Recruiting Idaho players

[GOBIGORANGE]

Great job, Jahim....I couldn't have said it better! By the way...I am still a Zamberlin fan...I think he is a class act and great catch for ISU...I just would like to see MORE IDAHO NOT ALL IDAHO! And I think ISU does a GREAT job recruiting out of Idaho.

 

[Bengal Roar]

This topic is like a scab. It will keep getting picked at and scratched until it finally heals or just gets re-opened and festers up now and then.

I think all the comments above are good ones. They all have some type of validity.

I am turning into a realist in the last year or so. I like to look at facts and how history repeats itself. If we have problems then change them. If something isn't working then change it. With that said what would it hurt to go more Idaho?

Loyalty is key with Montana because they are proven winners. It is a privelage to play there. They have winning traditions. Who doesn't want to be on a winning team? Why do Idaho athletes go other places? Because most of them want to go to winning programs and programs that have their crap together and nicer facilities. If ISU had a winning tradition we would have a strong hold on a lot of upper caliber Idaho players i believe. Who is going to turn it around? Is it Z? Is it the next guy? It sure as hell ain't gonna hurt by getting more Idaho. We couldn't do worse? We (ISU) have got to prove ourselves first before they come knocking on our door. ISU/Coaches/Players/fans needs to do their part first and build that winning tradition and then we can get inside the Idaho youngsters heads and teach them what it is to have Pride for the Orange and Black. Loyalty is a two way street.

 

[skippy57.0]

Speaking of "loyalty," the Statesman had an article on JC Percy, the former Blackfoot star, who walked on at BSU and is in the running for playing time at LB. This is a perfect example of how tough it is to be ISU sometimes. ISU recruited Percy out of high school, but he chose to walk on at BSU. Just like the Higham kid from Shelley and the Richardson boys from Bonneville. When eastern Idaho athletes perceive it is better to walk on to places like BYU and BSU than take a scholarship from ISU, that makes it very diffcult to recruit in Idaho. Because to be successful at the 1-AA level, you need athletes who are borderline D-1 players -- kids who might make it as walk-ons at D-1 schools and eventually prove they can play at that level.

But if those marginal D-1 Idaho recruits are taking walk-ons at D-1 schools instead of your scholarship offer, then you have to look out of state. Sure, we'd all love to be a Montana school, with 50 in-state kids clamoring to not only take your partial scholarships, but also your walk-on offers. But ISU is not.

 

[GOBIGORANGE]

Skippy, I read the same article and I don't think ISU did offer Percy....Here's a direct quote from Percy from that article.."I think if I would have gotten a scholarship somewhere, I would have taken it and I wouldn't be in the position I'm in now." Percy told the Idaho Statesman. Ever since I came here , I've just had that chip on my shoulder to prove to everybody I am a scholarship guy." It's easy for ISU to say they are doing everything possible to land Idaho talent...going to every high school in Idaho...but are they?

 

[former87]

I cant believe that people on this board, those who claim to be educated Bengal fans have an issue with how poorly ISU has recrutied Idaho and the surrounding areas. Getting local kids is the only way to build a program and not simply have a quick fix. Saying that just becasue Coach Z has lots of Idaho kids at summer camp and having an Idaho native on staff equal giving the locals a fair shake is a joke. I am not saying that every kid has to be from Idaho, but Idaho needs the #1 priority. We can all say what we will and justifiy why Montana kids go to Montana and talk about the walk on /partials the kids get, the fact remains they win, and no person on this board really believes that Montana HS football is better than every other HS football in the conference. We all would love to be able to get the Blue Chip player, we can't. But there is NO reason that we cant fill a huge portion of the OL, TE, DL, FB, and LB's from the state of Idaho and the 200 mile area that has been talked about earlier. Using the greyshirt and using the LDS missions to our advantage to help players bodies develop into what they can become. We have better player in the local area than anyone thinks, we have kids who will work hard and have good work ethics. It just takes time to get those kids ready. Again, I know we need to get players from other areas, but we have a large state, we can go down into Utah (Snow College is one of the best JC's in the country) and over into Wyoming and find a players who can develop into players who can win in the conference. That is the point, players are around it simply takes effort and time, and a plan and a comitment to recruit those kids.

 

[sasquatch]

God, I can't believe this is still going on and on and on and on and on... My apologies for adding to this thread and feeding it. Oh, and welcome former87. Your very first appearance and post is on this subject. You must know gobigorange from the watercooler, no? Anyway...

Regarding the BCS study, that is APPLES and ORANGES. I believe the article you read was from SI.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/andy_staples/01/20/recruiting/index.html

The 50-win teams are THE #1 choice in their states. There is no debating that. They are also in states which are MUCH bigger than Idaho. The lone exception is West Virginia, which is a little bigger than Idaho. Surprise surprise, West Virginia has 7.9% of its roster FROM the state of WV. What's that, 7 players? Of course, West Virginia is also within 200 miles of MILLIONS of people in Ohio and Pennsylvania, among others.

1. USC
CA Pop of 34,000,000

2. Texas
TX Pop of 24,000,000

3. Oklahoma
OK Pop of 3,600,000

4. VA Tech
VA Pop of 7,100,000

5. LSU
LA Pop of 4,500,000

6. Florida
FL Pop of 16,000,000

7. Ohio State
OH Pop of 11,400,000

8. West Virginia (7.9% of players are from West Virginia!)
WV Pop of 1,800,000

It should also be pointed out that the football budget alone for these schools range from $11,000,000 to $26,000,000. That's not the TOTAL athletic budget, that's the football budget.

I don't know what the argument is here. Everybody agrees we'd like to see more Idaho players. The Idaho State Journal ran a piece which stated WHY ISU has done a great job with in-state recruiting. Frank ran an excellent blog with specific FACTS a while back which explained ISU's Idaho recruiting. Coach Zamberlin HAS stated publicly that Idaho is the #1 priority. ISU's coaching staff HAS a personal relationship with each and every school in the state. ISU's camp draws the MOST Idaho players in the state (which enables the staff to evaluate more).

Instead of the same old dribble FEW people spout that ISU needs to go after more Idaho players, please offer specifics. HOW and WHO!!!!!

Yeah, I agree. It would be great to have a constant winning club filled with Idaho players. It's less costly to have in-state players. Everybody on this board has pointed out they'd love to see more Idaho players, AS LONG AS THEY ARE TALENTED TO PLAY AT THIS LEVEL.

Give up on the Montana example. It's been beaten to death. Hell, MSU's online roster shows 97 total players. That means there are a Hell of a lot of players who are either on partials or walk-ons. Montana has 2 FCS programs, Idaho has 2 FBS and 1 FCS.

Quit saying ISU needs to recruit Idaho better and add more Idaho players WITHOUT offering the HOW's and WHO's! It's like saying scientists aren't doing enough to cure life-threatening diseases, and the world would be a better place if all the diseases were gone. Well, sure. But HOW do you propose to do this? If I said they need more money and time, and you still answered back they aren't doing enough, HOW does this solve the problem?

Most college football games are on Saturdays, while most high school games are on Friday nights. How do you propose coaches attend every high school game in the state to evaluate talent?

Apples and oranges. HOW and WHO?

 

[bengalcub]

Not to mention the PARTICIPATION in the summer camps by various schools in the state has everything to do with the current staff and their efforts for IN STATE recruiting.

 

[former87]

Going to a summer camp has as much to do with the staff maiking $$$ as it does with Idaho recruiting. Look at any school in the nation and 90%+ players at the summer camp are from the home state.

Moving on, all I said is that there ARE players that can be developed in our state and within the 200 miles just like they do at the schools up north in our conference. You talk budget, ours is small, all the more reason to find the players that can be developed into a Big Sky player.

Going to high school games on Friday night is part of the job of the staff at the college level. It is very common for a staff to have 7 coaches that are allowed out to evelauate in a Friday night that they play a home game so that is also a poor excuse to use.

Again, we have players locally that can become Big Sky players if the staff put the time to get them. It takes time to develop those players. We do need to find players in other areas to fill the skill positions no doubt, but there are players from the state and local we can get. HOW and WHO is the next question, I don't know, that is the football staffs job. They are supposed to be the ones who know how to find a player who is the dimond in the rough, that is what they get paid for.

 

[Jahim]

jd folsom and his older brother, luke bair, curt jenson, shane hunter, mike overgard, regan buck... To name a few. I know of a kid in idaho falls that was scheduled to come on a trip and these coaches failed to contact him with an itinerary, he didn't come on the trip and crossed the state school off. As for how, what about using another coach to recruit idaho. Cut the number of schools each idaho guy goes to. He gets to know his players and their coaches better. Or instead of flying to cali/wash/etc... Take one of those weeks and everyone hit idaho. That's gotta be cheaper than flying everywhere. There are lots of ways to do it. But the fact is that it has to be more than talk. Just saying it is your first priority. Don't try and bring up that we are in a tougher spot because we have to deal with bsu and UoI. We could be like weber... 3 fbs schools, 2 fcs schools, snow, and dixie. Still they have like 30 ut kids. They have to fight all of that. Everyone has challenges, but we can definitely DO better.

 

[skippy57.0]

Sure we could do better in Idaho. But you can see a whole lot more kids in one trip to LA than you can see in the entire state of Idaho in any given year. It's called maximizing resources.

 

[bengalcub]

So, let me get this straight. You are saying that having participation levels (at an all time high )from
in-state HS programs) at Idaho State football camps is not beneficial in recruiting? Does this not help a staff identify those "diamonds in the rough" that ISU needs to identify to build a successful program? Implying instead that the interest in these camps is more of a FINANCIAL benefit to the coaches at ISU. Is the cultivation of these relationships and the evaluations of this in-state talent, not beneficial to the long term viability of the Bengal football program.

The sad thing is--no matter what they do, it is never going to be enough IDAHO for you.

 

[GOBIGORANGE]

Thanks for some of you crawling out of the woodwork...I knew more people care about this issue than Cub and others believe. They locked me out of the original site and I didn't start this...BUT IT IS OBVIOUS PEOPLE DO CARE ABOUT THIS SUBJECT! Next year if they land 10 quality players to sign I would be happy! Like I said they need to start earlier in the players high school career. Don't wait until the kid is a senior and you can't land the out of state players you wanted to offer the Idaho kids. That's what Jahim means by stringing them along.

 

[bengalcub]

The thread was locked because there are TWO threads going on that address the same topic. When someone starts to BUMP there own threads because a person feels that they have a more interesting topic than others--it is going to get LOCKED. A spirited debate is welcome--but bumping to bump is not going to be tolerated. This isn't a hit count contest.

 

[GOBIGORANGE]

Cub...I deliberately bumped it after you BEGGED me not to because people were still reading it and Frank referenced it in his blog....It doesn't matter because VOTB just kept it going. And did you notice how many hits this one has so quickly. Idaho does care about IDAHO!

 

[GOBIGORANGE]

And Cub, these are not the same thread...I wanted to know if any new recruits had signed...not just Idaho.

 

[bengalcub]

That thread had not had a post in almost a month--with the last THREE post coming from you. Nobody has ever said that Idaho does not care about Idaho.

Just so you know, I will NOT BEG YOU again.

 

[GOBIGORANGE]

Hey, Cub...I'm done....I'm sick of the subject also....I hope we have a great Spring and an even better Fall. GO BIG ORANGE!!!!

 

[baller1]

This is always an interesting argument. Unfortunately, it's the football program that gets the heat for not recruiting Idaho enough. Compared to other sports at ISU, they're not doing that poorly. Here's a breakdown of percentage of Idaho kids on each roster:

Men's Track - 60%
Women's Track - 54%
Women's Golf - 50%
Volleyball - 33%
Football 32%
Men's Tennis - 29%
Women's Tennis - 29%
Women's Basketball - 23%
Men's Basketball - 19%
Soccer - 10%
Softball - 8%

My question is why is no one screaming about the lack of local kids on the soccer and softball teams? I think football does ok. I spent half my high school years in Texas and half in Idaho. I know very well that Idaho high school football is not played at the level of other states. I have no problem with our recruiting techniques.

 

[pocatato]

I'm so happy that this thread is over. Nothing has been left unsaid on this issue and every point imaginable has been thoroughly cussed and discussed. I am happy we are moving on. What a relief. Thank you all for your imput. I'm glad we got this out of the way and cleared the air. Good job everyone. Way to go!