Thursday, March 20, 2008

Updated Recruiting List, Post-Pryor Thoughts

Nothing changes, really. Ohio State gets a one spot jump for landing young Terrelle, hardly warrents a repost of the exact same list, but it is March so I'll take it.

The only thing that really hurts is being reminded that we are being dominated on the recruiting trail by schools like Pitt and and Illinois. And what the hell is NC State doing up there?

I think if we were able to learn anything from this whole Pryor thing it's that our staff, specifically the guy running our staff, is most definitely several steps behind even mediocre programs. When Paterno finally made it out of the house to visit Pryor three months after he already made up his mind all I could think about was what could have been had Paterno made, say, half of what some of these other guys are doing. I mean PSU was out, then Joe showed up, and all the sudden we were in the final two. Things, obviously, aren't always what they seem.

I didn't realize at the time, but Joe was actually holding us back. I was, of course, blinded by my homerizm. Remember this?

"I'm really interested," he said. "This isn't just being respectful of my father, this is thinking things through and making sure I have all the info I need before I make a big decision. I really like Coach Bradley at Penn State and they could end up being the right fit for me, I'm not sure."
Or this?
One of them was that I'd heard Reitz had told a few people off the record that, were PSU defensive coordinator Tom Bradley the head coach, Pryor would be a Nittany Lion now.

Ya, ouch. So while we thought Paterno was "saving" the day by getting on the recruiting trail, it turns out he was just giving Terrelle an excuse to both please his father and deflect any instate displeasure with an Ohio State commitment until after his basketball season ended.

So instead of leaving me wondering how many more recruits Paterno could have turned to our side, I'm wondering how many more recruits were driven away by the fact things are headed for train wreck in State College.

2 comments:

Scrappled said...

Deion Walker, probably more.

What's about to happen at Penn State is going to make a clusterfuck look orderly.

TheFolkist said...

ya, you have been saying this for a while, i wasn't convinced, but all the negative things you heard 6 months ago are coming true.

my biggest question is whether joe is trying to protect his staff or protect jay specifically.