Football Recruiting
- Thread starter JCorona
- Start date
How did we land him? He was committed to Alabama at one point, then Auburn……
Good question, and alright, who dished out the $$
Watch Kam Thomas and Trey Goodman highlights and still see if you feel that way. Goodman even looked fast against Tennessee Vols. I'm curious how fast they really are though.
Nah, I don’t think it’s necessarily that. A kid that is good enough to be recruited by Auburn/Alabama is talented, but still has to wait three years before entering the draft. Why not out talent everyone for a year or two and then transfer up after you have made a name for yourself.
30 seconds and out is going to happen at times. I still prefer this to a 4 minute drive followed by a punt.
This might be the biggest pick up since Ebell/Thomas
If Walden can sell being a Big Fish on a small pound to 2 or or 3 of these guys a year that'd be Awesome. I don't even think Dimel tried to go after guys of this level!
I've watched the first round playoff game on ESPN on demand and neither of those players could beat Tyrin Smith in a 40 or top GPS speed in my opinion. Then when you factor in neither of them had anywhere close to Tyrin's 2022 season against much worse competition and they had a much better quarterback and offensive system. I get it, he's hated around here, but these guys are simply not better from what I've seen. And as I stated earlier, Tyrin wasn't top 5 in any of the races I've witnessed in the last two seasons. The fastest young man didn't even play, so straight line speed isn't everything.
Yep. Honestly recruiting from a notoriety standpoint, the improvement from Dimel is tenfold.
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Oh I'm not pro Smith at all! I'm pro Kyle McNamara 100%. I'm just not going to crap on the young man just because he's not my kind of person.
Well then hopefully we keep some fast guys who didn't play last year and they thrive in this new offense.
Mentioned on 600 espn that some of the HS coaches have said it’s the first time in 5/7 years since they last saw someone from UTEP.
Wants ppl who want to be here. If they’ve gone in the portal, not welcome back. If they got in the portal before he got hired, he’ll check them out (grades etc) and go from there.
Good. We don't need anymore Smith episodes.
Mike Cox left in 2020 and he was the last Coach that visited local schools
That was one the big issues I had with Dimel. He wasn’t even recruiting Texas HS kids. That’s the reason some players were asking what a UTEP was. It’s all about brand recognition. You may not get them initially, but you have to at least try. You may get them later if they end up entering the transfer portal. If you expect to have a winning program you have to recruit HS players and and go after transfers in the portal. You can go after a few solid players in JC to address immediate needs.
I’m not going to be too critical of Coach Walden on his first recruiting class at UTEP. Coach Walden had a very short time to move to El Paso, recruit players and assemble his staff. Let’s see what he’s able to do with our existing players and the new guys he added. I’m expecting better recruiting classes in the coming years after he and his coaches have settled in.
Dimel just relied on connections. He only offered kids that he could get. He also wanted kids who were December graduates. Another thing Dimel did was redshirt, grey shirt, and blue shirt almost everyone.
Walden will seemingly go after anyone who can play and be ok with being turned down
I find it impressive considering they only had two weeks. And they got a lot of talent from Texas and the Southeast. Former 3/4 star players, FCS All Americans.
The recruiting class could end up being a dud, but so have the last 25 or so recruiting classes (for the most part).
I’m cautiously optimistic. I think it’s unreasonable to expect 7+ wins in year 1 but I think he’s hit the ground running as well as we could have hoped. Again, I love his self belief in what he’s trying to do here, because he got a group of kids to come to UTEP in a matter of weeks. And it’s like you guys have said, it seemed like Dimel and even Kugler wanted the kids to come to them while Walden is working his ass off.
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“24-7 Sports says the Pirates tight end is the 50th best athlete in the 2024 class.
Collins chose the Miners over Auburn, and no one is more thrilled than UTEP’s new head coach, Scotty Walden
Said Walden:”We are thrilled to announce Martavious Collins is apart of this class. He’s an OKG all the way. He’s going to make some big time plays for the miners.”
www.wdef.com
Collins chose the Miners over Auburn, and no one is more thrilled than UTEP’s new head coach, Scotty Walden
Said Walden:”We are thrilled to announce Martavious Collins is apart of this class. He’s an OKG all the way. He’s going to make some big time plays for the miners.”
UTEP Excited to Sign South Pittsburg Tight End Martavious Collins - WDEF
South Pittsburg, TN-(WDEF-TV) At South Pittsburgh High School on Wednesday Martavious Collins signed with Texas El-Paso. 24-7 Sports says the Pirates tight end is the 50th best athlete in the 2024 class. Collins chose the Miners over Auburn, and no one is more thrilled than UTEP’s new head...
“Collins, an athlete ranked 174th nationally and No. 19 at his position on the 247Sports Composite, was primarily recruited by Tide assistants Eric Wolford and Joe Cox. The 6-foot-3 Collins committed on July 20, becoming the second member of Nick Saban’s 2024 class.”
www.al.com
4-star ATH decommits from Alabama football’s class of 2024
Matravious Collins had been one of five Alabama commits in the 2024 class.
Not sure if these sites have fact checkers, but they're wrong on his ranking significantly. Still potentially a good pickup for us though without all the fluff.“Collins, an athlete ranked 174th nationally and No. 19 at his position on the 247Sports Composite, was primarily recruited by Tide assistants Eric Wolford and Joe Cox. The 6-foot-3 Collins committed on July 20, becoming the second member of Nick Saban’s 2024 class.”
4-star ATH decommits from Alabama football’s class of 2024
Matravious Collins had been one of five Alabama commits in the 2024 class.
Utep should win enough games to reach bowl eligibility. Utep has a top 4 football budget, so that should be the expectation every year.
I agree bowl eligibility should be the reasonable expectation for any college football program. I’m just willing to have a lower bar this year since it’s a new coach, there’s a lot of roster turnover, new offensive and defensive schemes. I don’t want to expect everything to magically click in week 1.
@Nebraska
@Tennessee
@Colorado State
@Louisiana Tech
@NMSU
@WKU
@Liberty
Southern Utah
Jacksonville State
FIU
SHSU
MTSU
Just because I had free time.... this is next year's schedule? We should win all home games, so then we just win one or two on the road? I think it's very doable.
4 wins next year. I am looking forward to a high paced offense. Year two 7-5. If there’s a year 3 with Walden, 8-4, maybe 9-3.
@Colorado State
@Louisiana Tech
@NMSU
I’m believe we steal 1 away win from these three…that would be a 5 win season and decent for a first year coach.
Not making excuses but its a bit difficult being thrusted into an interview process prepping for playoffs and then have 3 weeks until signing day to evaluate what you have in the building (minus whats entered the portal) and then be laser focused on what you need (how do you even know what you need?) and then get kids to commit. Spring Ball should shake things out and I would hope watching a ton of film and evaluating what is now here vs. needs --- certainly not as orchestrated as it will be this time next year so my hope things will be even better ....
Plus, Walden mentioned having like 5 OVs scheduled prior to the February signing period. I believe he said he would like to go after more HS guys, but I would also like him to hit the portal. Realistically, getting those guys would require NIL $$$.
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