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I know I say it every year, but damn some of these recruits look good.

sWiley

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Will provide more insight on them individually later as I don't have much time right now, but DAMN some of these kids look good. I can't stop watching Vincent Dinkins and Lance Robinson on film. We have never signed big men with this much agility and athleticism. Not sure what changed this year, but something changed. I'm so intrigued I can't help but wonder if some have character or grade issues because we just never get talented big men like this.

Jaylin Lane is the real deal at WR. Shifty, fast, super productive at the high school level. He will play early and often. Ralph Mency is an athletic freak. Very interested to see what they do with him. Call me crazy but he reminds me of Demarcus Ware coming out of high school. I would bulk him up and put him in the trenches. Deitrick Stanley obviously looks like a beast on film, I'm sure will play early and often as well. We need help at that position and he provides that in spades. Already has a well-built body and great football instincts. Not worried about his 40 time.

It is an absolute shame we lost Jalon Daniels to Kansas. I know his offer list was not impressive but he was not a slouch by any means. Very developed body for his age, strong arm, and a true dual threat. Excellent pocket passer. He had a great senior year and Kansas took notice I suppose. So unfortunate as we've had such difficulty with the QB position.

There are a few questionable takes that I personally would have laid off on. Wilson Kelly looks like a massive project and he played against very questionable competition.I suppose a high ceiling if he grows into a man? Sometimes you just have to take chances on kids like this which I understand, so I suppose I get it, but I don't know about this one. He looks a step slow to me but that's just my opinion. Evian Irving also seems like a bit of a stretch to me as well. He is markedly undersized for his position and doesn't really jump out at you on film which is what you need with undersized players. I sometimes worry we are recruiting too many Khalil Brooks' types.
 
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WE get talent. There's never any doubt of that. Coaching is the issuea nd always has been. When you have Ty Lee, Chissolm, Dobson and Marshall on the field at once and can't beat Rice? You suck at your job. Add Ohara to that and it becomes a WR coach, QB and OL coach issue. This ain't hard and we have more 3 stars than we've ever had. If we have better position coaches, it's a no brainer. That's why this team frustrates the hell out of me.
 
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Keep in mind Will Redmond (former Director of Recruiting) is at KU now. I have little doubt they kept tabs on Daniels all year and he leveraged that relationship when the time to offer presented itself.

It sucks but given this is probably a 1 QB class, I was kind of hoping for more pizzazz with the signing. At least now they’ve got a chance to go do that.
 
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Ralph Mency is an athletic freak. Very interested to see what they do with him. Call me crazy but he reminds me of Demarcus Ware coming out of high school. I would bulk him up and put him in the trenches.
Side note - Demarcus Ware was a WR when he signed with Troy out of high school.
 
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Anyone see our old QB Chance Nolan signed with Oregon State over Utah after a stint in JUCO?

I'm glad we keep trotting out a prep school kid who can't throw and signed a big JUCO from Cali who a wasted ship.

I love signing day. I like to check out all the profiles, and TBH, outside of Stanley and Mency, there doesn't look like a whole lot of these signees had very many options outside of MT. Half the class looks like their profiles were just made up on the spot just to have one.
 
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I'd give the class a solid B... Officially get guys like Peasant and Garcia in the fold and you are approaching B+ maybe even A- status..
 
I like to look at it in comparison to how the other schools in our conference and others from the g5 do. Honestly I don't think we have adequate talent. Both lines have been mostly crap during the current coaching regime's era. I guess the final judgement will be how many conference championships this class wins when it's done in '24 or '25.
 
I hope we are fishing in the transfer portal a lot more going forward. I really think you will see a lot more players that are just backups at big programs leave to get a shot somewhere else. MT better be there ready to offer.

This is the me generation, so players either start or they want out. That's where a team like MT can really take advantage of missing out on the prospects the first go around when they come out of high school. I would be all over that transfer portal if I were a coach.
 
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I like to look at it in comparison to how the other schools in our conference and others from the g5 do. Honestly I don't think we have adequate talent. Both lines have been mostly crap during the current coaching regime's era. I guess the final judgement will be how many conference championships this class wins when it's done in '24 or '25.

Agreed. We have been OK at the skill positions but our recruiting on the defensive and offensive lines just hasn't been good quite enough. We came so close to finishing the job with Brent's senior year but of course came up short.
 
Anyone see our old QB Chance Nolan signed with Oregon State over Utah after a stint in JUCO?

I'm glad we keep trotting out a prep school kid who can't throw and signed a big JUCO from Cali who a wasted ship.

I love signing day. I like to check out all the profiles, and TBH, outside of Stanley and Mency, there doesn't look like a whole lot of these signees had very many options outside of MT. Half the class looks like their profiles were just made up on the spot just to have one.

Yup. Rated 4 star on here with offers to UCLA, Utah, New Mexico Sate, OK State and 4 others. Crazy.

 
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Yup. Rated 4 star on here with offers to UCLA, Utah, New Mexico Sate, OK State and 4 others. Crazy.


Ignoring or not knowing what talent they have or can get seems to be a trademark of this regime. I am reminded of the guy who played at Mount Juliet who ended up playing at a 1aa in Virginia, then when transferring could have possibly walked on at MT, but ended up playing for Troy in 2008 and 2009, beating the Blue Raiders 31-7 and 31-17, and had a cup of coffee or two in the NFL with Buffalo...
 
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Aside from the one young guy who is getting after it, we all already know what's going on here. We have a bunch end of career dudes who are coasting that probably still like winning but not enough do what it takes to win at a place like MT. They will like winning so long as its convenient and our recruiting classes show it.

Think about this. We have a bunch of old timers who have coached at the upper levels of college football. They busted their asses for years to try to make winners out of these big time programs. Does anyone really believe they are going to get out their and give their all for a school like Middle Tennessee?

It's ridiculous our university's leadership has allowed this to happen.
 
Ignoring or not knowing what talent they have or can get seems to be a trademark of this regime. I am reminded of the guy who played at Mount Juliet who ended up playing at a 1aa in Virginia, then when transferring could have possibly walked on at MT, but ended up playing for Troy in 2008 and 2009, beating the Blue Raiders 31-7 and 31-17, and had a cup of coffee or two in the NFL with Buffalo...
He was a QB, right?
 
Ignoring or not knowing what talent they have or can get seems to be a trademark of this regime. I am reminded of the guy who played at Mount Juliet who ended up playing at a 1aa in Virginia, then when transferring could have possibly walked on at MT, but ended up playing for Troy in 2008 and 2009, beating the Blue Raiders 31-7 and 31-17, and had a cup of coffee or two in the NFL with Buffalo...


Levi Brown
 
Aside from the one young guy who is getting after it, we all already know what's going on here. We have a bunch end of career dudes who are coasting that probably still like winning but not enough do what it takes to win at a place like MT. They will like winning so long as its convenient and our recruiting classes show it.

Think about this. We have a bunch of old timers who have coached at the upper levels of college football. They busted their asses for years to try to make winners out of these big time programs. Does anyone really believe they are going to get out their and give their all for a school like Middle Tennessee?

It's ridiculous our university's leadership has allowed this to happen.

I look at the profiles, and expect to see us mixing it up with programs like WKU, Marshall, Memphis, UAB, F_U's, etc. Instead, most of these kids are like, MT and maybe Kent State and Stetson or whatever.

How does the largest undergrad school in the state not sign a single one of the state's top 50 prospects?

For every Richie or Byard that is a diamond in the rough, the 10 or so other signees that simply aren't FBS level are killing us.
 
I look at the profiles, and expect to see us mixing it up with programs like WKU, Marshall, Memphis, UAB, F_U's, etc. Instead, most of these kids are like, MT and maybe Kent State and Stetson or whatever.

How does the largest undergrad school in the state not sign a single one of the state's top 50 prospects?

For every Richie or Byard that is a diamond in the rough, the 10 or so other signees that simply aren't FBS level are killing us.

So you are saying our competition isn't WKU or UAB, it's Stetson. LOL That makes you feel good about the state of the program.

My issue is what makes you want to be a part of a program like that? Don't you have at least a little self respect and motivation to want to be the best at what you do? Doesn't it just eat you alive to know you have let this thing sink to such a low level and it was on your watch? Pull yourself up from the bootstraps and push ahead. Be part of something great, nobody wants to be on the losing team. That's mainly for Massaro and McPhee, but it applies to all the coaching staff as well regardless of age.
 
I look at the profiles, and expect to see us mixing it up with programs like WKU, Marshall, Memphis, UAB, F_U's, etc. Instead, most of these kids are like, MT and maybe Kent State and Stetson or whatever.

How does the largest undergrad school in the state not sign a single one of the state's top 50 prospects?

For every Richie or Byard that is a diamond in the rough, the 10 or so other signees that simply aren't FBS level are killing us.
Out of the 12 it shows on the board in Lightning's Lounge that officially are a part of the team 10 of them have offers from FBS programs in our conference or equal conferences. Some of those have P5 offers. So you are wrong if Rivals is right about offers.
 
Out of the 12 it shows on the board in Lightning's Lounge that officially are a part of the team 10 of them have offers from FBS programs in our conference or equal conferences. Some of those have P5 offers. So you are wrong if Rivals is right about offers.

I don't buy it he rivals "offers" list at all. A kid gets a Twitter DM back in April from a big team and all of a sudden it's an "offer".

I like to go by official visits. If a team is going to bring you in on an official visit, which are limited each season, and spend that expense and time recruiting you, that's when you can count an offer as real.

Not a whole lot of this class has very many visits other than MT.
 
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With the early signing period you won't see many other visits. Most of these kids are discovered earlier in the year via camps and it is difficult for them to take visits leading up to December signing day for obvious reasons (high school monday-friday, they're still playing on Friday nights, etc.).

Look at Marshall's commits for example, they look very similar to us. Lots of unrated players that needed profiles created on signing day and almost all of their signees took only visits to Marshall. Kids typically will visit where they are committed or plan to commit to and that's it for the early signing period.

Not defending the staff but that's just the reality of how the early December signing period goes.

Now for February, you'll see many more visits because these kids have much more free time with no more football, christmas break etc.

It's rather troubling we had so many not sign early in December. Most schools had the majority of their players sign already. We are either holding out for bigger fish, or our commits are fishing for bigger offers. Probably a bit of both.


I will say this, ever since Royston became our primary recruiter last year, we have signed better players. No doubt about it.
 
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