TAMU Recruiting Advantage in SEC?

[HornSwoggler]

Over and over, i have been hearing how TAMU's joining the SEC will have a devastating effect on UT's recruiting of Texas athletes. The reason mentioned most is that many of the players A&M wants that currently lean toward UT will want to play in the better SEC conference.

I don't argue that the SEC is better athletically than the B12. However, I do not agree that many potential UT recruits will opt to play in the almighty SEC now and will switch their allegiance to A&M. In fact, I feel more top state athletes will avoid TAMU since many fewer games will be easily accessible for their families to attend.

Where A&M might benefit is with athletes that are being courted by the SEC teams. A&M can say, "Why go live a long way from home when you can compete in the same conference and stay in Texas?".

From UT's standpoint and that of any B12 team, the appearance that the conference is not stable long-term might play a much greater part in the recruits looking elsewhere.

It will be interesting to see what happens with in-state recruits.

 

[tamster]

i think it's a bunch of bs as well. maybe a kid will want to go to A&M to play the likes of florida, lsu, and bama, but only if he couldn't get a scholarship at said schools to begin with--because they know the likely outcome from the game. if they were going to be offered by florida/lsu/bama, they probably weren't going to A&M anyway.

those are the schools that texas recruits against (see john brantley, julio jones, russell shepard, etc). there are a handful of kids that are choosing between JUST texas and a&m. some go with a&m because they like the rural/backwater feel and some of the traditions. most pick texas because of the name/prestige/recent success/NFL pipeline/better facilities. i don't think much will change just because of the SEC affiliation for aggy.

skc

 

[bamboozle]

UT will get their usual top Texas recruits. The rest of the top recruits will go to OU or SEC(LSU and Alabama). Texas a&m will get the second tier from the state of Texas and SEC country. Nothing will change, but don't tell Aggies this.

 

[Burnt Orange Bevo]

During the OSU-vs-A&M game on ESPN(2/3) yesterday, the sideline reporter cited A&M coaches saying that they were winning only about 20% of their in-state recruiting battles against the Longhorns, and that they (A&M coaches) hoped/expected a move to the SEC would improve their winning % of recruiting battles against UT.

Sounds like a hail Mary move/strategy to me.

 

[I35]

I agree completely. We will get who we want in recruiting. All Aggies did was open the door to the SEC to get recruits they want. If a recruit wants to play in the SEC, it won't be with Aggy. And if for some reason the Big 12 adds two or three Texas schools like SMU, TCU, and Holuston, that will help those schools in recruiting Texas. Aggy is already not getting the top recruits then add the SEC and those other Texas scools if to the Big 12, Aggies are not even on the level of the Baylor Bears pre Robert Griffin.

 

[orangotango]

I think it is more of an argument that aggy currently has nothing to distinguish itself (that a football player would conern himself wtih, not talking about the stuff a pyschologist would be concerned with). So with the SEC at least they have something to talk to the recruits about other than...

we hope to someday be as strong academically as UT.

we hope that someday College Station doesn't suck so bad but at least we are close to Austin.

Our facilities are almost as nice as UT

Yeah, UT has the best looking human women but we have the best looking sheep.

Yeah, UT has the LHN but we have some stuff on PPV.

Yea, UT is the center of the live music scene, but we are the center of the cow tipping world.

We may loose a lot more than UT but we loose more in a better conference.

They will also be able to claim that they cheat less than anyone else in our conference (once they are in the SEC). Maybe that will help out with the parents.

 

[ViperHorn]

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[Horns2005]

I think A&M is just opening up the recruits that would go to Tech and Baylor to LSU and Arkansas.

 

[El Torito]

Blue chip HS recruits seriously interested in playing in the SEC will look at the big boys, e.g. 'Bama, LSU, etc. They will start there and work their way down.

Think about it, aggy doesn't seriously compete for blue chips with these schools today. Their recent head-to-head record against nearby-LSU for recruits demonstrates they can't hang. Does aggy really think Shermie can go head-to-head with Saban, Miles, Chizik, Muschamp, Spurrier, etc. on the recruiting trail?

Aggy will continue to get the "soft verbal but still looking" commits they've been getting to date.

 

[H-D Rider]

I have heard some of my Aggy friends say this over & over for the last 2 months since all this $EC talk began... what's really interesting is that the ATM will have just as much of a recruiting advantage as they do Now over schools like Texas & Ou! Besides, Recruits just aren't going to fall in their lap just because they're in the $EC. You still have to win. They commit to teams, not conferences. It's even funnier that the ATM Coaches think going to the $EC would help... It's delusion from top to bottom!!

 

[horn4jc]

Sean Adams said it best on The Adams Theory: "Players commit to schools, not to conferences."

 

[caryhorn]

I don't think tam will have any recruiting advantage. Just the opposite, really. Kids will not want to leave the state for every away game. Instead of playing away games in Austin, Lubbock, or Waco, where family could come and watch them play, future away games will be in Starksville, Oxford, Alabama, Tennessee, etc.

Not only that, but the aggie team will not get the exposure around the state that the B12 gave it. West Texas kids can't see tam play in person now; central Texas kids can't see them except at Collie station. Metroplex kids can't see aggies in Waco every other year.

Over time the reduced exposure will make a difference.

 

[Owlhorn]

The SEC is on TV every week, so they will be seen. I say wait and see on if it helps them. To we, the UT grads, we want nothing to do with the SEC or A&M, but who knows what effect it will have on kids. We don't know if they desire to get to the SEC or not. We can sit here and say UT will get recruits because we are UT, but I can remember a time when UT couldn't get recruits. Don't think we should assume anything. Will be up to on the field performance and how convincing the school and coaching staff are.

 

[rememberthealamo]

....a 100 year decision, who knows which conference will be the best football conference 5 or 10 years from now ... I think,currently, the big 12 is the best conference top to bottom look at the records...

 

[Burnt Orangeman]

If a n m could win it would be a plus, but who wants to get their *** kicked for 4 years? I'd rather take my chances on one of the big 12 gate crashers, Tech, Oklahoma State, Baylor assuming you can't get a Texas offer.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Aggies going to the SEC is definitely going to affect their recruiting success. I expect their head-to-head recruiting battle percentage to easily go up from 20% to 21% or maybe even 22%. Who wouldn't rather lose 8 to 9 games in the SEC instead of winning 10 to 12 games in the Big 12?

 

[dusthorn]

I guess we'll find out if the SEC offers an advantage based on what Timothy Cole and Malcom Brown do. If Brown doesn't switch, I'd say it's a snapshot of what the Ags can expect in the future, and an indication that going to the dark side isn't going to pay the dividends Aggy was hoping.

 

[caryhorn]

"The SEC is on TV every week, so they will be seen."

An sec game is on weekly, but that doesn't equate to a tam game being shown weekly. And there is a big difference between seeing a tv game and actually being able to go with your friends to a game and see the team play in person, like one could do in Lubbock, Waco and Austin.

Over time the close up, live exposure that tam loses will result in the school having a lower profile in west texas and north texas.

 

[ViperHorn]

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[nativeaustin]

Doesn't the SEC allow partial qualifiers or more partial qualifiers than the Big 12?

 

[bazbo]

Aggys move from big 12 to SEC = Razorbacks move from SWC to SEC.

Recruting goes down and their FB and BB programs go (further) into mediocrity.

Aggys just might lose even more battles to Miles and Stoops, and even TT and Baylor. Texas gets who they want.

22% my ***. Does anyone really believe that number?

 

[Knoxville-Horn]

I don't know. There's a 4-star recruit (LB) from Texas that committed to TN last month. He's now opened up his recruitment and is looking at ATM. There's another guy at some Mississippi Community college that is now considering ATM.

IMO, we will now lose a recruit or two each year to ATM. We'll still win most head-to-heads. The irony is that ATM might actually be a better team going forward but have a worse record.

 

[coolhorn]

Any bump agricultural gets in recruiting by being in the SEC will be short-lived.

Unless he's an ag legacy, most high school players want to go somewhere that they have a chance of winning, and that won't be the cult in the SEC for quite a while, if ever.

The ags going to the SEC will help recruiting...for LSU and arkie, but I don't see 'Bama, Florida, Auburn and the like putting any more emphasis on Texas recruiting than they already do. Some good players from Texas have headed to the southeast for years.

Oddly, I think the school that will take the biggest hit in recruiting is...agricultural. They obviously get some good players every year, but I think there's a likelihood they now lose some of those players more frequently to Lester, and arkie, and the preacher over at 'Ole Miss, and maybe 'Ole Miss State's Mullen.

UT will be alright, no matter what conference agricultural is in. UT will get the same level of recruiting class they have for years, especially if the Big 12 hangs around at least a few more years.

I think agricultural is buying into goober dust futures if they seriously believe the conference affiliation is going to let them load up on blue chips.

 

[PeeJay]

They will be able to beat us decisively in signing partial qualifiers. The only competition they will have for them will be Nebraska now that they are no longer bound by Big 12 rules.

 

[horn4jc]

The SEC advantage will go away once teams in other conferences win National Championships again. It's always been a strong conference but ESPN wasn't drooling on it to this degree back in 2005. It was all about USC and the Pac 10 was pretty weak.

Here's to the SEC streak ending this year. I can't remember the last non SEC team to win the BCS. Oh yeah it was TEXAS!

 

[I35]

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[El Sapo]

ESPN is currently running a series of articles about aggy recruiting and they all pretty much echo the sentiments expressed in this thread : Joining the SEC has more potential to hurt aggy recruiting than help it. Whoop!

ESPN

 

[H-D Rider]

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[Burnt Orangeman]

Ask yourself this. Has the SEC cream of the crop helped the recruiting of the SEC bottom feeders? I'd say not one damn bit.

There is exactly one way A&M can parley this into a positive and that is to strongly and continuously contend for the SEC championship. They are drawing for an inside straight with the hand they hold in my opinion. The big winner in my opinion is LSU as they become yet more attractive to east Texas kids.

 

[Perham1]

I don't see aggy's move to the SEC helping their recruiting, or to be more precise, putting aggy in a better recruiting position relative to Texas.

If hs kids want to play in the SEC they can do that. I don't think may top-flight Texas hs kids will go to aggy now simply b/c they are in the SEC.

aggy is still aggy: semi-weird traditions and not all that appealing to minorities (read blacks).