Portal Recruiting Perspective - Fisch vs. DeBoer

WoolleyDoog

WoolleyDoog

Swaye's Wigwam
Swaye's Wigwam
Founder's Club
Hard to know exactly yet because we haven't seen Fisch's portal guys on the field, but I think we need to remember I at least thought DeBoer and co were underwhelming in making additions in the portal last year.
UW could sell the shit out of what they had coming back last year and yet offensively he brought in one good RB (who I wouldn't be surprised if it was known he had injury issues) and a WR who was a Jimmy recruit he never would have got otherwise. Other big wins were a RB in a year where they desperately needed another who never got a meaningful carry, an FCS TE, and a coaches kid OL in a year they really needed some extra bullets at guard.
Defensively they desperately needed DEs and DTs and brought in a fucking NAIA guy who was fucking ineligible anyways, zero DTs, a backup USC LB and a 5'6 CB who got picked on a lot and gave up two of the biggest back-breaking catches of the season at key moments.
Maybe it's just they're money hamstrung but fuck technically Jimmy was a way more valuable portal recruiter when the portal was less of a thing - Polk, Jeremiah Martin, Giles Jackson, and Radley-Hiles who was a lot like Muhammad.
 
Two things seem crystal clear, Debo’s staff knew how to develop and win with other peoples players [with the exception of bringing in the star QB ~ obviously a bid deal] and were looking like they were disastrously below average at attracting new program players.
It was clear that the previous trajectory of acquiring new talent was going to be biting us in the ass this year which is what we would be talking about now, [and which is why we lost our coach IMO ~ get to a program which recruits itself to survive as a head coach], while in contrast, Fisch already has demonstrated a much better ability to hit the portal and also bring in high school talent to a Pac 12 / Big 10 program.
Obviously we will see about that but that aspect looks much better. In hindsight, Kalen may have done us all a big favor in leaving, with the only really glaring negative being the complete loss of our returning offensive line.
 
Shit post 2, I’m on a roll…
The other interesting thing IMO will be to observe the difference in recruiting high school and portal player movement in the wake of the dissolution of the PAC12.
In my opinion this is great for Washington from a recruiting standpoint in the sense that the departure of Cal and Stanford creates a vacuum that Washington has historically been really successful exploiting from a recruiting standpoint.
A large portion of UW success since Don James began successfully recruiting NorCal, has been the emphasis of getting a sizable percentage of the best NorCal recruits on board for Washington. In more recent years, as population patterns have evolved has also concentrated on making progress in the Arizona and Utah markets with the continued presence of periodic infusion of Hawaii talent and the the SoCal markets.
With the amateur hour trajectory of the Bears and the failure post Covid of Stanford being able to compete ~ and stuck with traveling to the other coast in athletics, that market is now even more decisively open ~ kids that want to play any west coast teams need to sign with the power 4 big 10 teams. The same thing may happen in the Utah / Arizona markets… kids can decide if they want to play in the more provincial Big12 or the more glamorous Big10 with west coast team presence.
The other thing I wonder, is whether UW can begin to attract upper Midwest talent.. For the first time in history, from a conference standpoint, Seattle weather favorably compares with other conference power teams. Can UW establish a footprint in the upper Midwest? I think that they can and will ~ will be interesting to see.
 
Have to add they brought in no one in 2022 either that made an impact in 2023 at a time when underclassmen transfers can be developed over several years. They also were in the midst of a 20+ game win streak and historical moment and they with a straight face were bringing in a Vandy LB who ended up at UCF and an ASU DL getting stolen away.
Last year it seemed doable to get a few more guys who really could have filled out the roster (another Tuli level DT, another pass rusher, a CB over 5'6, and a guard imagine the first Oregon game had they had a portal guy there who was solid, and another RB option).
Deboer and staff were elite at development but couldn't seem to recruit their way out of a paper sack. Doesn't mean my preference wouldn't still have been him/them to stay and just actually hire a real DC.
The lack of talent coming out of Northern California and Washington is a problem. At Washington's peak 95% of instate players were going to go to UW and a lot of California recruiting was USC, UCLA, and UW.
 
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