Patriot League Recruiting - BUCKNELL

[carney2]

BUCKNELL = 50

The Committee is always bouncing around stream of consciousness thoughts during the long and tedious ratings process. They have decided to defy the Star Chamber that is the Patriot League, and throw out some of these random thoughts instead of the usual introduction:

• Many thanks to Bison137 for his in-depth analysis of this group. It was very helpful in verifying that nothing was overlooked. We have some differences however, in ratings assignments.
• One recruit appears to be a transfer, although the “T” word was never used. He comes in with sophomore eligibility in the Patriot League and was listed as a red-shirt freshman on the 2010 UConn roster. He has been dropped from the ratings because transfers are not considered in the Patsy Ratings.
• Does anyone else find the geographical distribution of the recruits a little more “local” than we are used to seeing with most of the other Patriot League schools? There are 5 recruits from Texas (2 from the same school), but very few others are not from Pennsylvania or neighboring states. Two recruits, ostensibly from Montana and California, have been filtered through PA and CT prep schools. The Committee suspects that either former Coach Landis was not giving it the old college try, or he was working under budgetary/recruiting restrictions that may partially explain his departure. Here’s hoping that The Committee is suffering a bout of paranoia.
• Some thoughts have been uttered that maybe the Bison narrowed their size gap with the rest of the Patriot League with this class. Not so much. Not enough heft in this group to make up for all of those years recruiting at Lilliput HS.
• There is much optimism in Bisonland that new head coach, Joe Susan, will return the orange and blue to its glory days. Hope springs eternal and, until the years prove otherwise, Susan’s the man, BUT this class will not provide much of an intital thrust. Bucky the Bison will have to wait until 2011 and coach Susan’s first recruiting class to view the future.

QUALITY = 14: Not much to write home about. Only one recruit with any stars assigned by either recruiting service.
2010: 10 rated players (36% of the class). One 2-star - from Rivals, not confirmed by Scout.
2009: 8 rated recruits (30%); four 2 stars
2008: 7 rated recruits (28%); no 2-stars.
2007: 8 rated recruits (27%); no 2 stars

CLASS SIZE = 6: 28 recruits. Transfers are not included.

DISTRIBUTION = 9: Recruits for all the Patsy rated positions, even TE.

SPEED = 12: The usual disclaimer: there is limited information for this category, and even that information is questionable.

TRIGGER = 0: 2 QB recruits; neither receiving any stars from either recruiting service.

JUMBO = 4: 2 OL, both @ 270+; 4 DL, 2 @ 250+

NEEDS = 5

DL = 3 (of 5): 4 recruits, 2 Jumbos, 1 is rated, no stars.
OL = 1 (of 4): 2 recruits, 1 rated, no stars.
LB = 1 (of 3): 3 recruits; 1 rated, no stars.

THE COMMITTEE’S ADJUSTMENTS = 0:

THE RATINGS RACE - Final:

81 Lehigh
74 Holy Cross
60 Lafayette
58 Georgetown
50 Bucknell
28 Fordham*
25 Colgate
*Fordham has gone full scholarship. Patsy Rating methodology may not be appropriate for scholarship football.

[bison137]

Can't disagree too much - although my ranking in this system would be in the high 50's. I think the quality may be a bit higher than shown in the star system, since a Big 33 player and two East-West players all get no stars and thus no credit.

As for the "trigger", there actually are three QB's but I assume that doesn't change the ranking. I think the QB from TX may surprise however.

As for neeeds, it's my own fault for not having chimed in with Bucknell's "needs" months ago - but two of the three needs listed really aren't in BU's top four. The true BU needs were:

1. OL - lots of returnees but not much size; recruited for a different offense. Hopefully the UConn transfer will help - even if he doesn't make the Patsy ratings. As for the incoming frosh, I would not be at all surprised to see the OL from Texas be a solid player. He was 1st team big schools All-District in the Dallas area. Two years earlier we had a 2nd team All-District from the same H.S. and he started as a frosh. The one from NJ may turn out OK also - remains to be seen.

2. QB - three rising juniors on the roster, all recruited for the triple option or spread, and nothing else. They will have a very good corps of receivers so hopefully a more imaginative offense will let them be successful through the air. Added three new QB's in this class, but it remains to be seen how good they are. The one from Plano seems to have potential.

3. TE - had no TE's on the roster last year since the normal offense did not use one. Added one TE who played in the East-West game plus two others.

4. FB - biggest returning RB on the team is 5'10" 205 lbs. Did not use a true FB most of the time last year. Added a Big 33 FB in this class.

I would rate this group as 7 points out of 12.



As for the other two non-needs:

1. DL - Last fall's depth chart has SR/SO/SO starting, and JR/SO/SO as backups. Team was third in the PL in defense against the run - giving up 3.5 yards per carry. And they have gotten back Josh Eden, who was the best soph DL in the PL two years ago, after a Mormon mission. Also their leader in sacks last year was a freshman who was not on the two-deep. The DL should be a strength of the team.

2. LB - somewhere in the middle. Last year's starters were two JR's and two SR's, but the four backups were three sophs and one freshman. Had this been a need, however, it would have to get at least 2 points out of 3: one LB who was selected for the East-West game and another who gets two stars from ESPN.

[carney2]

I can't remember who contributed the Bucknell "needs." I do remember that AGS went into shutdown mode as we were trying to collect this information and things got short circuited. At that time I had, I believe, at least one response from each school and had to go with it.

Frankly, this class looks a lot like same old, same old from Landis. It appears that Susan is going to have to content himself with changing attitudes and will this year as well as installing his systems. The beginning of the great leap forward is probably a year away, but I think we all knew that given the timing.

I can't imagine that Susan took the job without some guarantees of support, but on the other hand, he is in his mid 50s and may have been running out of head coaching opportunities. My comments about the recruiting geography are serious and a bit troubling. The new administration is a wild card in all of this, but the basics of finance and institutional attitudes have not changed. The Class of 2015 (the recruiting class of 2011) will be, in my opinion, make or break for Bucknell football.

[RichH2]

Iam not quite as sanquine as Carney. Given short recruiting period I think Susan did pretty well. Some additional size and some nice skills. Q will be change of O scheme. Bu will need some luck with finding a qb to run new system. Agree with Carney tho that Susan needs to hit a great class next yr.Landis' recruits other than D were very specific to his offense. How many will transfer effectively to new O?

[bison137]

Frankly, this class looks a lot like same old, same old from Landis.

How could it not look like a Landis class? It was recruited largely by Landis and his assistants. Susan wasn't hired until the end of January and his assistants weren't hired until after the signing date.

[bison137]

My comments about the recruiting geography are serious and a bit troubling.

It's not troubling to me. If BU can do better in PA, NJ, Ohio, MD, and VA - plus Texas, which has become a fertile recruiting ground the last few years - they will do fine. The key is getting better players from those states, and I am cautiously optimistic that Susan and a better team of assistants can do that.

BU was active in Tennessee, NC, and Georgia in recent years - but has not gotten much bang for their buck. I'd stick to TX, FL, and the Mid-Atlantic. One plus is that Susan was recruiting coordinator for Rutgers for many years and I'm sure he has much better contacts in NJ and Eastern PA than Landis did.

[RichH2]

I think all of us need to recruit nationally for kids. LU has done well in Fl and Ga and occasionally La. Cal has been a real problem we have lost kids every year most due to homesickness. Mid West has been Ok over the last few yrs Ariz, Neb and Mich.

PL in order to compete has to recruit kids all over. Pa,NY,Nj Md and OH great base but given competition for those student -athletes getting a solid foothold in areas with fewer FCS schools can only help the PL

[colorless raider]

I think all of us need to recruit nationally for kids. LU has done well in Fl and Ga and occasionally La. Cal has been a real problem we have lost kids every year most due to homesickness. Mid West has been Ok over the last few yrs Ariz, Neb and Mich.

PL in order to compete has to recruit kids all over. Pa,NY,Nj Md and OH great base but given competition for those student -athletes getting a solid foothold in areas with fewer FCS schools can only help the PL

Any idea where wr Flynn transfered to? He was a player I thought.