Here are my broad-brush notes from the meeting with Fitz. I'm going to turn this into a few different stories, but for now I'll put them here for my loyal subscribers.
Remaining needs for the class: Fitz says that things remain fluid but it sounds like there will be a couple more signings in February. He generally agreed with my prompt of a running back and a best available. “We may take a running back. Or two, depending on who’s that next available player,” he said.
Transfer season: He talked about the new second season that he called "transfer season," when schools go out and try to fill needs they missed in recruiting. That leads to over-recruiting, he said, when desperate teams will greatly inflate kids abilities to fit a need and borderline players pull in offers from big-time programs, just because they have a need at his position. "Filling needs instead of filling them with great players," as he put it.
Houston success: Why does NU have such great success in Houston? No. 1 they see other Houstonians, other Texans succeed at NU. He thinks the coaches who recruited the territory -- himself, Bates, Ayeni -- have done a good job, but he emphasized building trust with coaches.
"We hit on a couple guys. Now all of a sudden you get some credibility with high school coaches. It’s a very tight-knit high school coaches association in Houston and every kid that’s come up here has graduated. Every kid that’s come up here has been productive. Every kid that’s been an NFL-potential player has had a chance to at least go get an opportunity."
He talked about the fact that there are a lot of transplants in Houston because of the oil industry, as well as Katrina. He added, "For some kids, North of the Red River is called Canada. So I guess we’d be Russia." That was funny.
The OL coaching search: As I alluded to in the story, I was surprised by how much he talked about the offensice line coaching search. They received 125-150 resumes within 48 hours. He and Mick got that down to 50 very quickly, and now they're working to get it down to 20 for interviews. That may not be formal, face-to-face interviews ("like you and I are doing right now"), but they will meet in some way.
Because coaching vacancies don't happen at NU very often, he wants to take advantage of the opportunity and talk to a lot of people. He wants to hire the guy now, but also meet the guy he will think about when the new guy moves on. He looks back on the year he hired McCall and Hank - "that was a nightmare," he said - but he got to know a lot more people in the process and identify some guys he'd be interested in down the line. It's the same goal now.
Regarding Kurt Anderson, I had to bring him up, and Fitz only said that he was one of "the long list of guys" they are looking at. I didn't get the feeling that Anderson is any way a slam dunk here. And I'm almost certain that he was not hired to succeed Cushing. Fitz said that he didn't see Cushing's departure coming. EIU reached out to him during Big Ten title game week.
The facility's impact on recruiting: He thinks that will pay dividends in 2020 and beyond, noting that the majority of the signees committed before their senior year, and last summer "we had just moved in" to the Walter Athletic Center. "Did it play a role? It did for Matt Alviti. We just never got it done" while he was here. I laughed at that one too.
But recruiting is a secondary purpose for Fitz. "More importantly, (it's) for the guys." They had been off campus for more than 100 years, he said. "It's better than what we thought it would be."
Spring officials: He says that the staff learned a little bit about spring official visits. From now on, "it's gotta be a young man thinking hard about making a decision in the summer." Most did, but some, like Hooper, thought they would but waited until later. Fitz is in favor of letting players who take a spring OV and commits to take a second OV to one school later. So, for example, Kirtz or Hooper could've take a second OV in December, with the rest of their classmates. "What’s the harm in that? I don’t see anything negative in that."
The future of NSD: He talked about national signing day as a waste of time that he'd like to abolish entirely. He talked again about his national website that would make it completely transparent: a coach goes in to offer a kid, the player can go in and sign after a 72-hour cooling off period. Then, if a head coach leaves or gets fired, the player could be released from his letter. He's talked about that many times before. He rolled his eyes when he learned that some programs send out more than 400 offers. "It doesn’t mean anything. Rather have this thing be fully transparent."
Last year, 72 percent of signees signed during the early signing period, and he expects that number to go up. There was initially questions about how Group of Five schools would handle it: would they try to sign guys early or wait to see if any fall out afterward that they could grab. It turns out that they signed as many as they could. "If I’m Rod Carey, I’m signing 25 guys. I don’t want schools coming in and January…and trying to big fish me."
On walkon scholarships: Fitz talked about how he makes the decision whether to award walkons with scholarships or hold onto them for prospects. He said that he starts to make those decisions now, after early signing day and during transfer season, but that's it always fluid. It’s on a case-by-case basis and, if given the choice, “I’m going to err on the side of rewarding a walkon.”
One thing I didn't know: All walkons who go through four years, whether they play a snap or not, get two quarters paid for - winter and spring - during their seniors years. He called it "a sign of gratitude for the effort and dedication." That's not insignificant, and Fitz thanks Jim Phillips and the administration for that. "This is the best place in the world to walkon," he said.
Hooper-Price and the WRs: I wrote in the story that Hooper is a rare combination of size and speed that NU hasn't had before. Fitz said he's had big receivers before, but none who were that fast. But what he likes is that he's also still pretty raw. "I still think his best football is ahead of him. That’s what’s most exciting to us about Genson. He’s played multiple things. Now that he’s just focused on football, the sky is the limit.”
What does he hope he can do for the offense? "I hope he can learn it," he shot back. Zing. "I hope he comes in and competes, like every kid. With that size-speed combination he’s got the chance to make explosive plays."
He went on to talk about all of the receivers. "Wayne’s the same way, he’s a big, long athletic kid. And the two slots are very similar, really quick, explosive. Really good top-end speed. You saw them catch a short route and make a touchdown happen in high school."
The goal for Hooper and Dennis is to "play big on the outside, play physical in the run game. Depending on their change of direction, maybe move them around a little bit. The two inside guys – explosive guys, make-you-miss guys, short-space quickness, top-end speed. I think it’s a really good group of receivers.
That's about all I got. Let me know if you have any questions.
Remaining needs for the class: Fitz says that things remain fluid but it sounds like there will be a couple more signings in February. He generally agreed with my prompt of a running back and a best available. “We may take a running back. Or two, depending on who’s that next available player,” he said.
Transfer season: He talked about the new second season that he called "transfer season," when schools go out and try to fill needs they missed in recruiting. That leads to over-recruiting, he said, when desperate teams will greatly inflate kids abilities to fit a need and borderline players pull in offers from big-time programs, just because they have a need at his position. "Filling needs instead of filling them with great players," as he put it.
Houston success: Why does NU have such great success in Houston? No. 1 they see other Houstonians, other Texans succeed at NU. He thinks the coaches who recruited the territory -- himself, Bates, Ayeni -- have done a good job, but he emphasized building trust with coaches.
"We hit on a couple guys. Now all of a sudden you get some credibility with high school coaches. It’s a very tight-knit high school coaches association in Houston and every kid that’s come up here has graduated. Every kid that’s come up here has been productive. Every kid that’s been an NFL-potential player has had a chance to at least go get an opportunity."
He talked about the fact that there are a lot of transplants in Houston because of the oil industry, as well as Katrina. He added, "For some kids, North of the Red River is called Canada. So I guess we’d be Russia." That was funny.
The OL coaching search: As I alluded to in the story, I was surprised by how much he talked about the offensice line coaching search. They received 125-150 resumes within 48 hours. He and Mick got that down to 50 very quickly, and now they're working to get it down to 20 for interviews. That may not be formal, face-to-face interviews ("like you and I are doing right now"), but they will meet in some way.
Because coaching vacancies don't happen at NU very often, he wants to take advantage of the opportunity and talk to a lot of people. He wants to hire the guy now, but also meet the guy he will think about when the new guy moves on. He looks back on the year he hired McCall and Hank - "that was a nightmare," he said - but he got to know a lot more people in the process and identify some guys he'd be interested in down the line. It's the same goal now.
Regarding Kurt Anderson, I had to bring him up, and Fitz only said that he was one of "the long list of guys" they are looking at. I didn't get the feeling that Anderson is any way a slam dunk here. And I'm almost certain that he was not hired to succeed Cushing. Fitz said that he didn't see Cushing's departure coming. EIU reached out to him during Big Ten title game week.
The facility's impact on recruiting: He thinks that will pay dividends in 2020 and beyond, noting that the majority of the signees committed before their senior year, and last summer "we had just moved in" to the Walter Athletic Center. "Did it play a role? It did for Matt Alviti. We just never got it done" while he was here. I laughed at that one too.
But recruiting is a secondary purpose for Fitz. "More importantly, (it's) for the guys." They had been off campus for more than 100 years, he said. "It's better than what we thought it would be."
Spring officials: He says that the staff learned a little bit about spring official visits. From now on, "it's gotta be a young man thinking hard about making a decision in the summer." Most did, but some, like Hooper, thought they would but waited until later. Fitz is in favor of letting players who take a spring OV and commits to take a second OV to one school later. So, for example, Kirtz or Hooper could've take a second OV in December, with the rest of their classmates. "What’s the harm in that? I don’t see anything negative in that."
The future of NSD: He talked about national signing day as a waste of time that he'd like to abolish entirely. He talked again about his national website that would make it completely transparent: a coach goes in to offer a kid, the player can go in and sign after a 72-hour cooling off period. Then, if a head coach leaves or gets fired, the player could be released from his letter. He's talked about that many times before. He rolled his eyes when he learned that some programs send out more than 400 offers. "It doesn’t mean anything. Rather have this thing be fully transparent."
Last year, 72 percent of signees signed during the early signing period, and he expects that number to go up. There was initially questions about how Group of Five schools would handle it: would they try to sign guys early or wait to see if any fall out afterward that they could grab. It turns out that they signed as many as they could. "If I’m Rod Carey, I’m signing 25 guys. I don’t want schools coming in and January…and trying to big fish me."
On walkon scholarships: Fitz talked about how he makes the decision whether to award walkons with scholarships or hold onto them for prospects. He said that he starts to make those decisions now, after early signing day and during transfer season, but that's it always fluid. It’s on a case-by-case basis and, if given the choice, “I’m going to err on the side of rewarding a walkon.”
One thing I didn't know: All walkons who go through four years, whether they play a snap or not, get two quarters paid for - winter and spring - during their seniors years. He called it "a sign of gratitude for the effort and dedication." That's not insignificant, and Fitz thanks Jim Phillips and the administration for that. "This is the best place in the world to walkon," he said.
Hooper-Price and the WRs: I wrote in the story that Hooper is a rare combination of size and speed that NU hasn't had before. Fitz said he's had big receivers before, but none who were that fast. But what he likes is that he's also still pretty raw. "I still think his best football is ahead of him. That’s what’s most exciting to us about Genson. He’s played multiple things. Now that he’s just focused on football, the sky is the limit.”
What does he hope he can do for the offense? "I hope he can learn it," he shot back. Zing. "I hope he comes in and competes, like every kid. With that size-speed combination he’s got the chance to make explosive plays."
He went on to talk about all of the receivers. "Wayne’s the same way, he’s a big, long athletic kid. And the two slots are very similar, really quick, explosive. Really good top-end speed. You saw them catch a short route and make a touchdown happen in high school."
The goal for Hooper and Dennis is to "play big on the outside, play physical in the run game. Depending on their change of direction, maybe move them around a little bit. The two inside guys – explosive guys, make-you-miss guys, short-space quickness, top-end speed. I think it’s a really good group of receivers.
That's about all I got. Let me know if you have any questions.
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