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52 minutes ago, DumfriesYMCA said:

Rory Heltsley capped his HS career off with 

 

99 receptions

1751 yards (1st in Indiana, 3rd in US)

24 TDs (1st in Indiana, 2nd in US)

 

….Still no stars….but he does have a profile on 24/7 now listing his offers….so maybe he’s getting some long overdue attention 

If nothing materializes for him soon, he needs to get to the right camps.  A whole lot of the real recruiting process happens at those.

I remember asking the same questions about Branson Combs — who, IMO, is the best football player to come out of Memorial since I’ve been watching them (mid-80s).  Turns out that he was just a tweener — a few steps slow to be a WR or OLB at the FBS level, undersized for a TE or MLB.

But, to me, he’s just the kind of guy you want on the field somewhere.  He moved to defense this year at SIU and had a great season as a COVID freshman.  He wants to move back to Offense with Lindauer coming next year.

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16 minutes ago, MHSTigerFan said:

If nothing materializes for him soon, he needs to get to the right camps.  A whole lot of the real recruiting process happens at those.

I remember asking the same questions about Branson Combs — who, IMO, is the best football player to come out of Memorial since I’ve been watching them (mid-80s).  Turns out that he was just a tweener — a few steps slow to be a WR or OLB at the FBS level, undersized for a TE or MLB.

But, to me, he’s just the kind of guy you want on the field somewhere.  He moved to defense this year at SIU and had a great season as a COVID freshman.  He wants to move back to Offense with Lindauer coming next year.

If anything….I think this entire thing with Rory is an example of what is wrong with the recruiting process….and it also stresses the importance to other student athletes/parents/coaches of just how important these camps can be.  
 

 

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2 hours ago, DumfriesYMCA said:

Rory Heltsley capped his HS career off with 

 

99 receptions

1751 yards (1st in Indiana, 3rd in US)

24 TDs (1st in Indiana, 2nd in US)

 

….Still no stars….but he does have a profile on 24/7 now listing his offers….so maybe he’s getting some long overdue attention 

Branson Combs had 3 offers. Ball State, Southern Illinois and a D2 school in Missouri. You won’t find a more dominant football player on both sides of the ball. 
4 year varsity starter on both sides of the ball. 247 didn’t have a profile or star ranking for him. Finished career #2? all time in receiving yards.  Look at his career stats on both sides of the ball if you want a head scratcher. Not to mention back to back trips to state and arguably the best player on the field each finals game. Throw in 1st team all siac in 3 sports. Freak athlete! 
They don’t care about numbers. 

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3 hours ago, Screagle said:

Branson Combs had 3 offers. Ball State, Southern Illinois and a D2 school in Missouri. You won’t find a more dominant football player on both sides of the ball. 
4 year varsity starter on both sides of the ball. 247 didn’t have a profile or star ranking for him. Finished career #2? all time in receiving yards.  Look at his career stats on both sides of the ball if you want a head scratcher. Not to mention back to back trips to state and arguably the best player on the field each finals game. Throw in 1st team all siac in 3 sports. Freak athlete! 
They don’t care about numbers. 

Have to wonder if he played in the MIC what offers he would have received...same with Rory.

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6 hours ago, DumfriesYMCA said:

If anything….I think this entire thing with Rory is an example of what is wrong with the recruiting process….and it also stresses the importance to other student athletes/parents/coaches of just how important these camps can be.  
 

 

Right or wrong, if a kid is interested in playing college football, he needs to start going to camps as early as possible.  And I think it’s important that he picks the right ones, too. 

He’ll not only get to meet coaches from all levels, he’ll get to perform in front of them (if only briefly).  The earlier, the better.  The more coaches he gets in front of the better.

Unless you’re a very highly-touted recruit, you’re going to have to make most of the effort going after them…rather than the other way around.  If you’re waiting for somebody to finally notice and show up at your doorstep, there’s a good chance they won’t.

It’s a really good life lesson, actually.  Success ain’t gonna come find you.

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36 minutes ago, Screagle said:

Absolutely. How do guys like Heltsey and Combs go unnoticed.  I’d take those two on any team any level. 

I can’t speak for Heltsey, but I did talk with an in-state college (asst) coach about Branson after the fact.  He said that Branson was hard to find a position for at the FBS level.  He was too slow for the positions he played in HS, and too small for any others.  So it wasn’t that he was unnoticed.  This coach knew Branson well.

But he’s on his way to being a standout at SIU, which will surprise nobody who watched him in HS.

Coincidentally, the Colts just released a short piece about scouting and drafting Robert Mathis.  Everybody thought he was too small to be an edge rusher in the NFL.  But the Colts area scout absolutely loved him at Alabama A&M.

That 5th rounder who was too small should be donning a gold jacket pretty soon.

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40 minutes ago, MHSTigerFan said:

So it wasn’t that he was unnoticed.  This coach knew Branson well.

Ball State had no idea who he was until state game. Had zero interest in him. Soon as state game ends he has an offer and a coach from there trying to get him to flip  from SIU.  I’m guessing if they felt he was undersize or not fast enough that wouldn’t have changed after state game. 

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17 minutes ago, Screagle said:

Ball State had no idea who he was until state game. Had zero interest in him. Soon as state game ends he has an offer and a coach from there trying to get him to flip  from SIU.  I’m guessing if they felt he was undersize or not fast enough that wouldn’t have changed after state game. 

Well, I can’t speak for Ball State.  The coach I talked to is in the B10.  He was well aware of both Combs brothers.

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1 hour ago, MHSTigerFan said:

Well, I can’t speak for Ball State.  The coach I talked to is in the B10.  He was well aware of both Combs brothers.

Nick Sheridan had to ask Memorial coaches what number Combs is. That was after Hurley asked him what he thought about Branson on tape. I guess we can eliminate IU as the team you spoke with. 

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Couple things: 

1. This is a funky recruiting year. I was told by a B1G coach that this senior class got screwed out of scholarship offers because all the D1 programs were forced to extend scholarships for a 5th year of COVID eligibility. When the NCAA granted the 5th year last year, it zapped 1000s of scholarships for this class. Cathedral has 2-3 kids that should have had Power5 offers in this senior class, but didn't. However, 2 of our juniors had them before the season started. 

2. Kendrick Gilbert, Cathedral's 4 Star junior DL, had B1G offers before the season ever started. He played maybe 10 snaps with 1st team defense as a sophomore. So, I think they look at dimensions more than anything on the field. 

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10 hours ago, Screagle said:

Absolutely. How do guys like Heltsey and Combs go unnoticed.  I’d take those two on any team any level. 

Same way guys in SW Indiana have continuously gone unnoticed. It's improving with the addition of social media, though. Ball State, UIndy, KWC, and others have loved what IU and Purdue have missed. Linemen seem to get out of SW Indiana, but it's much tougher for many skill players. I might also blame some ADs for going to closed conferences and not scheduling bigger market talent when possible in Indianapolis, Kentucky, Illinois, and the Cincy area.

Teams should be able to play nine or ten games. Conferences should be 14 teams (6 + 1 games) with two divisions (like the B1G) and a week dedicated to a seeded divisional conference champion. Best divisional record gets the No. 1 seed. In the case of teams with one divisional loss or more, head-to-head result decides the seed. Forfeits count as losses, regardless of pandemics!

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8 hours ago, Screagle said:

Nick Sheridan had to ask Memorial coaches what number Combs is. That was after Hurley asked him what he thought about Branson on tape. I guess we can eliminate IU as the team you spoke with. 

Nick Sheridan was IU’s QB coach at that time.  So it’s not surprising that he wouldn’t have been too familiar with a prospect who wasn’t a quarterback.

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8 hours ago, Screagle said:

Nick Sheridan had to ask Memorial coaches what number Combs is. That was after Hurley asked him what he thought about Branson on tape. I guess we can eliminate IU as the team you spoke with. 

I watched Combs play 2, possibly 3 times. I thought he stood out and was easy to notice. That just sounds like incompetence from Sheridan if true.

 

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56 minutes ago, MHSTigerFan said:

Nick Sheridan was IU’s QB coach at that time.  So it’s not surprising that he wouldn’t have been too familiar with a prospect who wasn’t a quarterback.

QB coaches recruit more than just QBs. Several tapes sent to Sheridan and staff. Several times Combs was mentioned to Sheridan while recruiting Lindauer. It went in one ear an out the other. The final comical comment was at Memorial when he looked at Hurley and asked what number is Combs. 

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On 11/30/2021 at 4:40 AM, IndianaWrestlingGuy said:

Couple things: 

1. This is a funky recruiting year. I was told by a B1G coach that this senior class got screwed out of scholarship offers because all the D1 programs were forced to extend scholarships for a 5th year of COVID eligibility. When the NCAA granted the 5th year last year, it zapped 1000s of scholarships for this class. Cathedral has 2-3 kids that should have had Power5 offers in this senior class, but didn't. However, 2 of our juniors had them before the season started. 

2. Kendrick Gilbert, Cathedral's 4 Star junior DL, had B1G offers before the season ever started. He played maybe 10 snaps with 1st team defense as a sophomore. So, I think they look at dimensions more than anything on the field. 

I think this is true for scholarship availability.  Also any senior on a college team gets an additional year. If the coach wants them back there may not be any scholarships to offer high school. Also the darn portals is another reason for limited availability for high school men. This could mean some lesser teams might get some better talent these next few years. 

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On 11/29/2021 at 2:14 PM, DumfriesYMCA said:

If anything….I think this entire thing with Rory is an example of what is wrong with the recruiting process….and it also stresses the importance to other student athletes/parents/coaches of just how important these camps can be.  
 

 

Through experience with my son (concerning recruiting). The player (in this case Rory), his parents, and his coaches have to be the advocate. They have to be the ones to sign up for camps/events where there will be coaches. They have to send the film to coaches (even if they don't think they have a shot at that school). Yes it is true if you have talent college coaches will find you, but that holds for the truly exceptional athlete. The player, players parents and coaches have to get it out there to College coaches. To be totally honest and fair there are 50 states (along with other countries) with 100's of High Schools that have 50-100+ players. It is unrealistic to expect college coaches to see find out about every player. Sure they will find the top to mid players. There are hidden gems they don't know about that will require the player, his parents, and his coaches to get them noticed.

 

I will give you an example of how College Coaches sometimes stumble across players that was not on their radar. Several years back Boston College coaches were extremely interested in an Offensive Lineman at Cathedral (Jeremy Trueblood). He had measurables and play on the field and was getting all kinds of recognition and notoriety. Fortunately for the Boston College coaches when they were reviewing film of this Offensive Lineman, they stumbled across a TE and DE/LB that was lightly recruited and stood out on film when reviewing said Offensive Lineman. They ended up finding a hidden gem that was lightly being recruited. The player they stumbled across was Mathias Kiwanuka, all just by reviewing film on an Offensive Lineman. He ended up being a First Round NFL draft pick

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14 minutes ago, FastpacedO said:

Through experience with my son (concerning recruiting). The player (in this case Rory), his parents, and his coaches have to be the advocate. They have to be the ones to sign up for camps/events where there will be coaches. They have to send the film to coaches (even if they don't think they have a shot at that school). Yes it is true if you have talent college coaches will find you, but that holds for the truly exceptional athlete. The player, players parents and coaches have to get it out there to College coaches. To be totally honest and fair there are 50 states (along with other countries) with 100's of High Schools that have 50-100+ players. It is unrealistic to expect college coaches to see find out about every player. Sure they will find the top to mid players. There are hidden gems they don't know about that will require the player, his parents, and his coaches to get them noticed.

 

I will give you an example of how College Coaches sometimes stumble across players that was not on their radar. Several years back Boston College coaches were extremely interested in an Offensive Lineman at Cathedral (Jeremy Trueblood). He had measurables and play on the field and was getting all kinds of recognition and notoriety. Fortunately for the Boston College coaches when they were reviewing film of this Offensive Lineman, they stumbled across a TE and DE/LB that was lightly recruited and stood out on film when reviewing said Offensive Lineman. They ended up finding a hidden gem that was lightly being recruited. The player they stumbled across was Mathias Kiwanuka, all just by reviewing film on an Offensive Lineman. He ended up being a First Round NFL draft pick

I think the main concern with Rory is that he has the grades….he performed on the field at an incredible level and led the state/nation in the receiving categories.  There were plenty of college coaches/recruiting personnel who have seen him play….especially with Brady at the QB….good size…good athleticism.

 

being a later breakout in his HS career probably hurt a little and he probably missed on a few camps.  Someone else said something about how Covid years of eligibility have really strapped programs for the number of scholarships they have to offer.  Maybe it was on this thread or somewhere else but looking on Twitter at all the kids getting offers.  None of them are 2022 kids unless they are JUCO.  

edit: it was this thread I should have scrolled up lol

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1 hour ago, FastpacedO said:

Through experience with my son (concerning recruiting). The player (in this case Rory), his parents, and his coaches have to be the advocate. They have to be the ones to sign up for camps/events where there will be coaches. They have to send the film to coaches (even if they don't think they have a shot at that school). Yes it is true if you have talent college coaches will find you, but that holds for the truly exceptional athlete. The player, players parents and coaches have to get it out there to College coaches. To be totally honest and fair there are 50 states (along with other countries) with 100's of High Schools that have 50-100+ players. It is unrealistic to expect college coaches to see find out about every player. Sure they will find the top to mid players. There are hidden gems they don't know about that will require the player, his parents, and his coaches to get them noticed.

I will give you an example of how College Coaches sometimes stumble across players that was not on their radar. Several years back Boston College coaches were extremely interested in an Offensive Lineman at Cathedral (Jeremy Trueblood). He had measurables and play on the field and was getting all kinds of recognition and notoriety. Fortunately for the Boston College coaches when they were reviewing film of this Offensive Lineman, they stumbled across a TE and DE/LB that was lightly recruited and stood out on film when reviewing said Offensive Lineman. They ended up finding a hidden gem that was lightly being recruited. The player they stumbled across was Mathias Kiwanuka, all just by reviewing film on an Offensive Lineman. He ended up being a First Round NFL draft pick

This is very accurate.  Gotta be proactive in getting noticed.  Get to a camp or two that record height, weight, and speed.  Or run track.  Send your film to the coaches of schools that interest you, but you gotta be realistic about finding your level.  Twitter is a fantastic recruiting tool.  Go to individual school camps if they show interest.

The biggest thing is having coaches come through your high school door and your head coach putting film in front of them.  I do not think my son would be where he is if a lot of coaches hadn't stopped in to see the kid that scored 70 touchdowns in a season.

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