Scout for yourself: Miami burned by corporate recruiting "gurus"

[Shannon]

Here is a shining example of always ultimately scout for yourself, when you assess incoming players. Just use all the criteria you can aquire by legitimate resources, and make an informed decision.

I say all the time I can not believe people actually pay to have someone else to think for them, with the myriad of online resources at our fingertips.

Many incoming players like JUCO S Terence Simien look like they have VERY good skill sets to me, though they are chewing him up like a buzz-saw at other sites. I just don't think they really know how to evaluate talent, but claim to.

Funny thing is, they are the samrt ones. They actually trick people into paying to support their teams with false information mostly, and terrible scouts. Yet, people keep doing it month after month, and still after all the $$ and "insider" info, they still picked us to go 9-3/8-4 last season, and I get banned all around the net for saying 5-7 and a UK blow-out.

I perdicted that, and have never had an "insider" account ever.

Oh well. To each their own. Just don't let them burn you like they burned Miami.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/hurricanes/sfl-hurricane...

UM: Burned by Web hype, recruiters go with gut

By Shandel Richardson | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

June 22, 2009

CORAL GABLES - 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."

Hurtt, also the defensive line coach, said the staff realized it was being burned too frequently by recruiting busts. How else to explain a school once considered college football's top NFL factory having just one player — linebacker Spencer Adkins — taken in this year's draft? Although unfair to place all the blame on recruiting failures, it is widely considered the biggest factor in the decline.

"If you go back and you look at each class, I can go down the list and find some guys who were major recruits that never lived up to the billing," Hurtt said.

In the past six years, the Hurricanes signed top-20 players such as quarterback Kyle Wright, receiver Lance Leggett and tackle Reggie Youngblood. All had decent college careers, but never reached the expectations of their "can't-miss prospect" labels.

That's more than can be said about linebacker Willie Williams and running backs James Bryant and Charlie Jones, considered four-star or higher recruits. Williams was the nation's No. 6 recruit in 2004, according to Rivals.com. After unspectacular performances, all three transferred.

ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill said the Hurricanes were often caught up in the hype machine that occurs in the world of online recruiting. Many websites claim to rank the best players, but Luginbill said the moment coaches start paying attention to the "star system" is when "a program starts walking a cliff."

"In my opinion, you've got to stay true to your own evaluation, your own blueprint," Luginbill said. "Don't worry about what everybody else is saying, but that's a very difficult thing to do. ... What happens is there is so much information out there about guys. Most of it can be untrue. A lot of it is perpetuated by people who are claiming to be recruiting analysts, but don't know if a football is pumped or stuffed."

UM learned the hard way.

Recruiting misfires factored into the Hurricanes going from playing for consecutive national titles in 2002-03 to a 19-19 record the past three seasons. Much of it occurred under coach Larry Coker, who was fired after the 2006 season. The Hurricanes landed several highly rated recruiting classes during his tenure, but even outsiders noticed they were focusing solely on recruiting sites.

"I used to go in the coaches' offices and sometimes they would literally have Rivals.com up on their screen," said Matt Shodell, who covers UM and its recruiting for CaneSport.com. "I won't name the coaches, but they would be writing names down on pieces of paper. I don't know how much film they were looking at."

The Hurricanes have since turned to their eyes as the best evaluators of talent. Recruits now commonly say they have yet to receive a UM scholarship offer because coaches haven't seen film.

Hurtt said the staff also avoids highlight tapes that often appear on recruiting sites. Even those can provide false hope.

"The big difference is we're evaluating game film now," Hurtt said. "A lot of times it was highlight tapes, highlight tapes, highlight tapes. That could be just a big teaser for you. You watch it and all of a sudden people are geeked up. Then you find the actual game tape, and he doesn't know where he's going on the field and things like that. You find out things in the game film."

Kyle Wright
QB 2003: Rated the No. 5 overall player by Rivals.com, but struggled with inconsistency throughout career


Lance Leggett
WR 2004: A top-20 recruit who never developed into the gamebreaker analysts projected


Willie Williams
LB 2004: The nation's top linebacker recruit couldn't make it through a season before transferring


Ryan Moore
WR 2002: Was considered a five-star recruit, but finished career with just 49 catches


James Bryant
FB 2004: A four-star recruit who could never find a position and was suspended three times before transferring