Dismissal of the ESPN ratings for recruits is pure apologetics. On what conceivable basis have posters here been praising LK’s current class if not those or rivals? The fact is that the teams that tend to recruit the players highest rated by ESPN or Rivals tend to be the most successful. Utah can’t afford to kiss off an in-state player of that caliber based on position. Childs has not been a surprise success.
I think the praise is based on the fact that the incoming guys have strong offer lists.Originally Posted by SeattleUte
Childs was like Seljaas. We could have had him, we passed, he went to Provo, and no one thought twice about it. Turns out, we were right not to offer Seljaas and wrong not to offer Childs. I don't know that we really need to dwell on this.
Larry's job is at stake with the new recruiting class. By all accounts, it is a good one. If he succeeds with it, we're all happy. If he can't get it done with this class, he's probably going to be asked to leave.
Yoeli's best offer was BYU. He had one from ASU early, but it disappeared pretty quickly. He was doing everything he could to drum up some better offers, but couldn't do so. I put way more stock into what all of those coaches thought about him at the time than I do in what ESPN's recruiting guys had to say about him.
Good points. But he is a local and our coaches jobs are to identify the best kids locally (because they are they ones who are most likely going to accept an offer to come to Utah--particularly nonmormons.) We didn't do that with Childs. Instead we did exactly what you said we did--follow the crowd. And we ended up with Jokl. Big time whiff. No other way to put it.
Oh I agree, it was a huge whiff, I was just saying that the fact that ESPN had him rated very highly really doesn't move the needle much in terms of indicating that he was an obvious can't-miss talent or something like that. But the U definitely messed up their evaluation.
I was always intrigued by Childs, but I'd be lying if I said I ever called for Utah to offer him in real time. In hindsight it was clearly a mistake and even though Utah was chasing several big fish at his position they probably should have gone ahead and taken him and then just redshirted him for Markannen's one (hypothetical) year in the program.*
I did always feel that Utah overlooked McEwen up at Utah State who I believe would have come to Utah in a heartbeat. I don't know if he'd have been a high level PAC 12 player but I am confident he'd be better than several of the guards that have been on the roster last year and this year. It does feel like Utah is in a rut where we are either conceding local kids to BYU or overlooking their talent (or both).
*Hard as it is to believe, two years ago Utah appeared to have a very stable roster that was well-stocked with talent and open scholarships were precious so I can see why Utah would be reluctant to take Childs AND one of the big guns they were chasing at the same position.
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