POLL: How satisfied are you with the 2015 FB Class?

[skip-zip]

Meaningless??? It just so happens that all the teams at the bottom of the ranking are the worst teams in the country?

Exactly. Naïve to think that the teams with the best recruits don't have the best chance of winning the most.

And based on this, I say "Thank God we have a good coach". Getting 5 wins out of these guys each of the last 2 years, and a road win against Pitt, sure seems pretty darn good at this point.

[ZachTheZip]

Recruiting rankings are based on individual talent. Apples and oranges.

Give me a break. When Jacob Harrison (2016 QB) committed to Akron, he had four stars and was top-10 nationally at his position. After committing to Akron, they dropped him to two stars and removed him from the position rankings completely. Did he suddenly start sucking at football? When two-star players commit to a SEC team, they magically gain an extra star.

[Balsy]

NIU is routinely rated around the bottom 20% of recruiting classes, behind nearly every P5 doormat. It's like that every single year. And yet who is one of the winningest teams in the past decade?

If recruiting rankings were correct, teams would never go from bad to good, or fall off the radar, because they adjust ratings based on the offers a recruit gets and that, in turn, is based on how those teams are doing right now.

+1.

Jacob Harrison was ranked a 4-star, now been demoted to a 3-star. What he magically lost his touch? Please. Recruiting rankings are 100% nonsense.

[UAZip0510]

I have a sneaking suspicion that the recruiting rankings perceived correctness amongst the ZN.o faithful might be given a lot more credence if the Zips were ranked higher. Just a hunch.

Bingo.

[zippy5]

Give me a break. When Jacob Harrison (2016 QB) committed to Akron, he had four stars and was top-10 nationally at his position. After committing to Akron, they dropped him to two stars and removed him from the position rankings completely. Did he suddenly start sucking at football? When two-star players commit to a SEC team, they magically gain an extra star.

Okay. And that is different than saying NIU winning is proof that rankings are meaningless.

[Lee Adams]

When Bowden was hired I had a faculty adviser to the program,who was in the School of Law at the time tell me that the admin felt Bowden needed to do 'something' of note within his first two years as coach or the cache of the Bowden name would essentially

lose its influence with the fans. After reading the article in the BJ have to think that even the coach see it as 'put up or shut up' time.

[K92]

You guys knew Jacob Harrison was a stud before he verballed to the Zips, right? I mean, you have been following his career since 7th grade or maybe peewees? You surely didn't draw the conclusion that he was a great player from his 4* ranking I hope, because those stars don't mean anything.

[zippy5]

You guys knew Jacob Harrison was a stud before he verballed to the Zips, right? I mean, you have been following his career since 7th grade or maybe peewees? You surely didn't draw the conclusion that he was a great player from his 4* ranking I hope, because those stars don't mean anything.

Hey now he threw for 175 yards in the pee wee championship game in 2007

[K92]

NIU is routinely rated around the bottom 20% of recruiting classes, behind nearly every P5 doormat. It's like that every single year. And yet who is one of the winningest teams in the past decade?

If recruiting rankings were correct, teams would never go from bad to good, or fall off the radar, because they adjust ratings based on the offers a recruit gets and that, in turn, is based on how those teams are doing right now.

I couldn't care less how NIU compares to P5 doormats. Meaningless. What I care about is the Zips being ranked at the bottom of the MAC. Below UMass. Below EMU. Below Can't Freaking State.

When it comes to what these rankings measure, which is by and large the rating of your class of high school kids who enter the program in the traditional period, Akron has got to be a legitimate DEAD LAST. If this was the only way Akron was filling the roster we would be in deep shit. However, this Bowden regime has got to be the most unorthodox recruiting staff of all time and we all need to wait and see if there will be any fifth year guys who will come in and play. I'm sure there will be another list of transfers that will surface one by one over the Spring and Summer who will have to sit a year.

The real discussion we should be having is about the Bowden recruiting philosophy. It certainly is different, to say the least.

[Jrship35]

Bowdens philosophy:

To find "high character" (his words), talented, hard working kids (blue collar). Said that what their staff looks at on film is not the plays (most highlite films are against crappy competition) but they look at their footwork, change of direction, technique at the position (varies by position). Basically they are looking for good clay that they can mold into what they need...... Like every other school

He has no regard for how many "stars" a kid has and even told me that he will take two hard working, high character "no star" kids over a 5 star any day (could be coach talk ).

These guys are old school guys (Bowden, Amotto, Stroud all over 25 yrs in coaching and Bobby Bowden influence is all over them as he was their mentor). They have nothing to do with these recruiting services and have the admin staff deal with them on a limited basis ..... They simply don't believe in them.

If you look at the things that attract the recruits (and not bragging, but there have been over a dozen of them that basically lived at my house the past 10 years), they are :

How good is the team (winning)

Facilities

Coaches

Acedemics

Campus --- fun

Uniforms ...... Fans may not like the new unis, but the kids do !!

If you look at that list ...... The only thing that UA is really lacking is number one ........, hmm

I do believe that these guys know what they are doing as they have been doing it a long time. There is a winning track record and a record of building solid programs .... The construction of a winning program takes a lot of time as there are so many parts ..... As even my son saw from our first visit and research that it has been a terrible "program" prior to Bowden (sorry).... The seller for him was the coaches and the opportunity to be apart of building something that UA has never had.

Folks I joke around about the "just win baby" phrase, but if you look at the above list of things that are important to the recruits ..... It's the only thing we are missing at this point.

Damn 2015 is so huge for Bowden and the UA program ..... If the 2015 team goes 8-4 and represents ........ You will see more local talent and more multi star recruits (if that's your thing)

[Dr Z]

Of the choices given, I voted 'wait and see.' Boring answer, I know. But, from following Akron recruiting for more than two decades, I know one thing by looking at a list of high school kids. I know nothing. For me, it's impossible to judge from looking at a list of kids with some stars next to their names, and some high school football highlights playing against who knows what kind of talent. In my opinion, one of the most important things, is how hard a kid is going to come in and work at his craft. How much muscle, or weight will he put on? Will he take to coaching? Will he understand it? How do you judge that? When I see these kids padded up and playing against similar talent, I can evaluate effectively. Otherwise I'm only guessing.

Back in the early 90's I used to cut out the top 100 recruits from the USA Today and put them in a folder. After checking the senior class after four years, I realized it was pretty useless because more than half of those guys weren't contributing to college football in any significant way. I stopped doing it when I realized that some "expert" getting paid to "evaluate" these kids couldn't even get half of them "correct."

[Jrship35]

++1

[Zipgrad01]

I will say it in a different way....if we were an NFL team, our player procurement process would be skipping the draft and filling our team with free agents and undrafted rookies. Who would even remotely be open to that option?

The fact is, our recruiting is awful. The coaches can give their speak all they want about not caring about how recruits are graded or who else is offering them. Baloney. In the end they are salesmen and they are going to give whatever talking job they have to in order to make people think that things are going as planned. He isn't going to come out and say "hey, come play for me. I cant beat out any other school for recruits, so you are my only choice". He has to stick with what he is selling until he can get some success to change his tune.

[skip-zip]

I will say it in a different way....if we were an NFL team, our player procurement process would be skipping the draft and filling our team with free agents and undrafted rookies.

This is a great point to make here.

No matter how any of us feel about the accuracy of the rating systems, the D-1A schools are all going after the highest rated players, and it appears as if we might be at the bottom of the totem pole in what we are getting. We can only win so many games with inferior talent.

As of last year, we'd probably all say that D'Orazio and J. Brown are probably the closest thing we have to "high level" players, and I don't think either one of them has a legitimate chance to play at the next level.

Whether you like the ratings systems or not, when you land those guys with several stars next to their name, it's a least an indication that you are doing a good job of selling your program against other D-1A schools. Even with a new stadium, new first-rate training facilities, and a big-name coach, we're clearly losing this battle right now, even against other perceived "weak" schools in our own "weak" league.

That has to change.

[K92]

After reading the rationale on this thread it has become abundantly clear that I came into the discussion knowing absolutely nothing about recruiting. Now because of the insight offered me through these sundry posts of enlightenment, I only now realize that the class of 2015 was merely missing a cherry on top such as the re-emergence of Blake Dennis to be forever cemented as the greatest recruiting class of all time.

Thanks for making me see the light, guys.

[Zipgrad01]

After reading the rationale on this thread it has become abundantly clear that I came into the discussion knowing absolutely nothing about recruiting. Now because of the insight offered me through these sundry posts of enlightenment, I only now realize that the class of 2015 was merely missing a cherry on top such as the re-emergence of Blake Dennis to be forever cemented as the greatest recruiting class of all time.

Thanks for making me see the light, guys.

He is but an untouched block of clay, simply awaiting the magical hammer and chisel of Michaelangelo (Bowden) to transform him into the Megatron of the MAC.

[Jrship35]

I will say it in a different way....if we were an NFL team, our player procurement process would be skipping the draft and filling our team with free agents and undrafted rookies. Who would even remotely be open to that option?

The fact is, our recruiting is awful. The coaches can give their speak all they want about not caring about how recruits are graded or who else is offering them. Baloney. In the end they are salesmen and they are going to give whatever talking job they have to in order to make people think that things are going as planned. He isn't going to come out and say "hey, come play for me. I cant beat out any other school for recruits, so you are my only choice". He has to stick with what he is selling until he can get some success to change his tune.

Can't completely disagree .... But I'm curious as to what would change your recruiting perspective from awful to improving ? Do you not think that the talent of the past two classes has improved ?

I'm curious as to how you would attack recruiting with the past record of this program ?what selling points would you use to talk to recruits and their families ?

[K92]

Can't completely disagree .... But I'm curious as to what would change your recruiting perspective from awful to improving ? Do you not think that the talent of the past two classes has improved ?

I'm curious as to how you would attack recruiting with the past record of this program ?what selling points would you use to talk to recruits and their families ?

Don't know but somehow Can't coaches sell some kind of line of bullshit that recruits buy into to outrecruit us year after year after year after year after year and their history is one of woe.

[K92]

Also Jrship35, I don't know what I can say about the talent level of the class of 2014 other than none of them saw the field on a 5-7 campaign. Meanwhile, true freshman Jarvion Franklin was MAC offensive POY on an 8-4 squad.

[K92]

Oh yeah, just one more thing. . . (I feel like Columbo here).

Western increased their win total by 7 games in 2014 from year previous. How'd they do that? My former uneducated self would have said their #1 rated recruiting class was responsible for that turnaround. I now realize those rankings are meaningless. PJ must be a great xs & os teacher and game day guru.

[Jrship35]

So I'm a little confused ..... Our recruiting sucks even with Bowdens arrival ....... But we really have not seen any Bowden recruits yet as all of last years class red shirted ?

I have said that to me it appears that the two Bowden classes are more athletic ..... I agree that the jury is still out as they all red shirted. It's simply my opinion

[K92]

Jatavis Brown is the best Bowden recruit. Conor Hundley is the 2nd best Bowden "high school" recruit. They are Seniors. That's a mighty short list for year 4 if recruiting has really picked up like you say it has.

[skip-zip]

gay guru.

Interesting.

[Jrship35]

No and my apologies if unclear ..... I simply say that in my opinion, the last 2 classes appear to be more athletic on film

As you have been a zips fan much longer than myself, I would have to concede to your experience that recruiting under Bowden has not improved over the past staff ....... Lol. I will just stick with my recruiting philosophy of "Just win baby" !!!!

[Zipgrad01]

Can't completely disagree .... But I'm curious as to what would change your recruiting perspective from awful to improving ? Do you not think that the talent of the past two classes has improved ?

I'm curious as to how you would attack recruiting with the past record of this program ?what selling points would you use to talk to recruits and their families ?

Keener hits on what would be my main point. We were severely talent deficient at almost every position and yet not one freshman from last years class was capable of stepping on to the field.

In contrast, Western Michigan came off a 1-11 season and crushed it in recruiting. They had freshman playmakers all over the field, including the MAC offensive player of the year. They went from 1-11 to a bowl team. Is Western a traditional power? Nope. Do they have better facilities? Not even close. Are they in a better recruiting area? Far from it!! Are their uniforms better? Nope. Is their coach better at recruiting? Ding ding we have a winner. He doesn't have some magic ferry recruiting dust. He is a young and energetic guy and comes up with stupid slogans and can talk players into believing in the future of their program.

He has been at western as long as bowden has been here. The difference is he has dominated recruiting in the same time period while Bowden has fallen flat on his face. He has turned western into the program of the future in the MAC based off of player potential and we are still playing parlor tricks to try and get competitive guys on the field in order to compete.

In a way, Fleck is the short, skinny and unattractive guy at the bar that can talk mad game and take home the hot chic that is way out of his league. Bowden is the old fat guy that talks about the glory days and how good looking he and his dad used to be and he is hoping the ugly chic that nobody wanted had enough to drink so that his pickup lines work.

That might sound harsh, but this is Bowdens 3rd class and so far they have all stunk.