• The KillerFrogs

2018 Recruiting Thread

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What Up Toad

Active Member
Was reading more about Fabian Franklin, and he was apparently the #6 RB in the composite earlier this year. His ranking took a hit after it became well known that he had some work to do in the classroom.

As long as he doesn't have issues qualifying, I think we've got a real good back coming in.
 
netty2424

netty2424

Full Member
Not in any way correlating this to Franklin as I don't know what his "classroom issues" supposedly are or if they're even real, but reading this thread reminded me of a documentary I watched this weekend titled '89 Blocks.'

Documentary about an inner city high school program out of St Louis making it through the season and into the playoffs. It showcased many aspects of the program, coaching, player adversity personally and the field, and the recruiting process was a big player. It followed a kid up to Mizzou and Mizzou actually let the cameras into some of the kids time on campus during a visit.

And most importantly how the elite level players tend to get away with what they want to. Jeff Thomas was the guy and man he basically just quit showing up for school and practice because he knew he could get away with it. Eventually the coach got pissed about it, but in the end let the players vote on allowing him back for the playoffs. And of course they did. He ended up at Miami.

Interesting watch! I would recommend it.

https://247sports.com/Player/Jeff-Thomas-35335

Again so there are no questions, I am not correlating this to Franklin.
 
W

Wexahu

Full Member
netty2424 said:
Not in any way correlating this to Franklin as I don't know what his "classroom issues" supposedly are or if they're even real, but reading this thread reminded me of a documentary I watched this weekend titled '89 Blocks.'

Documentary about an inner city high school program out of St Louis making it through the season and into the playoffs. It showcased many aspects of the program, coaching, player adversity personally and the field, and the recruiting process was a big player. It followed a kid up to Mizzou and Mizzou actually let the cameras into some of the kids time on campus during a visit.

And most importantly how the elite level players tend to get away with what they want to. Jeff Thomas was the guy and man he basically just quit showing up for school and practice because he knew he could get away with it. Eventually the coach got pissed about it, but in the end let the players vote on allowing him back for the playoffs. And of course they did. He ended up at Miami.

Interesting watch! I would recommend it.

https://247sports.com/Player/Jeff-Thomas-35335

Again so there are no questions, I am not correlating this to Franklin.
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I don't know if it's been cleaned up some, but East St. Louis was a bad, bad, bad place 15-20 years ago. Like about as bad as it gets. Don't want to derail the thread, but just thought I'd throw that out there, It would be interesting to watch that.
 
TX_Krötenechse

TX_Krötenechse

Active Member
pgdaly84 said:
After seeing Graham was transferring, I looked at our commits from 2016 on ESPN. Here is the list of 4 Star recruits and their contributions:

Austin Meyers: Expected to be in the 2-deep as an OT in 2018

Isaiah Graham: Transferred after barely playing

Ryan Parker: Never played

Isaiah Chambers: Never played

Tyree Horton: Never played

Sewo: Played some. Showing signs but has mostly been an average college running back so far

Taj Williams: Leading receiver in 2016. Went completely MIA in 2017 due to alleged bad practicing habits and attitude problems.

Ross Blacklock: Beast. Probably a future All American and high draft pick.

Just shows you what a giant crap shoot recruiting really is.
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To be fair, Parker never qualified and IIRC Horton never made it to campus, so it’s possible they would have been absolute beasts as well. Chambers also obviously had family stuff going on that was a distraction.
 
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pgdaly84

Active Member
TX_Krötenechse said:
To be fair, Parker never qualified and IIRC Horton never made it to campus, so it’s possible they would have been absolute beasts as well. Chambers also obviously had family stuff going on that was a distraction.
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There were definitely extenuating circumstances for some of them, but the point is that we didn’t get any contributions from them. Eight 4 stars and only one of them looks like he’ll be an All Conference caliber player at this point. That’s pretty awful luck.
 
W

Wexahu

Full Member
pgdaly84 said:
There were definitely extenuating circumstances for some of them, but the point is that we didn’t get any contributions from them. Eight 4 stars and only one of them looks like he’ll be an All Conference caliber player at this point. That’s pretty awful luck.
Click to expand...

I know it makes a difference and the more highly-rated kids you have on campus, the better, but in TCU's case, there is almost no direct correlation between star rating and success on the field. At least it seems that way.
 
netty2424

netty2424

Full Member
Wexahu said:
I don't know if it's been cleaned up some, but East St. Louis was a bad, bad, bad place 15-20 years ago. Like about as bad as it gets. Don't want to derail the thread, but just thought I'd throw that out there, It would be interesting to watch that.
Click to expand...
Yah based on the doc, you're spot on. In fact they didn't have a 2015 season becuase the teachers went on strike for almost an entire year due to being underpaid and hadn't received a pay raise in so many years. Can't remember what that number of years was.

Their coach seems like a good dude which is why they brought him in. Genuinely cares.
 
netty2424

netty2424

Full Member
yurintroubl said:
IMO - This is a "good delay" re: a commitment (maybe not for us, but for the player). He's just now put himself back in the mix. Hopefully the interest level remains high and he ends up in purple.
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I think it's the smart move for him personally, but imo I get the sense that he likes us but doesn't love us. Outside looking in, it seems like we've been close a couple times and then he pulls back.

Selfishly hope he chooses purple, but for him, I hope he figures out exactly what he wants for himself.
 
F

frog-hat

Active Member
netty2424 said:
I think it's the smart move for him personally, but imo I get the sense that he likes us but doesn't love us. Outside looking in, it seems like we've been close a couple times and then he pulls back.

Selfishly hope he chooses purple, but for him, I hope he figures out exactly what he wants for himself.
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Back off early signing today. Decommit from Georgia Monday. Sign with Frogs Friday.
 
AroundWorldFrog

AroundWorldFrog

Full Member
pgdaly84 said:
There were definitely extenuating circumstances for some of them, but the point is that we didn’t get any contributions from them. Eight 4 stars and only one of them looks like he’ll be an All Conference caliber player at this point. That’s pretty awful luck.
Click to expand...

I guess we're not the only ones having bad luck

 

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