The House of Blue

I honestly don't think 2014 is going to be much better than this year. We are getting all 3* kids with, what, about 4-6 four star kids depending on what service you look at. How much better could it really be next year? We're going to get the same thing...a bunch of 3* kids with 4-6 four star kids. Best case, we get about 8 4* kids.

The new staff has done an incredible job and I'm sure they will continue to do so, but I just don't see how it can get that much better in a year...just because they have more time??? They have the exact same amount of time. It's not like they haven't spent the same 12 months recruiting this year that they will spend next year...albeit the next 12 will be spent for UK and not another school.

We are light years ahead of where we were two months ago, but this is going to be a long, long road. To expect 2014 to be much more than this year is just not realistic (largely because Stoops made this year so good).

I'm hoping that Coach Stoops & Co. will hit the Ft. Myers area, and look at talent at schools like Pahokee and Glades Central in Belle Glade a serious look too.
You guys are right, there is a TON of football talent down here in Florida and I do not see any worhtwhile reason why we can't get some of this talent into school in Lexington!

I think jamccain is right. I think this yr will be ranked around 30-40 and next yr will be around 25-35. It's going to be hard to turn in top 25 classes without proving that you can win. Maybe yr 3 or later.

It's ok though. The biggest part of recruiting is consistency. To compete yr in and out you have to bring in the recruits every yr. So if we get several classes ranked around 30 every yr we will be able to compete with anyone.

Recruiting for 2 months vs. 1+ year is a HUGE difference. A kid like Hatcher is a good example. He would already be in the fold IMO if Stoops was in his ear sooner. The rankings might not be that different, but the talent will be. Being ranked between 20-35 is not really a big difference.

Part of my point is it is not two months vs. a year plus...all the coaches have recruited the past year. They didn't just start recruiting the day UK hired them. The relationships they had built prior to arriving to UK were still in place when they got here....McWilson, Smith, and others were from the staff's work at other schools.

Maybe we have Hatcher wrapped up if we had been recruiting him the past year...maybe not, I mean, he's been recruited by USC for the past year and they don't have him locked up.

I agree the rankings won't be much different...that's what I was saying. If the talent is actually better...well, their is no way of knowing that right now. I suspect it will be, but I have been told the talent is getting better and better before and we finished 2-10 last year.

Yes, but what you are missing is the horrendous condition this program was in when the current staff got here. They are trying to overcome a lot of factors in two months; bad team, bad program, bad history. Trying to convince kids to come to Kentucky from places like Florida and Ohio and abroad isn't easy just because Stoops may have already been recruiting him. Big difference trying to get them to come here or an established program like Florida State. I think that with over a year to recruit these kids, as long as we win 4-5 games and are competitive in a game or two we wouldn't be expected to be, I think that this staff has an extremely good chance at getting all the way up to a top 10 class. Look at what Ole Miss has done in two years. I don't find it that hard to believe at all.