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Top 7 Class

JgDaCane said:
Nonesense. Not how it works at Miami. Anywhere else maybe. Not here. You will see shortly thats wins here matter & matter alot. Guaranteed.
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With time we will find out, I mean he lost at Oregon and still recruited well. Let’s see who sticks it out, pause
 
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swampcougar1 said:
At this point not sure we end up with top ten class. Rest of the season will have to miraculously be better than yesterday to end up top ten
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Not necessarily. Regardless of what I think or what this board may think if Mario and staff can successfully communicate to these kids like the ones above that this is about rebuilding this once proud program they can come out of this with a top 10 class and maybe better. This is only possible because Mario and staff are very well respected so it won't come across like a used car salesman's pitch.

However it is important that we show some improvement throughout the season. This offensive philosophy is also a big concern. Kirby Smart at UGA runs a run first type offense that isn't the most exciting thing in the world but that hasn't hindered his recruiting.

Let's see how things play out this year. It's going to be very interesting to see how Mario, Rad, Highsmith and Reed handle things at the end of the year regarding Gattis, a change in philosophy etc..... One thing is certain. There is a firm financial commitment from the school to this program. We are committed to spending the money necessary to compete at the highest levels. The entire infrastructure of this program has been completely transformed and we are going 1st class in literally every facet of the program, operational and otherwise. We have to remind ourselves that we are at the very beginning of this process. We knew what a total clown show this was during the Diaz tenure and for nearly 15 years prior. That was not going to be erased and transformed overnight. @Rellyrell alluded to this recently and he made some excellent points that I am in complete agreement with.

Are there issues with the current staff that need to be worked out? Of course there are and those are things that nearly every staff has to deal with and figure out. This staff is certainly no exception. However at the end of the day I have great confidence in the leadership that is in place. Rad, Highsmith, Reed and so many more will be a great resource and influence for Mario. He wants to build this thing back up more than anyone and in the end I don't think that he will put his personal affinity for a system or style over the good of the program. The guy isn't perfect nobody is but I trust him enough to believe that he is going about this a certain way for a reason. I don't think he realized or was able to foresee the total collapse of Tyler Van Dyke. Is Mario partly to blame? Yes he is but we don't know the extent of what is going on behind the scenes with TVD. He seems completely lost and out of it. I don't know if there are personal issues there or not but the bottom line is that he isn't playable right now. Gattis and the WR also share in the blame. This issue must be resolved and I'm confident it will. One way or another.

This was never going to be a quick fix even though many of us deluded ourselves into thinking as much. This issue of culture is not easily remedied and as I said before this was always going to take some time. We all drank the Kool aid in thinking that we were a shoe in to win the Coastal, go 10-2 even 11-1 with some actually thinking that we could make the playoffs this season. Now that we have had a chance to evaluate the team it is obvious to me that we are 2 classes away from being a solid 9-10 win team and another class away from competing for a playoff spot. What I need to see in the meantime is steady improvement each year specifically player development.

That loss to MTSU was devastating for us mostly because it destroyed the illusions and fantasies we had created about the true ability of this year's team. We lack quality starters and depth at many positions combined with a rotting locker room culture and terrible habits. Again, this will take some time and a ton of hard work as we are literally at the beginning of the process/journey. My advice would be to not let yourselves get so caught up in the moment that you miss the forest for the trees.
 
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FrancisSawyer said:
Not necessarily. Regardless of what I think or what this board may think if Mario and staff can successfully communicate to these kids like the ones above that this is about rebuilding this once proud program they can come out of this with a top 10 class and maybe better. This is only possible because Mario and staff are very well respected so it won't come across like a used car salesman's pitch.

However it is important that we show some improvement throughout the season. This offensive philosophy is also a big concern. Kirby Smart at UGA runs a run first type offense that isn't to most exciting thing in the world but that hasn't hindered his recruiting.

Let's see how things play out this year. It's going to be very interesting to see how Mario, Rad, Highsmith and Reed handle things at the end of the year regarding Gattis, a change in philosophy etc..... One thing is certain. There is a firm financial commitment from the school to this program. We are committed to spending the money necessary to compete at the highest levels. The entire infrastructure of this program has been completely transformed and we are going 1st class in literally every facet of the program, operational or otherwise. We have to remind ourselves that we are at the very beginning of this process. We knew what a total clown show this was during the Diaz tenure and for nearly 15 years prior. That was not going to be erased and transformed overnight. @Rellyrell alluded to this recently and he made some excellent points that I am in complete agreement with.

Are there issues with the current staff that need to be worked out? Of course there are and those are things that nearly every staff has to deal with and figure out. This staff is certainly no exception. However at the end of the day I have great confidence in the leadership that is in place. Rad, Highsmith, Reed and so many more will be a great resource and influence for Mario. He wants to build this thing back up more than anyone and in the end I don't think that he will put his personal affinity for a system or style over the good of the program. The guy isn't perfect nobody is but I trust him enough to believe that he is going about this a certain way for a reason. I don't think he realized or was able to foresee the total collapse of Tyler Van Dyke. Is Mario partly to blame? Yes he is but we don't know the extent of what is going on behind the scenes with TVD. He seems completely lost and out of it. I don't know if there are personal issues there or not but the bottom line is that he isn't playable right n allow. Gattis and the WR also share in the blame. This issue must be resolved and I'm confident it will. One way or another.

This was never going to be a quick fix even though many of us deluded ourselves into thinking as much. This issue of culture is not easily remedied and as I said before this was always going to take some time. We all drank the Kool aid in thinking that we were a shoe in to win the Coastal, go 10-2 even 11-1 with some actually thinking that we could make the playoffs this season. Now that we have had a chance to evaluate the team it is obvious to me that we a 2 classes away from being a solid 9-10 win team and another class away from competing for ab playoff spot. What I need to see in the meantime is steady improvement each year specifically player development.

That loss to MTSU was devastating for us mostly because it destroyed the illusions and fantasies we had created about the true ability of this year's team. We lack quality starters and depth at many positions combined with a rotting locker room culture and terrible habits. Again, this will take some time and a ton of hard work as we are literally at the beginning of the process/journey. My advice would be to not let yourselves get so caught up in the moment that you miss the forest for the trees.
Click to expand...
I find it interesting that Diaz, who went 6-7 yr 1, w/ losses to FIU, sub .500 Duke, sub .500 GT, LA Tech was able to pull in the 11th ranked class for his 1st yr bump; but, somehow Mario, literally one of the best recruiters in the nation, is now going to fail? Lol!! Forget that for the last 3 yrs, he’s had a 1st rounder, but one game v. MTSU is going to derail & erase everything?? Man oh man.

Really good article on 1st recruiting bumps for head coaches. It breaks down their 1st class (taking on the job), 2nd class (first full yr of recruiting), the difference in class rankings, & how many wins coaches had in their 1st yr for that bump.

247sports.com

Full year of recruiting usually leads to bump in class ranking

Recent history shows that a full year of recruiting should pay dividends for Chad Morris and the Razorbacks.
247sports.com 247sports.com

I mean, at this point, it’s become comical. This overreaction makes a scary movie from the 70’s blush. Lol
 
FrancisSawyer said:
Not necessarily. Regardless of what I think or what this board may think if Mario and staff can successfully communicate to these kids like the ones above that this is about rebuilding this once proud program they can come out of this with a top 10 class and maybe better. This is only possible because Mario and staff are very well respected so it won't come across like a used car salesman's pitch.

However it is important that we show some improvement throughout the season. This offensive philosophy is also a big concern. Kirby Smart at UGA runs a run first type offense that isn't the most exciting thing in the world but that hasn't hindered his recruiting.

Let's see how things play out this year. It's going to be very interesting to see how Mario, Rad, Highsmith and Reed handle things at the end of the year regarding Gattis, a change in philosophy etc..... One thing is certain. There is a firm financial commitment from the school to this program. We are committed to spending the money necessary to compete at the highest levels. The entire infrastructure of this program has been completely transformed and we are going 1st class in literally every facet of the program, operational and otherwise. We have to remind ourselves that we are at the very beginning of this process. We knew what a total clown show this was during the Diaz tenure and for nearly 15 years prior. That was not going to be erased and transformed overnight. @Rellyrell alluded to this recently and he made some excellent points that I am in complete agreement with.

Are there issues with the current staff that need to be worked out? Of course there are and those are things that nearly every staff has to deal with and figure out. This staff is certainly no exception. However at the end of the day I have great confidence in the leadership that is in place. Rad, Highsmith, Reed and so many more will be a great resource and influence for Mario. He wants to build this thing back up more than anyone and in the end I don't think that he will put his personal affinity for a system or style over the good of the program. The guy isn't perfect nobody is but I trust him enough to believe that he is going about this a certain way for a reason. I don't think he realized or was able to foresee the total collapse of Tyler Van Dyke. Is Mario partly to blame? Yes he is but we don't know the extent of what is going on behind the scenes with TVD. He seems completely lost and out of it. I don't know if there are personal issues there or not but the bottom line is that he isn't playable right now. Gattis and the WR also share in the blame. This issue must be resolved and I'm confident it will. One way or another.

This was never going to be a quick fix even though many of us deluded ourselves into thinking as much. This issue of culture is not easily remedied and as I said before this was always going to take some time. We all drank the Kool aid in thinking that we were a shoe in to win the Coastal, go 10-2 even 11-1 with some actually thinking that we could make the playoffs this season. Now that we have had a chance to evaluate the team it is obvious to me that we are 2 classes away from being a solid 9-10 win team and another class away from competing for a playoff spot. What I need to see in the meantime is steady improvement each year specifically player development.

That loss to MTSU was devastating for us mostly because it destroyed the illusions and fantasies we had created about the true ability of this year's team. We lack quality starters and depth at many positions combined with a rotting locker room culture and terrible habits. Again, this will take some time and a ton of hard work as we are literally at the beginning of the process/journey. My advice would be to not let yourselves get so caught up in the moment that you miss the forest for the trees.
Click to expand...
If you’re relying on some sort of style change in a room that has Alonzo highsmith & Mario Cristobal in it…. Is hoping for a lot
 
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Rellyrell said:
I find it interesting that Diaz, who went 6-7 yr 1, w/ losses to FIU, sub .500 Duke, sub .500 GT, LA Tech was able to pull in the 11th ranked class for his 1st yr bump; but, somehow Mario, literally one of the best recruiters in the nation, is now going to fail? Lol!! Forget that for the last 3 yrs, he’s had a 1st rounder, but one game v. MTSU is going to derail & erase everything?? Man oh man.

Really good article on 1st recruiting bumps for head coaches. It breaks down their 1st class (taking on the job), 2nd class (first full yr of recruiting), the difference in class rankings, & how many wins coaches had in their 1st yr for that bump.

247sports.com

Full year of recruiting usually leads to bump in class ranking

Recent history shows that a full year of recruiting should pay dividends for Chad Morris and the Razorbacks.
247sports.com 247sports.com

I mean, at this point, it’s become comical. This overreaction makes a scary movie from the 70’s blush. Lol
Click to expand...
I’m with you Rell, the overreactions are ridiculous. There absolutely need to be changes and Mario needs to be held accountable, but the same exact porsters keep porsting away calling for his head four games into his first season.

Now with regards to recruiting, this is Mario’s bread and butter. He should* churn out Top 10 classes here. He’s a demon on the trail. He didn’t forget how to recruit. I do wonder (and we will find out very shortly) how he does with his back against the wall: with an unequivocal piece of garbage roster, terrible OC, absolute failure to live up to preseason expectations, etc. This is the first time he’s had to deal with all of this.

Top 15 in 2023 is sadly my new bar for what was supposed to be a great bump class that had insiders and respected posters thinking anywhere from Top 3-7, but Top 8-10 is still my expectation going forward in 2024.

I do have immediate concerns; centering around the holes on this roster and what we’re doing (or not doing) to address them now 2.5 months out to signing day.

Nothing has changed since the start of fall camp. Well, some things have changed - but none for the better. WR recruiting is essentially a crap shoot; long gone are the days where ****ey looked promising, or Hykeem noise would surface, Jean was just using UF as a placeholder, or Miami was trying to flip Tate or get Williams on board, etc. They seem to be all out of the picture. But posters will be quick to say “we have Robby and Ray Ray, we’re fine at WR”. Lol ok - this argument has been beaten into nauseam. Now all our eggs seem to be in Coleman’s basket…let’s see how this goes.

So we don’t have WRs on our roster, and yet are struggling to close out on any top tier, bonafide #1 outside guys. Ok then, portal. That went well last time.

DT recruiting is an absolute mystery. Like, there’s no one at all except for Bain? If he even wants to be a DT? And shiiiiiit, I can’t trust him for a second. Not when Bama is seriously involved. Even if you land him, that’s not enough. Ok then, Portal.

DB’s…still waiting on someone to pop. Maybe guys like Joseph will end up producing, but again here goes that South Florida three-star reach where we fall in love with speed after whiffing on multiple prospects. I will say I do like him as a prospect and he’s playing well senior year, but that’s the narrative. Demari would be a nice addition. Regardless with TS leaving, we’re probably going to need some more immediate-impact guys. Ok then, portal.

RB’s…Chris Johnson starting to play games; not that he isn’t allowed to be overly concerned with the offense right now (same as WRs), but someone that was expected as a shoe-in is starting to dance around a bit. We need speed so bad, and yet speed doesn’t want us. We keep hearing Fletcher noise from DMoney but I’ve yet to see any indication that he’s seriously considering a flip. We’re probably going to have 1-2 transfers from this group. Ok then, portal yet again.

Long story short, we’re going to have to use the portal for A LOT of holes on this roster. It might be further exacerbated because we’re at a standstill with recruiting. Mario is a beast recruiter, but the portal is a different cat. We swung and missed emphatically at WR like we’re doing now with the high schoolers. Jared Verse wound up at our rival conference foe and he looks to be better than any DE additions we had. We could have used Tatum Bethune. Portal LB will be an emphasis again.

I hope Mario learned how to recruit the portal, because we’re going to need to be way better and more efficient this time around, regardless of how the final recruiting class takes shape…all the confidence in Mario with recruiting…but man, does it feel dark right now; and this is his forté.
 
Rellyrell said:
I find it interesting that Diaz, who went 6-7 yr 1, w/ losses to FIU, sub .500 Duke, sub .500 GT, LA Tech was able to pull in the 11th ranked class for his 1st yr bump; but, somehow Mario, literally one of the best recruiters in the nation, is now going to fail? Lol!! Forget that for the last 3 yrs, he’s had a 1st rounder, but one game v. MTSU is going to derail & erase everything?? Man oh man.

Really good article on 1st recruiting bumps for head coaches. It breaks down their 1st class (taking on the job), 2nd class (first full yr of recruiting), the difference in class rankings, & how many wins coaches had in their 1st yr for that bump.

247sports.com

Full year of recruiting usually leads to bump in class ranking

Recent history shows that a full year of recruiting should pay dividends for Chad Morris and the Razorbacks.
247sports.com 247sports.com

I mean, at this point, it’s become comical. This overreaction makes a scary movie from the 70’s blush. Lol
Click to expand...
Mannn I'll admit I am worried bout WR and DB. Maybe DB fixes itself and we circle back to some guys but...

WR seems like its going to take a while to fix. Mario's offense+ the lack of success at the position at Miami and under Mario at his previous stop. It just seems to easy to negatively recruit against. With B-Mac at UGA, I for sure think we had less of chance than Mario & co thought, because I am sure he told Tyler how trash the offense would be. Just like he worked Jean after he committed
 
I feel like I just gave out a 9/28 Bankruptcy update, I’m mentally exhausted

Why can’t we have nice things during a season man. Is it really that hard?
 
Mr. Dynasty1 said:
Mannn I'll admit I am worried bout WR and DB. Maybe DB fixes itself and we circle back to some guys but...

WR seems like its going to take a while to fix. Mario's offense+ the lack of success at the position at Miami and under Mario at his previous stop. It just seems to easy to negatively recruit against. With B-Mac at UGA, I for sure think we had less of chance than Mario & co thought, because I am sure he told Tyler how trash the offense would be. Just like he worked Jean after he committed
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That’s my only concerns, as well. WR & DBs. We need that in the worst way, & if we can’t get WR this yr via recruiting, then that portal needs to be raided like no tomorrow.
 
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WeBallinBoyz said:
I’m with you Rell, the overreactions are ridiculous. There absolutely need to be changes and Mario needs to be held accountable, but the same exact porsters keep porsting away calling for his head four games into his first season.

Now with regards to recruiting, this is Mario’s bread and butter. He should* churn out Top 10 classes here. He’s a demon on the trail. He didn’t forget how to recruit. I do wonder (and we will find out very shortly) how he does with his back against the wall: with an unequivocal piece of garbage roster, terrible OC, absolute failure to live up to preseason expectations, etc. This is the first time he’s had to deal with all of this.

Top 15 in 2023 is sadly my new bar for what was supposed to be a great bump class that had insiders and respected posters thinking anywhere from Top 3-7, but Top 8-10 is still my expectation going forward in 2024.

I do have immediate concerns; centering around the holes on this roster and what we’re doing (or not doing) to address them now 2.5 months out to signing day.

Nothing has changed since the start of fall camp. Well, some things have changed - but none for the better. WR recruiting is essentially a crap shoot; long gone are the days where ****ey looked promising, or Hykeem noise would surface, Jean was just using UF as a placeholder, or Miami was trying to flip Tate or get Williams on board, etc. They seem to be all out of the picture. But posters will be quick to say “we have Robby and Ray Ray, we’re fine at WR”. Lol ok - this argument has been beaten into nauseam. Now all our eggs seem to be in Coleman’s basket…let’s see how this goes.

So we don’t have WRs on our roster, and yet are struggling to close out on any top tier, bonafide #1 outside guys. Ok then, portal. That went well last time.

DT recruiting is an absolute mystery. Like, there’s no one at all except for Bain? If he even wants to be a DT? And shiiiiiit, I can’t trust him for a second. Not when Bama is seriously involved. Even if you land him, that’s not enough. Ok then, Portal.

DB’s…still waiting on someone to pop. Maybe guys like Joseph will end up producing, but again here goes that South Florida three-star reach where we fall in love with speed after whiffing on multiple prospects. I will say I do like him as a prospect and he’s playing well senior year, but that’s the narrative. Demari would be a nice addition. Regardless with TS leaving, we’re probably going to need some more immediate-impact guys. Ok then, portal.

RB’s…Chris Johnson starting to play games; not that he isn’t allowed to be overly concerned with the offense right now (same as WRs), but someone that was expected as a shoe-in is starting to dance around a bit. We need speed so bad, and yet speed doesn’t want us. We keep hearing Fletcher noise from DMoney but I’ve yet to see any indication that he’s seriously considering a flip. We’re probably going to have 1-2 transfers from this group. Ok then, portal yet again.

Long story short, we’re going to have to use the portal for A LOT of holes on this roster. It might be further exacerbated because we’re at a standstill with recruiting. Mario is a beast recruiter, but the portal is a different cat. We swung and missed emphatically at WR like we’re doing now with the high schoolers. Jared Verse wound up at our rival conference foe and he looks to be better than any DE additions we had. We could have used Tatum Bethune. Portal LB will be an emphasis again.

I hope Mario learned how to recruit the portal, because we’re going to need to be way better and more efficient this time around, regardless of how the final recruiting class takes shape…all the confidence in Mario with recruiting…but man, does it feel dark right now; and this is his forté.
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If F'd up Norvell can build his team off the portal over his three years, I'm highly confident MC will fill the holes necessary between HS and portal kids. There's no way a dude with the experience MC has is going to sit back and not take the necessary action to upgrade his team.
 
Odysseus said:
I mean we're in play with a ton of top targets still plus we still have NIL
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No doubt:
Samson, Bain, Wilson, M'Pemba, C Johnson, Fletcher, Hall, Brown, Peasant, Hussey, Clark, Joseph are all still in play and I bet there are late bloomers we're monitoring too. We land 4-6 of those guys and it's a pretty elite close.
 
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Had we won 9 games this year there’s no doubt in my mind we would’ve signed the #1 class. Either way the future is bright we’re bringing in a top3 class with some STUDS. Mario is changing the culture.
 
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