In response to Wyoming High School atheltes...

Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:33 pm

Mr. Titleist - Not calling you out. I read in the other post that you think that there are more athletes in this state that are capable of playing football at UW.

First let me say that there have been a few that were legitimate D-1 ball players to go to UW from Wyoming. With that being said... let's look at, say Texas High School Football. In the state of Wyoming, we have 6 hs's that would qualify to be 4A schools in Texas. Gill, NC, Chey Cent, Chey East, RS and KW (barely). We have another 5 that would qualify for 3A and the rest would be 2A and lower. So we have a total of 11 schools that fit in the catagory of 3A - 5A football in Texas.

In Texas there are 246 5A high schools. There are 240 4A schools and there are 176 3A schools. That gives them a total of 662 High Schools in 3A - 5A compared to our 11. Knowing the talent of the kids down there, where all they do is live, sleep and eat football, I don't think that any of our high schools could compete in those respective classes that we would fit in because the athletes down there are bigger, stronger, and faster. They don't have or rarely do they have kids that play 2 or 3 different sports. Most of those kids in Feb and March are watching football game films and lifting everyday while our kids are playing basketball or wrestling or baseball. My point is they have thousands and thousands of kids to choose from and a ton of kids that are D-1 prospects that fall through the cracks. Their talent pool is soooo much bigger than ours. The other thing is that we just only talked about Texas. What about Colorado, OK, Kan, etc....

We have always had people that want Wyo kids to play for UW and that's great and I like it when it happens also. I am just saying that there are way to many kids out there that could be coming to Laramie that have seen top notch competition, played in front of bigger crowds (than UW gets) and know how to play football at a level way higher than our kids. These are the kids that we need to get to make our football program competitive. Again, I am not saying anything bad about wyomings high school talent, just that there is soooo much more talent out there.

Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:57 pm

Have to agree. A wyoming kid with marginal D1 talent gets an offer. There might be a few exceptions or kids that blossom later but in general the current staff has gone out of its way to make sure the kids in state are recruited.

Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:35 pm

Texas IS high school football. But Glenn and company gave up on Texas because the recruits wouldn't stay. I throw the poop flag on that one. Called laziness in recruiting. You don't give up on recruiting in Texas...you try harder Mr. Glenn.
I know I am not comparing apples to apples but anybody remember a guy from San Antonio that used to play basketball for the Pokes?

Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:17 pm

We were definitely a more successful team when we actively and strongly recruited TX, there can be no denying that.

Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:05 pm

MrTitelist, How many Wyoming natives are there which actually played a down at UW played on Sunday? I can think of 1, Lee Vaughn who had a short stint with Dallas. Actively recruiting from Wyoming's small talent pool is a complete waste of time and will drive this program into complete mediocrity and will force the MTN west to give us the boot down to the pathetic FCS. Who gives a poop about the FCS we would be lucky to draw 7000 fans to a game. This is a great website but your opinions of Wyoming and Montana having enough talent to draw from to pick a competitive team on the field is completely absurd. Anyways, Go pokes and heres to next year.

Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:15 pm

Portlandpoke wrote:MrTitelist, How many Wyoming natives are there which actually played a down at UW played on Sunday? I can think of 1, Lee Vaughn who had a short stint with Dallas. Actively recruiting from Wyoming's small talent pool is a complete waste of time and will drive this program into complete mediocrity and will force the MTN west to give us the boot down to the pathetic FCS. Who gives a s##t about the FCS we would be lucky to draw 7000 fans to a game. This is a great website but your opinions of Wyoming and Montana having enough talent to draw from to pick a competitive team on the field is completely absurd. Anyways, Go pokes and heres to next year.

I really don't see how we could do worse, even with a great number of Colorado, Texas, and California kids on the roster. And if Idaho hasn't been booted back down, there's no way Wyoming will get the boot. When it comes to recruiting "local" kids, you never know when you're going to catch lightning in a bottle.. look at Ryan McGuffey. Local kid who is one of UWs all time leading receivers.. from Riverton HS. Billings Central had a kid go to the Big 12 this year, Great Falls produced Ryan and Brady Leaf. It's not that far fetched to say that -some- talent doesn't exist within "local" borders.

When you recruit talent from Texas, California, and even Colorado you're really scraping up what's left.. so comparing Texas HS football to football anywhere else in the world is apples to oranges. But when you recruit Texas you're picking up kids who were passed over by half of the Big 12, TCU, UTEP, Rice, and SMU. At that point we're competing for recruits w/ the latter four schools. When you recruit Colorado you're competing w/ at least two Colorado schools. Laramie's not exactly a desirable location for recruits.. so getting the kids that we do are the ones that really want to play. With that said, they're not always the best talent out there. There's FCS schools out there that pick up better recruits because of PT and location.

Again, this is all personal opinion. Feel free to flame away.

Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:36 pm

Portlandpoke wrote:MrTitelist, How many Wyoming natives are there which actually played a down at UW played on Sunday? I can think of 1, Lee Vaughn who had a short stint with Dallas.

How about John Wendling, Nick Bebout, Jim Crawford, Willie Wright.........

Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:45 pm

Wind River Poke wrote:
Portlandpoke wrote:MrTitelist, How many Wyoming natives are there which actually played a down at UW played on Sunday? I can think of 1, Lee Vaughn who had a short stint with Dallas.
How about John Wendling, Nick Bebout, Jim Crawford, Willie Wright.........

I met Jim Crawford a few years. He was working for the Burlington Northern Railroad out of Greybull at the time. My grandmother who was living in Greybull knew him.

Nice guy but very quiet.

Sat Oct 18, 2008 6:31 pm

After I posted my response I realized that there at at least 3 Montana kids in the NFL right now, (I also realized Wendling was from Wyo as well) all went to HS within MT borders. Dan Carpenter K for the Dolphins, Kroy Beirmann DE for the Falcons, Lex Hilliard RB for the Dolphins (practice squad).. that's just this year. Dave Dickenson is playing CFL as a QB. Also, Casey Bramlet has bounced around the NFL the last few years, and played in the World League championship, didn't he? Corey Bramlet was a Viking for a while, not sure if he made opening day roster though. So no, it's not far fetched for Wyoming kids to be on NFL rosters, and there are plenty of kids around here that are good enough to play D1.

Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:10 pm

MrTitleist wrote:After I posted my response I realized that there at at least 3 Montana kids in the NFL right now, (I also realized Wendling was from Wyo as well) all went to HS within MT borders. Dan Carpenter K for the Dolphins, Kroy Beirmann DE for the Falcons, Lex Hilliard RB for the Dolphins (practice squad).. that's just this year. Dave Dickenson is playing CFL as a QB. Also, Casey Bramlet has bounced around the NFL the last few years, and played in the World League championship, didn't he? Corey Bramlet was a Viking for a while, not sure if he made opening day roster though. So no, it's not far fetched for Wyoming kids to be on NFL rosters, and there are plenty of kids around here that are good enough to play D1.

How about Mitch Donahue....IMHO he was one of the greatest defensive players UW has had....a Montana native if memory serves me correctly.

Wyokie....I knew Jim's daughters. The youngest played HS V and Bball against my wife...I went to UW with the other. Good kids.

Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:08 pm

MrTitleist wrote: look at Ryan McGuffey. Local kid who is one of UWs all time leading receivers.. from Riverton HS.

Ryan was actually recrcuited by other D1A programs. So yea, if other D1A programs are giving a WYO kid a look, then UW better offer that kid. Ryan is one of my good friends (great guy who passed 2 state bar exams this summer!). Even he would disagree with your suggestion that we should be offering a lot more Wyoming kids. While WY kids tend to play with a lot of heart, on the whole there just isnt the same size and speed to be found here as compared to Texas. Every once in awhile this state produces a McGuffey, Wendling or Prosinski...but this state will never produce 10-15 of them a year.

Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:49 pm

OrediggerPoke wrote:
MrTitleist wrote: look at Ryan McGuffey. Local kid who is one of UWs all time leading receivers.. from Riverton HS.
Ryan was actually recrcuited by other D1A programs. So yea, if other D1A programs are giving a WYO kid a look, then UW better offer that kid. Ryan is one of my good friends (great guy who passed 2 state bar exams this summer!). Even he would disagree with your suggestion that we should be offering a lot more Wyoming kids. While WY kids tend to play with a lot of heart, on the whole there just isnt the same size and speed to be found here as compared to Texas. Every once in awhile this state produces a McGuffey, Wendling or Prosinski...but this state will never produce 10-15 of them a year.

Did you go to HS or college w/ him? I remember being in football camp in Thermopolis w/ him one summer .. middle school, maybe.

Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:05 am

MrTitleist wrote:
OrediggerPoke wrote:
MrTitleist wrote: Did you go to HS or college w/ him? I remember being in football camp in Thermopolis w/ him one summer .. middle school, maybe.

Graduated law school with him. Before that I only knew him as being my possession receiver on NCAA 2004

. Actually was at the bars with him last night, but unfortunately he couldnt make our golf game today (cant ask for a much nicer mid-october day in wyoming either

).

Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:39 am

John Burroughs, (Pinedale HS) had a decent career with the Falcons and Vikings even played in the Super Bowl.

Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:33 am

OrediggerPoke wrote:We were definitely a more successful team when we actively and strongly recruited TX, there can be no denying that.

Actually, Wyoming was most successful at football when the "cold" mid-west states were recruited heavily...Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, etc. that would be the 50's and 60's FYI.

Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:27 pm

OK just some examples, doesn't really mean anything, I don't think...

Boise St. - (#13) - approx 43% of the roster are from California and Texas

Utah - (#12) - approx 40% of the roster are from California and Texas

TCU - (#15) - approx 97% of the roster are from California and Texas (goes without saying)

BYU - (#17) - approx 25% of the roster are from California and Texas (I know, the Morman thing, but still)

WYOMING - (#109) - APPROX 14% OF THE ROSTER ARE FROM CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS
APPROX 46% OF THE ROSTER ARE FROM WYOMING AND COLORADO

Again, not sure what that tells us but I know what I am thinking.

Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:40 pm

Wyoming recruits Colorado a lot.. dunno why.

Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:53 pm

Wyokie wrote:
Wind River Poke wrote:
Portlandpoke wrote:MrTitelist, How many Wyoming natives are there which actually played a down at UW played on Sunday? I can think of 1, Lee Vaughn who had a short stint with Dallas.
How about John Wendling, Nick Bebout, Jim Crawford, Willie Wright.........

I met Jim Crawford a few years. He was working for the Burlington Northern Railroad out of Greybull at the time. My grandmother who was living in Greybull knew him.

Nice guy but very quiet.

I live in one of Jim Crawfords houses in Greybull... He is a great guy.

Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:34 am

I live in one of Jim Crawfords houses in Greybull... He is a great guy

Greybull, was not trying to make a cut on Wyoming High School Athletes. The point I was trying to make is we do not have a big enough population to recruit from to even put a half way decent FCS squad on the field.
I was not trying to piss anyone off on this board I just feel we cannot have a successful program if we rely on Wyoming and Montana High School athletes.
I am sure Jim Crawford is a great guy. Go Pokes and hopefully Wendling will have a successful career

Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:57 pm

UW can't afford to let quality in-state players leave, but at the same time you have to be realistic and know that you can't build a program on Wyoming kids alone. One of the big problems with Wyoming players is that the WHSAA has such a short football season in Wyoming. These kids have a lot less football experience than do the players from surrounding states and certainly less than players from larger states such as TX and CA. The Andrew Meredith story is a bit disturbing to me in that it seems like kind of a slap in the face that Glenn & company are showing so little interest. I don't know that the kid is the real deal, but as one of the more publicized in-state recruits in a while, he deserves better treatment than that.