MaxPower said:
Beer,
I'm not advocating taking 2 and 3* over 4*, just that we can't just drop a guys offer simply because he isn't a 4*. If the coaches evaluated the guy such that they saw him as worth offering then you trust that assessment. I was only pointing out there are instances where less heralded guys worked out so we can't assume a rivals 3* isn't valued as s 4* by the coaches.
This.
And @max: the downside to recruiting like Jim Harbaugh is that coaches and recruits alike stop trusting you. If a guy recruits, how does he know he's not going to get dropped for a new Flavor of the Month close to signing day and be left holding the bag, without a destination for his career? It took Sherman years to rebuild the relationships with high school coaches like Fran destroyed, and Sumlin's not about to shut the door on an already heavily pro-tu high school coaching circuit.
The reason Harbaugh's been able to get away with it is because of his natural charisma, and his continued winning. It's no secret that he's gone absolutely all-in on winning at every last possible cost, including going so far as to risk alienating recruits, the media, and other coaches. He flat out doesn't care. But, the advantage of being Michigan is that he can recruit nationally; he doesn't rely on backyard recruiting, he can cherry pick whomever he wants from any state he feels like. A&M can't do that. Sumlin
has to be able to recruit Texas well, and he can't do that if he p*sses off every coach in the state.
Like it or not, at A&M you have to cater to the kids or you're going to crash and burn. Once you make your choice, you better stick with it and hope your gut instinct was right. While guys like Manziel are the extreme outliers, it's the 3-star contributors that make up the core of teams (unless you're Alabama; again, exception). Getting the most out of them is what leads to success.
What's killed A&M is a lack of
development, not a lack of recruiting. Sumlin's getting players, but they're not growing into stars. While the team isn't as talented as people think it is, a little development leads to about one, two more wins per year, and that would've made his recent record more palatable. 10 looks good on paper, and 9 is shrug-worthy but can be acceptable.
TL;DR: you don't trap door recruits unless you want to be labeled an a**hole. Guys like that get fired when their recruiting pipeline dries up. Evidence: John Mackovic. We don't want to see what a Mackovic would do to A&M in the SEC. Don't go full ******.