I'm leading this week's mailbag with talk about one of the Pac-10's more underrated programs.
From Jason in Corvallis, Ore.: Please answer an Oregon State question for me!! What do the Beavs have to do to get more national respect? They are one of the winningest Pac-10 teams in the last couple of years so why not more attention? And how can they bring in some bigger recruits?
Feldman: This is a very underrated program led by one of the better coaches in the country, Mike Riley. They had a very tough defense last year and two years before that did upset USC. Winning 19 games in the last two years should've gotten them more attention than it did. However, I think what has hurt them is a couple of early-season non-conference blowout losses, one against Boise State (42-14) on national TV and the other against Cincinnati (34-3).
The program needs to just keep going to bowl games and getting in the top 25.
I think this year will be a real challenge to get back in the rankings because the whole front seven has to be replaced as does Yvenson Bernard, a terrific RB. I do like their speed on offense and they have some difference-makers on the outside. That said, they just lost so much experience on defense. Then again, the Beavers always seem to develop quality LBs every other year. The Beavers could be in danger of opening 1-4 because there aren't any easy games to start with and they have three Thursday night games and three road trips, playing at Stanford, at Penn State, Hawaii, USC and at Utah. I suspect they'll be underdogs in at least three of those games.
From Blake in Jenks, Okla.: I have been a Sooner fan all my life and one thing has always seemed to be constant when OU played for or won the NC game. The leadership vacuum on the team has been filled with Oklahoma kids starting on the defensive side of the ball (most of the time at LB but not always). If you look at recruiting this year for OU they have got verbals from 3 potential ESPN 150 recruits as LB's from the state of Oklahoma for 2009. From 2006-2008 they only have 3 total in-state ESPN 150 recruits on the defensive side of the ball with only one projected as a LB (Austin Box). This may only be a subtle point in coach Brent Venables' recruiting strategy and certainly may be based mostly on needs and where the in-state talent is; however, if these kids turn out to be really good I think it has always given OU more personality and identity on past championship teams due to there being a greater sense of pride as opposed to just an NFL mill attitude with the out of state kids that fill the roster. We will not know if I am right for two or three more years but it sure seems plausible to me...any thoughts?
Feldman: It is an interesting point. I know coaches feel there are less risks in recruiting in-state kids for a bunch of reasons. They tend to have a better read on the players' characters because they usually have had a long relationship with the local coaches and maybe that kid has been coming to their summer camps for years. Plus, playing for that school usually is a life-long dream for the local kid so maybe he does have more pride and a better understanding of what the program is all about.
The big downside -- and I did see this in a few cases with Ole Miss players -- is that being so close to home, can have its own problems in terms of distractions and that really can affect a player's focus.
From Shelby in Dallas: I buy your argument about why an early signing period isn't such a great idea after all. The thing I wonder is we hear all the reasons from guys like Urban Meyer about why it's bad for them as coaches, but what about the players who might able to get a break from all the madness from all those calls from other schools and the recruiting sites seeing if they changed their minds?
Feldman: As I said the other day, the early signing period could cause a lot of headaches given all the coaching turnover that takes place between mid-November and Signing Day.
Your point about trying to curtail all of the supposed madness that kids have to deal with is complicated. From spending a couple of years observing the process from the inside, I don't think there's as much chaos with the kids who have committed as people think. The real action is about those recruits who are still wavering and are the ones who are "kinda" committed or 80 percent committed. And in my mind, that's on them. If a kid claims to be committed and yet is still talking to other schools and says he is considering taking visits, he's really not committed. And so schools, and the recruiting sites, see him as fair game or still in play.
I spoke to Matt Barkley's dad, Les, this week about the subject of an early signing period. The younger Barkley is considered to be one of the top players in the country and committed to USC six months ago. His dad says there haven't been other schools still calling and it certainly hasn't been a burden or nuisance for the family. Of course, I suspect it might be different if Barkley made it known he was 96 percent committed and might take a visit here or there just to be sure.
From Keton in Nashville: I finished Meat Market last week. Who do you think will end being the best recruits Ole Miss chased that year?
Feldman: The top five players they really went after and didn't get I'd rank just based on what they did last season: Joe McKnight, USC; Drake Nevis, LSU; Ian Williams, Notre Dame; Jessie Bowman, Miss. State and Golden Tate, Notre Dame.
From the players they landed, I'd rank them as 1: Johnny Brown (he'll be a four-year starter); 2. Jevan Snead (I know the recruiting sites don't consider transfers recruits but they are since you have to pursue them the same and they count in your signing class.); 3. Ashlee Palmer (he was one of the SEC's leading tacklers for lot of the 2007 season); 4. Ted Laurent (he reported 30 pounds over weight but got in shape and will start this year if Jerrell Powe isn't cleared) 5. Tie: Rishaw Johnson/Bradley Sowell (both big O-linemen redshirted and the old Ole Miss staff thought would become NFL players down the road.)
From Mike in Maple Shade, N.J.: Does Mike Tranghese's resignation portend a split of the Big East along football/basketball lines?
I think Tranghese did an amazing job holding that conference together. What I find really incredible is the league thrived in spite of the backsliding of the two programs, Pitt and Syracuse, that you'd most expect to lead its resurrection. He says the league has never been stronger. Still, it is essentially two separate leagues and balancing that was quite a challenge for him. If Notre Dame were to join as a full member, that wouldn't be the case as I think the league would have a more natural connection, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.
Managing two separate entities with different agendas that often can be at odds with each other is going to be a huge challenge for the new commish. Personally, I'd like to see the Big East remain as it is, but a few years from now I could see it having to break into a split.
RANDOM STUFF
• Jake Locker's baseball debut begins tonight just a few hours after he takes his last final exam of the spring quarter. The quarterback will be the starting center fielder for the Bellingham Bells team that plays in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League, writes Jim Moore.
As I wrote months ago, Locker won't miss any time with his football teammates to play with the Bells.
• The Daily Mail has a Q&A with Marshall coach Mark Snyder:
Q: Have you set a timetable for yourself to get where you want to be? If so, why that amount of time?
A: Once we got in here, we felt like it was going to be three years to get it back on solid footing. And I think we're on solid footing. The guys are staying out of trouble and (doing well in) the academics. We're getting all of our numbers back now. I like the kids on my football team now. So, I think we're headed in the right direction. I don't think there is any question. We're real close to being really good again. When that happens, it's all going to be worth it.
• A Notre Dame assistant is expecting a huge season, reports Neal Boyer:
"I guarantee you (Irish fans) that you won't be disappointed this season. Mark it down, we're on a mission,"
Bernie Parmalee, tight ends coach, told members of the Notre Dame Club of Northwest Indiana in St. Patrick's church hall.
• Speaking of the Irish, Charlie Weis comes in at number four on the Tennessean's list of coaches on the hot seat among non-SEC guys. The top five are: 1. Washington's Ty Willingham; 2. Arizona's Mike Stoops; 3. Maryland's Ralph Friedgen; 4. Weis; 5. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz.
I can't say I disagree with any of these at this point, although my hunch is Friedgen shouldn't be on here and Syracuse's Greg Robinson probably would be in a top five if I had to do one. I'd say if any of those top four didn't get their teams into a bowl game, expecting to see them around for the 2009 season would seem like a big reach.
