We just got a commit from a touted kid who is a long snapper. It's the first time in I-don't-know-how-long that NU has given a schollie to a long snapper. Some have eventually earned a scholarship, but they originally walked on. Do you think you waste a schollie on a kid whose only gonna be on the field a handful of times?

Kickers and punters get 'em, right? I'd say it's about the same.

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If he's good enough you do. I don't think you should reserve a spot for one but if he's significantly better than who he is replacing then I would.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Punting and place kicking is not an easy skill. I'd argue there are plenty of fat kids that can snap a ball 15 feet. At least that is the conventional wisdom, right?

What is his VORLS?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Thank you Dan McNeil.

Really good long snappers are hard to come by. If the kid is that good, it saves you a lot of problems.

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Lots of kickers and punters start as walk-ons. I'd be inclined to do the same for long snappers, but it's not like Northwestern is having roster issues. FWIW Ohio State recently grabbed a long snapper as well.

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Fire Phil Emery

Up until a day or two ago, 50% of Purdue's recruiting class was kickers.

We may not win many games but we can certainly kick the ball well.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Because it's on the subject of recruiting but not important enough to start a new thread:

Rick, what did you think about the situation with the kid who backed out of his Purdue BB scholly today? The Purdue blogs were spinning it as "don't blame the kid he's young and wants playing time," but I got the exact opposite impression--that Painter probably slow-played him after taking a chance early by offering and it didn't pay off. I got a kind of sleazy feeling, but Painter isn't really known as a sleazy-type coach. But I haven't followed the recruitment of the kid so I don't really know what is going on.

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Fire Phil Emery

First, here are the facts.

Terone Johnson is one of our most popular players, and has pretty much been the one doing the hosting of our recruits when they visit and gets at least some credit for the great recruiting class we have in 2013 and the 2012 recruiting class that is getting really strong too. He has a brother who plays point guard who started to really come into his own and became a legitimate candidate for a school like Purdue. The problem is that Purdue had a PG signed for 2012 and 2013. The 2012 PG, Kyle Molock, is coming off a torn ACL, but should be fine by the time he'd be in college. Purdue offered Ronnie Johnson, and he accepted which gave us 3 PG's in a 2 year span, with Ronnie Johnson continuing to impress and improve.

Now, here is my opinion. I think Painter still wanted Molock, because he'll be a good player, but he couldn't risk the PG position on a guy coming off an ACL tear when Terone Johnson's brother wanted to come on board. If you watched even a little bit of the Purdue/VCU game you saw just what happens when you only have one PG with how Purdue plays defense. He had to offer Ronnie Johnson because of his brother too and just how important he's been to the program even as a freshman. I can't blame him for that.

However, it gets a little bit more questionable when you realize what Kyle Molock means. It opens up a scholarship for either Gary Harris or AJ Hammons in 2012. Gary Harris is the prize and would be the biggest get that Purdue has had since Glenn Robinson. Both his parents attended Purdue but things fell off as the scholarship situation got tight. Hammons fills the need of a big bodied center. I don't think Painter is losing sleep over Molock leaving because he will likely get one of these two players, and if he misses then he can use it on a similar player in the next class. Now, if he had wanted one of these two players he simply would have never signed Ronnie Johnson, and getting Patrick Bade to switch to football would have been enough.

I don't know if sleezy is the right word, but he did show a lack of commitment to Molock when he signed Ronnie Johnson. Given the circumstances though I think it's not a huge deal. I hope this is the exception and not the rule in the future.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Since I know you care so much, the potential for a "sleezier" situation is actually with Patrick Bade, but even with that I'm not so sure.

He was a better football player than basketball player in high school. It was believed that he would be in the running for big time schools like Ohio State and Notre Dame, but when basketball started to pick up he chose to concentrate on that. Purdue was recruiting him for football too.

Well, anyone who watched him play could tell that basketball was not going to work out well for him. Purdue could also very conveniently use that scholarship. Transfer rumors followed him from the very first season. During the off-season, Bade decided to walk on to the football team. He has 3 years left to play but is currently considered a walk-on. It's virtually a lock that he'll get a scholarship next year but will probably be paying his own way this year. If attrition happens, he could be offered a scholarship, and in football that's fairly common.

So, Painter likely had a conversation with him letting him know that things aren't going to get much better with playing time and he could talk with Danny Hope about the option of playing football. I don't know what would have happened if Bade said he didn't want to do that, but I'm guessing that he wasn't going to have a scholarship either way because while Painter isn't exactly like Calipari he does have to do what it takes to win. Patrick Bade seemed very excited about the chance to play the sport he was supposedly better at and I really hope that he excels for the football team.

I'd like to think that he was alright with how things worked out because he didn't transfer. If he was really upset, he would have went somewhere else. He stayed.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Not sure what you mean by that. I guess you're suggesting we don't grayshirt. But recruiting is a lot different than in the 1980's. We're actually filling our roster spots early. And it's not with complete no names now. And we do have bigger roster issues than most, because generally we have fewer spots to fill because it's not like we have a ton of guys leaving early for the draft or flunk out (we have the second highest grad rates for football players in the NCAA Division 1).

Please don't use the word schollie or any variation of it or the board will have you buried to your neck in sand, cover you in honey and pour a colony of fire ants on your face.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

i'd hate to use any widely accepted abbreviation from other sports messageboards without first vetting it with the CSFMB gestapo.

Most years Northwestern seems to be in the 80 scholarship range when the season starts, and a few walk-ons get bonus scholarships. That's pretty normal. No malice implied by the comment from my end, just the observation that they're usually not butting up right against 85.

As for Purdue, I didn't have a problem with the Bade situation because kids wash out of programs all the time when they are sitting on the end of the bench. I don't really have a problem with the recent situation either, assuming that it was the recruits decision and not Matt Painter telling him "I hear they are doing great things at IUPUI these days." Painter doesn't have that kind of a reputation though so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

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Fire Phil Emery

While occasionally we'll give some walk-ons a scholarship (not schollie apparently), we fill up our open slots on the national LOI day. So we do, in fact, generally fill up our roster. Most schools have preferred walk-ons that go this route. Last year we only had 18 spots and filled them up pretty quickly. This year I think we have 24 spots as several 5th year seniors with health issues are likely being asked to not return if they can graduate on time (e.g., Scott Concannon). We'll fill up all those spots.

Would agree you should be able to teach a kid, who might not have grown, or a LB, TE, that didnt work out to be such a LS!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Do you know how many scholarship players are on a D1 roster that never play or just suck ass? Might as well give a scholarship to a LS.

about 50%.