Friday September 29, 2006

Friday's Mail Bag

On Fridays we publish your e-mails and answer your questions. To submit a question or comments please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com.

Hello Mickey:
Wanted to let you know that I really like your post game worksheets. They are well organized and show a lot of attention to detail. I find they give me insights into things I may not have considered. THANKS!

Best Regards,
Kirk

Kirk,
Thanks. I have had a nice response to them. Thanks for the kind words.

Hello Mickey,
I'm a long time listener of your show even though i only get to listen for a few minutes each day. I don't know if you return e-mails or not but I was curious as to what your opinion is to this question. Say a school has prospects in for a game and the team is not performing well. Do you think a prospect looks at that and says, well they're not too good, i'm not coming here. Or say, he's watching a player at the position he's being recruited at and that player is not performing well, do you think that prospect says, well I’m better than that now and I’m still in high school, I can come here next year and have a good chance to play right away. Or do prospects, in your opinion pretty much already have a favorite school they want to go to? If you have time to give your opinion on this I would appreciate it. By the way, my brother Eddie met and talked to you at the 2003 Clemson/ Fla. St game in Clemson. Said he really enjoyed talking to you. Thanks for your time.
P. Hudson in Sixmile

P. Hudson,
I think there are so many factors that go into a prospects decision. They all have a few childhood favorites that may get an inside track. The relationships they build with staffs as sophomores and juniors are now very important. Style of play, location, depth chart, academics, etc all go into the decision. As far as game day is concerned, I think players look more for the feeling and atmosphere than anything else.

Mickey,
I have been battling with myself for several years about whether or not I should send this e-mail. But today, I said heck.....Here it goes. It has to do with recruiting, preferably Clemson's . I am totally lost on why some of the kids they offer, are offered so soon. I'm a firm believer that schools like Florida, Georgia, So Cal, Ohio state, etc...are good year after year, because they get the better players each year. And yes I know ,sometimes a 4 or 5 star player doesn't pan out on the college level, and yeah, sometimes a 2 star player out of HS may go on to be an All American. But for the most part.....those ratings seem to be fairly accurate.-(no?) I'm really stumped why our staff offers kids early in the recruiting process that no other schools wants, or few do. Ok, ok.....so our staff may have seen them play and really likes them, so they offered. Why not spend April through December going after the highly recruited players, then "fall-back" on the kids you know you can pretty much get. I just don't buy for a moment, that our staff (Clemson) knows any secrets about players that other schools don't know. For every player that’s a 2 star player that DOES become a great player in college, there’s probably 3 more of that caliber who don't. Is it that our staff gives up on recruiting the higher profile players earlier? Just curious.....tell me like it is, not what we(fans) want to hear. I didn't want to mention any kids names in particular to make anyone feel bad. Go Tigers/ we should roll this week again, right?

Wayne

Wayne,
I agree on some of your points and disagree on others. First, recruiting rankings are fairly accurate. The five star kids usually turn out. That is why Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Texas and Florida State have been where they are. However, Clemson’s staff pays no attention to star ratings. They scout each player and make their own decisions based upon their own evaluations. If you are going to take a two-star kid, it better be the right one. The Tigers’ program has continued to improve under Bowden, I would trust the staffs evaluation. Clemson wins big this week.

Tony McAbee from the Byrnes Touchdown Club sent us this e-mail updating the nation’s top quarterbacks:

Willy Korn - Byrnes High School - committed to Clemson
5 games complete - 5 wins 0 losses
team outscoring opponents 189-68 avg/game 38-14
67% comp ratio
99 comp
148 att
1490 yd
15 TD
4 Int

Jimmy Clausen - Oak Christian High School - committed to Notre Dame
3 games complete - 3 wins 0 losses
team outscoring opponents 168-19 avg/game 56-6
65% comp ratio
34 comp
52 att
699 yd
11 TD
1 Int

Ryan Mallett - Texas High School - committed to Michigan
4 games complete - 4 wins 0 losses
team outscoring opponents 152-71 avg/game 38-18
59% comp ratio
72 comp
122 att
1036 yd
9 TD
1 Int

John Brantley - Trinity High School - committed to Texas
5 games complete - 5 wins 0 losses
team outscoring opponents 268-29 avg/game 54-6
54% comp ratio
49 comp
91 att
869 yd
15 TD
1 Int

All four QB's combined stats
17 games complete - 17 wins 0 losses
outscoring opponents 777-187 avg/game 46-11
62% comp ratio
254 comp
413 att
4094 yd
50 TD
7 Int

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