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Impact of international recruiting on college football?

International football recruiting - boom or bust for programs that get in early?

  • Boom - lots of untapped talent for the taking & chance to establish program

  • Bust - more than enough talent in the US & too much risk for a P5 program to go there

  • Yes, there are 2 paths, but in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on

Results are only viewable after voting.
Buffnik

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
Football is nowhere near as popular internationally as basketball is, but I'm wondering if where we are in football might be like where we were in the 1980s in college basketball when international recruits started making a big difference in our game.

Might it be that programs like Virginia and Colorado will benefit by being ahead of the curve to establish themselves as destination programs for international talent?

There are several examples of college basketball programs - Gonzaga as the best example - being ahead of the curve with international talent and it allowing them to get an edge on the competition.

Could it be that NFL Europe and broadcasts of American football being available on cable and satellite packages around the globe will start paying dividends with talent with this generation that grew up with this stuff?

Or is it too early, too high of a risk (other than with kickers and punters), and a waste of program resources & scholarships to pursue international football recruiting at this time?

Edit: For those of you who might have missed it, check out the interview @Jens1893 did for Allbuffs with an expert on Austrian football: https://www.allbuffs.com/threads/interview-with-walter-reiterer-on-football-in-austria.133491/
 
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Mostly bust. How many times can you realistically see a player in person if he is playing internationally? Once, maybe twice? Seems like strong confirmation bias ("he looked great on film and he looks great here") more than due diligence.
 
I said Boom but only for the non-skill positions. We've talked about it before, but the shortage of quality DL at the HS level who can come in and contribute immediately, creates a need for 2nd and 3rd tier programs like CU to potentially look overseas for kids who can provide that kind of presence. Same thing with the OL and maybe some LB positions. Looking overseas for WR, RB, QB, DB and TE would be a waste of time.
 
TSchekler said:
I said Boom but only for the non-skill positions. We've talked about it before, but the shortage of quality DL at the HS level who can come in and contribute immediately, creates a need for 2nd and 3rd tier programs like CU to potentially look overseas for kids who can provide that kind of presence. Same thing with the OL and maybe some LB positions. Looking overseas for WR, RB, QB, DB and TE would be a waste of time.
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But CU is a program which thinks Hawaii is too expensive to recruit. Not to mention no real Poly focus in general. Of course, international players "have" to be an option when you artificially limit your recruiting pool.
 
Duff Man said:
But CU is a program which thinks Hawaii is too expensive to recruit. Not to mention no real Poly focus in general. Of course, international "have" to be an option when you artificially limit your recruiting pool.
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Difference being that it looks as though CU can become a destination stop for the groups that bring players to the US to camp at various college programs, allowing CU to actually do in-person evaluations of the cream of the crop every year.

That's not the case with the best recruits from Hawaii and American Samoa. I'm sure CU would love it if there was an organization that brought those players to CU for a camp.

It's not like Eliot is going to be put on a plane to scout Belgium, Germany, Austria, Canada and Australia any time soon.
 
Duff Man said:
But CU is a program which thinks Hawaii is too expensive to recruit. Not to mention no real Poly focus in general. Of course, international "have" to be an option when you artificially limit your recruiting pool.
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Fair point. I guess I'm just assuming the international players are coming to camps in the states and that's where coaches are evaluating them, so the cost isn't any more than right now. Do kids in Hawaii travel to the mainland for regional camps? Definitely fair to question why we'd open up the Euro recruiting when we don't even recruit Utah very hard for the Poly kids.
 
Buffnik said:
Difference being that it looks as though CU can become a destination stop for the groups that bring players to the US to camp at various college programs, allowing CU to actually do in-person evaluations of the cream of the crop every year.

That's not the case with the best recruits from Hawaii and American Samoa. I'm sure CU would love it if there was an organization that brought those players to CU for a camp.

It's not like Eliot is going to be put on a plane to scout Belgium, Germany, Austria, Canada and Australia any time soon.
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I am sure CU would love to get Poly players to visit with zero effort or investment, that is a dream scenario.

The point being this coaching staff sometimes seems more concerned with being the "smartest guys in the room" instead of investing in logical recruiting expenses.
 
high risk/ high reward. if recruiting budgets, recruiters and number of recruiting trips were not capped, i'd advocate 100% that schools with the resources available go for it. but that's not the case.

it wasn't that long ago that @Buffnik was advocating for a recruiting strategy focused on the "recruiting footprint" of the school. he defined that as "California, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma, Nevada, Washington and Oregon." Even considering this seems like a major departure from that position.
 
hokiehead said:
high risk/ high reward. if recruiting budgets, recruiters and number of recruiting trips were not capped, i'd advocate 100% that schools with the resources available go for it. but that's not the case.

it wasn't that long ago that @Buffnik was advocating for a recruiting strategy focused on the "recruiting footprint" of the school. he defined that as "California, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma, Nevada, Washington and Oregon." Even considering this seems like a major departure from that position.
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I still advocate for that. Exceptions include players who travel to Boulder to camp at CU or were seen at another camp that CU coaches attended. I'm unsure about international recruiting and am certainly not advocating that our coaches hit the road to international locations.
 
We are in a rut.

Most good players go to programs that win. This year we had a number of top players come in but mostly they are going elsewhere.

Can we get talent overseas that will elevate us another level? If so then take advantage. The answer to that question is one I don't know.

In terms of cost the question might be how much can an assistant see and accomplish in one or two trips. It is expensive but how does sending someone to Hawaii compare to a trip to Europe?
 
I think all those guys currently being recruited or holding offers went on tours in the States and/or are due to play HS ball in the US. I refer to the Bruce Feldman article.

The guys who are trying to open the door for them are no idiots. Björn Werner knows how the game is played in the States on and off the field all too well.
 
Jens1893 said:
I think all those guys currently being recruited or holding offers went on tours in the States and/or are due to play HS ball in the US. I refer to the Bruce Feldman article.

The guys who are trying to open the door for them are no idiots. Björn Werner knows how the game is played in the States on and off the field all too well.
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In the long term there is simply to much athletic talent in Europe to ignore. If enough of those talented individuals are playing the game then not looking at them will result in being left behind. Kind of like a couple of generations back when certain colleges started going heavy into Polynesian players. Those schools got a significant advantage over comparable schools that didn't. Now if you aren't recruiting Poly players you better have a solid alternative or you will be in trouble.
 
I'm not a fan outside of a few special circumstances. We should be able to find whatever we need in the west + Texas. I'm not a fan of a spread way too thin recruiting area. I guess if a kid comes to camps and what not and shows legit interest, then maybe we throw some effort that way, but no way do I think we should be scouring Belgium for kids that might have a nice frame.
 
Huge boom.

Teams recruiting Euros will have a huge edge when flopping makes its way into CFB.

Plus, the Euros will flock to the Flatirons...that is something they don't have in Euroland, scenery.

Lastly, Bernardi will finally get that long coveted trip to Europe.
 
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