Oklahoma State.

Mike Sewak, Georgia Southern
Sewak traditionally brings in top talent to the powerhouse school, and it showed last season when the Eagles led the nation in rushing yards and scoring en route to their eighth Southern Conference title. Recruiting mostly high school players from Georgia and Florida, Sewak inked four quarterbacks this season in an attempt to fill the team’s biggest hole following graduation.

K.C. Keeler, Delaware
The strength of Delaware’s recruiting prowess, and coaching of that talent, is shown by the fact that three assistants left the program this off-season to take positions at Western Michigan, Delaware and Maryland. Keeler, who won the I-AA national title in 2003 and has gone 30-11 in three seasons, has shown a knack for recruiting preps from around the country. This year, he signed recruits from Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.

Mickey Matthews, James Madison
This must be scary for I-AA foes – the Dukes won the 2004 national title and followed it with what coach Mickey Matthews called “our best class” in terms of quality and quantity. After using fewer than 10 scholarships to sign recruits two years ago, the Dukes used 22 to sign 25 players, mostly preps, this year. Perhaps what’s most impressive is that the Dukes were able to land recruits from seven states despite the fact that they are four deep at running back. They didn’t land a quarterback, but are two deep there, with the starter entering his junior year.

Scott Stoker, Northwestern (La.) State
Signing mostly preps from Louisiana, Stoker landed maybe the best quarterback prospect in I-AA when he signed Sean Santos, the all-time leading passer in the New Orleans Catholic League, in February. A record-shattering Northwestern State quarterback himself, the third-year coach will guide Santos en route to encouraging more big-time prospects to come to Natchitoches.

[umassfan]

Bobby Hauck comes in #1 and had another great recruiting season landing 3 players that had 1A offers on the table and a transfer Sophmore from Oklahoma State that was the #2 reciever in Colorado coming out of HS.


Here is a snip from the article.

From American Football Monthly.

The Country's 30 Best Recruiters (http://www.americanfootballmonthly.com/Subaccess/Magazine/2005/april/best_recruiters.html )

Division I-AA

Bobby Hauck, Montana
The Montana native and former University of Washington assistant has kept the Grizzlies atop the I-AA pack, using his connections to recruit high school players from Montana and Washington. Along with recruiting coordinator Pete Kaligis, Hauck landed two I-A transfers this season, a quarterback from Bowling Green and a wide receiver from Oklahoma State.

Mike Sewak, Georgia Southern
Sewak traditionally brings in top talent to the powerhouse school, and it showed last season when the Eagles led the nation in rushing yards and scoring en route to their eighth Southern Conference title. Recruiting mostly high school players from Georgia and Florida, Sewak inked four quarterbacks this season in an attempt to fill the team’s biggest hole following graduation.

K.C. Keeler, Delaware
The strength of Delaware’s recruiting prowess, and coaching of that talent, is shown by the fact that three assistants left the program this off-season to take positions at Western Michigan, Delaware and Maryland. Keeler, who won the I-AA national title in 2003 and has gone 30-11 in three seasons, has shown a knack for recruiting preps from around the country. This year, he signed recruits from Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.

Mickey Matthews, James Madison
This must be scary for I-AA foes – the Dukes won the 2004 national title and followed it with what coach Mickey Matthews called “our best class” in terms of quality and quantity. After using fewer than 10 scholarships to sign recruits two years ago, the Dukes used 22 to sign 25 players, mostly preps, this year. Perhaps what’s most impressive is that the Dukes were able to land recruits from seven states despite the fact that they are four deep at running back. They didn’t land a quarterback, but are two deep there, with the starter entering his junior year.

Scott Stoker, Northwestern (La.) State
Signing mostly preps from Louisiana, Stoker landed maybe the best quarterback prospect in I-AA when he signed Sean Santos, the all-time leading passer in the New Orleans Catholic League, in February. A record-shattering Northwestern State quarterback himself, the third-year coach will guide Santos en route to encouraging more big-time prospects to come to Natchitoches.

Does KC recruit HS kids or kids in I-A ? I guess they both count for this article.

[Retro]

You have to take recruiting list's with a grain of salt! Every coach always says they had a great class or says they got the guy (s) they wanted.. They're never going to say they didn't get so and so. Look back 4-5 years ago from today and you would have to say any team that has been in the playoffs for consecutive seasons over the past couple of years had good classes.

[ChickenMan]

Does KC recruit HS kids or kids in I-A ? I guess they both count for this article.

I see UMass has SEVEN transfers just this year. Bring them on... based on past history... UMass would need transfers from the New England Patriots to be able to beat the Hens... :D

[Umass74]

Uh, not sure about this article.

Does winning one National Championship make you a great recruiter? Wern't JMU fans calling for Micky matthews head before he had his breakout season?

Couldn't most coaches recruit for Montana, Delaware and Georgia Southern? Send Sewak went to Rhode Island, Hauck to Elon and Keeler to VMI. Would they still be great recruiters?

[Hansel]

I am pretty sure Matt Dougherty gave all the info for I-AA portion of this article, the man behind the DII board (brandon misener) wrote the whole DII section.

his top classes for this year were

Furman JMU Montana NW St and Richmond, 3/5 which are listed as top recruiters

I don't get as excited about recuiting as others, I would rather wait to see what they do on the field as opposed to getting frothy when I hear about the 4.19 40 yard dash they ran when Edna the 80 yr old third shift cafeteria was timing

[Fordham]

Dave Clawson gets my vote.

[Tribe4SF]

Jimmye Laycock certainly deserves some recognition. Especially for his ability to get productive walk-ons and an endless stream of good QBs.

[Paladin1aa]

When he was at YSU, Tressel was one of the best, recruiting I-A players for a I-AA program.

[mainejeff]

Cosgrove and his staff at Maine have recruited very well since Maine opened its new stadium in 1999. Now if he could only coach like he can recruit.......

[ngineer]

I think a coach's 'recruiting ability' is overblown and very speculative, at best. First, any coach has to be able to sell something and if he comes from a school and/or program that has little to offer, he ain't going to be able to recruit. And this includes many things and dependent on the pool of candidates a coach/school can even consider. Based on the restrictions the Ivy and PL leagues have, I would say that most of the head coaches in there are very good recruiters--especially for those schools that have won consistently.

[Kill'em]

Uh, not sure about this article.

Does winning one National Championship make you a great recruiter? Wern't JMU fans calling for Micky matthews head before he had his breakout season?

Couldn't most coaches recruit for Montana, Delaware and Georgia Southern? Send Sewak went to Rhode Island, Hauck to Elon and Keeler to VMI. Would they still be great recruiters?
I can only speak for Sewak. The answer is absolutely YES. Remember he has to not only recruit against schools like Furman and App St but I-A schools like Middle Tennessee and Troy. Let's not forget the SEC East schools and ACC all recruit the same areas that Georgia Southern recruits. He has been able to get a lot of players that were also recruited by "the Big Boys." Take Lynon Jefferson. He almost signed with Florida St. For those who don't know who he is, you will before long :)

[Kaduce]

Bobby Hauck comes in #1 and had another great recruiting season landing 3 players that had 1A offers on the table and a transfer Sophmore from Oklahoma State that was the #2 reciever in Colorado coming out of HS.


Here is a snip from the article.

From American Football Monthly.

The Country's 30 Best Recruiters (http://www.americanfootballmonthly.com/Subaccess/Magazine/2005/april/best_recruiters.html )

Division I-AA

Bobby Hauck, Montana
The Montana native and former University of Washington assistant has kept the Grizzlies atop the I-AA pack, using his connections to recruit high school players from Montana and Washington. Along with recruiting coordinator Pete Kaligis, Hauck landed two I-A transfers this season, a quarterback from Bowling Green and a wide receiver from Oklahoma State.

Mike Sewak, Georgia Southern
Sewak traditionally brings in top talent to the powerhouse school, and it showed last season when the Eagles led the nation in rushing yards and scoring en route to their eighth Southern Conference title. Recruiting mostly high school players from Georgia and Florida, Sewak inked four quarterbacks this season in an attempt to fill the team’s biggest hole following graduation.

K.C. Keeler, Delaware
The strength of Delaware’s recruiting prowess, and coaching of that talent, is shown by the fact that three assistants left the program this off-season to take positions at Western Michigan, Delaware and Maryland. Keeler, who won the I-AA national title in 2003 and has gone 30-11 in three seasons, has shown a knack for recruiting preps from around the country. This year, he signed recruits from Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.

Mickey Matthews, James Madison
This must be scary for I-AA foes – the Dukes won the 2004 national title and followed it with what coach Mickey Matthews called “our best class” in terms of quality and quantity. After using fewer than 10 scholarships to sign recruits two years ago, the Dukes used 22 to sign 25 players, mostly preps, this year. Perhaps what’s most impressive is that the Dukes were able to land recruits from seven states despite the fact that they are four deep at running back. They didn’t land a quarterback, but are two deep there, with the starter entering his junior year.

Scott Stoker, Northwestern (La.) State
Signing mostly preps from Louisiana, Stoker landed maybe the best quarterback prospect in I-AA when he signed Sean Santos, the all-time leading passer in the New Orleans Catholic League, in February. A record-shattering Northwestern State quarterback himself, the third-year coach will guide Santos en route to encouraging more big-time prospects to come to Natchitoches.

Whom are the 3 signees with D1 offers?

[umassfan]

Man UMass had 2 or 3 kids with D I-A offers too... Does that mean Coach Brown is the best recruiter in the world too? Didnt think so!

[Tribe4SF]

I can only speak for Sewak. The answer is absolutely YES. Remember he has to not only recruit against schools like Furman and App St but I-A schools like Middle Tennessee and Troy. Let's not forget the SEC East schools and ACC all recruit the same areas that Georgia Southern recruits. He has been able to get a lot of players that were also recruited by "the Big Boys." Take Lynon Jefferson. He almost signed with Florida St. For those who don't know who he is, you will before long :)

Put Sewak at VMI and the answer is a resounding NO. Whoever replaced him at GSU would be touted as a top 5 recruiter within a few years.

[Kill'em]

This is a tough job because of the type school VMI is . You could include The Citadel and the service academies. It may not be a fair thing to mention VMI because I feel the best recruiter would fail at these schools. Their academic standards, military lifestyle are so tough, most of the top recruits would not sign there.

[bluehenbillk]

From what I've read JMU fans say about Matthews, is he inherited a mess from the former coach Alex Wood. We've heard about them being young for the past 2-3 years, but the proof is in the pudding, with recruiting HS kids & a few key 1-A tranfers like Rascati they won the big show last year, give the guy some props.

[colgate13]

Based on the restrictions the Ivy and PL leagues have, I would say that most of the head coaches in there are very good recruiters--especially for those schools that have won consistently.

That was my first thought too. Any team that is consistently successful in a league that doesn't have traditional scholarships to award (just explaining that to a recruit can be a hurdle) AND has some serious academic requirements is tops in my book.

My second thought is how much do head coaches actually recruit? My experience is that they are often the deal closer, but the hard work on the ground is done by the grunts of the office and there is usually a top assistant that coordinates the whole thing. So the head coaches are getting the spotlight from their staff in this case.

My last thought was, jeez, what insightful reporting this is! 2 of the 4 teams were in the NC, one is last year's NC and one is a periennial power. Then NW State is given props for landing one kid. I'm sure they've got other good prospects but who are they? One kid does not make a class - nor a coach tops.

Now, all that aside, Sewak, Keeler and Hauck are all worthy of mention. They also benefit from great programs. I'm more impressed with the coaches who can succeed in some difficult situations. IMHO of course.

BTW, anyone else see this line:

"The strength of Delaware’s recruiting prowess, and coaching of that talent, is shown by the fact that three assistants left the program this off-season to take positions at Western Michigan, Delaware and Maryland."

So a Delaware assistant left the program to take a position at Delaware? Great editing! :p

[bluehenbillk]

That line should have been Rutgers instead of Delaware. Our OL coach Kyle Flood went to RU.

[Ronbo]

Whom are the 3 signees with D1 offers?

Terran Hillesland OL 6-7 310 Offer from Wyoming

Tyler Pelleur LB 6-2 210 Offer from Air Force

Shawn Lebsock LB 6-0 220 Offer from Wyoming

[HensRock]

Man UMass had 2 or 3 kids with D I-A offers too... Does that mean Coach Brown is the best recruiter in the world too? Didnt think so!


I DO!!!

When he was at Northeastern, Coach Brown consistently got very good recruits to go to a school with just about the worst facilities imaginable. How he managed to do this year after year I will never know!

[Tribe4SF]

I agree about Brown. His Northeastern teams were aggressive, speedy and well coached. He's the biggest reason I'm picking UMass to win the conference this year.

[bluehenbillk]

The thing about getting 2-3 kids who had 1-A offers on the table is overblown. The majority of the teams in the top 25 for 1-AA do that every year.

[GannonFan]

I think the jury's still out on Brown - yes he had a few good teams at Northeastern, and one won the A10 title, but he still lost in the first round that year and he did have some bad teams at Northeastern. Plus, with all these good recruits, Northeastern was still under .500 last year and could be in for an even worse year in the one coming up. Maybe Brown got out of Boston at the right time before the floor fell out on this program? Also, Barry Gallup, who coached Northeastern before Brown, actually managed to get some good recruits and had some good Northeastern teams there for awhile. I'm not sure how many people would then characterize Gallup as a great recruiter or coach.

[Tribe4SF]

The thing about getting 2-3 kids who had 1-A offers on the table is overblown. The majority of the teams in the top 25 for 1-AA do that every year.

The other thing is, what constitutes an offer? The talk around recruits is always exaggerated. Tribe recruit Drew Letcavage (PA) has been described by many as having had I-A offers. As I gather it, his weight loss after injury had I-As backing off. Makes for good press though. Bottom line is he's a player and I'm glad he's coming to W&M.

[bluehenbillk]

You're right Tribe, unless you talk to the kid personally a lot of what you may read is nothing but hearsay.

[Ronbo]

The other thing is, what constitutes an offer? The talk around recruits is always exaggerated. Tribe recruit Drew Letcavage (PA) has been described by many as having had I-A offers. As I gather it, his weight loss after injury had I-As backing off. Makes for good press though. Bottom line is he's a player and I'm glad he's coming to W&M.

There is a difference between a player that got some phone calls, letters and even a visit and a player that got a real scholarship offer. Some fans think because a kid had interest from a 1A they had an offer. Not! A real schollie offer is what we are talking about.

[DTSpider]

The big question is which schools? So what if a kid has an offer from Idaho, Temple, Arkansas State, Buffalo, SE LA Monroe, etc.? We've all been on the board saying how there are a ton of bottom feeding 1A programs. They have more scholarships than 1AA teams so they hvae to offer to a lot of kids. Now, if you're getting players offered by Miami, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, etc. that's a different story.

[ChickenMan]

Now, if you're getting players offered by Miami, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, etc. that's a different story.

If you are... there probably needs to be an NCAA investigation... ;)

[Tribe4SF]

Right. And unless you're close to the situation, you really don't know for sure. You often read that a kid chose a I-AA over I-As. That doesn't mean they had scholarship offers. Media, families, HS coaches, SIDs and sometimes the kids themselves feed the hype.

[Ronbo]

Geeze, if you look at the Scout.com reports on Montana's recruits you'll see 80% of them list interest from several 1A's. Some had interest from 2 or 3 Pac 10 schools. But.... only three of our recriuits had the check mark in the offer column for a 1A. Two from Wyoming and one from Air Force. It was also mentioned in the Missoulian that these players had schollie offers from these schools. So these three kids are verified. By the way, the MWC is a step above bottom feeding schools with 20-30 million dollar athletic budgets. And let's be realistic about the bottom of 1A, Idaho would be a top 10 team in I-AA. They gave us a fight every year we played them, many games going to the wire. The top of I-AA is on par with the bottom of 1A.

[youwouldno]

At least eight Furman recruits, maybe as many as thirteen, were reported as having I-A offers (Burnett, Slaughter, Sorrells, Webb, Truss, Standridge, Twitty, Rensberg; unclear on Williams, Castleberry, the other Twitty, McKinney, Ray) though the whole 'offer' business is kind of convoluted... sometimes they get pulled, sometimes there is dispute over whether there was an offer at all, some come in after a player commits so they honor their original commitment, etc.

I think in general the I-A and I-AA gap is overstated; most bottom I-A schools would be good in I-AA, but you have to go up a ways before you get to programs that would absolutely dominate. And if you take away 22 of a school's scholarships, that's going to have an effect also. Maybe the likely 12-game schedule will shed some additional light on the matter.

[blueballs]

I can't speak for any other 1-AA's, but at GSU Sewak is getting the credit for recruiting in the article but it is truly a team effort. Coach John Pate (DL Coach) is the recruiting coordinator and was in that position when Paul Johnson was still at GSU. Different assistants work different areas as well. For instance, OC Mitch Ware recruits the area I live in.

[rosy410]

I can't speak for any other 1-AA's, but at GSU Sewak is getting the credit for recruiting in the article but it is truly a team effort. Coach John Pate (DL Coach) is the recruiting coordinator and was in that position when Paul Johnson was still at GSU. Different assistants work different areas as well. For instance, OC Mitch Ware recruits the area I live in.


Pate does a ton of recruiting for GSU

[Spider]

Dave Clawson gets my vote.
me too....

[Tribe4SF]

Way to soon to say Clawson. All he's got so far is arbitrary and on paper. We'll have to see how they perform.

[DTSpider]

Clawson also had an easy year at Richmond. It's pretty easy to get recruits when you can tell them that they have a good shot to play early because the current players don't fit your system. Not to mention how wonderful UR is as a selling point. ;)

[Kaduce]

Terran Hillesland OL 6-7 310 Offer from Wyoming

Tyler Pelleur LB 6-2 210 Offer from Air Force

Shawn Lebsock LB 6-0 220 Offer from Wyoming

Thanks :)

[Fordham]

Way to soon to say Clawson. All he's got so far is arbitrary and on paper. We'll have to see how they perform. true, if you were to judge him only on this past year's recruiting class.

My comments are moreso based on how he was able to bring some amazing nationwide talent to a floundering program with really poor facilities and turned everything around for us. It was really amazing stuff. So many from his big classes that gained so much experience as freshmen and then were the guys that led us to the quarterfinals of the I-AA playoffs are now still playing ball: Kevin Eakin (NFL Europe), Aki Jones (free agent this year to Skins), Tad Kornegay (reportedly deciding between free agent NFL offers), Matt Fordyce (free agent this year to Arizona), Javarus Dudley (CFL), Prince Poitier (AFL2 - Florida) and NaQuinton Gainous (AFL2 - Albany).

We owe alot to him up in the Bronx.

[Down with the Foe!]

The top of I-AA is on par with the bottom of 1A.


the top 10 or 15 1-AA teams are on par with the bottom 25 or so teams in 1-A any given year.


I.e. Maine beat MSU..... just for an example. (ya at a mighty, mighty SEC home field, course they had just finished playing at WA-Griz)

:cool:

If your gonna be a bear, be a GRIZ!

[eaglesrthe1]

Put Sewak at VMI and the answer is a resounding NO. Whoever replaced him at GSU would be touted as a top 5 recruiter within a few years.


I'll cut you some slack on the Sewak/VMI remark. You don't know the history of Sewak. A LARGE part of the success of GSU can be attributed to Mike Sewak. Everybody knows that it is the asst coaches which are largely responsible for the recruiting successes that a program enjoys. The head coach often just closes the deal. Sewak was an important recruiter for GSU in the early years (80’s) as well as GSU’s resurgence in the late 90’s as an assistant coach before he took over the reigns as the head coach.


To throw out VMI as an example of a school where he could not recruit a NC contender is disingenuous. Coaches at schools such as VMI operate at a disadvantage. The fact is that Sewak would raise the success level of practically any school that he coached at. If you think that past success is a guarantor of future success, then you have to look no further than EKU/YSU.

[Rob]

the top 10 or 15 1-AA teams are on par with the bottom 25 or so teams in 1-A any given year.


I.e. Maine beat MSU.....

interesting example, considering maine wasn't in the top 25 of any polls (No. 20 in the GPI). :)