Did Floyd try to recruit some big men?

[FeralFelidae]

For the last two seasons we all kept saying that UTEP needed some big men but Floyd kept offering scholarships to guards. I really don't follow the recruiting process that well, so for those of you better educated than me, I ask:

Did Floyd try offering big men and just none of them accepted? Did he try offering any JUCO big men? Or were all the good ones taken? Last season could have been special with a good JUCO big man or two because our guard play was very good.

 

[FeralFelidae]

Well? How did Floyd end up not recruiting the players that everybody knew he needed to? Did he strike out on all his offers or did he not attempt to aggressively recruit those players?

 

[UTEPMiners8106]

That confuses the heck out of me every year. He gives out scholarships to guards like they're going out of style.

 

[unihorn]

For the last two seasons we all kept saying that UTEP needed some big men but Floyd kept offering scholarships to guards. I really don't follow the recruiting process that well, so for those of you better educated than me, I ask:

Did Floyd try offering big men and just none of them accepted? Did he try offering any JUCO big men? Or were all the good ones taken? Last season could have been special with a good JUCO big man or two because our guard play was very good.

Dude, Kelvin Jones won a New Mexico HS state championship at Hobbs.

 

[PURPLEFIRE]

You knock kelvin jones but I think he will be a good one!

 

[allminer]

You knock kelvin jones but I think he will be a good one!

Floyd needed to recruit at least one inside big man that was good NOW! You'd think a coach of his reputation could. Big fail there.

 

[FiliUTEP]

Well he did kick out winn

 

[UTEPMiners8106]

I have no problem with Jones. He does need work, but the potential is there. This is where it would have been nice to have someone like Foster on the staff to help mentor these bigs. With all the scholarships they give every year they should be giving at least one or 2 to big men, just so they can have help down low. Now I know you're not always going to get gems, but at least you just keep throwing bodies at the problem and hopefully someone sticks.

 

[unihorn]

Jones is about to get more minutes by the looks of Willms.

 

[jdubb66]

Tirus Smith- 6'8" or 9" and very long. Signed LOI. He also signed a Small Forward listed around 6'5", Roderick Williams.

 

[UTEPMiners8106]

God Bless Willms, but at this point he should just quit before he does permament damage to his body. Just give him some academic scholarship or something to let him finish his degree and make him a graduate assistant.

 

[Jimmy the Miner]

Buddah was 6'10" 4 star and didn't make ot to year 2!

 

[mikesarabia]

Well? How did Floyd end up not recruiting the players that everybody knew he needed to? Did he strike out on all his offers or did he not attempt to aggressively recruit those players?

To answer your question, yes he did recruit other big men besides Jones, but none of them signed. Bigby-Williams, the JUCO who is from England and played with McSwiggan, signed with Oregon. Another 6'8" power forward signed with Southern Illinois. I don't know what ever happened with Roman Silva who did commit but never made it to campus (in my opinion, he would have been a project). He is recruiting some big men for the next few years but we will have to wait and see how that goes.

As another poster just mentioned on this thread, Tirus Smith has signed his LOI for next season and is a 6'8" power forward from Mississippi and rated by some service as one of the top 20 players in the State. Roderick Williams is a JUCO from East Los Angeles and although only about 6'5" plays bigger than his size. I believe he will come in as a sophomore. There are some other big men listed as being recruited by UTEP, but with the lack of scholarships available, I don't know how and if Floyd will be able to sign anymore big men for next season.

 

[Tucson_Miner]

We STILL need a Juco power forward

 

[PickAx]

We STILL need a Juco power forward

This website has the recruits listed.


http://verbalcommits.com/schools/utep

 

[MinerInWisconsin]

This website has the recruits listed.


http://verbalcommits.com/schools/utep

Odd that site lists Roderick Williams as 6'5" and 170 lbs while Rivals lists him as 6'7" and 210.

 

[MineroFanatico]

Odd that site lists Roderick Williams as 6'5" and 170 lbs while Rivals lists him as 6'7" and 210.

On Rivals a kid can self report his measurables. At least that was the case 3-4 years ago.

 

[jdubb66]

These are his measurables directly from his current school. He's having a monster year so far btw. If we have to keep Floyd another year, I hope this guy makes it on campus as well but I won't be holding my breath.

http://athletics.elac.edu/sports/mbkb/2016-17/bios/williams_roderick_9wym

 

[mikesarabia]

These are his measurables directly from his current school. He's having a monster year so far btw. If we have to keep Floyd another year, I hope this guy makes it on campus as well but I won't be holding my breath.

http://athletics.elac.edu/sports/mbkb/2016-17/bios/williams_roderick_9wym

I've been saying for a while that Roderick Williams is a great addition coming from JC. He is putting up some great numbers and so is Evan Gilyard and Tirus Smith.