I got my big 10 Lindys sports magazine in the mail and I was reading what happened 10 years ago. It’s says penn st was so good that it had five of the top nine first team all conference linemen three on offense and two on defense. But the greatest Joe Paterno had plenty of flash and dash, too, with all conference QB Darrell Clark, 3 of the most productive WR’s in school history and a 1200 yard rusher Even Royster. How can anybody say Joe couldn’t recruit? BTW , the 09 teams was pretty dang good to. Now on to what I read from Lindys sports. Even though we have 8 coming back on offense and 3 on defense with our all big 10 team QB McSorely , speed and size at every position we’re going to be good in the future lol, Washington is going to be good with their starting QB back but our future only looks good lol, I guess they didn’t watch that ass kicking we put on Washington just 6 months ago, and I mean butt kicking baby, we could’ve beat Washington by 5 TD’s had James Franklin not held Barkley back. Washington ain’t on the same planet as we are what it comes to talent. We big..we fast and we strong as we use to say down on Bankhead courts brother! GREATER days are here baby. bTW I added the greatest Joe Paterno because of the 409 wins most all time and 24 bowl wins most all time.
Can't wait for the season Southern...
The reason why people say Joe couldn't recruit is because he couldn't sustain highly ranked classes. If you look at the rankings for his classes this century (pretty much when ranking classes began) his average was 25. James Franklin's average class ranking is 13. That's quite a difference.
In 4 years of full recruiting cycles, even with sanctions Franklin has never been lower than the 20th ranked class. Joe, on the other hand, was lower than 20th on 6 of 11 occasions... More than half the time. A few of them were as high as the 40's.
Of course, recruiting rankings aren't a measure of team strength, just an indicator of future success. Joe and his staff were definitly better at coaching than they were recruiting. Not that they were "bad" at recruiting, just not great at it.
That’s some great points Roam. I believe Paterno recruited guys that fit his system and he couldn’t care less about the stars and you’re spot on they did a great job coaching who they recruited. Don’t get me wrong I’m a believer in the stars and joe probably was the only coach that could get a way with not caring and still win at a high level. I always say he who has the highest star recruits..wins championships lol. I just think joe’s way of recruiting worked for him and it had to be good or we wouldn’t have put all them studs in the NFL
I love your optimism Southern - very much in my line of thinking too, I just don't preach the gospel as well as you ... so keep up the good work!
"I believe Paterno recruited guys that fit his system and he couldn’t care less about the stars"
Exactly. People get too caught up on the stars, and don't necessarily take into account who the coaches are going after. If you identify people you want, and get them more often then not, then you're a good recruiter. Some coaches identify different guys than the stars indicate, and I think Paterno was one of those guys. I think D'antonio is one of those guys too... Michigan State has been pretty darn good for 7-8 years to say they haven't recruited well. They obviously have been able to find really good players who were just undervalued by the services.
