The 2013 Graveyard Thread

[MikeTrainNC8]

Originally Posted by Gamecockfanatic4

and I'll take Griffin over Hill anyday #justsayin

haha hashtag? a good majority would take Griffin over Hill. great trade off for sure

[MikeTrainNC8]

Originally Posted by Coondog

It's hard for me to call Manziel over rated since as a RS Freshman with not much of a running game he guided A&M to a 10 win season in the SEC and beat Bama in there house all while breaking Cam Newtons SEC record. If Shaw could learn how to get rid of the ball he could be just as dangerous, but that's another discussion.

Not much of a running game? Did you watch them? They have 3 very talented RBs each capable of housing it who each had impressive seasons splitting the carries

Cam's yardage record.. that does not nearly impress me as much as TDs. Yards don't win football games. He struggled against most of the few good teams he played against. Garcia beat a better Bama handidly, was he Heisman worthy? Bama has had a poor secondary all year.. LSU he did worse than Shaw, Florida was another clunker. In that offense he will always put up yards. Manziel is mad overrated. Didn't the voters learn from Eric Crouch?

And there are plenty of people in the record books who didn't win a Heisman, let alone an award. I can't wait for Clowney to destroy him

[MikeTrainNC8]

Originally Posted by CoverTwo

If you take our bottom 5 commitments:

Martin - Rivals fringe 4 star (5.7) coming out of high school with LSU and Nebraska offers.

Sasser - Good offer list that includes Stanford. 4 star on ESPN.

Camara - Not the best offer list but the staff feels he is the best fit for our SPUR position. Going to trust evaluation here but the staff has proven they know what to look for more often than not.

Cooper - Shrine Bowl stud that plays way above his rating and probably could see more offers his way if he wanted to take some visits.

Vickers - Sign & Place that would have a stout offer list if he had a chance to qualify. He is a guy that'll take a big bump up next recruiting cycle.

And even if you didn't include Vickers, that would put JP Vonasheck on the list and he has a boat load of offers.

So really, yes moral sucks, but we got some really good players coming and USC will add a few more before NSD.

C2, the problem isn't our overall recruiting, we do a great job of having a solid class from the bottom up, and it shows in the results with numerous 2 and 3 stars becoming big time players for us. The problem is the top, we should not be having this problem with linebackers at this stage of our program.

Our staff better be on Yannick (or at least someone) nonstop, knocking down his door and doing a jig

[trapper82]

Originally Posted by CockTail

Ok, then the question for our recruiters is/was "Did USC meet with his family also?"

If not, that is where we failed. If we did, then we simply lost, ok fine.

Do remember we are a little more limited if I recall, don't we get fewer visits or something as part of the self imposed punishment.

[GamecockSuperFan]

It may be awhile before SC produces players like Jeffery, Gilmore, Lattimore, Clowney in such a relatively short timeframe again.. I mean I know this state has talent and we'll be fine if we can keep it in state but man oh man.. that was a run of some really good athletes all of which really helped turn this thing around. Or should I really say.. helped start it all.

[Evilchicken2]

Originally Posted by GamecockSuperFan

It may be awhile before SC produces players like Jeffery, Gilmore, Lattimore, Clowney in such a relatively short timeframe again.. I mean I know this state has talent and we'll be fine if we can keep it in state but man oh man.. that was a run of some really good athletes all of which really helped turn this thing around. Or should I really say.. helped start it all.

Excellent point.

We are heavily reliant on instate talent because we don't really recruit nationally, and we are mostly limited to recruiting in NC, GA, and FL. While we continue to have some success in NJ, I'm still waiting for a superstar to emerge from up north. I'd like to see us mirror what Clemson has; extremely strong ties in Florida, cache in NC and VA, and that elusive "family atmosphere."

[trapper82]

Originally Posted by Evilchicken2

Excellent point.

We are heavily reliant on instate talent because we don't really recruit nationally, and we are mostly limited to recruiting in NC, GA, and FL. While we continue to have some success in NJ, I'm still waiting for a superstar to emerge from up north. I'd like to see us mirror what Clemson has; extremely strong ties in Florida, cache in NC and VA, and that elusive "family atmosphere."

I don't want to mirror Clemson at all, they have lost several 5 star rated players like Bellamy and Bryant b/c of character problems and let's be honest, probably some $ to get them there in the first place.

[trapper82]

This is obviously a loaded question with a few different methods of looking at it. But if I think back to where we were about 12 years ago, we were at the very bottom of the mountain in regards to building a football program. Getting to the top of the mountain (Championships) takes strategy (Coaching), preparation (S&C), some luck but also raw talent (Recruiting). There are limited resources in this regard though, and we are competing with everyone else for those same recruits. So what makes them come HERE instead of somewhere else?

First of all, I think we can look at Tennessee. With some luck, skill, strategy and preparation we got to the place we could consistently compete with and even beat them. This, among some amazingly bad decisions on their part, started the process of Tennessee's downward slide and we began to get recruits they normally would. I think the same thing will happen with clempson, and it will be in the next two years. In other words, for someone to go farther up the mountain, other teams have to go down. Tennessee, GA, and Florida could never remain the big three AND we accomplish our goals, we had to supplant at least 1 or 2 of them to pull this off. I always felt this way, so for people to say the SEC East is down because Tennessee is not as good is pretty dumb; no one ever said Tennessee had to be good for the SEC East to be good.

So I believe the next big recruiting jump we'll see will be in regards to in-state talent secured by the demise of clempson post-Dabo. But until then, are we doing about as well as can be expected? Were we spoiled by guys like Gilmore, Jeffery, Lattimore and Clowney to assume this would be normal every year? Last year we had a very quiet signing day, no surprises either way. And of course this year is not finished, so it's a little unfair to judge this class as a whole. Nor is this class as it stands today bad at all, it fills some needs and is ranked among the best in the country. While a little disappointed we didn't get some of these folks like Rolin and Bryant, I'm not terribly disturbed by it. If that became a yearly trend, maybe, but I don't see that as being normal.

Just my opinion.

[Rh Gamecock]

I agree with a lot of what you have to say, but when Clowney leaves we are going to need new stars to step up and for me or anyone else to predict that will happen is impossible. I hope some does though. This recruiting class will most likely be the core of our 2014 team and some of them will be starting. I'm guessing Cooper, larenz, Mitch, hill and turner. Will be starters / with turner being maybe just in the two deep. I like our recruiting so far even though it would be nice to get an extra recruit we wanted I believe if we get Williams and Rodgers its a solid class.

[CoverTwo]

You should expect a Top 15-20 class yearly with possiblity of Top 10 when the instate is strong.

That is realistic expectations.

[MBGCock]

North Carolina hates us.

[sc455]

Pharoh is a 3 star kid who happened to have a good s.b...he is a project.

[CockLurker]

Originally Posted by sc455

Pharoh is a 3 star kid who happened to have a good s.b...he is a project.

I generally only base my opinions off of other peoples opinions and not what I see myself.

I think it's one of my best qualities :)

[elcid99]

Originally Posted by sc455

Pharoh is a 3 star kid who happened to have a good s.b...he is a project.

With all do respect, you clearly haven't seen him play.

[jcook84]

Like half the kids on this list are from schools in the Charlotte area. It's pretty biased if you ask me.

The high school in my town was 15-0, won the 4A state championship, and ranked second in the state behind Butler, yet had no one on the team...if New Bern and Butler squared off, I'd have to say I'd drop my cash on New Bern.

[elcid99]

Originally Posted by b381l

Georgia already has 8 DB commitments including Langley and Wiggins. No wonder he's looking around....3 are 4* and 5 are 3*. Wiggins is a 3*.

Yeah, they have a boat load of DBs committed (247 - Wiggins 4*).

[DawginCola]

Originally Posted by elcid99

Yeah, they have a boat load of DBs committed (247 - Wiggins 4*).

After the bowl game we'll only have 5 DBs on scholarship and both Marc Deas and Devin Bowman, while seemingly good guys, aren't the guys you want to depend on for quality depth. We're only bringing in 3 corners, though, and rarely cross-train DBs.

[SpurProsecutor]

Originally Posted by CoverTwo

You should expect a Top 15-20 class yearly with possiblity of Top 10 when the instate is strong.

That is realistic expectations.

Assuming our coaching situation remains constant with the HBC, Lawing, and others, we should be able to maintain 10 win seasons for the next several years. I would also throw in there that our success on the field over the past 3 to 4 years should theoretically pay better recruiting dividends than in 2009 - 2012 as the current crop of highschool talent has now grown up observing Carolina as a major player in the SEC.

C2, do you still see the instate talent fluctuations as the biggest factor in Carolina's recruiting success going forward?

[LegalCock]

The in state has been really crappy the last couple years. I hope this isn't a trend. Seems like a lot of no chance on earth to qualify guys we're missing out on having a shot at too.

[henmania]

Originally Posted by CoverTwo

You should expect a Top 15-20 class yearly with possiblity of Top 10 when the instate is strong.

That is realistic expectations.

THIS!!!