From the desk of spinmeister Phillip Marshall:

It should be obvious to anyone that players who receive firm offers in June, almost eight months before signing day, would have a lot of stars beside their names if the coaches who made the offers were doing those rankings.

No shit Sherlock. I’m sure Windows rates Vista right at the top of reliability rankings. I rate the Capstone Report just below Aeschylus and right above Sophocles. How did Mike Shula and his sycophants rate Alabama’s classes? Trusting a coach to give you an objective evaluation of a recruit is absurd. And that is why you can’t trust a damn thing Marshall writes—he is less reliable than Peter Arnett reporting from Baghdad.

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23 thoughts on “More Marshall recruiting wisdom”

  1. Cappy – I’m beginning to think you need to change the name of this site to PhillipMarshallOnline.com.

  2. His logic is the most comical excuse for analysis around. I know our readers enjoy it as much as I do. 🙂

  3. It seems like the same old, same old…..
    Tubby says it so it must be an absolute truth. I am glad Marshall is going to the recruiting site. He can finally cast aside any absurd ideas that he is unbiased.
    Everyone knows that 4.4 speed is good for an athlete. But its is not unheard of speed in the SEC. As a matter of fact there are alot of teams that regularly field 4.4 to 4.7 athletes in skill positions and defenses.

    Now dont get me wrong. 4.4 will get you were you are going (and quickly)…..And I am sure that some of these guys will fly down the field. But it is much preferable to have the speed and the ability to break tackles once you get the ball and the abilty to block well when you dont have the ball. Anyone who thinks you are just going to outrun everybody in the SEC is not being realistic.
    The best teams will always have good blocking at every position and the ability to get a few more yards after contact is made.
    That is the trick. Maybe Tubby has discovered a new wrinkle but to me it is the same old “secret” that everyone has known for years.
    Pat Dye knew about speed and had some of the fastest (and best) RBs ever. BUT, Pat Dye’s Running backs *and receivers) were also strong and physical and delivered YAC. Can the current crop of 160-180 lbs impose their will in a league that is full of the best defenses in football? Maybe, but I wouldnt bet on it. Maybe that is why Auburn press keeps calling CTT the “Riverboat Gambler”.

  4. I would like Phillip Marshall alot more if he would just admit that CTT might be wrong occasionally.

  5. The first was LaDarius Perkins – an ATH out of MS (Not ranked – even after prospect ranking updates) – 5’9 180 lbs. He has offers from La. Tech, La. Monroe, Southern Miss., and Arkansas State.

    http://auburn.rivals.com/viewprospec…1&pr_key=74169

    The second of the day came from Travante Stallworth – another ATH out of Louisiana (Not ranked) 5’10 180 lbs. His only other offer was from Tulsa.

    http://auburn.rivals.com/viewprospec…1&pr_key=73249

    The last commitment for the day came from Andre Harris – an OG from Georgia (5.6 three star) 6’4 327. He has a better offer list with teams such as MSU, Virginia, Tennessee, Rutgers, and Georgia Tech.

    http://auburn.rivals.com/viewprospec…1&pr_key=63245

    Other than the fact that they managed to get THREE commitments today, it has been a very unimpressive day for the Tigers. Their commitment list is filling up fast with guys that they could have waited until the end to put the pressure on to commit. On top of that, their best recruit so far (Rodney Scott – 4* RB) has all but decommited and is showing strong interest in USF. It almost seems that they are proverbially “throwing in the towel”???

  6. capstonereport Says:
    “His logic is the most comical excuse for analysis around. I know our readers enjoy it as much as I do.”

    I don’t enjoy it as much as Shane’s unbiased opinion about bama & Shorty Sabin. Watch and see CAP, the first time sabin stops suddenly Shane will have a broken nose and Shorty will fall in love with him. Which in turn will devastate FineScum.

    tmci, your posts are too long. You’re no Shane.

  7. Shane is a BlOGGER, Yeah, it was a “War and Peace” of a blog. By the way, what is the biggest book you have ever read? Nevermind, to an AU graduate that probably was a lot of reading. You should stick with Phil Marshall, I hear his books have a lot of pictures and say a lot of things Aubbos love to here…. (Just kidding.)

    Bama Fan in NYC….
    That was a very good post. And it was right on point.
    I agree 100% because to me it looks like CTT and gang are phoning it in.
    Luckily Phillip Marshall will be a recruiting analyst soon, AND WE KNOW HOW MUCH LOVE AUBBOS AND CTT HAVE FOR RECRUITING SERVICES. Maybe then he can straighten it all out using the ESPN banner for some much needed credibility.

    Will Marshall ever say that CTT has made a mistake? Ever?

  8. At least Marshall took his act full time to a Chopblock U site.

    Anxiously awaiting the next homer the HSV Times gets to cover Chopblock football.

  9. Another AUBURN post, how surprising… Even Finebum yesterday said most stars are given because of COACHES giving info to the ranking services… ESPN is the only one that relies on video, etc. and guess what, the ESPN Guru, said Auburn would be top 10; getting good players.. Thanks for keeping the Aubsession…

  10. tmc, your post demonstrates that you don’t know anything about the version of the spread being run by Franklin. His goal is to spread the field with receivers, put the ball where the defenese isn’t, and beat the defense with speed. His receivers are not called on to do any blocking, including the tight ends. This is why he’s recuiting these smaller, faster receivers. (Yes, now tell us how you know better than him, and that his system is all wrong and will never work in the SEC, all the while forgetting that he racked up 31 and 34 pts against Fla and Ga respectively last year with this system at freakin’ TROY).

    I will admit one concern: these type of receivers will only work in a Franklin style offense. If Franklin leaves for another job or has a falling out with Tubs, AU is going to be very limited in its options.

  11. As a Bama fan looking for more Bama stuff I wish I could get it here.

    But all I read about is Auburn.

    Can someone suggest a good Auburn site that I can go read about Bama at?

  12. i really don’t follow recruiting but how many “stars” did recruits such as Sen ‘derrick marks, antonio coleman, jason bosley, chaz ramsey, etc have? over the past years has AU been ‘loaded’ with 4 and 5 stars?

  13. Well, julio….you said it all. Its over, no one can stop Tony Franklin’s offense. Tubbs kept Borges around and let Franklin stay down in Troy until he was ready to bring him on home….kinda like Spencer Pybus guess, “we didn’t offer him earlier because we didn’t want anyone else to find out about him”. NO ONE CAN EVER STOP THE SPREAD EAGLE OFFENSE, AUBURN WILL GO UNDEFEATED FOR THE NEXT DECADE. WARRRRR EAGLE!!!!

  14. Julio,
    That is where you are wrong.
    I knew about the TonyFranklinSystem when Borges was still the OC at Auburn. Dont forget that the man was selling it to everyone willing to pay the price. And it is not exactly top secret stuff.
    I dont have the time to explain the virtues of the passing spread vs. the spread option running attack, but I can tell you that a freind of mine who is high school coach installed it a few years back. It wasnt exactly stellar for him. (It is not a very talented team either.)

    A little history on the matter is that while Kentucky was putting up those Gaudy #s way back when,….it is because Mike Leach and Hal Mumme (you have heard of them?) installed the offense. And the “TonyFranklinSystem” that he claims for his own, actually was stuff that Mumme and Leach had in place. (Leach was the mentor for Tim Couch as a matter of fact. Franklin was the RB coach and Receivers coach.) And Leach was the OC until he left for the OC position at Oklahoma. That was when Franklin took over.
    The horrible thing about Kentucky was they cannibalized their speed and put it on the offensive side of the ball.I believe it requires more skill players and therefore the scholarships had to suffer somewhere. Thus their defense was….anemic.
    The spread in Tony Franklin’s form has a complex set of multiple signals coming from the sideline,(hence the “no huddle”) and in spite of all the hype is anything but simple to run.
    Now dont get me wrong IF it is run right and the personal are right and the timing is right it can be devastating. But I have said this a hundred times here lately. It is not going to hide or compensate for fundamental flaws. Basically what I am telling you is that if your team sucked offensively last year, then it may suck this year.
    Dont be fooled into thinking that The spread is simpler than the common “I” formation because it is not. (That is why they teach the “I” to peewee teams instead of the spread.)
    Julio, (any relation to Julio Jones?)
    It isnt the formation or the scheme that will win games… It is the talent and skill of the players.

  15. tmc…umm, when did I say that the spread was simpler than the I formation, or simple by any standard? All I said (correctly) is that Franklin’s version of the spread concentrates on spreading the field and putting receivers where the defense isn’t. I agree with you about Kentucky putting all of their speed on the offensive side of the ball, but do you seriously think for one second that Tubs would ever allow that? Furthermore, Franklin’s system is different than Mumme’s because Franklin runs the ball much more. All Mumme did at UK was pass, even if it was 2 yards to the running back. Troy was about 60-40 on passing and running yards last year, and you can bet Tubs will make that move closer to 55-45. Finally, your statement “if your team sucked offensively last year, then it may suck this year” is very profound. Is there any team on the planet that “sucked” offensively last year that statement wouldn’t apply to?

    P.S. Formation and schemes don’t matter, it’s simply talent and skill? Then I guess Spurrier wasn’t innovative at all during the 90’s, and he would have been just as successful running the wishbone or the Wing-T.

  16. Bama in NY,

    Take advantage of Alabama with some of the worst sanctions in football history, while an amateur coach gets paid like the real thing.

    If Auburn has another recruiting class similar to last years, then there WILL be tough times ahead. He’s done well enough in previous years (pre Saban recruiting, post Franchione recruiting) to stay in the mix for the next 2-3 years, but when he has to look at the 08 and (from the looks of it a poor 2009 class) to rely on, it will not be pretty. He may stick around for a while, but when he realizes that you need talent, the type of talent he was able to get out of Alabama before Saban has shown he can absolutely own the state and get all the top talent. Tubby is gonna have to hit the road recruiting like no other time in his life in order to keep this an equal playing field.

  17. It’s simple.

    They cannot get any top players from the state of Alabama. Nearly every single one of those guys are all Tuscaloosa bound and they know it. Of the top ten players in the state, they have got only Terrance Coleman — and they only got him because his uncle currently plays for API — and at this point they are just praying that Jamar Travis signs with them. In other words, an absolute best case scenario for them is that 8 of the top 10 prospects in-state end up at Alabama.

    Moreover, they cannot get top players anywhere else. They recruit Georgia hard, but with as good of class as the Dawgs are having, they will strike out on just about every single top recruit in that state, just like they are doing in Alabama.

    Those two states, Alabama and Georgia, have always been their major recruiting territories, and they have been reduced to taking leftovers in both areas. Furthermore, Tuberville and the API football program simply do not have the recruiting prowess to go into Florida, Louisiana, and other states to get top talent. None of those kids are going to pass up LSU, Florida, FSU, Miami, and others to choose API. There too they are forced to take leftovers.

    It’s not that API is “throwing in the towel,” per se, it is just that they cannot attract any top talent, now that Alabama is at full force, and has a proven leader at the helm, and they know it. Taking all of these commitments now is nothing more than trying to proactively rack up the best players they can reasonably expect to get. At the end of the day, the problem is that they simply cannot attract the top talent, hence why they must settle for leftovers — which has usually been the case, except for during our years in distress.

  18. Julio,
    SPURRIER is a great example of my point.
    He had tons of talent and skill at florida. And he used that talent and speed very well.
    The ol’ ball coach didnt forget how to coach when he got to South Carolina. he just doesnt have the talent he had at Florida and thus, He is not winning as consistently.

  19. Dark Illusions.
    There might be one exception to the rule and that would be Kodi Burns. He was a 5 star offensive machine in Arkansas. It was a head scratcher that CTT and Co. managed to pull Burns from an Arkansas U program that needed a future QB. Some will say it was money, but I doubt that Lowder and Co could compete with the WALTON brothersin that Department.
    Otherwise I agree with your assessment. Auburn is looking at some lean times, The “no Huddle” is a high maintenance offense especially for the lineman who are grinding it out play after play. And Julio was right about CTT not giving up his defensive diamonds. There hasnt been a great deal of recruiting emphasis on lineman for the last couple of years at AU. So my guess is that due to scholarship limits the depth is going to be less in the lineman department.

  20. “brothersin” hmm practice what you preach. When do you go to work for the recruiting services? Lean times? You have got to be kidding me. None of these kids have played a down yet, so nobody knows what will happen. That goes for both schools.

  21. No excuses for UAT this year. Take your butt whoopings like a girl. Keep saying, when sabin gets his players, yada yada yada, two, three years from now, yada yada yada. Remember bama fans enjoy throwing there coaches under the bus. Sabin out after 2010. His process will move up north.

    The TIGERS are coming.

  22. tmc, there’s been no emphasis on recruiting linemen the past couple of years? Did you fail to notice that AU started 3 true freshmen on the offensive line last year? You think they signed in 2003 and played pro baseball for a while before coming back to AU? There were 8 OL recruits in the 07 class. Of course AU only signed a few in the 08 class, because there were other needs.

    Furthermore, SPURRIER is a complete contradiction of your point, although you’re now trying to change the point you were previously arguing. You said that formation and schemes don’t matter, and that it’s all talent and skill. I’m sure you’d now like to pretend that you correctly said it’s a COMBINATION of talent and scheme, but a reading of your post proves otherwise. By the analogy that you ACTUALLY made, Spurrier would have been just as successful at Florida during the 90’s if he would have run the wishbone.

  23. Julio,
    the analogy I am trying to make is that

    Spurrier is still the same Coach in South Carolina he was in Florida.

    BUT he doesnt have the talent he had in Florida, SO

    He isnt as sucessfull.

    THUS if you dont have the talent and skill to execute, No offensive scheme is going to cure your problems.

    Also I might add CTF is no Spurrier.

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