Football Recruiting
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DB
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Watching GA HS football on ESPN now.....
Posted Thu, Oct 11 5:49 pm (Edited Thu, Oct 11 5:50 pm)
and if UCLA is not out there recruiting some of these defensive players and linemen then they can't complain if they are not winning in 3-4 years. These guys are big, athletic and fast. CA has enough talent at the skill positions to fill college rosters but when talking LB's, OL, DL you must get a few guys from the south. Florida, Texas (SW), GA, Louisiana etc.
UclanDoIt
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Very difficult to get linemen out of the South
Posted Thu, Oct 11 8:04 pm
In response to Watching GA HS football on ESPN now..... (DB)
The issue with recruiting kids from the South is most prefer to stay close to home. Football in the south is a religion and not a sporting event like it is in the western states. Recall the Roquan Smith (LB) fiasco when Mora was HC. It also doesn't help UCLA recruiting in the South that Smith ultimately stayed home, attended Georgia, became an All American, and a first round NFL draft pick while UCLA collapsed under Mora.

As for the big kids on both sides of the line, I don't recall the last time UCLA was able to bring in a stud lineman (offense or defense) from the deep south. UCLA has had some success recruiting Texas but that is the southwest. The deep south kids tend to stay close to home plus many of them are unable to qualify academically at UCLA.
blue and gold 4-ever
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The SEC Won’t let it Happen
Posted Fri, Oct 12 5:58 am
In response to Very difficult to get linemen out of the South (UclanDoIt)
They are very competitive with each other but band together to keep their own talent pool together. We need some Clemson style linemen but until Dabo and Saban retire the West Coast will never see kids like them here !
BruinPete
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Wasn't UCLA in it for
Posted Fri, Oct 12 9:11 am
In response to Very difficult to get linemen out of the South (UclanDoIt)
a linebacker that Auburn and Alabama were also recruiting. For a while we looked like we were in it, but it seemed, to me, the player was "recruited" harder by Alabama. The Auburn fans were not happy. Given the recent testimony with regards to Adidas, I would wager that the player/family received a nice reward.
lifelongbruin
Joined: 2/11/05 Posts: 513
That was the rumor*
Posted Fri, Oct 12 3:19 pm
In response to Wasn't UCLA in it for (BruinPete)
nm
OswegoBruin
Joined: 11/11/10 Posts: 16,957
IIRC that was Rashaan Evans.
Posted Fri, Oct 12 3:29 pm
In response to Wasn't UCLA in it for (BruinPete)
His family literally lived in Auburn, Alabama and he went to Bama.
blue and gold 4-ever
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I Remember Auburn Fans Weren’t Happy
Posted Sat, Oct 13 5:29 am
In response to IIRC that was Rashaan Evans. (OswegoBruin)
They threatened to boycott the Evans business if their son went to Alabama . I heard he loved it out here on his trip but the parents stopped him from coming out here . Can you imagine Evans and Smith playing together ?
Crispy
Joined: 1/13/14 Posts: 6,723
Coaches crashed the family bbq*
Posted Sun, Oct 14 11:14 pm
In response to IIRC that was Rashaan Evans. (OswegoBruin)
Nm
DB
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I understand that it is difficult.....
Posted Tue, Oct 16 7:22 am
In response to Very difficult to get linemen out of the South (UclanDoIt)
but isn't that why you pay a guy 3-4 million? I mean recruiting the best players is part of the job description and while I don't see us landing a ton of guys from the south we better start landing a few. If we want to be nationally relevant that is. CA and the west can generally fill 90% of one's roster class in a given year but 10% need to come from the southern states to be compettive. That's 3-4 players per year and there should be no excuse for not being able to do so.
UclanDoIt
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The challenge is identifying and coaching
Posted Wed, Oct 17 8:49 pm
In response to I understand that it is difficult..... (DB)
I agree recruiting is an important element in building a successful college football program. Getting kids out of the south is another story. As noted earlier, I don't recall the last time a Pac12 school was able to successfully recruit a highly rated lineman (on either side of the ball) from the south. Maybe someone on this board can name someone but I can't think of one right now.

As part of his salary, CCK needs to identify the kids who are seriously interested in attending and who will fit into the program while remaining eligible academically (otherwise it's a waste of time and money). You then coach them up to reach their potential. I don't think you have to have big kids from the south to be competitive - after all, I don't believe Ohio State has been very successful in recruiting linemen out of the south either.

DB
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You may want to look up OSU's roster first....
Posted Thu, Oct 18 8:25 am (Edited Thu, Oct 18 8:33 am)
In response to The challenge is identifying and coaching (UclanDoIt)
http://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-footbl/roster/

Please note the players (27) from the southern portion of the US and from Texas which was also listed as a must recruit area in my post. There are tons of Florida kids playing for OSU along with others from the south. USC has always had prospects from the Florida area as well as Oregon and UW. I did not just say linemen but positions other than pure skill positions so LB's, Linemen qualify and getting 3-4 per year should not be overly difficult. We get a few from Texas now but need to go deeper.

I also clearly stated to be nationally relevant it is a must to recruit some players from these areas. We can't talk playoffs until we do better there. The ultimate goal is to win the title. Multi Million dollar coaches think that way IMO.

"and if UCLA is not out there recruiting some of these defensive players and linemen then they can't complain if they are not winning in 3-4 years. These guys are big, athletic and fast. CA has enough talent at the skill positions to fill college rosters but when talking LB's, OL, DL you must get a few guys from the south. Florida, "Texas (SW)", GA, Louisiana etc.
Edited Thu, Oct 11 6:50 pm by DB"
UclanDoIt
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No disagreement
Posted Thu, Oct 18 6:37 pm
In response to You may want to look up OSU's roster first.... (DB)
I appreciate you sending the roster for Ohio State. My focus was on the difficulty of trying to pull big kids (OL and DL) out of the South where football is a way of life, not just a sport. It is the trenches where I feel the SEC schools have the edge over the Pac12. The west produces better skill players due to the prevalence of spread offenses (heck, Alabama is stronger this year due to a QB from Hawaii).

I reviewed the Ohio State roster and it does include players from southern states as you stated. For big men, I saw 1 O-lineman from Tennessee (Wray was a 4-star recruit, top 10 OT), 1 D-lineman from Georgia (Jackson was a JUCO transfer), and 2 D-linemen from Florida (Barrow was a 4-star recruit, Bosa was a top recruit, followed his brother Joey to Ohio St).

UCLA has pulled in recruits from Texas in the past 4 classes (see RB Jamabo, DB Lockett, WR Omotosho, RB Stephens, OL Zabie, TE Priebe, and DL Ogbonnia) but see it as located in the southwest. UCLA has also recruited kids from Tennessee (TE J. Wilson), North Carolina (P Kent), and Florida (C Sweeney, QB Burton, DB Jolly).

I agree with you UCLA needs to recruit players from other regions to fill in its classes. After all, perhaps the 2 greatest UCLA players of all time are actually from out of the state - Kenny Easley (Virginia) and Jonathan Ogden (Washington DC).
DB
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And believe me I am not saying a huge number....
Posted Fri, Oct 19 12:04 pm
In response to No disagreement (UclanDoIt)
of guys only 3-4 per year (12 on a roster) would suffice. Say 2 OL, 3 LB's, 2 DB's and 1 WR across all classes would probably be a sufficient spread of southern talent for UCLA. We don't need 27 like OSU has. I was also talking about big bodies and LB's especially for defense and OL. Those are the major weaknesses we seem to face annually at UCLA.