Couldn't think of a better thread title :P, but I was re-reading Yankee28's thread about our coaching connections to the 2021 class (phenomenal work by him, BTW) and of the 9 players we acquired in the last few days, none were under the watchful eye of any of our assistant coaches....
Well, Aaron Robinson spent his freshman year at Alabama so it's possible that Burton Burns, Jody Wright and Jeremy Pruitt are somewhat familiar with him. Kevin Sherrer probably helped recruit Ojulari to Georgia, but Sherrer left Georgia in 2017 and Ojulari's redshirted in 2018.
But I found it quite interesting. We've brought in a lot of coaches from the college ranks and many of them hailed from big-time programs, especially from the best conference in CFB: the SEC. Burton Burns was recently with Alabama - no players taken or signed from there (granted we were reportedly hot and heavy for DeVonta Smith and Landon Dickerson, but still). Derek Dooley was recently with Missouri - no players taken or signed from there. Rob Sale was recently with Arizona State and ULL - no players taken or signed from either school. Pat Flaherty and Sean Spence were recently with Penn State - no players taken or signed from there. Russ Callaway was recently with LSU - no players taken or signed from there. Jeremy Pruitt was recently with UTenn (as was Kevin Sherrer, Craig Fitzgerald and Carter Blount) and 'Bama - no players taken or signed from either place. Sam Coad was recently with Texas A& M - no players taken or signed from there.
Joe Judge mentioned in an interview with Bob Papa that he relied on his assistants (especially Jeremy Pruitt and Jody Wright) for intel on a lot of these players as they were part of the recruiting process for many of these players, but I find it interesting that none of our coaches have any direct connections (again, you can say Ojulari and Robinson, but if anything, the relationship wasn't recent) to any of our 9 new players...at least not since high school. Of course coaches talk, but as far as first-hand knowledge goes? Nope.
Robinson may not have played but he was on the Bama team while a bunch of coaches were there, who also had similar insights to his recruiting process even if they weren't the primary recruiters.
And while there may not be a direct connection w/ Toney he's an SEC prospect who was originally recruited out of Alabama. Saban may not have signed him but you can bet he knew everything there is to know about him (including how difficult he was to defend last December).
Burton Burns was the direct link to McKinney but playing/coaching on different sides of the ball there wasn't any direct coaching.
I don't recall any connections to Peart & Holmes (or Williamson/Coughlin/Brunson).
Pratik Patel would have been the only link to Lemiuex.
So I think Cam Brown was really the only player in 2 years whose direct CFB position coach was also on this staff.
Yeah, that seems to be a better way to phrase it.
Robinson may not have played but he was on the Bama team while a bunch of coaches were there, who also had similar insights to his recruiting process even if they weren't the primary recruiters.
And while there may not be a direct connection w/ Toney he's an SEC prospect who was originally recruited out of Alabama. Saban may not have signed him but you can bet he knew everything there is to know about him (including how difficult he was to defend last December).
Right, but that was at least 3-4 years ago. I mean how you are as a senior in high school is much different than how you were in college, both as a player and as a person.
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Not only was Kevin Sherrer Ojulari's primary recruiter to UGA but Jeremy Pruitt was his primary recruiter trying to get him to UT. How many teams have multiple coaches on staffs who were in their potential draft picks living rooms with their families when they were 15-16-17 years old?
Robinson may not have played but he was on the Bama team while a bunch of coaches were there, who also had similar insights to his recruiting process even if they weren't the primary recruiters.
And while there may not be a direct connection w/ Toney he's an SEC prospect who was originally recruited out of Alabama. Saban may not have signed him but you can bet he knew everything there is to know about him (including how difficult he was to defend last December).
Right, but that was at least 3-4 years ago. I mean how you are as a senior in high school is much different than how you were in college, both as a player and as a person.
right but the point is how is that different from last year? There were 2 players/coaches who were on staffs with draft picks last year (out of almost twice as many draft picks) and 1 such player this year (robinson at bama pre transfer). Isn't it notable that they have selected multiple players each year who played for or been recruited by Saban/Smart?
Judge has routinely cited direct knowledge/relationships with the players dating back to when they were recruits. I don't think he thinks of it as useless info from several years ago. I think they view it as direct insight into what these guys were like before they took athlete PR training classes and got coached up by agents for the predraft process.
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In comment 15250993 Eric on Li said:
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Not only was Kevin Sherrer Ojulari's primary recruiter to UGA but Jeremy Pruitt was his primary recruiter trying to get him to UT. How many teams have multiple coaches on staffs who were in their potential draft picks living rooms with their families when they were 15-16-17 years old?
Robinson may not have played but he was on the Bama team while a bunch of coaches were there, who also had similar insights to his recruiting process even if they weren't the primary recruiters.
And while there may not be a direct connection w/ Toney he's an SEC prospect who was originally recruited out of Alabama. Saban may not have signed him but you can bet he knew everything there is to know about him (including how difficult he was to defend last December).
Right, but that was at least 3-4 years ago. I mean how you are as a senior in high school is much different than how you were in college, both as a player and as a person.
right but the point is how is that different from last year? There were 2 players/coaches who were on staffs with draft picks last year (out of almost twice as many draft picks) and 1 such player this year (robinson at bama pre transfer). Isn't it notable that they have selected multiple players each year who played for or been recruited by Saban/Smart?
Sure, and that's my point. We were able to see it more last year than this year. I'm not sure what to make of it, if anything. I mean every coach has his personal favorites and I'm sure our assistants have theirs, but it doesn't appear that it's enough for us to draft or sign those players.
It's nice to draw these direct lines between where someone coached and who they coached, but they know a much larger swatch of players than that.
All around amazing job by this front office and coaches. How good is this Judge guy?