Recruiting to Wyoming

[Pittsburgh Nellie]

So, I am wondering about recruiting. It seems like Colorado is our main source of a lot of players. Nothing against CO, but with the tens of thousands of schools out there, why can’t we find many “athletes.” I have to hand it to TCU and Utah. They know how to recruit. They go find the best athletes at schools then convince them to go to school there. You play QB at Joe Schmuck High? Well, if you come to here (TCU/Utah), you will be playing Safety…or WR…etc.

They plug them in where they are NEEDED. Just because you played QB in HS, doesn’t mean you will play that in college.

I am just baffled we are having to change our whole offensive schemes because we “can’t pass” or “don’t have the resources to pass”, etc. Why not? Is Laramie that bad of a place to go to school that we really cannot get anyone athletic to go there? I have a tough time buying that.

With that said, you do have to give DC time, but going on year two and I have yet to see a straight up athlete like a Bouknight or D-Mo. I can’t help but think of the “what-ifs” with athletes like that. I couldn’t imagine our team with a Bouknight-esque WR catching passes.

Where are these players we need so badly?

[bladerunnr]

I am just baffled we are having to change our whole offensive schemes because we “can’t pass” or “don’t have the resources to pass”, etc. Why not? Is Laramie that bad of a place to go to school that we really cannot get anyone athletic to go there? I have a tough time buying that.

Where are these players we need so badly?

Well, I don't think most African American high school football players dream of coming to play and live in Laramie. First of all, how do they even know we exist? The mountain network is not exactly everywhere.
Our stadium seats about 33,000. Some high schools in Texas play in front of bigger crowds.

Our best hope is to get players that are under recruited who blossom when they get to college. We are rarely going to win any recruiting battles with the big conference schools, or even a lot of warm weather schools. We need to get the hard nosed kids from Montana, the dakotas, Idaho, and Colorado. Unfortunately, those kids seem to be going to Nevada and Boise St. This will be DC's biggest challenge. It's what brought Joe Glenn down. Time will tell. Hopefully, DC's reputation as an offensive genius will bring some kids here who wouldn't otherwise consider UW.

[WyoBrandX]

I am just baffled we are having to change our whole offensive schemes because we “can’t pass” or “don’t have the resources to pass”, etc. Why not? Is Laramie that bad of a place to go to school that we really cannot get anyone athletic to go there? I have a tough time buying that.

Laramie probably isn't any tougher to recruit to than anywhere else (Why don't SDSU and Hawaii compete for National championships every year - its the football program not the location)? I don't think the problem is getting recruits. Many of them are young and not ready to play yet.

With that said, you do have to give DC time, but going on year two and I have yet to see a straight up athlete like a Bouknight or D-Mo. I can’t help but think of the “what-ifs” with athletes like that. I couldn’t imagine our team with a Bouknight-esque WR catching passes.

Where are these players we need so badly?

70% of them are freshman and sophomores. 2008-2009 didn't have much of a recruiting class. D-Mo had to be developed to get to the level he played at his last yr and fumbled way too much in his early years.

It will be interesting to see our recruiting class this year, but I doubt many of them will play next year.

[ELKMT]

I actually think we are decent on the athlete front. We have decent team speed (no not TCU team spead, but few have that). Huff, Alexander, Kankalongo, ACS, Ogbonna, Mcneil, Darren White, Shamiel Gary, the Gipsons, Prosinski, Muhamad (his little brother committed to and is an athlete) and luke ruff are all good D1 players and are athletic. Our problem is with both lines. I posted somwhere yesterday about how we didn't recruit very many D lineman from 05-09, therefore we didn't build much depth. Furthermore, what depth we did have left the program (stover & felker to name a few). DC recruited pretty well on our oline and it should have been better but for whatever reason he was unable to keep them here (Puetz, Criss, and vonasheck). All said I think we have good athletes just are having trouble keeping the big uglies around and this is affecting what our athletes can do.

[kansasCowboy]

I think we do have athletes on our roster like Bouknight. Herron is a freshman and has made freshman mistakes, but Man! He is fast and can fly by defenders. ACS I really believe is better than any QB we've had here in 20 years. I really think that Konkolango could be another bruiser like Christopherson was in the 90's. Gary is already becoming another D. Martin, J. Stinson or John Wendling. We have talent and it wil start to show.

[HellBass]

A little perspective...we have 4 freshman OL recruits from last year that are all redshirting and measure at least 6'4" and 270. Whether they pan out remains to be seen, but I think DC has demonstrated the ability to recruit talent at other positions thus far.

[msuhunter]

Well, I don't think most African American high school football players dream of coming to play and live in Laramie. First of all, how do they even know we exist? The mountain network is not exactly everywhere.
Our stadium seats about 33,000. Some high schools in Texas play in front of bigger crowds.

Our best hope is to get players that are under recruited who blossom when they get to college. We are rarely going to win any recruiting battles with the big conference schools, or even a lot of warm weather schools. We need to get the hard nosed kids from Montana, the dakotas, Idaho, and Colorado. Unfortunately, those kids seem to be going to Nevada and Boise St. This will be DC's biggest challenge. It's what brought Joe Glenn down. Time will tell. Hopefully, DC's reputation as an offensive genius will bring some kids here who wouldn't otherwise consider UW.

None of the quality talent from Montana will go to UW. They will go to UM or MSU. If they are really talented, they will either go to a PAC-10 school (Leafs, Dwan Edwards,Gessler, etc.) or Boise St. (Miller, Bissell). They get nothing out of going to UW except the chance every five years to play in a Tuesday night bowl game the second week of December.

I agree with your points though that recruiting to Laramie is major challenge. It simply doesn't have much to offer to blue chip recruits or recruits from urban areas.

[MrTitleist]

Wyoming has had several Montana players over the years. Mitch Donahue from Billings is one of Wyoming's all-time sack leaders, and played in the NFL. Currently we have Josh Leonard from Helena. We've also had Chris Sundberg as well. There's probably many more, but these are just off the top of my head.

[msuhunter]

forgot about Osweiller going to Arizona St. too

[gopokes1399]

Macmillan to Iowa... But nit getting Montana players to Wyoming isn't that big of a deal

[McPeachy]

Macmillan to Iowa... But nit getting Montana players to Wyoming isn't that big of a deal

Didn't you hear? Montana is just like Texas, Florida, and California!

[Fullback41]

Hell, when Schober is done playing ball we need him to scout all of Europe for us. He has contributed well and is a beast. I just wish he had 4 years of eligibility.

After I win the lotto, I will volunteer to scout South Carolina for some linemen. Everytime I go visit my dad reading the papers about all the D1 linemen down there amazes me. Big bad boys. I know it would be culture shock but a guy can dream right?