[Mick]

Tell me why this isn't symptomatic of a systemic issue.

Seriously, is missing a camp because of injury disqualifying? Too small as a 17 year old is automatically disqualifying? Too slow; an 11.22 in the 100 meters is disqualifying?

It's hard to find great high school football players with the academic capabilities to get in to Stanford, right? This kid was a great high school player and had the grades and test scores required. Maybe I just don't understand recruiting, but not even bothering to see a local kid like this seems to point to an issue with our overall process.

This reminds me of the Jeremy Lin debate.  Let's move on.  Of course, we made a mistake. If Shaw had it over again, he would have offered. Coaches make judgment calls and they don't have crystal balls. We missed this one. It won't haunt us any longer because BBK is no longer in college.  The one that will haunt us for the next three years is the one that got away last year, Dax Hollifield. We thought we were going to get him and really wanted him. The staff's evaluation turned out right. He started 6 games as a true frosh and made 60 tackles. Ricky Miezkan was our consolation prize. Let's hope he develps into a good one. We need him to.

Except Jeremy Lin's growth curve was almost vertical.  Lin was terrific in high school, they beat Mater Dei in the state championship game and Lin was first team all-state.  Lin was recruited at Harvard, and Lin played and started against Stanford in the first game of his sophomore year.  harvard lost 111-56 and Lin's line was almost comical; he went 0 for 6, had five turnovers, no rebounds, two assists.  He was not ready to be on that floor.  By his own admission, he had a big jump his sophomore year and a much bigger jump in skills and game knowledge and strength in his junior year.  Even with that, it took three years before he became a mainstay in the NBA.

BBK, on the other hand, had eight offers, from Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Northwestern, Utah, Fresno State, Eastern Washington, Princeton and Harvard.  The ranking services had him between 25 and 29 in California for ILB.   I think we mis-analyzed him and whiffed.

[Mick]

Tell me why this isn't symptomatic of a systemic issue.

Seriously, is missing a camp because of injury disqualifying? Too small as a 17 year old is automatically disqualifying? Too slow; an 11.22 in the 100 meters is disqualifying?

It's hard to find great high school football players with the academic capabilities to get in to Stanford, right? This kid was a great high school player and had the grades and test scores required. Maybe I just don't understand recruiting, but not even bothering to see a local kid like this seems to point to an issue with our overall process.

This reminds me of the Jeremy Lin debate.  Let's move on.  Of course, we made a mistake. If Shaw had it over again, he would have offered. Coaches make judgment calls and they don't have crystal balls. We missed this one. It won't haunt us any longer because BBK is no longer in college.  The one that will haunt us for the next three years is the one that got away last year, Dax Hollifield. We thought we were going to get him and really wanted him. The staff's evaluation turned out right. He started 6 games as a true frosh and made 60 tackles. Ricky Miezkan was our consolation prize. Let's hope he develps into a good one. We need him to.

Except Jeremy Lin's growth curve was almost vertical.  Lin was terrific in high school, they beat Mater Dei in the state championship game and Lin was first team all-state.  Lin was recruited at Harvard, and Lin played and started against Stanford in the first game of his sophomore year.  harvard lost 111-56 and Lin's line was almost comical; he went 0 for 6, had five turnovers, no rebounds, two assists.  He was not ready to be on that floor.  By his own admission, he had a big jump his sophomore year and a much bigger jump in skills and game knowledge and strength in his junior year.  Even with that, it took three years before he became a mainstay in the NBA.

BBK, on the other hand, had eight offers, from Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Northwestern, Utah, Fresno State, Eastern Washington, Princeton and Harvard.  The ranking services had him between 25 and 29 in California for ILB.   I think we mis-analyzed him and whiffed.