Article by Martin Fennelly from the Tampa Tribune....

[CousinRicky]

So do you. 

See his above recruiting rankings which prove my point.  He finished worse than he started.  He better win something with Leavitt's recruits or he ain't winning anything. 

/conversation. 

If you say so, but based on what was mentioned in the thread above it seems like that assertion is less likely than the opposite, though, given your supporting evidence thus far.

Im not sure what you're seeing to make you believe that however I'm sure the green and gold weed you're smoking may have something to do with it.   His recruiting rankings were lousy at ECU.  They never improved,. and they actually got worse over time.  He may have won in cusa with lousy recruiting however that won't fly in a BCS conference.  One thing to be lousy, another thing to never improve.  Last seasonn was the most talent we ever will on the field for usf s long as Holtz is coach.

Did you seriously argue that he WON with inferior talent?  Put me in with the people on here that hopes he WINS here with "inferior" talent.  Like that loser 2 star guy Chris Johnson.  I'm not the most optimistic guy on this Board, but as long as he wins I don't care where we rank in the recruiting stats.  Kind of like Boise State and their lousy recruiting coach.

[Bull94]

So do you. 

See his above recruiting rankings which prove my point.  He finished worse than he started.  He better win something with Leavitt's recruits or he ain't winning anything. 

/conversation. 

If you say so, but based on what was mentioned in the thread above it seems like that assertion is less likely than the opposite, though, given your supporting evidence thus far.

Im not sure what you're seeing to make you believe that however I'm sure the green and gold weed you're smoking may have something to do with it.   His recruiting rankings were lousy at ECU.  They never improved,. and they actually got worse over time.  He may have won in cusa with lousy recruiting however that won't fly in a BCS conference.  One thing to be lousy, another thing to never improve.  Last seasonn was the most talent we ever will on the field for usf s long as Holtz is coach.

Did you seriously argue that he WON with inferior talent?  Put me in with the people on here that hopes he WINS here with "inferior" talent.  Like that loser 2 star guy Chris Johnson.  I'm not the most optimistic guy on this Board, but as long as he wins I don't care where we rank in the recruiting stats.  Kind of like Boise State and their lousy recruiting coach.

+1

I'd rather win an actual conference championship then a recruiting championship any day.

Kelly at cincy never ranked better than 6th in the conference for recruiting. he almost always finished first.

it's odd that after they started winning for a few years, their recruiting rankings went up. same with TCU, Boise, utah, etc.

rivals and scout are there to sell memberships. they do this by ranking their larger membership bases higher. that's why notre dame is in the top 5 year after year for recruiting.

[Bulls On Parade]

Like said almost all the highest players that have come in never panned out at usf. Holtz will do fine he wins on the field thats all I care about.

[dabull80]

Well - back to my standard NFL comparison - the NFL who spends a ton of money and time on drafting players gets it wrong all the time - ie Tom Brady but that being said if you gave one team all the 1st and second round choices I would say after a few years they would be pretty good.

I hate to agree with Beastie but what I don't like is when I see the other teams recruiting the players we are getting. It isn't as good as it was becoming(does that make sense ?)  We had players getting offers from SEC schools ACC etc and it feels like now its FIU,FAMU and FAU.

So to those that say stars don't matter - they do - especially with skill position players.  Imagine having three five star WRs this year.  Sure maybe two aren't that good but the odds are that at least one will be great and that can change a game and a season completely.  I "feel" that if Carlton had stayed it could have made a two win difference and yes I know he wasn't a 5 star recruit but he was a very good WR.

Carl Franks is still with the team so I hope he is making a difference but I am just not getting the warm fuzzys on recruiting right now.  I will just trust that Skip will get what he needs to put us at that next level and our biggest worry will be some other school poaching our coach.

[Bull94]

Well - back to my standard NFL comparison - the NFL who spends a ton of money and time on drafting players gets it wrong all the time - ie Tom Brady but that being said if you gave one team all the 1st and second round choices I would say after a few years they would be pretty good.

I hate to agree with Beastie but what I don't like is when I see the other teams recruiting the players we are getting. It isn't as good as it was becoming(does that make sense ?)  We had players getting offers from SEC schools ACC etc and it feels like now its FIU,FAMU and FAU.

So to those that say stars don't matter - they do - especially with skill position players.  Imagine having three five star WRs this year.  Sure maybe two aren't that good but the odds are that at least one will be great and that can change a game and a season completely.  I "feel" that if Carlton had stayed it could have made a two win difference and yes I know he wasn't a 5 star recruit but he was a very good WR.

Carl Franks is still with the team so I hope he is making a difference but I am just not getting the warm fuzzys on recruiting right now.  I will just trust that Skip will get what he needs to put us at that next level and our biggest worry will be some other school poaching our coach.

Holtz seems to be building by position of need. he is loading up on offensive line which I felt Leavitt neglected. I also feel Leavitt was willing to over sign and place guys which leads to higher rankings. Leavitt would also recruit highly rated 'athletes' where holtz seems to be recruiting for specific needs.

we don't have many skill position players all though the 5 star and 4 star RB transfers should be considered(they aren't).

it's a small class with primarily OL, LB and DBs. we are not going to light the world on fire without skill position players. small classes also rank lower on rivals as they take total numbers which means SEC schools that  over sign 30 guys will always rank higher.

bobby bowden admitted that his recruiting got lazy at the end and he was more concerned with bringing in highly rated skill players. he said he neglected positions of need.

I trust holtz evaluation of needs over some flawed system that rivals uses.

[smazza]

CSH has 3 more years of Leavitt recruits.  He better either:

1) Win it in the next 3 years.

or

2) Get his act together on the recruiting trail.  As of now he ain't cutting it.

he did a great jobthis year

leavitt's recruits wereterrible

the cupboard was bare

[smazza]

you guys panic too easily

look how welllholtz did this year