New coaches often inherit NFL Draft stigmas

Even if recent history isn’t a coach’s fault, recruits still want to see a track record.

On Sunday night, Garrett Wilson committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes over the Texas Longhorns. Wilson is undoubtedly one of the best receiver recruits in the nation. He makes ridiculous catches with ease.

This stings for the Longhorns on many levels. For one, though Wilson is originally from Columbus (Ohio), he plays for Austin (Texas) Lake Travis, and so this is a case of the Buckeyes plucking a star from the Longhorns’ backyard.

It’s not entirely surprising, considering Wilson’s former teammate and QB at Lake Travis High, Matthew Baldwin, signed with the Buckeyes in the 2018 class. Having a friend give an honest testimonial on how great a place is can sway a prospect.

But this quote Wilson gave to Rivals about making a business decision caught my eye.

“They were close,” Wilson said of Texas. “I’m not going to lie, the official visit made me think about them a little more. In the end, I’ve watched a lot of people go to Texas with a ton of ability and maybe not achieve what I thought they could. I didn’t want to be one of those guys.”

If Wilson is talking about sending guys to the league at the receiver position, he’s right.

In the last 10 drafts, Texas has had just two receivers drafted, and none in the last five drafts.

Ohio State equaled Texas’ receiver draft output of the past decade in 2015 alone, in which it had two receivers picked. And in 2016. And in 2017. The Buckeyes have had nine receivers picked in the last decade.

While it’s not the only factor, it was a factor. And that has to sting for Tom Herman and his staff, considering they basically had nothing to do with those failures, since they’ve only coached one season in Austin. And it has to be especially so, considering Herman was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator in Meyer’s only championship season in Columbus, and the Buckeyes and Longhorns still run a very similar offense.

Texas signed three four-star receiver prospects in its most recent class. If two of the three can make an impact, especially an early impact, it could go a long way towards making sure other receivers don’t see Texas as Wilson apparently did.

Florida State’s staff recently learned this lesson, too.

Two weeks ago, Miami (Fla.) South Dade receiver Frank Ladson, considered one of the top receivers in the nation, committed to Clemson over Miami, Florida State, and others. Ladson was the No. 1 receiver on FSU’s board, according to my sources.

But FSU knew it had an uphill battle to fight on several fronts. First, Willie Taggart and his new staff have only been in Tallahassee for four months and had to compete against other schools who had recruited Ladson for two years.

While FSU did establish a good relationship thanks to assistants Telly Lockette and David Kelly, it couldn’t overcome the failure of Jimbo Fisher’s staff to get receivers drafted. In the last 11 drafts, spanning the entire time Fisher was running the offense (2007-17) and Lawrence Dawsey was coaching the receivers, FSU sent just three receivers to the draft. It’s a remarkable lack of talent development at a specific position by a staff that won a national championship, recruited at an elite level, and ran a “pro-style” system.

Clemson, on the other hand, has produced eight picks in that span. The Tigers have as many first-round receivers picked since Frank Ladson has been in middle school as the Seminoles have total receivers picked since he started elementary school.

Fans and coaches hate it, but players don’t always separate the failures (or successes) of a previous staff when considering a new one. Ladson was known to have looked at what schools produce at a position, and recent draft success helped Clemson.

This isn’t limited to receivers.

There are new staffs taking over at programs all over the country who will inherit positions at which players have not been frequently drafted under prior coaching staffs. I’ll cover that in an upcoming edition of the Crootletter.