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Believe me, I truly hope these kids make me eat my words. But every year, I complain about our recruiting and every year, I hear the same old stories: "stars don't mean anything" and "these online rankings are inaccurate". Just like I am hearing right now.

Well… FAU has won 14 of its last 51 games.

Tusla, on the otherhand, is a very small school, in the middle of nowhere exciting, and in a non-BCS conference. But they manage to consistently recruit 7 to 10 ESPN star-rated players every year over the past four years. Guess what… Tulsa has won 32 of its last 51 games.

True, coaching and strength of schedule are factors in this comparisson, but if you honestly don't think there is some corralaion between star-ranked vs. non ranked recruits and wins, then please explain to me why we have only won 27% of our games since 2009 and only produced 3 NFL draft picks. Seriously, if stars and recruiting rankings are truly meaningless and inaccurate, then why don't we have any national award-winning athletes?

I'm not trying to bash my alma mater, I just want to see my team win games, and clearly the type of players we've been recruiting haven't been able to do that.  
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Captain, look, you're not alone in this. There's certainly something to the star system. Not everything, but something.

Yes, we've got some good guys now, we've had some good guys in the past, but we've also had some of the worst recruiting classes in the nation. It was reported several times, it's out there, and we had to live with the repercussions of that.

And who knows what goes through the mind of a football recruit. Reputation, facilities, coaches, those are the big three things that we have some control over.

Regarding facilities specifically, Chun keeps talking about expanding the weight room for example. I looked it up a little while ago and we have the smallest locker room in the state of Florida. It's 4,000 square feet.

For purposes of comparison, our Rec Center's fitness area is 13,000 feet. Imagine cutting that in third and that's what our recruits see.

Meanwhile the 13,000 is more comparable to other state schools for their dedicated sports weight rooms. FIU, UCF, USF, FSU, UF… all between 11-25k sq ft, with UF being the top at 25k. Nationwide I think the largest is around 30k (at places like Nebraska). The Oxley in general needs a multimillion dollar overhaul. It services all our athletes and thus impacts our recruiting in all sports.

But we don't have that right now. We might not until we launch another capital campaign, honestly.

So our coaches go out there and get what they can get, try to boost our reputation and get more guys. That's all we can do right now. And the mentality at FAU has certainly changed from, "Well why recruit that guy, we'll never have a shot" to "whoever we like we take a shot at them." The coaches have said that.

If you were in the same position they are to recruit - if any of us were - you'd do the same thing.
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I'm not saying turn these kids away. I know that we need to fill our roster. I'm just saying that we need to focus our recruiting efforts outside of Florida. UM, FSU, UF clearly have their pick of the litter in Florida recruits. UCF and USF seem to attract most of the 3-star players and some 4-star guys, while FIU, FAU and FAMU typically fight over the leftovers. Right? And this doesn't include out-of-state schools, who recruit in FL.

What I'm saying is Pelini should focus on the 3-star ranked guys from MS,KY,GA & AL. These are guys that have talent, but not enough to start at any of their state's big-name schools, so they choose smaller programs to get playing time. If we make it a point to recruit these guys, and use our location (sunny south FL), new stadium, and playing time as a pitch, we could get the talent we need.

South Alabama, who is in no position to have good recruits, already has three 3-star commits, as does Georgia State. Heck, Charolette who plays in the FCS has two 3-star commits already. I doubt any of these programs have better facilities, reputations, or coaches than FAU. These programs are just smart and know that the FL market is too competetive and just focus on the GA, MS, KY, & AL markets.
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There's really no difference between a 2 star and 3 star kid, sometimes even 4 star.  Just depends on which recruiting site you may be looking at.  The entire rating system is somewhat bias and needs an overhaul.  There are so many contributing factors that tie into the tangled web that leads up to the ultimate star rating, some of which are even beyond the kid's control such as exposure, whether or not he's on an analyst's radar, what's his school record (one kid can't carry the team), etc.  

I think FAU is trying to master finding the diamonds in the rough.  So far, between last year and hopefully this year and even some in 2012, they are doing a pretty good job.
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I prefer to find diamonds in the diamond store where there are hundreds to pick from, not sift through the sands of the entire state trying to find just a couple (if you develop them right). I agree, we need to change where we shop for the most part, and remember, quality costs. I have always advocated "shopping" throughout the southeast for talent but I am really all for shopping more "up north" and ESPECIALLY using our location and playing "football in paradise" to the maw with both speedsters and BIG bodies from the north. Should be an easy sell to me. let's see, Buffalo or Boca, DeKalb, IL OR Boca, Huntington, WV or Boca, TOLEDO or Boca….

Y'all get my point. Except for the babies who don't want to leave home, or those with BigBoy program offers (I am a realist too), the other recruits (whom usually WANT to get away from Mom & Dad) it should be basically a No Brainer!
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I know a 5 star, watched him practive and play games..Not very impressive, but at 6'6" 288lbs…the college coaches want him…it's not always what you see or the stars…alot has to do what the coaches see in the kids..work ethics, knowing they want it and will do what it takes..smarts, can they get into school and make the grades..alot more to it than just the STARS
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FAU has won 14 of its last 51 games. We have won 4 of the 13 games Pelini has coached. These records, unfortunately, are facts. Someone is to blame for our losses; so is it that Schnellenburger and Pelini don't know how to coach and develop our quality players or is the quality of our players sub-par?



 
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There was an outgoing coach and now an incoming coach..If your looking to blame, blame the cycle of time...Teams win and have a few years of success over a period of years then have to recycle. Look at the past and realize, this program is is going to produce. Look at all the past great teams, Texas, USC, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Auburn, Flordia, Miami and Alabama teams..Allow the coaches to get all their players in for a few years and see how they coach..This is only his 2nd year here and does not have all of his players yet..Look at the past to see the future.
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Did Mack Brown forget how to coach and recruit? Cause he got Ricky Williams to go there, Vince Young, Colt McCoy…then what happened?

Pelini has been here for 20 minutes, relax.
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Exactly teambeer...takes times and it cycles...Watch and see what happens
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