Welcome to The Crootletter (sign up to get this in your inbox every morning!). I'm Bud Elliott, SB Nation's National Recruiting Analyst, and in this space I'll be sharing news, rumors and musings on the world of college football recruiting.
Because college football is not a capitalist system, schools cannot legally offer money to recruits. So they must to turn to gimmicks. And Notre Dame came up with a great one Thursday when it took its equipment semi-truck to visit Savannah four-star athlete Demetris Robertson. Robertson was extremely happy and is now going to get to show his buddies at school, who will surely be impressed. I don't think Robertson will select the Irish solely because of this, but I do have him going to Notre Dame in my updated predictions of where the top 10 uncommitted recruits will sign.
Robertson has strong academics, but some prospects do not. And those who fail to achieve certain academic benchmarks before beginning their senior years of high school will now be forced to take an "academic redshirt" once they reach college.
Quickly
- There is a 1.5M-square-mile swath across America from the desert through the Midwest without a single five-star recruit for the 2016 cycle. That's insane. Geography is such an advantage in recruiting. Few programs have the cache to recruit nationally and overcome geographical disadvantages.
- Redshirt, blueshirt, greenshirt, grayshirt? Kevin Trahan breaks down all the terms in a tidy explainer.
- My friend Adam Kramer wrote about how many elite JUCO prospects are committed to UAB. What better place to secure playing time than a program without any returning players?
- I got into a protracted discussion with Mississippi State fans on twitter (follow @sbnrecruiting) who are convinced that Dan Mullen is a poor recruiter. Yes, Mississippi State has the worst recruiting class in the SEC West, but someone has to finish last, and the Bulldogs have the least resources. That Mullen consistently overcomes the huge handicap that is Starkville -- a tiny, boring town in the middle of nowhere with little appeal to young recruits from larger urban areas -- and gets enough talent to take MSU to bowls while playing in that division should be celebrated. This is one of the best periods in Mississippi State history, and Mullen has the program bumping up against its ceiling on a regular basis. We've seen how bad things get in Starkville with an average or bad coach.
- SB Nation's Ole Miss site believes the Rebels are fading with the No. 1 recruit nationally, Rashan Gary. I agree, but have always had him bound for Michigan.
- Butch Jones catches heat for underachieving at Tennessee, but it seems a lot of that is a result of the hype getting out over its skis. The top players Tennessee has recruited are indeed becoming its best players.
- How do you go about recruiting a player who is committed elsewhere? College coaches explained to John Talty.
- Penn State lost the kicker recruit with whom Jim Harbaugh had a sleepover, but it was expected and Penn State already took another kicker. Michigan lost a four-star defensive tackle recruit who looks like he's headed to Texas, but the Wolverines did pick up two commitments Wednesday.