Quality of Holtz Recruits

[usf97]

Anyone notice recent commits #3 and #4 for 2011 were also offered by Vanderbilt?

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2010/06/report-tallahassee-safety-garye-commits-to-usf.html#comments

One would like to think these would be some smart dudes.

I hope that translates to better smarts on the field i.e. less Personal Foul Penalty in key situations.

[AGB]

Anyone notice recent commits #3 and #4 for 2011 were also offered by Vanderbilt?

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2010/06/report-tallahassee-safety-garye-commits-to-usf.html#comments

One would like to think these would be some smart dudes.

I hope that translates to better smarts on the field i.e. less Personal Foul Penalty in key situations.

I think it has been pretty firmly established repeatedly that fewer penalties has nothing to do with winning. Very frequently teams in the top 10 in total penalties are also among the winningest teams. There are also teams in near the top that are not so good, but the point is that there is little correlation between the two stats (penalties and wins). <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/234268-youre-busted-the-ten-most-penalized-teams-in-college-football">Here</a> is one blog post which breaks down the penalty numbers for, I think, the 2008 season. The top ten, from most penalties to fewest, are:

1) Hawaii

2) TCU

3) Georgia

4) USF

5) FIU

6) USC

7) Florida, Florida State and Oklahoma, tied

10) BYU

Two of those teams played each other in the BCS championship game that year and a third went to the Rose Bowl.

Every fan of every team has a couple moments they will point to and say, "no, this is different, our players are stupid!" But the fact is, it's a part of football and it happens to every team. One or two or three plays don't make an entire game. In fact, before you can say USF's penalties are more personal fouls, USC, Florida, Oklahoma and FSU all averaged more yards per penalty that season than USF did.

That said, getting more academically qualified athletes can only be a good thing.

[AGB]

Just to clarify, because I read what I wrote and wanted to add this, obviously fewer penalties couldn't hurt, but I just think for this team to become the conference champion it seems to be so close to becoming at times, fewer penalties is not the most urgent thing to address. The difference, I think, between USF and those other schools is that USF's offense isn't consistent enough to overcome whatever approximate number of penalties is reasonable to expect from an offense. So the answer is to make the offense better in general.

I think the media gets caught up on this stat because it's just a simple number that's easy to follow and assume it's indicative of something, but I think a true measure of a teams discipline is much more nuanced, and a decent coach knows that. But obviously as a fan nothing is more deflating than a penalty after a very important gain or defensive stop.

[redfisher78]

Hes going after solid guys with great academics. Thats what he said he would be doing. Should only benefit us

[The Dude]

Suuuure AGB.  And fewer points don't necesssarily mean fewer wins.  You just get kicked in the head?  Leavitt lost 2,3,4 games a year because of penalties, poor focus and composure issues.  Ever hear of slap-gate?  C'mon man.  USF was one of the least disciplined teams in the COUNTRY, not just the BE.

Penalties have nothing to do with winning?  That's like saying commiting more fouls in basketball and making more errors in baseball, that that doesn't really matter.

[Bull Dozer]

The more talent your team has the greater the ability to overcome penalties becomes.  For a team like USF we need to play disciplined football because we don't have draft picks falling out of our ass every year like the elite programs in the country. 

[BDYZR]

The number of penalties may not mean much, but the timing of, and type of, penalty certainly does matter.

[bulldozier1]

I believe we will be surprise at type of class we'll end up with. Even if ucf end up in the BE. We have the most trust worthy coach in Florida since Bobby Bowden was forced out. Kids and parents are attracted to that.

[The Dude]

Bulldozier.  Another guy who gets it.

[tampabull]

I believe we will be surprise at type of class we'll end up with. Even if ucf end up in the BE. We have the most trust worthy coach in Florida since Bobby Bowden was forced out. Kids and parents are attracted to that.

+ 1

This will probably be one of the best classes we have had athletically and ACADEMICALLY.  I have a feeling we will land a couple of the big dogs also.