Why was Sam McGuffie so highly recruited?

[ManifestDestiny]

It just seems strange that we hear of so many talented white players in high school get hosed in terms of recruiting, and yet Sam McGuffie got big time offers at the runningback position.

Was it the stats? Certainly he had good production but other white players have had good production as well.

Was it his skills? He is obviously very fast and athletic but other white players have been left in the dark with similar athletic talent.

Was it the hype? He got tons of exposure on YouTube, High School Sports Live, etc. and was a phenom here in South Texas.

Was it the competition? This may be the most telling aspect. Dominating in Texas Division 5A is no easy feat.

All of this is speculation, of course, as we probably won't know the real reason until more white athletes are getting more offers, which hopefully will happen in the future.

Still, what are your thoughts on the issue? What do you think the main reasons were for him being highly recruited at runningback?

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i think the only reason he got so much recruiting attention was because of the tremendous media exposure he received.

there have been numerous white running backs who have been as fast or faster, as productive or more so, and achieved at the same level of competition or higher than Sam and still gotten completely ignored.

i think the ONLY reason Sam got the chance was because of the high media profile he received due to his jumping over that kid on a touchdown run, and the ensuing buzz surrounding his YouTube video.

that being said, even the obviousness of his being the best player on Michigan's team this season (yes, i said THE best player) wasn't enough to overcome the racial stigmas/pressures the media, coaches, black teammates, and drunk white fans placed on him and the team for his being the featured runner. i mean, seriously, does anyone believe he got the shaft and left Michigan because he had two concussions? gimme a break!

if you believe that, i have a nice bridge i want to sell you.

 

[Taco]

It was the media hype that got him so heavily recruited. As immensely talented as he is, if it wasnt for the highlight tape getting the attention it did, he might have just been another danny woodhead.

 

[dwid]

it was the youtube videos that got him the exposure, mainly the jumping over the other players, even though he is a great runner. I dont think there are much scat backs better than him.

Youtube highlight videos are very powerful i believe, which is why i am working on some for some White players heading into the draft, hoping to get them some exposure, that way it might help them get exposure and fans will talk about them being good instead of saying "who the hell is this player" Front Offices do look at their team's msg boards to find out what players the fans like and which ones they hate, at least a few do because they know the fans own tickets and keep the nfl running, and they try to pick a player they think which might appease fans. I know their descisions dont live and die by what the fans want, but they try their best, and as long as these affletes are being promoted as the best, most teams are going to seek them out and it makes them hesistant to seek out a player such as Mike Hass, who got alot of negative stuff said about him before the draft and had fans thinking because he was White he couldnt play in the NFL. Reggie Bush had to speak up for him so the Saints would pick him in the 6th round! a bleitnekoff winner! most fans didnt care for Hass and he was caste away, now we have a player starting in Lance Moore who while he is good, Hass is ten times the player that he is.

I know thats how it is with the Saints, everyone was high on Dorsey/Ellis, thousands of "MUST HAVE" posts for them. In the draft we tried to trade down and get dorsey but didnt, but got Ellis. coincidence? maybe

anyway higlight footage along with a catchy song puts positive thoughts into a viewers head while watching a certain player, like jordy nelson's hl with the cant stop me now song.
black players have tons of highlight videos, and they make it look like they are better than they actually are. Since the casual fan doesnt watch that complete football games, highlight videos and stat sheets are all they have to evaluate players. So if a White player doesnt have 4 or 5 stars because of a racist recruiting site, he better have a highlight video that is fun to watch with tags such as "The next reggie bush, or the next ladanian tomilson" because most dwf's will not care to try and find these guys.

Too bad i can only make highlight videos of college and pro players, because if i had the footage, id do it for high school kids too. So i hope they realize they themselves (White HS players) have to edit some type of flashy highlight video to get national recognition Edited by: dwid

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

i think the only reason he got so much recruiting attention was because of the tremendous media exposure he received.

there have been numerous white running backs who have been as fast or faster, as productive or more so, and achieved at the same level of competition or higher than Sam and still gotten completely ignored.

i think the ONLY reason Sam got the chance was because of the high media profile he received due to his jumping over that kid on a touchdown run, and the ensuing buzz surrounding his YouTube video.

that being said, even the obviousness of his being the best player on Michigan's team this season (yes, i said THE best player) wasn't enough to overcome the racial stigmas/pressures the media, coaches, black teammates, and drunk white fans placed on him and the team for his being the featured runner. i mean, seriously, does anyone believe he got the shaft and left Michigan because he had two concussions? gimme a break!

if you believe that, i have a nice bridge i want to sell you.

I agree with most of the above post; but there are virtually no players of any race with Sam's blend of 40 yard speed (4.32) and moves. Yes there are many white H.S football players that can run a 10.86 100 meter like Sam can; but none I've seen have the 15 yard burst of Sam. Sam would really be a 4.45-4.5 guy without his insane burst.

As far as his moves; there are few players of any race that can cut like him. Mike Trumpy and Rex Burkhead of this year cut on a dime almost as well, but both don't have the 15 yard burst of Sam and Burkhead doesn't have quite as much top end speed either. None of those three guys lose much speed in transition while cutting. I'd say McGuffie is better than 98% of FBS starters currently in elusive ability.

It also helped that Sam played in the highest level of football in one of the top 3 football states for level of competition. I'd say California, Texas and Florida are tops because of population. I think some of this is a farce because there are still densly populated areas in much whiter states with large high-school groupings; but this is how DWFs perceive things!

Sam showed some signs of what he could do in the middle of the season after the o-line settled down a bit and before his 2 concussions. The Notre Dame game is what he could be consistently capable of if he got some better blocking help and learns to trust his vision better; he has all the tools!

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

TJR, i completely agree with your assertion that McGuffie is a rare talent.

but i would submit that he is neither the first nor the last white running back who has his combination of speed, acceleration, and agility (Danny Woodhead is another recent outstanding prospect who comes to mind). rather, i think he is the first that received enough media exposure to become well known in our day and age.

of course, i might be wrong, but i am fairly certain that there have been guys like him in the past 40 years who've never gotten his media hype nor opportunities, and thus we don't know their names.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Danny Woodhead would certainly measure up to Guff in talent, but he was unfortunately too small to get a shot in the FBS for a white man which is gravely unfair. Woodhead ran a 4.33 and 4.38 at his Pro-day; if I recall; but even more impressively ran a 1.43 10 yard dash. Woodhead cuts on a dime and also has rare vision.

I can't think of any other white guys though that have that combination of insane agility, ridiculous acceleration and still good top end speed. I would probably say that only Noel Devine and Joe McKnight measure up to Guff right now in agility at the division IA level; Sam is that agile. Even Knowshon Moreno isn't quite as agile as Sam IMO; but he is more powerful and has better vision at this point. Noel Devine has slightly better top-end speed, but a bit less acceleration. Same with Joe McKnight.

I did a full analysis of McGuffie and white RB tendencies in the other McGuffie thread.

 

[SteveB]

In the Houston area, people started following McGuffie when, as a soph, he ran for over 200 yds in a playoff game. That got everyone's attention down here that follow high school football. He then followed that up in the offseason with his incredible showing at the Nike camp (4.32 40, 3.8 short shuttle, 41 inch vertical). This was all before "the hurdle" and youtube videos. People were buzzing about him then.

You follow that up with a junior season where he set the Houston area rushing record for yds and TDs, multiple times hurdling defenders, and the Mixtape, and the legend was born. His highlights were on the local news every Friday evening. The Houston area has over 4 million people and turns out a ton of NFL players. When a kid comes along a breaks all of the records, a lot of people take notice, and it's just a matter of time before he gets national attention.

It's not unlike the attention that Rex Burkhead received in the DFW area over the last few years. When a 5'-7" white kid in 8th grade is dunking in basketball games, people talk about it and start to pay attention.Edited by: SteveB

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Rex is another top talent; he has similar juking ability to Guff, but has less of a burst and slightly less top-end speed. But Burkhead is a stronger runner IMO that can fall forward for those tough yards better between the tackles.

I have been giving a lot of doom and gloom posts lately, but I do feel that many of these kids are going to shine in the FBS if given a chance and this will slowly start to open more doors for future white RBs.

Just look at the WR situation in the late 90s compared to in the last 4 years or so. There are two white WRs for next draft ranked in the top 5 by NFLdraftscout. There is also 10 WRs in the top 50 I believe for 2010.

We have also had two white first round WRs in the last 4 years and an early 2nd rounder last year. Things are indeed improving a little at WR and the same is going to happen at RB and then hopefully CB. Everyone should keep their heads up; the situation for white skill players only has one direction to go...up.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Some small changes are happening Tough, no doubt. It may not progress steadily, and I really doubt that it will, but I do think it will progress on some level over the next few years. We really need a big time change to happen, but an incremental improvement would be better than what we have now. I hope things improve in college as well. If we don't see more white RBs, CBs, and WRs having opportunities and success in college, then change in the NFL will be minimal.

 

[dwid]

i know Matt Jones was one of the first round wide receivers, who is the other one?

 

[Colonel_Reb]

That would be Anthony Gonzalez who was the last pick of the 2007 1st round.

 

[Don Wassall]

Rob Konrad was highly recruited coming out of high school after smashing rushing records in Massachusetts. He was an incredible, once-in-a-generationpackage of size, speed and elusiveness. Syracuse ended up getting him, in part because they offered him the sacred number 44 jersey, which had only been worn by Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little. All three were legendary featured running backs at Syracuse.


Of the fabled #44s, only Konrad was utilized as a fullback, i.e., a "modern" fullback, used mostly for blocking. He did a fair amount of receiving and running, but was grossly underutilized, which sealed his fate in the NFL. Jimmy Johnson took him in the second round for the Dolphins, drooling that Konrad reminded him of Moose Johnston, the prototype of the white runner who is used for everything but running.So a 6'3" 250 pound man with 4.4 speed and swivel spenthis NFL career blocking formostly vastly inferior, interchangeable black journeymen at tailback.

 

[ManifestDestiny]

In the Houston area, people started following McGuffie when, as a soph, he ran for over 200 yds in a playoff game. That got everyone's attention down here that follow high school football. He then followed that up in the offseason with his incredible showing at the Nike camp (4.32 40, 3.8 short shuttle, 41 inch vertical). This was all before "the hurdle" and youtube videos. People were buzzing about him then.

You follow that up with a junior season where he set the Houston area rushing record for yds and TDs, multiple times hurdling defenders, and the Mixtape, and the legend was born. His highlights were on the local news every Friday evening. The Houston area has over 4 million people and turns out a ton of NFL players. When a kid comes along a breaks all of the records, a lot of people take notice, and it's just a matter of time before he gets national attention.

It's not unlike the attention that Rex Burkhead received in the DFW area over the last few years. When a 5'-7" white kid in 8th grade is dunking in basketball games, people talk about it and start to pay attention.

I'm in the Houston area so I know what you mean there.

Speaking of Rex Burkhead, just looked him up and apparently he had tons of offers from big name schools, according to this. Wow, I guess the attention is what does make the difference! Edited by: ManifestDestiny

 

[Freedom]

McGuffie might have had some connections also. There have been white players who have relied on connections to be recruited/get an honest walk on tryout, before. Brandon Stokely and Barry Gallup come to mind.Edited by: Freedom

 

[Animalmuther0]

Hey guys. Haven't heard a breath about McGuffie lately. Went to the Rice atheletics web site and though they have him listed as an RB on the roster, he isn't on the depth charts. Its like he has fallen off the face of the earth.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Well I believe the transfer rules mean he has to sit out this season. Nothing you can do about it.

 

[white is right]

All of the above reasons. If he was from Iowa he would have been lucky to get an offer from a doormat of D1. Look at Leonard he set an NY rushing record and only Rutgers which was about as bad as any D1 school seriously recruited him.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Animalmuther0, whiteathlete33 is right. Sam is sitting out the year per NCAA transfer rules. You'll start to hear more about him next spring.
Edited by: Colonel_Reb

 

[Animalmuther0]

Whew! I did see where he was running some track, but not much of that. Hope he comes back healthier and speedier!

 

[Bronk]

I saw McGuffie play live in his junor year when I went to my niece's homecoming game. Never heard of the kid before that but he stuck out like a sore thumb: speed, agility, vision, good cutting ability. The only thing I felt might hold him back was his size (5-11, 185). No way, the kid was legit at Meatchicken and, hopefully, he'll help the Owls out in 2010.