Some glaring holes in the grid

[Too Long in the Wasteland]

I was looking on the Fringe bowl team website (which is awesome, as many others have pointed out). One feature is a schollie grid. Now I'm not a recruitnik, but maybe someone can explain some of the empty boxes to me. I realize that you don't recruit every position every year, and the Mason/Brewster transition is probably responsible for some of the gaps. But there are a few headscratchers:

1.A 2 year gap at RB, when it was obvious this was a weak spot when Mason left. Gambling on a few kids with shaky academics hurt us here.

2.Likewise, the paucity of upperclassmen on the defensive line. Obviously, it's Glen's bad that there aren't any 5th year seniors. And Brewster deserves credit for trying to prime the pump here, but it will take a another year or two before we have a lot of upperclassmen contributing.

3.Why so few MLB's recruited? Is that a position that you generally move someone into although they were originally recruited as a small DE or an OLB?

4.Why so few safeties recruited the last couple of years? I'm not sure how Jucos fit into this grid, but that might have some impact.

5.Its a little puzzling that we don't have a PK apprenticing. Its Ellestad's last year, and I've never heard of this Schwerman kid. If he turns out to have the yips it'll be like the year Glen had open tryouts at kicker and the best candidate was a chick.

This isn't a flame on Brewster. He shouldn't be held responsible for the 2007 recruiting class, as that one was basically a lost cause when Mason got S-canned on new years day. And he's done a good job in upgrading the team defensively. On the other side of the ball, not so much.

 

[hyaluronic]

I'm not an expert, but here's my take:

RB - 2008 - Brewster's first full recruiting class - signed Eskridge, Whaley, Salamon
2009 - Signed Lipscomb
2010 - 3 RBs

Eskridge played right away, as did Salamon (now SS), Whaley kicked off team, Lipscomb will come eventually, we hope. It isn't lack of effort here. We've just lost a lot of battles here - grades, character, and landing our plan A option during recruiting.

D-Line - These are all Brewster recruits. Brewster recruited Edwards, Wilhite, and Kirksey in his first recruiting class. Can't really give Brewster any blame at all.

MLB - With both the linebacker positions, it seems there are a lot of guys who are shuffled in there. So, yes, I think it is partially just that we move people there after we've seen them mature. In '08 we recruited Reeves (OLB), Tinsley (projected as OLB, now MLB), and Maresh (redshirted for two years), Ryan Grant (OLB), Sharpe (Juco, OLB) and Cooper was moved to OLB (that may have been the plan all along), so that is 5 OLB and 1 MLB. '09 we signed Singleton (OLB) and in '10 brought Mitchell, Tatum, and (if not RB) Edwards. Maybe he could recruit here more, but I haven't really been disappointed with our linebackers lately (some credit has to go to Mason). Will be able to continue to plug into the MLB? We'll see.

We have recruited a few Juco safeties (like Brock). In '08 we brought in Stoudermire and McKnight, who both could've been DBs, and ended up at WR, Cooper moved to LB, Dandrige is gone, Johnson who ended up at CB..... etc. It has been a combination of Jucos and just the way everyone shook out, I think.

And we've tried to recruit some kickers/punters over the year... and we've had a couple pretty good commitments. They just changed their mind before they signed with us. Kip Smith would've been a great guy to have as our kicker.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

One needs only to look at the poor job of recruiting by Mason in 05, 06 and 07 and the very high rate of attrition/defections (36 of 66 or 55%) which has been and still is very detrimental to building depth and experience. No wonder there are gaps in the grid.

1. Mason recruited no RB's in the 05 & 07 classes and brought in Callender, Sherrer and DJ Jones in 06.
2. No DT's in the 05 class, DE's Dyson, McField, McWhirter in 06 and just DT Elizee.
3. No LB's in 05, Becker and Robinson in 06 and Tate and Wey in 07.
4. DB's Brooks, Coleman, D Jones, Massey in 05, Love in 06, Clark-James, Potter, Thomas in 07.
5. Zero PK in 05, 06, 07.

Brewster has tried to fill the gaps by bringing in JUCO's but its difficult to get out of that cycle. It appears the 08 class not only has a good amount of talent, a much greater % the players (15 of 23 not including JUCO's) are sticking with the program. Same with the 09 class to date (17 of 20). Lets hope the 10 class will continue that trend. Thats a good start in building depth and not require FR and red shirts to make major contributions before they are ready.

 

[highwayman]

5.Its a little puzzling that we don't have a PK apprenticing. Its Ellestad's last year, and I've never heard of this Schwerman kid. If he turns out to have the yips it'll be like the year Glen had open tryouts at kicker and the best candidate was a chick.

??? This will be Dave Schwerman's third season on the team. He practices every day and does full warm-up kicking on game day. He a dual threat kicker (back-up punter as well) and is Ellestad's holder.

Here's his short bio:

Prepped at Kettle Moraine (Wis.) High School • two-time All-Classic 8 Conference performer • also a two-time all-area selection • named all-state following his senior season in 2007 • holds his school’s record for most points in a career •


What are you looking for in an apprentice kicker???

 

[Too Long in the Wasteland]

Thanks for the info on Schwerman. The fact that he's holding means that at least he's getting some realtime experience. But if he's so promising, why is he listed as a walk-on? I would think that the person who will one day be responsible for generating 1/3 or more of the team's points would merit a schollie.

While his CV sounds impressive, have you ever been to Kettle Moraine? For SE WI, its in the middle of nowhere. In fact, its about as far as you can get from somewhere without getting closer to someplace else.

 

[littlebigboy]

Bill Notlick just signed by the Vikings is from a town of 200 people, Chad Greenway from about the same. Don't judge a player by where he comes from. Thats just plain stupid!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Thanks for the info on Schwerman. The fact that he's holding means that at least he's getting some realtime experience. But if he's so promising, why is he listed as a walk-on? I would think that the person who will one day be responsible for generating 1/3 or more of the team's points would merit a schollie.

While his CV sounds impressive, have you ever been to Kettle Moraine? For SE WI, its in the middle of nowhere. In fact, its about as far as you can get from somewhere without getting closer to someplace else.

This is kind of a strange conversation. Backup kickers are rarely on scholorship. It is more than common that Schwerman wouldn't have a scholly.

Lastly, your argument about Kettle Moraine is even more odd. Kettle Moraine HS like pulls from the sticks is suburban Milwaukee and that area isn't a hotbed of nightlife or anything. However, Kettle Moraine HS plays in the Classic 8 Conference in football. The same conference as perenial powerhouse Arrowhead. It is probably the very best football conference in the entire state of Wisconsin. They have had 9 teams play in the state championship games since 2000 (2 classes).

So do you all of sudden like this kid more now that you know he came from the best football conference in Wisconsin?

 

[koppco1]

One needs only to look at the poor job of recruiting by Mason in 05, 06 and 07 and the very high rate of attrition/defections (36 of 66 or 55%) which has been and still is very detrimental to building depth and experience. No wonder there are gaps in the grid.

1. Mason recruited no RB's in the 05 & 07 classes and brought in Callender, Sherrer and DJ Jones in 06.
2. No DT's in the 05 class, DE's Dyson, McField, McWhirter in 06 and just DT Elizee.
3. No LB's in 05, Becker and Robinson in 06 and Tate and Wey in 07.
4. DB's Brooks, Coleman, D Jones, Massey in 05, Love in 06, Clark-James, Potter, Thomas in 07.
5. Zero PK in 05, 06, 07.

Brewster has tried to fill the gaps by bringing in JUCO's but its difficult to get out of that cycle. It appears the 08 class not only has a good amount of talent, a much greater % the players (15 of 23 not including JUCO's) are sticking with the program. Same with the 09 class to date (17 of 20). Lets hope the 10 class will continue that trend. Thats a good start in building depth and not require FR and red shirts to make major contributions before they are ready.

Wow! Seeing those names (or lack there of) really makes me realize how bad the recruiting was the last couple of years of the previous regime. Either they didn't recruit anyone for a position or they recruited guys with very low ceilings/talent or they recruited guys who left (of which several also had low talent/ceiling).

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

The other 16 no-names are:
WR's: (05) Chambers, Christy, (06) Jamal Howard, Fischer, (07) Chatman, Cheatham, Herndon, Thompson, Spry & White.
OL: (05) Hudson, Sekinger, and (07) Davis
QB: (05) Marcel Jones & (07)Brewster
ST's: (07) Howell

Players who likely would have seen extensive PT include Daniels (DE), EJ Jones (RB), D Jones (CB), Hudson(OL) and Curtis Thomas (SS), Davis (OL) and either Spry or White (WR). Maybe Howell (ST). Who knows about the others on the departed list. Maybe Becker (LB) and Potter (DB)

 

[Too Long in the Wasteland]

I'm not hating on this Schwerman kid, or Kettle Moraine for that matter. My points are:

1.Given a choice, I'd rather have a kid who holds the records at a school like EP, CDH, or Dallas Skyline than some 200 student school in the middle of nowhere

2.I would beg to differ on whether our backup kicker should be a walk-on. There's a good chance that Schwerman will turn out to be a dependable kicker, but I'd wager at USC or tOSU, they have a blue chip underclassman under schollie. Particularly if their starter is a senior.

Mason always put recruiting kickers on his to-do list somewhere between "take out the garbage" and "schedule annual rectal exam". Which is how we got into situations like trying out kids from the English department. Speaking of England, if Rhys-Lloyd hadn't qualified at the last minute we would have been in the hurt bag (Glen lucked out on that one). Granted, Brewster has at least tried to recruit some good kickers, but has come up empty. Which given his rep as a recruiter par excellence is a little troubling.

 

[dpodoll68]

2.I would beg to differ on whether our backup kicker should be a walk-on. There's a good chance that Schwerman will turn out to be a dependable kicker, but I'd wager at USC or tOSU, they have a blue chip underclassman under schollie. Particularly if their starter is a senior.

The current K situation is a result of Kip Smith decommitting for UCLA. Apparently, Brewster and staff didn't deem another available 2010 K worthy of a scholly, so we'll roll with Ellestad and hope we can find another in this year's class, one whose recruitment will actually stick this time. If not, we'll have to hope Schwerman can handle it in 2011. After all, 2009 was the first opportunity we had to see Ellestad, and I think most are pleased with what he brings to the table.

By the way, the almighty Trojans find themselves in the same situation. They have two seniors battling it out for placekicking duties, and a sophomore who was a walk-on. Matt Dar, Rivals #4 K in 2010, decommitted from USC to attend Fresno St. So even the elite run into this from time to time.

Just as my personal opinion, I think it's insanity to have more than one K on scholarship, especially when only 85 of those are available. But hey, to each their own.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I'm not hating on this Schwerman kid, or Kettle Moraine for that matter. My points are:

1.Given a choice, I'd rather have a kid who holds the records at a school like EP, CDH, or Dallas Skyline than some 200 student school in the middle of nowhere

.

My point is that you are wrong about Kettle Moraine HS. It is one of the larger schools in all of Wisconsin and plays in the elite football conference in WI (WI's version of the Lake Conference or Suburban East). It is simply not "some 200 student school in the middle of nowhere". They play in probably the very best football conference in the entire state. The school's enrollment is well over 1000 kids (probably closer to 1500). My point is that you are flat out wrong with your description of Kettle Moraine HS.

I guess it really doesn't matter, because it seems pretty evident that you think the school should have a top kicker in the country as their backup and I can promise you, he probably isn't the next Chip Lohmiller, but as a backup K, he seems more than adaquete for the job.