Will Muschamp talks South Carolina recruiting, philosophy in evaluating prospects
May 23, 2018
FLORENCE, S.C. – South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp prides himself as a dogged worker on the recruiting trail.
On Tuesday night, Muschamp told reporters that working the recruiting trail is “not an exact science.” He used the NFL Draft as an example.
“In the first-round, there are 32 picks. How many are busts? About 50 percent. And they have unlimited resources, as far as evaluation. They have great film,” Muschamp said. “Some of the film I watch, it looks like it was filmed from a pickup truck.
“You look at the psychological evaluations. You look at the physical evaluations. They’re unlimited in what they can do. We’re very limited in what we can do with a high school student-athlete.”
One thing is for certain: Muschamp doesn’t give two flips about what websites like 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN or SEC Country think about the players he recruits. They can take their star rankings and stick them you know where.
“[The NFL] has 50 percent busts and you’re going to tell me that a ranking service is going to tell us how good a player he’s going to be,” Muschamp said.
Plus, he added, players mature at different rates. Some enter college ready to hit the ground running. Others need a little more time before they’re good enough to compete and win at the college level.
“Especially big kids, [they] mature differently – later than some skill kids do,” Muschamp said. “Some kids have a desire and a work ethic and that’s part of the ability and talent. Some guys lose love of the game or they don’t have a work ethic, they don’t have the work capacity, to be successful. I think different situations happen.”
There are three phases to the recruiting process, according to the Gamecocks’ third-year coach. It begins when the player is in high school and ends while he’s in college.
“It’s the evaluation. It’s the recruitment. And it’s the development when they get on campus,” Muschamp said. “That’s really how you look at it and how you break it down.”
May 23, 2018
FLORENCE, S.C. – South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp prides himself as a dogged worker on the recruiting trail.
On Tuesday night, Muschamp told reporters that working the recruiting trail is “not an exact science.” He used the NFL Draft as an example.
“In the first-round, there are 32 picks. How many are busts? About 50 percent. And they have unlimited resources, as far as evaluation. They have great film,” Muschamp said. “Some of the film I watch, it looks like it was filmed from a pickup truck.
“You look at the psychological evaluations. You look at the physical evaluations. They’re unlimited in what they can do. We’re very limited in what we can do with a high school student-athlete.”
One thing is for certain: Muschamp doesn’t give two flips about what websites like 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN or SEC Country think about the players he recruits. They can take their star rankings and stick them you know where.
“[The NFL] has 50 percent busts and you’re going to tell me that a ranking service is going to tell us how good a player he’s going to be,” Muschamp said.
Plus, he added, players mature at different rates. Some enter college ready to hit the ground running. Others need a little more time before they’re good enough to compete and win at the college level.
“Especially big kids, [they] mature differently – later than some skill kids do,” Muschamp said. “Some kids have a desire and a work ethic and that’s part of the ability and talent. Some guys lose love of the game or they don’t have a work ethic, they don’t have the work capacity, to be successful. I think different situations happen.”
There are three phases to the recruiting process, according to the Gamecocks’ third-year coach. It begins when the player is in high school and ends while he’s in college.
“It’s the evaluation. It’s the recruitment. And it’s the development when they get on campus,” Muschamp said. “That’s really how you look at it and how you break it down.”