Catching up to football
posted by LW, Wednesday, June 24, 2009
(Tomorrow, we'll get up to speed on the rowing links).
How many arrests at Florida State did I miss? At least one.
Wow, Larry Coker and his staff were even more inept than we thought.
How can coaches who toil in the nation's most fertile recruiting territory sit inside their offices and evaluate recruits based on the evaluation of others?
Recruiting had become simple for the University of Miami football staff.
While counterparts were out scouring the country for the next All-American, the Hurricanes coaches were likely parked in front of a computer with a pad and pen. They surfed Internet recruiting sites in search of talent, almost forgetting their own evaluation in the process.
After following the advice of recruiting gurus helped lead to the program's recent decline, the Hurricanes have returned to trusting themselves when it comes to finding talent. Third-year coach Randy Shannon continues to emphasize the idea of recruiting based on staff judgment instead of a website's rankings.
"That's accurate," UM recruiting coordinator Clint Hurtt said. "We spent way too much time recruiting off [Internet] lists and finding these top guys instead of truly evaluating. You can't just go off hearsay or just because Florida, Florida State or Alabama is recruiting him. That doesn't mean a thing."
Coker should give back whatever money he received after his firing. That's almost criminal.
Looks like Mike Glennon isn't getting the itch to leave Raleigh, despite the presence of Russell Wilson.
Glennon doesn't have to look far for lessons in perseverance. His older brother is former Virginia Tech QB Sean Glennon, whose stock in Blacksburg seemed to take wild shifts by the day.
"I've never once thought about transferring," Glennon said. "I love N.C. State. I'm staying in this program, regardless of how much playing time I get. I think this coaching staff will prepare me better to be successful."
Interesting piece here in The Birmingham News, which examines quarterbacks' difficult transition from spread to pro-style offenses.
Seems like just a few years ago it was the exact opposite. Who'd have ever predicted spread would be status quo and drop-back would be funky?
Makes you feel kinda old, doesn't it?
The AJC has a Q&A with Georgia Tech QB Josh Nesbitt, and parts of the interview are kind of painful because of Nesbitt's penchant for brevity.
AJC: Any wrinkles to this offense we can expect to see?
JN: Very explosive.
AJC: What are your expectations for this year?
JN: [long pause]
AJC: Coach said yesterday he expects to win every game.
JN: We ‘re looking to be 14-0. Whatever comes with that.
AJC: What do you have planned for the rest of the summer?
JN: Class.
Not exactly a reporter's dream. Though Nesbitt did offer a gem to close the interview.
AJC: Anything you want to say to the Georgia Tech fans out there?
JN: To hell with Georgia.
Good stuff from the college football braintrust at Rivals.
The roundtable discusses which conference race is most intriguing.
Tom Dienhart has questions facing the possible BCS crashers and includes a bit about TCU:
Can the defense continue to dominate? Star players such as linebackers Jason Phillips and Robert Henson have departed. Keep an especially close eye on the line. No doubt, end Jerry Hughes is a good one. But he'll be surrounded by unproven commodities.
Travis Sawchik had a good Q&A with Dabo Swinney over the weekend. He even manages to get in an Outliers reference.
The most interesting insight from Dat Boy:
"I can draw Xs and Os all day on that board; a lot of coaches come in and do great things on the board, but coaching and leadership is really about getting people to do things they don't want to do, getting them to places they can't take themselves. Motivating people to be great. … Coach (Bear) Bryant also talked about there are four kinds of players. You've got those players that have it and give it, like C.J. Spiller. You have players that have it but won't give it — you want to get rid of those guys. Then you have players that don't have it — and this is what the majority of your team is — but don't know they don't have it and give way beyond their ability. And then you have the guys that don't have it, and know they don't have it. You want to be nice to them because they will make great alums. … You've got to be able to motivate all those different guys. … I think that's what separates good coaches from bad coaches."
Veering off the football path, Ed McGranahan of The Greenville News has a follow-up piece on Lucas Glovers' triumph at Bethpage.
And Paul Strelow of The State has a nice story on Jordan Hill's family ties with the Bookers.
LW
For questions or comments on this blog entry, please visit The West Zone message board.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Fallen a little behind on the college football news lately, and I'm guessing people still kind of care about developments in that sport.
(Tomorrow, we'll get up to speed on the rowing links).
How many arrests at Florida State did I miss? At least one.
Wow, Larry Coker and his staff were even more inept than we thought.
How can coaches who toil in the nation's most fertile recruiting territory sit inside their offices and evaluate recruits based on the evaluation of others?
Recruiting had become simple for the University of Miami football staff.
While counterparts were out scouring the country for the next All-American, the Hurricanes coaches were likely parked in front of a computer with a pad and pen. They surfed Internet recruiting sites in search of talent, almost forgetting their own evaluation in the process.
After following the advice of recruiting gurus helped lead to the program's recent decline, the Hurricanes have returned to trusting themselves when it comes to finding talent. Third-year coach Randy Shannon continues to emphasize the idea of recruiting based on staff judgment instead of a website's rankings.
"That's accurate," UM recruiting coordinator Clint Hurtt said. "We spent way too much time recruiting off [Internet] lists and finding these top guys instead of truly evaluating. You can't just go off hearsay or just because Florida, Florida State or Alabama is recruiting him. That doesn't mean a thing."
Coker should give back whatever money he received after his firing. That's almost criminal.
Looks like Mike Glennon isn't getting the itch to leave Raleigh, despite the presence of Russell Wilson.
Glennon doesn't have to look far for lessons in perseverance. His older brother is former Virginia Tech QB Sean Glennon, whose stock in Blacksburg seemed to take wild shifts by the day.
"I've never once thought about transferring," Glennon said. "I love N.C. State. I'm staying in this program, regardless of how much playing time I get. I think this coaching staff will prepare me better to be successful."
Interesting piece here in The Birmingham News, which examines quarterbacks' difficult transition from spread to pro-style offenses.
Seems like just a few years ago it was the exact opposite. Who'd have ever predicted spread would be status quo and drop-back would be funky?
Makes you feel kinda old, doesn't it?
The AJC has a Q&A with Georgia Tech QB Josh Nesbitt, and parts of the interview are kind of painful because of Nesbitt's penchant for brevity.
AJC: Any wrinkles to this offense we can expect to see?
JN: Very explosive.
AJC: What are your expectations for this year?
JN: [long pause]
AJC: Coach said yesterday he expects to win every game.
JN: We ‘re looking to be 14-0. Whatever comes with that.
AJC: What do you have planned for the rest of the summer?
JN: Class.
Not exactly a reporter's dream. Though Nesbitt did offer a gem to close the interview.
AJC: Anything you want to say to the Georgia Tech fans out there?
JN: To hell with Georgia.
Good stuff from the college football braintrust at Rivals.
The roundtable discusses which conference race is most intriguing.
Tom Dienhart has questions facing the possible BCS crashers and includes a bit about TCU:
Can the defense continue to dominate? Star players such as linebackers Jason Phillips and Robert Henson have departed. Keep an especially close eye on the line. No doubt, end Jerry Hughes is a good one. But he'll be surrounded by unproven commodities.
Travis Sawchik had a good Q&A with Dabo Swinney over the weekend. He even manages to get in an Outliers reference.
The most interesting insight from Dat Boy:
"I can draw Xs and Os all day on that board; a lot of coaches come in and do great things on the board, but coaching and leadership is really about getting people to do things they don't want to do, getting them to places they can't take themselves. Motivating people to be great. … Coach (Bear) Bryant also talked about there are four kinds of players. You've got those players that have it and give it, like C.J. Spiller. You have players that have it but won't give it — you want to get rid of those guys. Then you have players that don't have it — and this is what the majority of your team is — but don't know they don't have it and give way beyond their ability. And then you have the guys that don't have it, and know they don't have it. You want to be nice to them because they will make great alums. … You've got to be able to motivate all those different guys. … I think that's what separates good coaches from bad coaches."
Veering off the football path, Ed McGranahan of The Greenville News has a follow-up piece on Lucas Glovers' triumph at Bethpage.
And Paul Strelow of The State has a nice story on Jordan Hill's family ties with the Bookers.
LW
For questions or comments on this blog entry, please visit The West Zone message board.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Donnie Patterson. Donnie Patterson is the founder of Patterson Tax Service, located in Easley, S.C. He has been active in tax preparation since 1970, and offers a full range of tax and bookkeeping services.
Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.