Over The Pylon

Rarely do I get involved in recruiting stories but recruiting philosophy takes the cake.

Recruiting philosophy as in the positions and locations coaches’ target.

Coach Pete Lembo mentioned how his staff targets the positions in need. Having a spreadsheet telling you there is a lack of corners may not sound interesting but where the team searches for the players is.

Ball State has not scored any commits yet but it has made plenty of offers. According to ESPN, the top three states with the most offers are Indiana (9) and a tie for second between Ohio (7) and wait for it…

Georgia!

Ray Charles would be proud of Ball State’s recruiting strategy.

Ball State has the same number offers for players from Georgia as it does with neighbor Ohio. More offers to Georgia than the border states of Michigan, Illinois, and Kentucky combined.

Lembo has made it a priority to expand the recruiting base and win over kids from the South. Where high school football is an unhealthy obsession and talented kids are produced every year like acres of corn are in Indiana.

This philosophy has plenty to do with his time at Elon. Lembo is willing to play games in this region to grab kid’s attention too. Trust me, the Clemson game this season is all about recruiting. If Ball State wanted to get paid to be beaten by a BCS team it would have gone with a closer team like a Wisconsin or Michigan State.

It is a bold strategy. Every school wants to grab kids from Georgia and the South. If the Cardinals can land a couple of Georgia boys then it may all be worth the added travel expenses for coach’s visits.

On the other hand it could backfire. With Ball State placing its bets in Georgia nothing could be worse than having Western Michigan or Northern Illinois snatching an Indiana kid who goes on to torch Ball State for four years. We just saw that with Chandler Harnish at NIU.

Personally, I would rather see Ball State clean house in Indiana. Even if the talent is not as good as Georgia’s, seeing Ball State steal kids away from IU and Purdue will bring a smile to any fan.

But if Lembo can pull some commits out of his Georgia hat it will be a cause for celebration. With all the confederate flag and NASCAR jokes aside, I would be thrilled to have them in Muncie.

Filed under: BallStateFootball, Coaches, Recruiting |