I think we need to be honest about recruiting. I just wish we were taking more recruits from elite BCS schools. In the last three classes, I imagine there is only 2-3 players that could've have gone anywhere. Also, there have been way too many players no BCS offers:
2012
Norgard - no other BCS offers.
Hennington - no other BCS offers.
2011
Burnette - no other BCS offers
Daigh - no other BCS offers.
Dorman - no other BCS offers.
Henderson - no ther BCS offers
McColluch - no other BCS offers
Washington - no other BCS offers.
Walk,
You think we need to really be HONEST about recruiting? Do you know any of these players? I'm pretty sure I remember Daigh having more offers than just CU, probably not "high enough caliber" for you, but based on his relatively early commitment and the fact that he stuck with us through a load of CRAP that went on last year, I don't really care. He's going to be a BEAST on the field, so
lucky us for getting him and keeping him.
Regarding the two 2012 you listed, Henington said in a Rivals interview that there were MANY schools that stopped by Mullen this spring and that he was going to listen to what they all had to say. Maybe he
listened to what was said (or "offered", if you will) and was still confident in his decision to be a Buff? Norgard strikes me as the same kind of kid (wouldn't be surprised if he has other "offers" at this point, either) and especially loyal reading some of the interviews he's done, too (something to the effect of "I'd run through a brick wall for these guys"). Based on JE's comments about "jersey chasers" and collecting offers like trophies, these two don't seem like the type to be pub'ing themselves up just to make some armchair QB who might "imagine there is only 2-3 players that could've have gone anywhere" think they're worthy to play at CU. Some people are just confident in their decisions, even at age 17.
You do realize that the only way offers are made "public" at this point in the recruiting calendar is if a player, a player's family member or player's coach goes to the media and makes it public, right? On that note, there is absolutely
nothing stopping any of those people from taking a conversation with a coach and hearing it to mean there was an offer, whether there actually was one or not, and then going to someone in the scouting media and saying it occurred. A player (or family member) could say to anyone "I have offers from schools X, Y and Z" or "I'm going to be getting an offer from school A soon" and the coaches from those schools cannot comment in any way about that statement, or even the recruit for that matter, at this point in time. All offers are merely "verbal" right now and "verbal" can mean pretty much anything a player wants it to mean (and if you think that kind of media manipulation doesn't happen, think again. It happens
a lot more than you would probably care to believe). So are you
absolutely positive that all these other players you think CU should be after (that have "offers" from the big time schools you reference) actually HAVE those offers? As confident as you are that the kids you listed DON'T have any other offers? That's the real "honesty" in recruiting at this point in the game, Walk. But you believe whatever you want to believe, rather than taking the time to actually look at the caliber athlete based on his actual play on the field. That takes a little more effort than looking at a bunch of "offer lists"...someone as knowledgeable as you probably doesn't need to put in that kind of effort.
I want players who buy into what these coaches have in mind, who are loyal to CU before AND after they arrive in Boulder. Players that can actually BRING IT on game day, not players that want to "talk about it" (or themselves) in the year or so before they even step on campus. There's not an actual "star measurement" for that kind of attitude and moral caliber, but those are the kind of players that can help make a team succeed.