FURMAN FOOTBALL WEEKLY: THE CHATTANOOGA GAME

[Davemeister]

Comments of Interest:

YOUTH - At one point during the game, Coach realized that all of our O "Skill" players on the field were Freshmen. And 6 of our Front Seven on D were Freshman. This will pay off big for us - Next Year.

TALENT - We have some, but Furman will never will able to out-talent schools like UT-C and WCU. That's nothing new, have been dealing with it for a long time.

THE PORTAL - Unlike the schools previously mentioned, Furman cannot fill our gaps by signing players "by the jock". Our school's requirements make this impossible. Something we already knew, but need to be reminded of at times like these.

THE WCU GAME - The demands on our team will be about the same as last week. We will face a veteran team that is playing well and has a talented, experienced QB.

[MidlandsPaladin]

Comments of Interest:

TALENT - We have some, but Furman will never will able to out-talent schools like UT-C and WCU. That's nothing new, have been dealing with it for a long time.

But I thought we have been. I know ranking recruiting classes at our level is an inexact science, but haven’t we had the top recruiting class in the conference for several years running?

[The Jackal]

We have strong recruiting classes. We have to build teams the old fashioned way.

We cannot make instant oatmeal with the transfer portal. We have to grind the grains. We'll eventually get oatmeal, but it's gonna take a little longer than some of these other places that just pour in hot water.

[gman84]

Jackal, that is a Euell Gibbons analogy if I have ever heard one!

[Paul C]

But I thought we have been. I know ranking recruiting classes at our level is an inexact science, but haven’t we had the top recruiting class in the conference for several years running?

We could have the best HS recruiting class every year but when the bigger state schools like UTC, ETSU, WCU (and even some of the privates) take 10-20 SEC/ACC transfers every year that changes the talent delta dramatically.

[wcugrad95]

Outsider - so take it FWIW. But I think every fan base thinks their team had "the best recruiting class" in the SOCON (or whatever conference they are in). Every year I see WCU fans saying the same thing.

At the same time, I get that you guys think other schools like Western are somehow taking in all of these FBS-level players. The truth is, we are losing our top FBS-level guys each year rather than adding them. Pitt has Reid and Lee from last year, but they also have Poppi Williams who could still be in Cullowhee. I don't see where we added those kind of players through the portal.

You guys could argue something similar that you could still have Huff. SOCON teams are probably losing more good players than they are gaining.

[gofurman]

Outsider - so take it FWIW. But I think every fan base thinks their team had "the best recruiting class" in the SOCON (or whatever conference they are in). Every year I see WCU fans saying the same thing.

At the same time, I get that you guys think other schools like Western are somehow taking in all of these FBS-level players. The truth is, we are losing our top FBS-level guys each year rather than adding them. Pitt has Reid and Lee from last year, but they also have Poppi Williams who could still be in Cullowhee. I don't see where we added those kind of players through the portal.

You guys could argue something similar that you could still have Huff. SOCON teams are probably losing more good players than they are gaining.

I have often thought that NIL and the insta-portal potty will actually level the playing field some. I think the Carson Wentz and Trey Lance etc would probably leave as Juniors for 400K at an FBS school now. I don't see Cooper Kupp staying at EWU as a senior these days. UW or Oregon would offer him 400K or something.

Thoughts? Agree? Or am I missing something? I just think the top FCS dudes will be bought off / siphoned off now and while before they could go now the get MONEY $$$ so it will skim the top dudes. Kind of hope it does. Skim some of the guys from the Dakotas etc.

[apaladin]

Outsider - so take it FWIW. But I think every fan base thinks their team had "the best recruiting class" in the SOCON (or whatever conference they are in). Every year I see WCU fans saying the same thing.

At the same time, I get that you guys think other schools like Western are somehow taking in all of these FBS-level players. The truth is, we are losing our top FBS-level guys each year rather than adding them. Pitt has Reid and Lee from last year, but they also have Poppi Williams who could still be in Cullowhee. I don't see where we added those kind of players through the portal.

You guys could argue something similar that you could still have Huff. SOCON teams are probably losing more good players than they are gaining.

I have often thought that NIL and the insta-portal potty will actually level the playing field some. I think the Carson Wentz and Trey Lance etc would probably leave as Juniors for 400K at an FBS school now. I don't see Cooper Kupp staying at EWU as a senior these days. UW or Oregon would offer him 400K or something.

Thoughts? Agree? Or am I missing something? I just think the top FCS dudes will be bought off / siphoned off now and while before they could go now the get MONEY $$$ so it will skim the top dudes. Kind of hope it does. Skim some of the guys from the Dakotas etc.

GF you are absolutely correct. That is why college foitball sucks these days. Not necessarily the game itself but the buying of players has changed CFB forvever as we once knew and loved it.

[wcugrad95]

The flip side of this is that the big schools are all but ignoring all but the elite 4* and 5* high school kids. So I think FCS schools can now get better high school players than ever before. But as those kids come in and show how good they are, they’ll no doubt get offered from bigger programs after their Soph and Jr seasons. It could be argued that schools like Furman might have a better chance to hang on to their players a little longer - too early to have any idea about that. But I expect it “lowers” vs leveling the playing field. We’ll have better young talent than before, but it will be raw talent that gets developed and frequently moves on.

The difference for the Dakota and Montana schools IMO is they get to keep most if not all the talent from those areas. In the South East there are so many FCS, G5, and P4 schools recruiting and retention is much harder

[FUATT]

The big problem coming is the raising of the 85 scholarship limit to 105. Thinking about our recruiting footprint, that’s 20 extra scholarships a year that Clemson, SC, GT, UNC, UVA, VT, UCF, USF etc can all give if they want. So there are a handful of scholarship players on our teams that will now, unwisely or not, choose to take the scholarship offer to hold blocking dummies for 1-A schools and get paid as employees thanks to House Settlement. This will deplete our collective SoCon talent pool further. It is something to keep an eye on. I can argue It may have less of an impact on us because of the perceived quality and impact of the Furman degree, but more because of our cost of attendance vs other schools.

[FUwolfpacker]

The recruiting stuff has been covered enough at this point, but I'll say a little since I enjoy the recruiting part of college football (sometimes).

It's fairly common to see comments like "but I was told we had great recruiting classes!" when teams struggle, but it's never as simple as you have good players or you don't. Yes, that certainly is a big part of it, but coaching and an individual's drive to get better also play a large role. Based on what Hendrix and Co have done since he's been back, I'm going to choose to believe in their coaching ability. We may not always like the plan or calls week to week, but overall I think they do a good job. Sometimes guys just don't pan out as well.

To me, the biggest issue this year isn't talent, it's the massive vacuum of experience that was caused by the loss of 40 players at once. Normally, that number is like 12-15 scholarship players (maybe 20 total at most usually). Having to replace that many players is tough. The guys behind them could be more talented but they just haven't seen and learned everything the 5th year guys have. Which leads me to the next thing I wanted to talk about from Hendrix's presser...

Hendrix said there were about 9 guys that they've burnt the redshirt on this year. I'm not sure if the participation reports are accurate (I'll assume they are), but I believe there have only been 4 true freshmen that have played 5 or more games (Hedden, Hester, Hall, and Smith). Javaris Jones and Daco Coleman are at 4 games and Pryor and Kauserud are at 3. That's 8, and I assume all of those last 4 are going to eventually lose their redshirt this week or next. Hendrix said that number has been 2 and 3 the last couple of years. Good for the future for sure, but probably not ideal for your current year to be playing at least 8 true freshmen for more than half your season.

[gofurman]

The big problem coming is the raising of the 85 scholarship limit to 105. Thinking about our recruiting footprint, that’s 20 extra scholarships a year that Clemson, SC, GT, UNC, UVA, VT, UCF, USF etc can all give if they want. So there are a handful of scholarship players on our teams that will now, unwisely or not, choose to take the scholarship offer to hold blocking dummies for 1-A schools and get paid as employees thanks to House Settlement. This will deplete our collective SoCon talent pool further. It is something to keep an eye on. I can argue It may have less of an impact on us because of the perceived quality and impact of the Furman degree, but more because of our cost of attendance vs other schools.

This was something I brought up - the 105 scholarship limit - when it was approved.. Some people replied we would be BETTER because of it. They said kids would try to be number 100 at Clemson... not make it on the field.. get bored and transfer to an FCS. I guess we will just have to see.

Sadly, it could be YET ANOTHER THING that benefits the Dakotas and Montana since there are so few big time FBS - 105 scholarship - schools up there.. Minnesota, Wisconsin (NONE in Montana) etc.

These things depress me as I would like to think we can compete for titles but the more I read and "the proof is in the pudding" the more I think EVERYTHING gives those remote schools (South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Montana) an advantage.
Then, our own coach ! CCH says we can't be as talented as even UTC or WCU - who are good teams but never really compete for titles (yes, I am aware of WCU that one time) ... I mean, that's just DEPRESSING. As in our coach saying we can't compete talent-wise. At some point you have to have the TALENT.

According to the summary straight from CCH he said "TALENT - We have some, but Furman will never will able to out-talent schools like UT-C and WCU. That's nothing new, have been dealing with it for a long time."

*We will NEVER be able to out-talent Western? Then we aren't winning any national titles ever again. Just depressing. Wish I could have witnessed the 80s. I would like to think we have some shot at a national title. But even if we beat Montana we weren't beating SDSU ... I watched that game. SDSU 23 Montana 3. I would just like to think we could win it all .. but maybe the dynamics have changed to where it is not possible anymore.

[The Jackal]

The recruiting stuff has been covered enough at this point, but I'll say a little since I enjoy the recruiting part of college football (sometimes).

It's fairly common to see comments like "but I was told we had great recruiting classes!" when teams struggle, but it's never as simple as you have good players or you don't. Yes, that certainly is a big part of it, but coaching and an individual's drive to get better also play a large role. Based on what Hendrix and Co have done since he's been back, I'm going to choose to believe in their coaching ability. We may not always like the plan or calls week to week, but overall I think they do a good job. Sometimes guys just don't pan out as well.

To me, the biggest issue this year isn't talent, it's the massive vacuum of experience that was caused by the loss of 40 players at once. Normally, that number is like 12-15 scholarship players (maybe 20 total at most usually). Having to replace that many players is tough. The guys behind them could be more talented but they just haven't seen and learned everything the 5th year guys have. Which leads me to the next thing I wanted to talk about from Hendrix's presser...

Hendrix said there were about 9 guys that they've burnt the redshirt on this year. I'm not sure if the participation reports are accurate (I'll assume they are), but I believe there have only been 4 true freshmen that have played 5 or more games (Hedden, Hester, Hall, and Smith). Javaris Jones and Daco Coleman are at 4 games and Pryor and Kauserud are at 3. That's 8, and I assume all of those last 4 are going to eventually lose their redshirt this week or next. Hendrix said that number has been 2 and 3 the last couple of years. Good for the future for sure, but probably not ideal for your current year to be playing at least 8 true freshmen for more than half your season.

There's no science in the recruiting class observation index.

Generally speaking, Furman's commits have a lot of offers. They have a lot of FBS and FCS offers. That does not necessarily mean anything, of course. It's up to the coaching staff to develop them.

Furman's team last year was unique. They had a bunch of super seniors and grad students coming back and playing out their eligibility. I think we will be just fine when all of that extra COVID eligibility settles out and we are back to graduating a normal number of players and having a normal number of freshmen.

[apaladin]

Watched a little of the epic tuesday night matfchup between MTSU/KENNESAW ST Must have bern 1500 in attendance.
It was said that MTSU has 60 newcomers and KSU has 49 newcomers. The state of college football

[DeepPurple]

We are more different than most of the other schools in the So Con. We can rarely take a transfer. NOT a grad transfer because we sometimes pick one of those guys up. Our academics are different than other schools. Other So Con schools can get them in much easier than we can. Sure, they may lose them but they have the chance to pick up some new ones, hardly the case at Furman.