i said “less” not “stop it entirely”. There are a handful of outliers but there are also gems buried at the ends of top programs who aren’t getting playing time.

Stop falling in love with the “brand” is a wild statement in response to wanting more of a balance in where we get talent from.

Meanwhile there’s an army of swimmers, golfers and basketball players from around the globe on scholarship. Football and basketball being charged OOS tuition is such a bush move by Gary and just reinforces the lack of weight Rocko carries with Mrak.

He jumped in expecting high D1 interest and I’m not sure why. Decent player with one career int (interestingly tossed by Caden) but not real athletic and only one year as a starter. Lack of interest from Eck is also telling.

My point is simply, recruiting means evaluation of talent. This means coaches need to see players where they are regardless of where they attend school. California has the largest JUCO program in the country with over 66 football programs and over 5000 football players. It is a gold mine of talent that should be tapped until exhaustion. It's not a weakness at all, its a strength. And if the Vandy QB's lawsuit that is currently underway in the courts rule JUCO time does not count against the eligibility clock, then you are getting a 4 year player with 2 years of experience.

Don't fall for the "star" system that has been corrupted by money. Most of the stars are now bought...its all about marketing now....get the kid a NIL deal at the highest someone will pay...is he any good? Who knows but get the bag....that is paying for the "brand." We saw this with Jayden Rashada who came out of high school with a bang...hype machine went crazy...Miami, Florida, Georgia...all were interested...but when the kid got to the field it became pretty obvious the kid wasn't a 5 star. He couldn't even make it a SACST and was benched there too. So be careful with chasing end of the bench talent on brand teams.

Several things about transfers and recruiting:

-JUCO football is not what it was when I was growing up. Back in the 80s/90s it was often looked at as a bunch of bandits and mercenaries. While JC football still has the element of guys out to get theirs, it has become a much more viable option for HS prospects with the advent of the transfer portal. You will see a rise in the quality of play as well as the caliber of student coming from JCs soon. It has already happened to some degree. Kids that want to play college football but aren't being recruited by the FBS programs are turning that direction more and more.

-Grad transfers vs. Transfer portal dwellers. Grad transfers have played for four seasons and graduated and are looking for a place to play their final year(s) while enrolled in grad school. Most transfer portal guys are either the top 5-10% types who will get paid, while the rest were CUT by the FBS program. Truth.

-Grad school is typically more expensive than undergrad, correct? Therefore, they cost more to recruit. I also found it interesting that we signed a few guys from out of state as that tuition (and the associated scholarships) costs more. Anyone know how that works for football? The international scholarships in other sports is a very good point and would be interesting to know more about.

-"Star" ratings. Most recruitable players for FCS and lower FBS automatically are awarded 3-star status automatically. I would venture that very few of our recent signees are not 3-stars. I also know that attendance at certain camps run by certain recruiting companies equate to the higher likelihood of gaining another star. Or the prospect hits certain universal metrics (measurables, testing results, speed, etc.) at the camp and is awarded a star or at least the possibility of another star in a subscription write-up. It's a screwed up process of evaluation, but it is what it is.

IMO you’re going to find far more steals in Juco in today’s game because high schoolers are getting completely screwed by transfer portal. There are plenty guys at Juco right now that would be big sky/mountain west guys if it were no portal. Also very strategic now since it doesn’t count against eligibility.

This and the fact that players seemingly have infinite eligibility. That's a slot for a HS kid in the past.

Kids get 3 stars for going to certain camps? That may explain Axel Eason.

Why are you so negative on Axel? Reminds me of the people who were so skeptical of Cody Hawkins. Just suspend judgement until there is some evidence, of which we have none.

In defense of movielover, I think they're more negative on the "star/rating" system for recruits. Axel's gonna be a stud

Not negative. I don't understand the hype (stars) for players with very limited PT, but if he wins the starting job, great. Keelan Doss missed his junior year in HS w an injury, FBS schools had allocated all their schollies, and Coach Gould landed him. But Doss had solid sophomore and senior seasons.

Three stars are the norm for a kid with the measurables, especially from bigger/well-known high school programs. If you look around, the vast majority of FCS/low-level FBS kids are "3-Star" kids. It is more a means of differentiating between that level of football and the D-2/D-3/NAIA types.

Axel has the height/weight, he was the starter at a reputable SoCal football program, and probably performed well at the camps during his junior spring and senior summer. That is more than enough to earn your 3-Star rating. Injury, I assume, cut his senior season short. I don't know what his other offers were, but based on what I explained, that's an easy 3-Star rating.

Before Hawkins arrived it seemed we landed a lot less 3-star recruits, they were typically all league and often had MVP awards, accolades, big numbers, etc. Gould had some 3 star guys, mostly studs, and most bounced.

I think our profile is definitely ascending, you're seeing guys on the NFL/CFL radar, and the reputation of the program as a frontline option is outstanding. I doubt that our staff gives a rip about the number of stars, but I think it's a byproduct of recruiting a higher caliber of player (and being willing to compete with and lose players to the Mountain West, for example) and setting the standard. You are seeing Offensive and Defensive Linemen, for example, that are of very specific measurable categories, at least with the ones who are playing and likely scholarship dudes.

since about 2023 they either receive stars for going or get stars removed for not attending camps and competitions which high school and even junior high students get bombarded with “exclusive “invitations that can cost a ton of money

If you look on this site for the 2017 recruiting class, the bulk of the recruits were two star recruits, with 3 three star..
This year CA Forever lists 11 three stars. We are also getting some with middle of the three star range which runs from 80-90, we haven’t signed guys rated above 85, whereas teams like Idaho do. Some of the most highly rated past recruits either never showed up (Jalen Harris) or never showed talent here (Sean Hariston). A high rating correlates fairly loosely with being an eventual contributor.

One highly touted Gould recruit from Arizona that AZ HS coaches were saying had "NFL future" left after two years. Then there was Ryan Parenteau who was hot, then he dropped off most college teams radar for some unknown odd reason. I'm no expert, but saw his tape and went "Wow", and commented about him here. Covered well, hit like a truck, we inked him. He became almost an immediate impact player.

Spot on. Everything you posted there is true.

Stars do not equate to "want to". Everyone that ever played on a football team has seen a seemingly athletic or talented teammate quit the team early for a myriad of reasons (they got exposed as being over-hyped, they realized they weren't good enough, they were burned out, they were homesick, they missed their girlfriend, etc.). And plenty of them are asked to not return after the season (hence the reason for 10,000+ in the portal before it opens every year). It is an awful business these days and it is not for everyone.

Do we care or track PWOs?

I think the PWO offer uptick could indicate that we've recently gained commitment from the full scholarship players desired in portal.

Joey Ellis is the prototypical OT from the Hawkins era

His Hudl page says he's 6'4" 225lb OG / DE; 81" wingspan; 9" hands; 17 years old. Older brother is a RS Sophomore OL at Utah - 6'4" 300lb. Sounds like he could grow/fill out quite a bit.

Nah, this is the usual time for the PWOs to start landing. Far fewer opportunities left for walk ons with the big guys using most of their 105 roster spots on scholarship players.

Great length at 6'3", says he's a spring grad w 3 years eligibility.

DB Hayden John hasn't made a tweet about it, but he updated his twitter bio to say DB at UC Davis so there's at least 1 transfer.

Spent 2 years at Sac.