UA football does well with two-star recruits
Hard to believe Antoine Cason was only a two-star recruit on Scout.com./Chargers.com photo
By Anthony Gimino
As part of a larger story I did at TucsonCitizen.com on the early success of the Class of 2008 recruits, I started researching all of coach Mike Stoops’ recruiting efforts. It’s pretty amazing the kind of two-star talent he and his coaching staff have uncovered and developed.
The following players were rated only two stars by either Rivals.com or Scout.com, or both:
2004
DL Yaniv Barnett
OL Joe Longacre
DB Dominic Patrick
CB Antoine Cason
2005
LB Spencer Larsen (coming back from a church mission)
2006
DT Lolomana Mikaele
2007
CB Trevin Wade
WR Bug Wright
2008
RB Greg Nwoko
WR Juron Criner
WR David Douglas
OL Herman Hall
That’s a major-award winner and a first-round draft pick (Cason), a first-team all-conference linebacker and valuable 2008 NFL rookie (Larsen), a 40-game starter on the offensive line (Longacre) … and seven players from 2006 to 2008 who look to be significant contributors for a few more years (except for Hall, who was a JC transfer).
Wade, in particular, could be a major star.
When I was recently doing a story on Wade, I asked UA defensive coordinator Mark Stoops about finding those kind of gems.
“Certainly, some kids get so much hype and so much recruitment that it’s undeserved,” Stoops said. “And other kids, you find that they’re just good ball players.
“We don’t have the bells and whistles around here to go get a bunch of four- and five-star recruits. It’s just not going to happen. So we have to do a great job of evaluation and do a great job of developing.
“We’re always going to go after them (the four- and five-star recruits) — and not just because they are four- and five-star guys. We’re going to recruit the best players we can get. But there are a lot of good programs out there, and we have our obstacles that we must overcome.”
Arizona seems to be doing that, turning a high percentage of its two-star recruits into useful (or star-level) players. It’s just a reminder to not get too worked up — one way or another — about football recruiting rankings.
FOLLOW US BY CLICKING ON THE LOGOS:
  |
Please help this site keep going: Please remember to visit the ads on this site. Thanks. |
Tags: Antoine Cason, Mark Stoops, Mike Stoops, Spencer Larsen, Trevin Wade
WILDABOUTAZCATS.com (RSS) Feeds
This entry was posted
on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 PM and is filed under General News, UA football 2009, UA football recruiting.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Well, it is encouraging to see what Stoops has done with some of these lesser ranked recruits, no doubt. What I find disturbing though is the D coordinator saying we are just not going to land 4-5 star guys. I wonder if that is the attitude they have in Boise? I doubt it. The coaches and the community have to get over this step-child attitude. I think it kept Tomey from getting us over the top and into the Rose Bowl and, although I like the direction we are heading, a few more 4 star studs would certainly only help close the gap with the Trojans. I don’t think the goal ought to be to work hard and get lucky one season every decade. Consistently high level football has been played at BYU, Boise and other programs without the bells and whistles and it can be done in Tucson. Just lose the “can’t do” attitude.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 PM
There is a certain obsession with the whole Recruiting Ranking system. I get the fact that it is a tangible way for fans to compare “how we did” in bringing in talent to our favorite football or basketball programs. But as you said, AG, it’s probably not something to get too worked up about….
One of the most effective coaches in recruiting/developing 2 and 3 star recruits is Gary Patterson of TCU. Currently, the Horned Frogs are 5-0 and are ranked #8 in the BCS standings. In his 10th season as Head Coach, Patterson has led his teams to 8 Bowl Games (It will be 9 at the end of this season. If you look at the players he has recruited, they are almost exclusively 2s and 3s. At last count, 12 players have gone on from these teams to the NFL.
Mark Stoops got it right. Its all about evaluating and developing talent.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:23 PM
Colorado Mark,
He didn’t say Arizona wasn’t going to recruit or land some 4-5 star guys. UA does every year. (UA has 11 four-stars in the past three years, according to Rivals).
Yes, the point is that consistently high-level football has been played at BYU, Boise State — and I’ll throw Oregon State in there — without recruiting classes that everyone swoons over. And consistently high-level football can be played at Arizona the same way.
That said, UA wouldn’t be starting a nine-figure construction project if it already had all the bells and whistles. That’s just being realistic.
And I think recruiting rankings are just a horrible way to evaluate coaches, which, I think, the research bears out. Landing four-star studs like Derke Robinson or Mike Turner might make everyone feel good on Signing Day, but wouldn’t you rather have a two-star steal like Trevin Wade that the coaching staff has properly evaluated?
(EDIT: And Doug also makes a good point about TCU. Good story in SI recently about how they recruit speedy and perhaps undersized offensive players just below the big schools’ radar and turn those guys into monsters on defense.)
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:33 PM
Colorado Mark: Its not as if Mark Stoops said, “Since we’re Arizona, we have to accept the fact that we’re gonna only get crappie recruits.
I’m glad that you brought Boise State up…..If you would check things out, Chris Petersen (Head Coach of BSU) does the same thing that Patterson does….evaluates talent really well and develops the players he gets
In Boise’s 2009 recruiting class, guess how many 4 or 5 star recruits they signed….exactly ZERO. 2008, you say? ZERO again. Should we try 2007 or 2006? Okay, ZERO AND ZERO. In fact, since 2002, Boise has had one 4-star recruit (Jeremy Childs in 2005)
Sure, the Wildcats should go after the very best recruits possible. Get in early and stay with top talent and hopefully pull in a few. But I trust the U of A Coaching Staff’s ability do recruit and develop players.
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Doug and AG:
Yes, I get it guys and I appreciate the fact that the coaches must devleop players. Certainly the UofA track record on that has been admirable. I’m sure if you asked Pete Carrol, he would agree that it is developing players, regardless of their high school pedigree, that makes a team successful, not the number of 5 star guys. But what jumped out at me about MS’s comments was the shrug of the shoulders negativity of it. He’s the number 2 guy for gosh sakes. I hope he’s not that honest on his in-home visits! Spin it a little!
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:22 PM
This is where I don’t think Coach Stoops & Co. get enough credit for being the teachers of the game that they are.
A ** generally comes raw but with some ability tucked somewhere deep in the recesses of, most likely, that player’s unbeatable soul and spirit.
The good thing is that you know they generally ain’t going anywhere for four years, and so let the developing begin.
A good coach, like a good teacher, has to find what makes this guy who loves to play football – OK here I go, this guy named Joe – tick and work it, patiently but with purpose, to where we’ve seen Cason and the others take it.
There’s a process involved here and we’re now seeing the fruits of those labors.
Now if we see our DBs make one more average receiver look like Jerry Rice we may have to wonder what’s going on here.
Bear Down, Coach Mark & Co.!
October 24th, 2009 at 9:04 AM
But, that really is the difference between a team always falling into the top 10 and ones like Arizona always looking in from out outside. If you are Boise State, you really play no one, but if you make one mistake you are toast. For Arizona, having to play a much harder schedule every year, the same applies.
I fully expect Arizona to pop good teams from time to time. Loved the 12-1 team. I think if Gronk comes back, the team is really lined up for a year like that in 2010; even without him.
UA is a very difficult place to recruit football. And I do agree the development of players is both notable and incredible. But it will not ever be enough. There is no reason why a 5 star would come to Tucson. They are being recruited away as being told that would be tossing their NFL chances away.
However, for the Alumni, I am see a lot of Ryan Leif (college years mind you) in Foles. We are headed right for a good string of years. WSU had a lot of 8-3 and 9-3 years. We lock down our defense a bit and Football will be fun. The trick now is, how you do get a major QB, 5 star, come in behind Foles?. That is the make or break of the program in 2011/12.
Foles is a better QB than Tuitama and better than Drew Breze in High School. Dykes system should be really attractive to a top QB (5 star) recruit who wants to make some history. But I doubt it will happen.
The difference? USC 4 and 5 stars across the board. That is what keeps you in the top 10.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:49 AM
I’ve been blogging about some similar topics @ http://mrjamesryan.com if you’re interested, please feel free to leave a comment aswell. Maybe we can exchange links?