Recruiting Can Be Ruthless

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So Terrance Lang is going to Colorado. Recruiting is a rough business. Players decommit. Schools drop offers. If nothing else, it shows Clay Helton is as ruthless as the next coach, despite his affable demeanor. But it seems a little odd to take a commitment on Dec. 22  from Lang and then drop him Feb. 1.

USC dropped three commitments from before the season. That’s a little different. But Lang could have been in a tight spot this week if schools he wanted to attend did not have any more scholarships.

42 thoughts on “Recruiting Can Be Ruthless”

  1. Ruthless? Lang went on an official visit to Colorado just before signing day so obviously this move was planned by Lang. Helton offered him a grayshirt so I wouldn’t call his actions ruthless.

    • Our little Flow gets things confused from time to time. Recruiting as a whole is ruthless from both sides. But I wouldn’t catergorize Helton as “ruthless.” Yes, his offering of a grey shirt was a, “Hey we don’t have enough room in this class, but we would still take you if you would accept our offer.” Not ruthless, but honest and better than a complete drop of a recruit.

      • yep – two-way street negotiation. Bama “offers” around 200 kids before signing day… only 25 – 28 of them can actually sign.

    • Elsewhere, Lang was described as a player with a lot of upside, who would require development. If you’re correct that he was offered a grayshirt, then it was more a blow to his ego than anything else.

      Not a inspiring reflection on Helton, but “ruthless” appears to overstate the case. Life in the gray. At 18, that reality hasn’t sunk in yet.

      Scott knows all this, but is kind of lazy, and can command sufficient “hits” to keep his job with superficial black-and-white provocations.

      • Lang was aware of the scenario at least a week before signing day.His last minute Official to Colorado showed that.Obviously he weighted possibility of Grey shirt.Chose what was best for himself.I wish him well.At 17/18 decisions don’t come easy.

      • This has no reflection on Helton. The story has been reported and this is no surprise. Lang was never in the dark. He chose to take the CU offer and not accept the offer USC made, a grey shirt. The only person this has any reflection on is the blogger. He’s been in the dark from the beginning.

    • Amen – arguably in it’s prime (mid-70’s) the best sports desk of writers in the entire country.

      Bud Furillo (The Steamer-Dodgers) Mel Durslag, Alan Malamud, Tom Singer (Angels/ucla), Leo Noonan, Doug Krikorian (Rams/Lakers), Larry Stewart, Doug Disney, Howard ‘the Doctor’ Jones (thoroughbreds)

      • Exactly .. The journalist then vs now is NO comparison… I would start with the sports page first and then read through the other sections of the newspaper.. Aside from the LAT the LAHE was a great read.

        • The Times sports page was a joke truly a joke. Never any real investigative or strong opinions about the teams – a safe and sane fourth from John Hall to Murray they copt Malamud and Stewart after the collapse of the HE in Oct. 1989 – Doug fled to the Long Beach Press-Telegram Tom Singer began working for national wire covering MLB across the country. Leo Noonan to the Santa Monica Evening Outlook.

          Again the Times was a joke sports wise – much much better today than then. The one gift I miss is Simers. TJ hit them all ‘except’ LA’;s twin demi-gods Wooden and Scully.

    • Another example of our coaching staff being misrepresented by America’s worst beat writer.
      ow ironic that Wolf continue’s to throw dirt on the school he gets paid to coverH

  3. How do you know it was Helton’s fault? Maybe when Lang first committed it was just USC recruiting itself.

    • Lang had two choices, grey shirt, develop and work on his studies or walk and play at a leaser program willing to look the other way on his grades.. USC is a different animal now. The man in charge was clearly looking out for Lang’s best interest.. I guess Lang is not professor material… He never left a mark on the program, move on!

  4. Helton is stand-up. Lang had other colleges that made offers. He ended up at a rising program with good coaching in a pristine environment. Scott Wolf is ruthless stabbing coaches and players in the back to gain notoriety.

  5. Come on now Scott. Are u saying that it’s clays job to look out for the best interest of all recruits we come into contact with? Isn’t that the recruits job along with his parents? Seems like Adoree did a pretty good job protecting his self interests right? Maybe you should call your employer and take a pay cut because you need to protect their self interest. Don’t they deserve you for less Scott?

  6. HO HUM. Another routine last-few-weeks-switch and Birdcage makes a federal case out of it. This was win/win all around. USC improved its class, CU improved its class. It’s perfect, for both the schools and the prospects. Yet Birdcage wants to crap all over it.

    All you can do is laugh. Birdcage at his finest. It never ends.

  8. Did they drop him and what did Colorado offer him. I heard Colorado was offering him a greyshirt. If both schools offered him a greyshirt, maybe he just got cold feet with all these D-linemen that SC was bringing in and thought he would have a chance to play earlier with the Buffalo’s.

  9. I still don’t think it’s ruthless. It’s fair because he can drop the school on February 1 if he decides to. Remember D-Anthony Thomas?

  10. ***G R A D E S***
    ***A C A D E M I C S ***

    Lang didn’t keep his end of the deal. Clay Helton and Kenechi Udeze made a deal with Lang at the end of the summer to improve on his grades and the young man tried but fell short.

    No ruthless BS going on here.

  11. Why are you complaining Wolf….he was a 3 star with academic issues. Seems like he was exchanged for a 4 or 5 star athlete. This just shows you complain either way. I hate losing Lang, in a few years you will see how stars really don’t matter.

  12. I would still like to know what Colorado offered him. If they offered him a greyshirt, then SC didn’t drop him….he dropped SC. I saw a podcast with the brother of SC’s recruiting director(who works for Colorado) and he said that Colorado was offering him a greyshirt just like SC but they didn’t expect to get him because SC still wanted him badly. If Colorado offered him a full scholarship right now, then I can see why he went to the Buffalo’s. Why wait for a scholarship at SC? But even if they offered him a greyshirt, he may have decided that he has a better chance to get on the field sooner in Boulder. I still don’t see any real evidence that SC dropped him. His brother said SC wanted him badly. If SC didn’t drop him then I don’t see how you can call Helton ruthless.

  13. I know I read Lang went to other Pac12 schools after his SC offer,and I thought it was a blue shirt but then I read it was a grey shirt for a spring enrollment; so he exercised his right to accept Colorado offer for the fall I guess; not exactly the way the wolf sees it but after reading other sources I don’t believe SC wronged Lang as the wolf seems to imply,he knew he was a redshirt for sure project,but what I read SC thought highly of him just not as highly as others.

  15. It is been reported at Scout that USC was very clear the process. His grades and coursework were an issue, meaning he was an academic risk (hello Kevin Scott!), so two things were clear 1): if everyone who says they will commit faxes in an LOI, we may not have enough rides. Because you are an academic project, we will not offer you a blueshirt. (Also because they made an in-home visit). If Solomon or Falo commit (Falo!), we definitely will not have enough rides. We canoffer you a greyshirt and in the meantime here is detailed academic plan you need to complete before you enroll in the spring.

    If Colorado offered a full scholarship and a detailed academic plan I would have advised the young man to take the Colorado offer without hesitation. You get on campus in the fall with a full academic support system, and you get a full (most likely) redshirt year to get acclimated.

    Not sure what Colorado offered, but i believe to was a full scholie to being in the fall.

  16. USC tried to lock in Lang early on, but, according to a couple of reputable college sports sites, Lang had big issues with grades and test score which ended up disqualifying him, not even worth a gray shirt.

  17. I don’t like it, particularly from the player’s standpoint. But it is legal to do and all the top programs have done it. So where does all the blame go? The NCAA could stop it if it wanted to….

    Having said that, Lang may have benefited in moving to an improving program that might give him more chances than at USC.

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