Georgia State not afraid to recruit against the big boys
Georgia State coach Bill Curry (AJC)
Many FCS schools (formerly NCAA Div. I-AA) are a little slower on therecruiting trail with extending college football scholarship offers.
Why? The theory is that they want the big boys of FBS (Div. I-A) to pick their guys first to avoid wasting the time and effort to recruit the same kids. There’s also the concern that by offering early, the FBS school might put a kid on the recruiting radar that might not otherwise be there.
What about Georgia State? What is their preferred method? Coach Bill Curry said he is recruiting with the same aggressiveness as he did when he coached at Georgia Tech and Alabama.
“Here’s what we know for sure – if we don’t get after them early, we’re dead … period,” Curry said. “”Let’s say we go after a kid and help a young man become ‘recruitable’ because we study his grades, look at his transcript and make sure he’s in the courses that would allow him to qualify at Georgia State.
“If we do that, and somebody else comes along and takes him away from us … well, that’s always a possibility. But if we had not done the work in the beginning, we would’ve never been in the ballgame for the kid.
“We don’t have a choice. We have to go early after kids. We have to take that chance.”
Georgia State expects to sign between 15-20 recruits in February.
– By Michael Carvell, AJC Recruiting Blog
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76 comments Add your comment
Flancrest Enterprises
December 13th, 2011
10:23 pm
Ga State Talks a big game about going to the FBS. Try having success in the FCS first.
Bariblue
December 14th, 2011
12:15 am
GSU is coming up!!! So excited to see what the future holds for State!
itsmeagain
December 14th, 2011
1:40 am
@GoEAGLES:
It’s not just the AJC that doesn’t care. Nobody cares.
Shocker? Longtime Alabama football recruit switches to Georgia Tech | AJC College Sports Recruiting
December 14th, 2011
5:43 am
[...] Georgia State’s Bill Curry not afraid to recruit against big boys (click on story link) [...]
EagleDawg
December 14th, 2011
8:04 am
Good luck Eagles this weekend in the semi-finals. Go Blue! I’d rather soar with eagles than walk with turkeys.
STATEment
December 14th, 2011
8:12 am
I’d come play in the Ga Dome, with brand new practice facilities, in one of the best cities in the country! Go Panthers!
Panthersville.com
December 14th, 2011
2:36 pm
GSU = Georgia State University, always has, always will. OSU.edu, MSU.edu, ASU.edu, WSU.edu, FSU.edu, GSU.edu – the “S” always stands for “State”……not a map direction referring to a glorified high school clinging to championships nobody cares about.
PantherFan
December 14th, 2011
4:07 pm
I care. Go Panthers! Hey GoEAGLES, great point! I’ll be pulling for y’all. The AJC could throw y’all a bone.
Diddler on the Roof
December 14th, 2011
4:37 pm
Thanks for all the GA State articles — however, no one cares. They are an upstart program. Yet, as my esteemed colleague GoEAGLES points out, Georgia Southern University (6 time national champions) are one win away from playing for a 7th title. Both schools are in FCS (I-AA), yet, Ga Southern plays in the MUCH NASTIER Southern Conference.
AJC – nobody cares about Ga State. Yes, it’s downtown. But it has no college ‘life’ as it’s really a commuter school with a sub-par athletics program – including a football team that will never, EVER compete with the likes of Georgia Southern.
Here is an in-state college program close to playing for a national championship, and you’re talking about Ga State. LAME.
Bazooka Joe
December 14th, 2011
5:04 pm
Go Dawgs – sorry but Ga. State is the only real GSU, they were GSU long before Southern started using it (in fact I think Ga. Southern still went by Ga. Southern College or something like that when Ga. State was using GSU). Not a dis to Georgia Southern, I like them and have a lot of respect for them, but Ga. State is the real GSU
Jay B
December 14th, 2011
5:31 pm
I like Southern (as it’s called in MOST circles) and I”m a huge UGA fan. I don’t understand why UGA fans feel the need to even comment here. GaState is a second year program competing in 1AA. I never realized why there was so much ventrial from other school about UGA but now I see. Damn… enjoy the success of this year on the UGA blog or on the recruiting boards for UGA that are in the AJC almost daily. I understand Southern’s beef (success should breed respect). But as I said on an earlier blog it is just a matter of time before State (as Georgia State is called by it’s students and in most circles) competes and defeats you guys. State plays a tough schedule and will moving to the Colonial Conference (which is the second toughest if not THE toughest 1AA conference) effective next year. Plus the football budget, student population, facilities and home stadium (they play in the freakin GA Dome) will make the difference. And don’t know how long it’s been for you but State is no longer just a commuter school. About 8 to 10 thousand students show up for each home game. They had one of the highest avg attendance rates in 1AA. And they have a great coaching staff and aggressive recruiting approach. I say leave this blog for the Panther supporters and visit your own team blogs.
BlueWhite
December 14th, 2011
5:51 pm
I think GSU will have a great season next year. Great opponents, great fans… GSU is beginning to sprout up all over the ATL. Soon, GSU will be a forced to be reckoned with!!
JakeDSnake
December 14th, 2011
8:17 pm
Tricked again! The REAL GSU is Georgia Southern in the boro, not that imposter up in the ghetto. Georgia State is just Georgia State and nothing more. … Never will be anything more than a commuter college in the crime capital of the south.
JakeDSnake
December 14th, 2011
8:23 pm
Georgia State’s biggest claim to fame is that it has the largest campus police force of any college in the state… Congratulations.
Panama
December 14th, 2011
8:27 pm
Commit number 18 today (Avery Sweeting of Bruswick). More coming
GSUAlumBaseball81
December 14th, 2011
9:45 pm
Love hearing from you trolling GS Eagles and UGA Dawgs! Time is on our side and guess what we play home games in the ATL at the DOME and you dream of that!!! Good luck to you both and keep on trollin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go GSU Panthers!!! Oh and by the why 12/22 at the GSU Sports Arena come watch your GS Eagles get their butts kicked.
NoSoFastMyFriend
December 15th, 2011
8:59 am
@Jay B
http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/2011/Internet/attendance/FCS_AVGATTENDANCE.pdf
Not good for a team that plays in Atlanta and Metro Atlanta has 5,268,86. Not good considering most of these teams play in smaller population areas and do not have a mass transit system.
NoSoFastMyFriend
December 15th, 2011
9:02 am
@JaY B
“About 8 to 10 thousand students show up for each home game. They had one of the highest avg attendance rates in 1AA.”
Where do you get your numbers?
TrainWreck..
December 15th, 2011
4:02 pm
So… here is what a recruit that decommited said about Georgia State….
ESPN on Wednesday.
Raymond Reason said his son, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior, has decommitted from FCS independent Georgia State in an effort to explore other options. Alex Reason played linebacker for West Mesquite but is projected to be a safety in college.
“He told the [Georgia State] coaches last week,” Raymond Reason said. “It just seemed like things were in disarray. He’s opened things back up, and he’s going to get more film out to schools.”
itsmeagain
December 15th, 2011
5:34 pm
You know, it probably doesn’t help all you southern fans to come to an Atlanta newspaper and then call Atlanta the ghetto. You do realize that the people who read this paper choose to live here. And you wonder why nobody wants to report on southern…
TrainWreck..
December 16th, 2011
8:12 am
Clown Shoes!
Five for Friday, December 16th
December 16th, 2011
8:27 am
[...] This is a great look into Coach Curry’s philosophy on recruiting for Georgia State Football. Coach says he recruits with the same aggressiveness he used while at Alabama and Georgia Tech. You know what people say, if you aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time. Good to know Coach is aiming at big targets for the program. [AJC] [...]
Robinson_Tang
December 16th, 2011
1:20 pm
Really great to see the article. It’s really a matter of time for the Panthers. I like to aggressiveness in the recruiting. Looking forward to the years to come. Go Panthers!
Gsuwho
December 18th, 2011
12:09 am
I read this article and laugh more every time I look at their past results and how bad they have been on the field. Curry has proven to be an outstanding gentleman, just not a good coach. Losing follows him and he obviously can not recruit. ODU and USA have had great starts and are firing coaches, GSU sucks and retains every coach, guess losing is the norm of this program. Kill the football program and save the school some money.
Panama
December 19th, 2011
9:21 am
LOL! Commit #19 over the weekend, 10 of them ESPN ranked at their positions. Keep it coming boys.
Chandler
December 19th, 2011
6:40 pm
I’m glad they are recruiting like this, thats what good recruiters do. i hope bill curry gets alot of recruits he’s a great man , met him and he deserves it