I touched on the subject yesterday about how the recruiting process favors the same, limited number of D-1 programs. Here’s another example of how that works, in this case resulting from the brand-spanking, new early signing period.
“Let’s just take Georgia for example,” Luginbill said, referring to Kirby Smart’s 20-man class, which sits atop the team rankings at ESPN and Rivals and is second at 247Sports. “I guarantee you Georgia’s focus in the month of January was on the 2019 and 2020 classes, not this current class. They’re devoting coaches and resources and personnel staffing and all that stuff. They only have to (recruit) on a limited basis for, what, three to five guys (in the 2018 class)? So the rest of those resources are being put forth to get a huge head start, but not everybody has that luxury.
“If you’re a team that signed 11 guys in the first period and you’ve got to sign 26, your resources are spent on the current class while everybody else is getting ahead.”
That’s the team getting the steak knives while Smart’s tooling around in the new Cadillac. The only thing I’m curious about is how long ago Kirby saw this scenario coming into being. I’ll bet it was way before the light bulb went off in Luginbill’s head.
Get The Picture 
Has a light bulb ever gone off in Lugenbill’s head? He’s the WWL’s version of Mr. CFB.
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So this early signing period is not the disaster for kids coaches said it would be?
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Nope. And releasing the memo didn’t cause much of a bump either. Although some sphincters may have tightened a little more. Lol.
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Third place is you’re fired. Sounds about right for college football.
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Yep, perfect analogy.
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Except when you’re canned from GlenArky Glen Ross, you get to take about $10M with you.
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There are other advantages of being perceived as the best and one is secondary recruiting. There may be some behemoth who has gone to a Jr College and has matured in knowing what he wants and UGA is the fastest vehicle on the lot to the exposure he needs for the NFL; like in the O-line or D-line (best option now). Instead of struggling with other schools, he may already be salivating for a position that is awaiting when a top target goes elsewhere.
An early advantage is also apparent when getting high quality people committing early for 2019 and 2020 who will act as magnets to others early to fill future positions as teammates of need. Classmates and opponents of players respected by their peers affords a magnet that begins to reach from one class to the following class as their heroes commit to the G.
Differing fits for players occur early in the recruiting periods that persuade some to swerve their commit to Georgia after early commits elsewhere. I see several advantages exploding simply from UGA’s early successes and more recruiting manpower becoming available to recruit future classes here going forward – and it hasn’t even been mentioned that late bloomers in each class will have a place or two nailed because the recruiter for UGA saw their possibilities when they were rated a 2* or 3* and were given early love because we had the time to do it.
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PUT THAT COFFEE DOWN! (Not relevant, but I wanted to quote the film.)
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Coffee is for closers who can now sit back and look at the 2019 and 2020 classes. Most smaller schools are complaining that the 2-3 star leads are bad…relevant now? 😉
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Do you know what it takes to recruit in the SEC? (Insert picture of brass balls here)
Thanks for making my post relevant.
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I can only picture Jim McElwain in a bar somewhere saying, “Oh yeah. I used to be a recruiter. It’s a tough racket.”
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(Kirby to Paul Johnson):
“You see this SEC Championship ring? This ring cost more than your car.”
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Meh, Lugenbill talks as if every single kid doesn’t make up his mind until there’s a pen in hand on signing day.
As usual, the coaches who have their shit together enjoy the fruits of their preparation. Kirby does his recruiting homework 24/7/365. The actual date the LOI is signed isn’t that big a factor. Change the date and the same top recruiters would still have outsized results. Does anyone really think Kirby’s recruiting class would be worse if the December signing period didn’t exist?
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You call yourself a recruiter, you SOB?
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