Comment on 2021 Recruiting Class and Jimmy Lake

Topic

[Passion]

Clearly this was not what we had hoped for. When looking at the quality of talent in WA this year, the Huskies should have done much better.

It’s pretty obvious that Jimmy Lake is missing an important quality that Chris Peterson possesses. I remember Smalls’ coach (or might’ve been a parent) saying that (rough quotation): “It is pretty powerful when Chris Peterson looks you in the eye and says that he has a plan for your future.”

Jimmy Lake simply doesn’t have this. It’s also clear that he completely botched the adjustments that were needed to recruit during the pandemic.

Luckily, UW has enough talent currently on its roster to withstand this AVERAGE class. But Lake had better quickly figure out how to deliver a powerful and sincere message to recruits, or we will soon become an average-talent roster.

It’s apparent that Lake could recruit his position well when he was an assistant (defensive backs). But Peterson was the CEO that articulated the broad, compelling and long term vision that sealed the deal with many of our current players.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Passion.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Passion.

Replies

What worries me is that JL and staff think they actually recruited pretty well this year. He was quoted after signing day saying he thought they put together best “virtual visit” program in the country during this pandemic.

It’s ok to have a bad year but it’s not ok to not recognize it was a bad year and make the proper adjustments to improve

@bowdwondubsup, I take what any coach says after signing day with a grain of salt. He has to have an upbeat message there is no way he thought the number 32 recruiting class in the nation is a good job. If so we are in bad shape. I prefer to look at his actions. Ruth is reporting their will be a shake up in the coaching staff “but it wont affect recruiting” whatever that means. But I want to see what changes and what happens this year.

We have to be a bit careful when saying UW had the 32nd rated recruiting class. It implies that 31 other teams had better classes and that simply is not true. In reality there are about 4 levels of recruiting class. The elite classes this year were Alabama, OSU and Clemson. Then you have the really stinking good classes like LSU, Oregon, ND, Georgia etc. UW was on the third level but really no different from the teams ranked 15-40. I think using the word AVERAGE for this level is very fair. Unfortunately it’s a level below where Petersen had us trending. Can’t stress how important it is for Lake to get that 2022 class back to that second level quality. If you can’t expect that degree of competence going forward then he is the wrong guy.

@Nip8, if you take Huard out of this class this is a 40+ recruiting class thus if you remove Huard Jimmy recruited a 40+ class I will put this class at below average. They essentially lost every recruiting battle against quality power 5 opponents. There is no sugar coating it this class is below average that’s not factoring in what left the state.

Yeah you could definitely rate it below average certainly for us and I wouldn’t argue too much. It’s very average compared to Utah, Arizona State, UCLA, Stanford, Cal. Markedly below Oregon and USC. Point remains that Jimmy can survive one class like this but not two in a row. Hope he’s got a better plan for 2022 or he’s gonna hear the noise more than he does now.

And to add he clearly gets an F for in state recruiting so far. To me the big five were Huard, JT, Emeka, Simon and Prentice. Currently at 50% which is an F. I’ll raise him to a D if he pulls JT. If not he earns an F-.

2021 class is solid. I’d give it a B. In terms of impact players, it will turn out as the best class in the conference four years from now.

Bowdowndubsup wrote:

What worries me is that JL and staff think they actually recruited pretty well this year. He was quoted after signing day saying he thought they put together best “virtual visit” program in the country during this pandemic.

It’s ok to have a bad year but it’s not ok to not recognize it was a bad year and make the proper adjustments to improve

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Moreover, JL stood at center court at a Husky Basketball game last year and said that “we need to keep the in-state talent at home.” Then this year he walked it back, saying “there will always be people that will leave the state.”

Revising his own beliefs – Sounds like a certain politician.

What worries me most about Lake is he was losing his recruiting touch as an assistant coach too. His final class as an assistant was horrible.

I don’t know what happened to him but his recruiting has taken a huge step downwards.

It won’t hurt us in 2021 or 2022 but by 2023 you can see a shift in talent drop similar to 1994-1997 then all of a sudden 1998 hit and there was a noticeable difference in talent drop in 1998 and 1999.

Will give it a C minus without Huard would be a D or less way to many 3 star players

Passion wrote:

Bowdowndubsup wrote:

What worries me is that JL and staff think they actually recruited pretty well this year. He was quoted after signing day saying he thought they put together best “virtual visit” program in the country during this pandemic.

It’s ok to have a bad year but it’s not ok to not recognize it was a bad year and make the proper adjustments to improve

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Moreover, JL stood at center court at a Husky Basketball game last year and said that “we need to keep the in-state talent at home.” Then this year he walked it back, saying “there will always be people that will leave the state.”

Revising his own beliefs – Sounds like a certain politician.

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Yeah, he’s a confident talker that believes in himself. Often a bad quality. He needs a plan that is more than just his personality.

Honestly

I think the UW staff thought it would be easier. Despite losing Petersen the coaching staff stayed the same and I believe they were actually confident that they’d get a few kids that sailed away.

This tells me they relied too much on campus visits. That being said ratings of the classes means nothing because we know when it’s all said and done kids are going to move up that have committed (Voi and perhaps Peihopa)

I’m not worried about 2022. IF we can grab the top 4 OL in state I’m a happy man. This pipeline needs to continue especially if you want Sam to have the career that matches his potential. I’ve seen too many good Husky QB broken by poor OL play.

This is a Boom/Bust class. It’s either going to surprise us with the over-achievement or disappoint with guys flaming out.

I still think Lake is getting too much blame for the fact that Petersen lost all 3 NY6 bowls, went 8-5 and lost to every rival but SC and WSU, and then dipped.

He left a cloud hanging over the program that now has to be repaired with an excellent season, and yes, elevated recruiting from assistants.

@TheBlackRose, I tend to agree and some of it is wearing thin, his tweet today “ I heard we signed some 5*’s today” you know what why don’t you actually go out and sign some 5* in fact there is one still available in your backyard. I love a good shit talker but I prefer some results he was Trump on adapting to COVID, I love we went 3-1 but we still had problems scoring and our running back room and Ilb room is just as bad. Just start getting better results before you keep talking.

LiberalArtsDawg wrote:

I still think Lake is getting too much blame for the fact that Petersen lost all 3 NY6 bowls, went 8-5 and lost to every rival but SC and WSU, and then dipped.

He left a cloud hanging over the program that now has to be repaired with an excellent season, and yes, elevated recruiting from assistants.

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Yet despite all that Petersen landed the best recruiting class in program history.

This falls on Lake and I don’t think our class is this bad if Petersen is still our head coach. He connected with the parents and is a future CFB HOF coach.

Anonymous wrote:

Will give it a C minus without Huard would be a D or less way to many 3 star players

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Fair grades and where I am at also.

I could see this if you brought in a new coach and staff ala when Pete came over from Boise and had 2 months to pull/keep the class together, but this was a underwhleming class to say the very least. Taking 3 boom/bust guys with limited football expereince, no other offers, etc is extremely risky when the class only has 15 guys in it to start.

2022 class must be top 15 or he is going to be in deep trouble when these classes are juniors and seniors.

They better learn to be zoom warriors and get these kids sold on coming here sight unseen in terms of campus visits as there aren’t any official ones allowed until mid/end of April and you can push that out to at least June at the earliest. Problem for us is by then many kids will have committed and convinced themselves of their decisions.

GoDawgs91 wrote:

What worries me most about Lake is he was losing his recruiting touch as an assistant coach too. His final class as an assistant was horrible.

I don’t know what happened to him but his recruiting has taken a huge step downwards.

It won’t hurt us in 2021 or 2022 but by 2023 you can see a shift in talent drop similar to 1994-1997 then all of a sudden 1998 hit and there was a noticeable difference in talent drop in 1998 and 1999.

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How was his final class horrible? Covington was highly rated 4 star everyone wanted, Esteen and Jackson were high 3 star players with ton of offers including most of the Pac-12, and Smith was mid range 3 star that has ton of upside and had offers from entire Pac-12 as well as Michigan and some SEC schools. Did we miss out on couple top guys, sure, but how can you call this DB class horrible? Still was rated well and we have no idea what we have yet since they were all freshmen that haven’t played yet.

I get concerns people have based off his 1st class as H.C but you’re also exaggerating big time on his final DB class.

How are you trying to judge 2019 kids? That makes no sense. These kids need at least 2 seasons.

Honestly what’s hurts is not recruiting QB, Trench and WR well.

DMo is serviceable, WR class looks good and trenches look good.

We are better off than than most think. I disagree about Pete recruiting well. He recruited undersized WR that cost us when Jones went injured.

Huff’s star power is on the rise. We’re good for now

webdawg13 wrote:

GoDawgs91 wrote:

What worries me most about Lake is he was losing his recruiting touch as an assistant coach too. His final class as an assistant was horrible.

I don’t know what happened to him but his recruiting has taken a huge step downwards.

It won’t hurt us in 2021 or 2022 but by 2023 you can see a shift in talent drop similar to 1994-1997 then all of a sudden 1998 hit and there was a noticeable difference in talent drop in 1998 and 1999.

Quote

How was his final class horrible? Covington was highly rated 4 star everyone wanted, Esteen and Jackson were high 3 star players with ton of offers including most of the Pac-12, and Smith was mid range 3 star that has ton of upside and had offers from entire Pac-12 as well as Michigan and some SEC schools. Did we miss out on couple top guys, sure, but how can you call this DB class horrible? Still was rated well and we have no idea what we have yet since they were all freshmen that haven’t played yet.

I get concerns people have based off his 1st class as H.C but you’re also exaggerating big time on his final DB class.

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DB recruiting hit its peak and was trending down before Petersen quit.

The DB room is one that needs to take a major leap forward this offseason.

Lake’s last class was below some of his previous classes but exponentially better than what Harris & Brown combined to bring in, I venture to say that Lake allowed Harris more freedom over that class which is more concerning if you combine what he brought in last year. I don’t blame Lake totally for this recruiting class we lost EE, JTT, & Simon under Pete his lack of focus on local recruiting, the Gee Scott fiasco, his inability to address the OKG slogan lead to this. This instate class was predicted years ago.