Let me preface by saying that I wish more than anything that we could recruit at the level of Ohio state because that’s really the only way to consistently compete with them.
But we can’t.
So now what? Do we continue to try to recruit like them with one hand tied behind our back? I say no. It’s clearly not working. I say sell out for character kids. Forget about star ratings. We should be going after the most talented highest character kids we can find. If that means we end up with the 30th ranked class in the country, so be it.
We need to build a culture. Leaders build culture, not super talented me-first players. Let’s find the kids that can be those leaders even if it means passing on more talented kids. Does that help us compete with Ohio state? No, but our respectable recruiting classes are getting blown out by them anyway.
Let’s work on the foundation and maybe one day we will have a program with a culture that is good enough to attract some talent on that alone. See Iowa State (not a Campbell endorsement, just an example of culture as a recruiting mechanism).
This is the only way forward, IMO. It might make for some painful losses, but it would be a step in the right direction and the product on the field would be one that wouldn’t be embarrassing win or loss.
But we can’t.
So now what? Do we continue to try to recruit like them with one hand tied behind our back? I say no. It’s clearly not working. I say sell out for character kids. Forget about star ratings. We should be going after the most talented highest character kids we can find. If that means we end up with the 30th ranked class in the country, so be it.
We need to build a culture. Leaders build culture, not super talented me-first players. Let’s find the kids that can be those leaders even if it means passing on more talented kids. Does that help us compete with Ohio state? No, but our respectable recruiting classes are getting blown out by them anyway.
Let’s work on the foundation and maybe one day we will have a program with a culture that is good enough to attract some talent on that alone. See Iowa State (not a Campbell endorsement, just an example of culture as a recruiting mechanism).
This is the only way forward, IMO. It might make for some painful losses, but it would be a step in the right direction and the product on the field would be one that wouldn’t be embarrassing win or loss.
