Sunday, September 11, 2005

Ammo for the Recruiting Geeks

Interesting comment by Tom Lemming when discussing the different recruiting philosophies of Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis:

Irrespective of the outcome of today's game, Weis has already made some inroads against Michigan -- in recruiting.


Almost half of Notre Dame's 13-man class comprises players who Michigan wanted. It would be even more so if some -- like running back Munir Prince and quarterback Zach Frazer -- hadn't committed so early, before the Wolverines could get their campaign rolling.


"There's been a lot more head-to-head competition this recruiting cycle than there has been in the last 10 years," said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming and host of CSTV's Tom Lemming's Generation Next. "They're battling in Michigan. They're battling in Ohio. They're battling across the nation. And there's one reason for it, Charlie Weis' philosophy.


"Tyrone Willingham's philosophy was to battle Georgia Tech, Northwestern and Stanford instead of going after the big boys. That's why they didn't get a lot of great players. They got good ones, but not great ones. Davie didn't get them either. That's why he didn't have a lot of first-round draft choices.


"It's Weis' philosophy to go after the best players, no matter where they are, no matter who's recruiting them."


Lemming said over the past decade Notre Dame and Michigan typically battled for maybe 10 players a year -- even if neither of them ended up with them. This year it's roughly 30.


Face it. Facts are facts. Recruiting at Tech is a different animal, not because of how hard it is to get in (a la Stanford), but because of how hard it is to get out.......