Rivals list of potential football recruits

[IndyValpo]

Time will tell if any end up with the Crusaders...

Search results
         
DB Alex Campbell Ellsworth, Wisconsin
Ellsworth 6'2" 185 4.5  N/A N/A list
Signed with Minnesota State

QB Nick Cieslak Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Kettle Moraine 6'3" 170 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with Northern Illinois


OL Aidan McNamara Madison, Wisconsin
West 6'4" 285 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with Wisconsin

RB David Gaydosz Ona, West Virginia
Cabell Midland 5'10" 186 4.5 2 stars 5.2 N/A
Signed with Akron

OL Garrett Strohmaier Carmichael, California
Jesuit 6'4" 290 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with Dartmouth

QB Francis Kanneh Robbinsdale, Minnesota
Robbinsdale Cooper Sr. 6'2" 203 4.5 2 stars 5.2 N/A
Signed with Southern

OL Bruce Hall Leslie, Michigan
Leslie 6'5" 255 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with Brown

DB Austin Mullins Powell, Ohio
Olentangy Liberty 6'0" 192 4.6  N/A N/A
Signed with Dayton

RB Caleb Stennis Matthews, North Carolina
Jireh Prep 5'9" 170 4.4  N/A N/A
Delaware (medium)
Delaware State (medium)
Old Dominion (medium)
Richmond (medium)
Valparaiso (medium)
Wake Forest (medium)
West Virginia (medium)
Western Illinois (medium)
Wofford (medium)

DT Steven Ospina Deland, Florida
Deland 6'1" 260 N/A 2 stars 5.2 N/A
Charleston Southern (OFFER)
Elon (medium)
Georgetown (medium)
Jacksonville (medium)
Pennsylvania (OFFER)
Rice (medium)
Valparaiso (OFFER)
Yale (medium)

WR James Staten Towson, Maryland
Loch Raven Sr 6'4" 190 4.6  N/A N/A
Signed with Albright

QB Ben Diedrick Kimberly, Wisconsin
Kimberly 6'2" 190 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with St Cloud State

ATH Stephen Ezekoye Kensington, Maryland
Albert Einstein 5'9" 175 4.5  N/A N/A
Bryant (OFFER)
Dartmouth (medium)
Georgetown (medium)
Harvard (medium)
Pennsylvania (medium)
Princeton (medium)
Valparaiso (OFFER)
Yale (medium)

DT Ximi Asani Madison, Wisconsin
La Follette 6'1" 265 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with Syracuse

QB Kyle Hopewell Newport, North Carolina
Croatan 6'2" 242 5.0  N/A N/A
Central Connecticut State (medium)
Columbia (medium)
Delaware (medium)
Indiana (medium)
James Madison (medium)
Massachusetts (medium)
Minnesota (medium)
North Carolina State (medium)
Princeton (medium)
TCU (medium)
Valparaiso (medium)

OL Calvin Kempken Burlington, Wisconsin
Catholic Central 6'4" 270 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with Minnesota State

DB Patrick Bookman Canal Winchester, Ohio
Canal Winchester 6'0" 188 4.6  N/A N/A
Signed with Alderson-Broaddas

WR Michael Colubiale Port Orange, Florida
Spruce Creek 6'3" 205 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with Central Florida (preferred walk-on)

LB Quashae Hendryx Princeton, New Jersey
The Hun School 6'1" 235 4.7  N/A N/A
Army (medium)
Connecticut (medium)
Duke (medium)
Georgia Tech (medium)
Marshall (medium)
North Carolina State (medium)
Penn State (medium)
Temple (medium)
Valparaiso (OFFER)

LB Brandon Lynch Norfolk, Virginia
Lake Taylor 6'1" 189 4.5  N/A N/A
Monmouth (medium)
Stetson (medium)
Valparaiso (medium)

DB Graham Resseguie Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln Pius X 5'11" 180 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with South Dakota

DT Brandon Doepke Madison, Wisconsin
West 6'3" 270 N/A  N/A N/A
Signed with Valparaiso!!!

WR Jack Wrangler, Warren MI
Warren 6-2, 180 N/A N/A N/A
Signed with Michigan (preferred walk-on)

LB Kyle Searloss, Lewisberry PA
Red Land 6-2, 225 N/A N/A N/A
Signed with Penn State - run-on

[crusadermoe]

Probably not in the running for any of the Top 100.    I didn't check the rest of the list.   

[IndyValpo]

Link wouldn't work...I added the list

[valpo04]

Had to laugh at these two in particular...

OL Bruce Hall Leslie, Michigan
Leslie 6'5" 255 N/A  N/A N/A
Ball State (medium)
Central Michigan (medium)
Michigan (medium)
Northwestern (medium)
Valparaiso (medium)

...

LB Quashae Hendryx Princeton, New Jersey
The Hun School 6'1" 235 4.7  N/A N/A
Army (medium)
Connecticut (medium)
Duke (medium)
Georgia Tech (medium)
Marshall (medium)
North Carolina State (medium)
Penn State (medium)
Temple (medium)
Valparaiso (medium)

Sesame Street - "One of these things..." (Bird seed)

[covufan]

Not sure if this link will work:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/recruit-search-results

Had to laugh at these two in particular...

Quote (selected)

    OL Bruce Hall Leslie, Michigan
    Leslie 6'5" 255 N/A  N/A N/A
    Ball State (medium)
    Central Michigan (medium)
    Michigan (medium)
    Northwestern (medium)
    Valparaiso (medium)

    ...
     
    LB Quashae Hendryx Princeton, New Jersey
    The Hun School 6'1" 235 4.7  N/A N/A
    Army (medium)
    Connecticut (medium)
    Duke (medium)
    Georgia Tech (medium)
    Marshall (medium)
    North Carolina State (medium)
    Penn State (medium)
    Temple (medium)
    Valparaiso (medium)

At least Valpo is on their list.  They don't have offers from any of their schools, but Hall has a preferred walk-on status at MI. 

I think many of these kids get a letter from a University and consider themselves as being recruited, so their sights may be a little high.  With three less than mediocre years under his belt, Carlson may have some difficulty in recruiting this year.

[Valposter]

I don't know how Coach Carlson is going to have any reasonable success recruiting this year with so many recruiting obstacles:

1)  The Coach is entering Year 4 with little success and very much on the hotseat.  Very much unrest at best (or indifference at worst) with the program among the student body and alumni base.  Hard to sell that.
2)  Immense pressure on the entire football program and everyone in it.  Hard to sell that.
3)  Likely to have continued turnover in asst. coaches and roster as many existing players chose not to return. Hard to sell that.
4)  Consistently one of the worst Division 1 football programs the last three years under current Coach.  Hard to sell that.
5)  Most games have been blowouts in the wrong direction.  Hard to sell that.
5)  Non-scholarship program.  Hard to sell that.
6)  Facilities don't over-compensate for any of the above.  Hard to sell that.
7)  Factor in that the cost of private school tuition and higher academic standards that already limits the pool of potential recruits and the picture isn't pretty.

It seems to me that Coach Carlson is going to need to bring in a large recruiting class to replace not only graduating seniors but also many returning players that simply choose not to return.  Combined with the fact that the pool of potential "qualified" recruits will likely be smaller (maybe significantly) than any of the past three years.  So what do you have to do in that scenerio?  You have to stretch for "non-qualified" or "less-qualified" recruits than past years (ugh!!!!) with the hope of "developing" them or catching a "diamond in the rough" because you have to fill out the roster.   

No question this team needs to get much better.  And how do you get much better with the recruiting variables above.  It seems to be a broken model.  It seems to be a recipe for disaster i.e getting worse (maybe signifcantly), not better.  This is an extremely difficult (almost impossible?) turnaround proposition.

Unfortunately, Valpo Football is the one weak link in the Athletic Department.  It would be great for the university to see significant improvement.......I hope Coach Carlson can do it!!!!!!!  Coach Carlson has a reputation of being a turnaround specialist..........let's hope he can somehow get the job done in these difficult circumstances!!!!!!

[VULB#62]

I don't know how Coach Carlson is going to have any reasonable success recruiting this year with so many recruiting obstacles:

1)  The Coach is entering Year 4 with little success and very much on the hotseat.  Very much unrest at best (or indifference at worst) with the program among the student body and alumni base.  Hard to sell that.
2)  Immense pressure on the entire football program and everyone in it.  Hard to sell that.
3)  Likely to have continued turnover in asst. coaches and roster as many existing players chose not to return. Hard to sell that.
4)  Consistently one of the worst Division 1 football programs the last three years under current Coach.  Hard to sell that.
5)  Most games have been blowouts in the wrong direction.  Hard to sell that.
5)  Non-scholarship program.  Hard to sell that.
6)  Facilities don't over-compensate for any of the above.  Hard to sell that.
7)  Factor in that the cost of private school tuition and higher academic standards that already limits the pool of potential recruits and the picture isn't pretty.

It seems to me that Coach Carlson is going to need to bring in a large recruiting class to replace not only graduating seniors but also many returning players that simply choose not to return.  Combined with the fact that the pool of potential "qualified" recruits will likely be smaller (maybe significantly) than any of the past three years.  So what do you have to do in that scenerio?  You have to stretch for "non-qualified" or "less-qualified" recruits than past years (ugh!!!!) with the hope of "developing" them or catching a "diamond in the rough" because you have to fill out the roster.   

No question this team needs to get much better.  And how do you get much better with the recruiting variables above.  It seems to be a broken model.  It seems to be a recipe for disaster i.e getting worse (maybe signifcantly), not better.  This is an extremely difficult (almost impossible?) turnaround proposition.

Unfortunately, Valpo Football is the one weak link in the Athletic Department.  It would be great for the university to see significant improvement.......I hope Coach Carlson can do it!!!!!!!  Coach Carlson has a reputation of being a turnaround specialist..........let's hope he can somehow get the job done in these difficult circumstances!!!!!!

You have identified eight (2 #5s) very real challenges. Numbers 1- the first 5 are a reflection on the coach and staff.  The last three are commonalities shared by all private PFL schools (well, probably not the facilities challenge). Butler, Drake, USD, Dayton, Jacksonville, and Marist (the most competitive privates) don't seem to have difficulty attracting student athletes to their non-scholarship programs.  I am not familiar with the attrition rate after this past season, so I don't know how many and which still eligible players have opted not to return.  If a bunch have opted out, then the road ahead is even bleaker than anticipated.

The highlighted thought you mentioned at the end was experience in turning around programs.  In an earlier thread posters kind of concluded that turning around programs was not really his forte -- building programs from scratch was.  The general conclusion was that there are big differences between the two. Starting at square one, as would be the case in creating a program from nothing (like Stetson and Mercer are doing right now), doesn't always work in a turn-around, because of the history that has to be overcome.  To succeed in the face of that, a different approach geared to immediate success is essential.  But I, too, fervently hope that this year will show marked improvement.

[Valposter]

VULB#62, very valid point and an important distinction.  It is much easier to build from scratch than to turn around a program.  If Coach Carlson has not had to successfully engineer a turn-around in the past (I mistakenly thought he had done so), then I certianly hope he proves capable of doing so now!!!!!!!! 

I know this sentiment has been expressed here a million times, and I know this makes me the master of the obvious, but.....America loves collgege football, and if Valpo is going to have a football program then it needs to be a source of pride rather than a source of embarrassment and frustration.  Coach Carlson, please find a way!!!!

[VULB#62]

For an idea of how a build-from-scratch scenario is being handled, check out the Mercer University web site.

http://www.mercerbears.com/sports/fball/index

There's the countdown to kickoff clock (34 weeks +) and pictorial updates on the development of their Football/Lacrosse stadium complex, etc.

[vu72]

For an idea of how a build-from-scratch scenario is being handled, check out the Mercer University web site.

http://www.mercerbears.com/sports/fball/index

There's the countdown to kickoff clock (34 weeks +) and pictorial updates on the development of their Football/Lacrosse stadium complex, etc.

Carlson has proven without a doubt that he can start a program from scratch.  That's not his problem.  It's a turnaround not a startup.  Big differance as the losing tradition has very deep roots.  His pitch is (only one I can think of  ) "come be part of something historic at a special place with special people--you have a very good chance to play from your freshman year and grow from there. You could be a legend if we start winning!" That last one is a really big stretch but what the heck! That's what he has to sell!  Good Luck!!

[VULB#62]

With ya 72 on all of that.

I know for a fact that FB is the most perplexing issue facing the athletic department and that they are trying hard and paying a lot of attention to the situation. It's a VERY deep hole to climb out of. I thought for sure that the last Powerball winner would be me and that I could remove all the barriers to recruiting and retaining the talent, but, alas, it was not to be.  But, regardless, we would still have to play some friggin defense.

[new2ff]

Unfortunately, Valpo Football is the one weak link in the Athletic Department.  It would be great for the university to see significant improvement.......I hope Coach Carlson can do it!!!!!!!  Coach Carlson has a reputation of being a turnaround specialist..........let's hope he can somehow get the job done in these difficult circumstances!!!!!!

I am curious,what sports at Valpo do you consider strong? I would say success would be going to the NCAA [ or PFL Playoff] winning the conference or maybe even being consistently in top 3rd.
I see 3-4 sports that might do this since becoming a member of the Horizon. valpo is a GREAT school & should imo be strong across the board.

[VULB#62]

new2ff, IMO, here's where we stand.

We are currently competitive in the following:  MBB, VB, MSO, Baseball, Softball, Bowling

We are emerging in:  WSO, Men's Golf
We have great promise in:  Men's tennis
Remains to be seen:  WBB

Team-wise, we are currently and consistently not competitive in: MCC, WCC, MT&F, WT&F, Men's Swimming, Women's Swimming, Women's Tennis, Women's golf (but we do have a few outstanding individuals).

We currently are very not competitive in:  Football

That's 6 pretty good, 4 in the middle and 9 not so good.

If we build the track, MCC, WCC, MT&F and WT&F  could move up to "remains to be seen" or even "have great promise."

[new2ff]

VULB- I agree with your post.
You listed 20 sports[ 18 in Horizon] Since being in Horizon, do you know how many conference championships we have won? How many conference tourneys? How many NCAA tourneys? I know for NCAAs that on swimming,track, it might be individuals that qualify, but we still could have won conference.
IMO, the teams that have been a threat since we joined the conference are MBB, VB, baseball & softball [ VB probably won the most? ] [MBB/SB been most competitive ].

Wonder what the top schools would be in Horizon if you consider all sports? Might have been Butler?

[VULB#62]

Actually I believe its 19 and 17 (Bowling and FB are outside the HL). 2011-2012 was the breakthrough year for titles.  Prior to that the benchmark was just to have enough wins to make the cut for the post-season HL tournaments that determined who would get the NCAA slots. 

Regular Season Men's Basketball Title (2012)
Regular Season Men's Soccer Title (2011)
Regular Season and HL Tournament Women's Softball championships, Plus NCAA 1st round (2012)
Regular Season and HL Tournament Men's Baseball championships, Plus NCAA 1st round (2012)

VB has always been near the top but has never won an HL crown to my knowledge

[usc4valpo]

With ya 72 on all of that. I know for a fact that FB is the most perplexing issue facing the athletic department and that they are trying hard and paying a lot of attention to the situation. It's a VERY deep hole to climb out of. I thought for sure that the last Powerball winner would be me and that I could remove all the barriers to recruiting and retaining the talent, but, alas, it was not to be. But, regardless, we would still have to play some friggin defense.

62, you are the greatest but I have to disagree.  Do you really think the athletic department and the university care about the football program other than to bring in prospective students?  If they would care, they would have cleaned house, which they did not not.  Instead, we hear philosophical quotes.  Nothing has been addressed after the final game shallacking.  Obviously, no actions are being taken and the athletic department needs to address this.

[VULB#62]

With ya 72 on all of that. I know for a fact that FB is the most perplexing issue facing the athletic department and that they are trying hard and paying a lot of attention to the situation. It's a VERY deep hole to climb out of. I thought for sure that the last Powerball winner would be me and that I could remove all the barriers to recruiting and retaining the talent, but, alas, it was not to be. But, regardless, we would still have to play some friggin defense.

62, you are the greatest but I have to disagree.  Do you really think the athletic department and the university care about the football program other than to bring in prospective students?  If they would care, they would have cleaned house, which they did not not.  Instead, we hear philosophical quotes.  Nothing has been addressed after the final game shallacking.  Obviously, no actions are being taken and the athletic department needs to address this.

My point is that ML is concerned and our disappointment is shared by him.  I know him too well to think he's turned his back on the program.  My belief is that they (the President and the AD) have ethics-wise committed to at least 4 years (out of the five) and there is year four still ahead.  I am not privy to the results of the post season performance review (probably only three people are -- the AD, President and the HFC), but I'd wager that unless things improve dramatically in season 4, they will make the necessary moves.

[new2ff]

Actually I believe its 19 and 17 (Bowling and FB are outside the HL). 2011-2012 was the breakthrough year for titles.  Prior to that the benchmark was just to have enough wins to make the cut for the post-season HL tournaments that determined who would get the NCAA slots. 

Regular Season Men's Basketball Title (2012)
Regular Season Men's Soccer Title (2011)
Regular Season and HL Tournament Women's Softball championships, Plus NCAA 1st round (2012)
Regular Season and HL Tournament Men's Baseball championships, Plus NCAA 1st round (2012)

VB has always been near the top but has never won an HL crown to my knowledge

Thanks for info. So previous to the 2012-13 season, Valpo was in Horizon 5 seasons.
17 teams  x 5 = 85 possible titles and we have won 4. I would hope we could do better.
We could win MBB this season and have baseball & softball coming in Spring [ both strong programs since being in Horizon], any others where we could add to our total?

Need to light a fire under the total athletic picture imo. Go Valpo

[VULB#62]

Thanks for info. So previous to the 2012-13 season, Valpo was in Horizon 5 seasons.
17 teams  x 5 = 85 possible titles and we have won 4. I would hope we could do better.
We could win MBB this season and have baseball & softball coming in Spring [ both strong programs since being in Horizon], any others where we could add to our total?

Need to light a fire under the total athletic picture imo. Go Valpo

It took 4 season for the MBB program, a virtual slam dunk MCC championship  qualifier in previous years, to finally compete for the championship in the HL. And that is, no doubt, our school's flagship.  Even in the MCC most other sports, with the exception of VB I believe, were mediocre at best. 

The transition to a much more competitive HL isn't going to be complete for a while and it'll be in stages. ML has gradually improved the coaching (MSO, Baseball, Softball) in the higher profile sports so far.  The results in the targeted sports have been notable in just 5 short years.  {I offer a prayer at this point for Mike and Carin Avery to want to stay here forever and for Tracy Woodson to have the same emotional glue}.

The next wave will need to be the "non-revenue" sports (exclusive of football - later).  That's a tougher challenge -- especially with limited/non-existant facilities (i.e., a 50 year old swimming/diving facility with no spectator space, no outdoor track much less indoor training facilities) that support 6 of the 9 "not so good" teams. 

But we've seen an appreciable upsurge in men's Golf.  Men's Tennis just signed some pretty good players for 2013.  We do have the tennis facilities, so that along with an influx of scholarship $$ could help both men's and women's Tennis.  Golf, face it, is all about the recruiting and the scholarship $$ -- we have a good course to practice and play on. But these are more individual sports.  Kids who excel in these sports are also smart.  They know that a Valpo education might be the key to a great career -- so what if it is NW Indiana and it's friggin cold (don't get me started on the walk from Wehrenburg Hall to old Campus in February)

Then there is football.  It is an expensive team to put on the field even though there are no scholarships involved -- especially because the PFL spans a full continent. Annual coach's salaries might be $300K.  Travel is a few bucks.  And then there is equipment and uniforms -- lots of equipment.

I love the idea that Valpo competes plays in the PFL. Playing at this level is all about the love of the game -- just like D-III, except it might be at a higher talent level. [Mount Union (D-III) destroys every team they play and has won about 37,000 D-III NCAA championships and could probably kick the butt of every PFL team. It's the coaching and the tradition that make it a reality.] The program requires a special HFC who can relate to this unique situation and then build something to be proud of.    In the PFL, Dayton, Drake and USD keep producing winners.  We need to emulate their processes and their approach. 

But all of this, I'm sorry to say (unless I win PowerBall) takes time.

[vu72]

I was just thinking about the recruiting battles our coach faces and had previously stated as few, fairly weak sales points.  I've rethought that and see an additional approach that can certainly work and probably has  with some of the better young players we've seen.

Many on our board have said that we need to emulate some D3 programs and their success.  I agree.  If Franklin (as an example), can attract players who would make us a success, then the recruiting battle needs to come down to some pretty obvious facts.  Let's look at Franklin with no disrespect intended.

Franklin is a liberal arts school of about 1000 students located about 20 minutes from downtown Indy. It is associated with the Baptist church. There is nothing I can find that would isolate Franklin as a particularly outstanding academic institution--this is not Rose-Hulman. From an athletic standpoint virtually all games are a bus ride away.

Now compare Franklin to Valpo, remembering that these young men, unlike some basketball players, do not for a moment consider whether or not playing at one place or another will be beneficial to their goal of playing at the next level.  At the D3 or D1 non-scholarship standpoint, they are playing for the love of the game while they gain an education.

Valpo offers a much more national reputation with many programs (engineering, meteorology, nursing and some business plus outstanding liberal arts) ranked very highly and thus producing a degree with much greater value going forward. You can't get an engineering degree from Franklin, you'd have to transfer.

Playing at Valpo affords the player (whether inflated, imaginary or otherwise) the ability to tell his friends and family that he did play D1 while in college.

Valpo offers players the ability to travel on planes from coast to coast to play, possibly more so than Big Ten teams. Again, to a college age kid, this is not an insignificant thing (I know, as '89 has pointed out--it offers the ability to get murdered in every time zone as well!--at least for now)

Finally, Valpo provides a campus experience at a D1 school.  There is a lot of school year left after football season. Try going to a Franklin basketball game some time.  Their recent game against arch-rival Wabash, drew 335.

If Coach Carlson can start to win a FEW games, this sales job just becomes easier. Right now, given the advantages I've just listed, Valpo should be in the hunt for every kid being chased by any D3.  If we get kids who would be "stars" at the Franklin's of the world, then we will be on our way. We don't need to be concerned with getting kids who might have walked on at a bigger D1,  but rather kids who would be all conference in Franklin's conference.

[bbtds]

Finally, Valpo provides a campus experience at a D1 school.  There is a lot of school year left after football season. Try going to a Franklin basketball game some time.  Their recent game against arch-rival Wabash, drew 335.

As someone who has visited Franklin, IN on a cold Saturday night I can tell you it's not any more exciting than Valpo on a cold Saturday night. The Franklin square around the Johnson County courthouse is no more exciting than the Porter County courthouse on the square in Valpo.

[usc4valpo]

here's a thought and going outside of the box...drop football, put the funding into basketball and go all out to see if you can squeak into the Catholic 7 conference.  Butler is also looking into this.  Why not?  A Depaul - Valpo rivalry could be awesome.

[valpotx]

I was just thinking about the recruiting battles our coach faces and had previously stated as few, fairly weak sales points.  I've rethought that and see an additional approach that can certainly work and probably has  with some of the better young players we've seen.

Many on our board have said that we need to emulate some D3 programs and their success.  I agree.  If Franklin (as an example), can attract players who would make us a success, then the recruiting battle needs to come down to some pretty obvious facts.  Let's look at Franklin with no disrespect intended.

Franklin is a liberal arts school of about 1000 students located about 20 minutes from downtown Indy. It is associated with the Baptist church. There is nothing I can find that would isolate Franklin as a particularly outstanding academic institution--this is not Rose-Hulman. From an athletic standpoint virtually all games are a bus ride away.

Now compare Franklin to Valpo, remembering that these young men, unlike some basketball players, do not for a moment consider whether or not playing at one place or another will be beneficial to their goal of playing at the next level.  At the D3 or D1 non-scholarship standpoint, they are playing for the love of the game while they gain an education.

Valpo offers a much more national reputation with many programs (engineering, meteorology, nursing and some business plus outstanding liberal arts) ranked very highly and thus producing a degree with much greater value going forward. You can't get an engineering degree from Franklin, you'd have to transfer.

Playing at Valpo affords the player (whether inflated, imaginary or otherwise) the ability to tell his friends and family that he did play D1 while in college.

Valpo offers players the ability to travel on planes from coast to coast to play, possibly more so than Big Ten teams. Again, to a college age kid, this is not an insignificant thing (I know, as '89 has pointed out--it offers the ability to get murdered in every time zone as well!--at least for now)

Finally, Valpo provides a campus experience at a D1 school.  There is a lot of school year left after football season. Try going to a Franklin basketball game some time.  Their recent game against arch-rival Wabash, drew 335.

If Coach Carlson can start to win a FEW games, this sales job just becomes easier. Right now, given the advantages I've just listed, Valpo should be in the hunt for every kid being chased by any D3.  If we get kids who would be "stars" at the Franklin's of the world, then we will be on our way. We don't need to be concerned with getting kids who might have walked on at a bigger D1,  but rather kids who would be all conference in Franklin's conference.

Yes, the draw to say that you played D-1 is huge to a lot of athletes...myself included.  After I hurt my arm before Sr year of HS, the bigger programs were no longer interested in someone with Tommy John that young (makes sense).  At that point my family and I searched out great academic schools that would still allow me to compete at the D-1 level, as I sure as heck could not do that in TX for baseball anymore lol.  Valpo, Butler, Creighton were all up there for me, before I decided on the right choice 

[VULB#62]

Yes, the draw to say that you played D-1 is huge to a lot of athletes...myself included.  After I hurt my arm before Sr year of HS, the bigger programs were no longer interested in someone with Tommy John that young (makes sense).  At that point my family and I searched out great academic schools that would still allow me to compete at the D-1 level, as I sure as heck could not do that in TX for baseball anymore lol.  Valpo, Butler, Creighton were all up there for me, before I decided on the right choice 

It'll work for FB as well.  As 72 points out, the key is persuading the upper level kids who are looking at top rate D-III programs to shift their sights.  But I also believe that when turning around a program, a healthy injection of JC/transfer talent is essential.  Going back to baseball, Tanner Vavra was recruited from junior college and that wasn't even a turn-around situation. Great catch (pun intended).

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I fully expect Ryan Potter (CB/K, Montgomery Bell HS, Tennessee) to get a VU offer.

Highlight tape: http://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2013/1/9/3856048/official-ryan-potter-highlight-mixtape-the-greatest-recruit-film-ever