Derrick Odom commits to LSU but he is now a soft verbal

[runtheoption22]

remaining OLB targets:
AJ Jones (UF lean)
Craig Stevens (Bama/Barn)
3rd options: Kevin Alexander, Corderick Govan

MLB targets:
Brandon Spikes (Bama/VT/UF)
Roshaad Byrd (Bama/MS schools)

Talbert could project at a LB spot instead of DE.

 

[Roll_Tide_Gal]

Double crap.

 

[BamaNTN]

That sux.

 

[BIGBAM]

RTO......
I'd really just like to know what the hell
these schools are offering these people
to make them not choose us. It seems to me that
dirty recruiting is going on with these other teams with their coaches
lying and saying stuff about us the way they've been getting players.
We have the best defensive coach and team in america with low depth
yet all of these stacked teams keep reeling these
players in. What is their secret and how long is it gonna be before
we can hand pick any players we want? Our recruiting
season is looking more bleak and bleak and it
really sucks for such a good year to end this way.
Its really frustrating to these kinds of things to happen
but all I've ever heard in the past when the shoe was on the
other foot was " well playing time is more important
to that player" but that simply isn't the case here nor
is the fact that we had arguably the best defense in the nation
and the best coach. So what gives?
In other words WHAT do us fans have to look forward to in terms of signing
the final recruits on the coaches lists? With the way the Fla,the barn,LS-who
and whoeverm has racked up prospects the past month or 2 you'd think that
our final prospects would be shoe-ins with our unique position
at this time in recruiting and school history BUT yet these goobs still
have no problem whatsoever getting who they want. Last time I checked
we are moving up so what gives with the recruiting process this late in the game. I'd like to know RTO if you cane enlighten us on this situation. Thanks.

 

[drjamesm]

Man that is one lean list

To be honest none of the big 3 are leaning to Bama.............. :mad2: Also Byrd is just too slow to play LB,he's certainly destined for DE as is Spikes :conf3: I hope someone appears from off the radar screen or this class may end up a bust at LB this year! :conf2: It seems Stevens is Barn bound and Jones is almost a UF lock.
drjamesm

 

[runtheoption22]

I believe everyone assumed LB recruiting would be super easy for us. We have Roach and Ryans leaving. We arguably have the best defense. We arguably have the best LB coach in the nation. Playing time is there and these 4 stars should be licking their chops.....so what gives?

Well, I'll offer several ways (that might be called "half full" ways) of looking at this.

1. We're losing some top notch kids who have top notch offers. Can't get 'em all. Just the way it is.
2. We took Higgenbotham, Kirschman, Wright, and Hutchins relatively early with the big names still out there. Obviously the staff had them rated very high on their list or they would not have taken them.
I know for a fact that Higgenbotham was very, very high on the list. Kirschman could be a Pollack-type DE (straight from a coach's mouth) and the staff wants Hutchins to be another "Demeco."
IMHO, as well as another highly respected Rivals evaluator from FL, I think Wright is a better overall prospect than AJ Jones.
3. LB is the position I least worry about when it comes to the staff developing them. I think Schreiber, Anders, and Hall will all be very good by their junior year at the latest. Kines has already taken relatively low rated LBs and made them stars. (see Ryans, Roach, Simpson).
4. The sky is falling.

 

[Crimson Hawk]

Really liked the name......

 

[vdubfanatic]

it's amazing, i think florida is going to be a pro team soon. god, please let us beat them in gainesville next year and i'll call it even.

 

[da_sack86]

Well, I was having a good Xmas Vacation. I really wanted Odom, over Spikes and Neal and thought after his visit that we were a shoe-in. BIGBAM is right, we are doing something wrong.

 

[RhodeIslandRed]

Probably got outbid

 

[LTBamaFan]

It seems to me that schools who have their big recruiting weekends late in the process have success with more of the big name recruits. Also at certain schools, those $500 handshakes carry some weight also. :

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Well, I was having a good Xmas Vacation. I really wanted Odom, over Spikes and Neal and thought after his visit that we were a shoe-in. BIGBAM is right, we are doing something wrong.

I don't know if we're "doing something wrong". Honestly, excluding the 2005 season where we busted out 9 (potentially 10) wins, what have we done over the past ten years that is any better than what the LSU's, UF's and other elite schools have done? Unless I'm missing something I'd say the answer is nothing.

Our program has been in pretty much shambles for years now and though CMS and staff have done a great job in recruiting this season and last it still doesn't make up for the years of "down times". It's been said on here before, our program didn't go in the tank over night and it's not going to come out over night either. We've been in the tank for years so I would imagine that it will take years to restore it.

I know this is blasphemy but as much as many Bama fans will argue you down over this I think it is true. Alabama isn't perceived as one of the "best" football programs to go to anymore. Our tradition is respected by mostly all but as for as what we put on the field and have put on the field for over ten years now we're looked at as the upper middle class of the SEC rather than the elite. Winning and the potential to win is what brings the show hawgs to your school. If players feel like the potential to win is better at school A than at school B, odds are they're going to School A. Sure, they'll use the cliche of "It was the best fit for me" junk but the translation of that cliche is "I think School A is going to win more than School B so that's where I'm going".

The nine wins was great for our program but we're going to have to put together more of them before we can start getting big boys on a consistent basis.

 

[crimsonkelly]

Uf

I agree with you bamabuzzard, but UF has not exactly been an elite program the last few years since SS left. I guess being a media darling like Meyer helps get you the 5 star players.

Lets remember people, it is not always the bigger or stronger team that wins.

Have faith in the coaching staff.

RTR

 

[lsuirish]

that is impossible

Probably got outbid

no one outbids you guys. sorry couldnt pass on that one. way too open!
went to the game this year and was my best visit ever. been 6 previous times with wins and losses. best atmosphere in bama that i have ever seen.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I agree with you bamabuzzard, but UF has not exactly been an elite program the last few years since SS left. I guess being a media darling like Meyer helps get you the 5 star players.

Lets remember people, it is not always the bigger or stronger team that wins.

Have faith in the coaching staff.

RTR

I agree, since SS left and even in his last few years UF wasn't the power house it had become accustomed to in SS glory years. But even then it was putting better teams on the field than what Bama was and it didn't have the taint of PROBATION hanging over it's program either.

Kids love the tradition and all but it still boils down to which program (that the recruits think) will be their best opportunity to compete AND win. CMS can't help the circumstances that preceeded him and put him at a recruiting disadvantage. But he now has to play with the cards he's been dealt and I think he's doing an admiral job. But even with the job he's doing on the recruiting trail if we can't string together more nine win seasons then we'll continue to have the "big recruits" go elsewhere.

We're in a tough situation because to win a lot of games year after year you have to have a lot of good recruits, but at the same time to get the good recruits you have to win a lot of games. That is where good coaching comes into play. Good coaching can win more games "than he's suppose to" in order to attrack the "good recruits". We did that this year. Hopefully we can continue.

 

[babyray]

I agree BB. Coach Shula is going to have to ''coach'' us out of this. And I think he can. Top 15 recruiting class talent can beat top 5 recruiting class talent if the top 15 class is coached up. We just gotta chip away at the gap a little each year and then we eventually get our share of top 5 classes. Then he coaches the heck out of those kids and wins a NC.

 

[wastedmason]

I agree BB. Coach Shula is going to have to ''coach'' us out of this. And I think he can. Top 15 recruiting class talent can beat top 5 recruiting class talent if the top 15 class is coached up. We just gotta chip away at the gap a little each year and then we eventually get our share of top 5 classes. Then he coaches the heck out of those kids and wins a NC.

I agree. Top 5,10,15,20 or what have you recruiting classes is only an opinion based on a very inexact science at best. Anything besides say the top two or three recruiting classes is probably interchangeable between the top 25 or so classes. Your guess at who did better is probably as good as anyones.

When you have been depleated as we have over the past several years it is a wonder that we even won 9 games this year. If coach Shula and Company can maintain that success for the next couple years we will be back in the top 10 in recruiting year in and year out.

Just recruiting a top class doesn't gaurantee a mythical NC down the road we all know. Some of the kids want make the grades, injuries or flat out miss judgement on talent and a number one class 4 years later could be a bust. It is the continued high level of year in and year out recruiting classes that get you to the top. This is what coach Shula's 3rd recruiting class anywhere much less as the coach of Alabama? He did real good last season even as good by most experts as an undefeated barn coach did. And right now he is looking at another top 20 class by the recruiting experts estimation. 2 or 3 more top 20 or top 10 classes then we will see the rewards.

I believe we have a class coach and coaching staff and as word gets around and we keep winning, more and more young kids will take notice of our tradition and our prominience and want to be a part of it, a winning tradion.

Roll Tide!

 

[NativeTider]

Is Derrick Odom waffling? Scout.com now has him as soft verbal to LSwho.

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=14&p=8&c=1&nid=1913332

 

[runtheoption22]

Is Derrick Odom waffling? Scout.com now has him as soft verbal to LSwho.

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=14&p=8&c=1&nid=1913332

yep, still looking at UT and USM.

 

[JayRock]

yep, still looking at UT and USM.

UT and USM? Why not Bama?