Recruiting question

[rebnum3]

I'm a UNLV fan/alumn and attend football games occasionally. I am excited about the Sanchez hire, but I'm curious to hear how you guys compare the recruiting so far with this staff than what Hauck was doing? Obviously it takes time to get to higher levels of recruiting, but how do you see the recruiting philosophy differ from before?

Thanks!

 

[willlevi]

Hauck went for the height/bulk combo in the trenches moving away from short linemen type of the past. He generally liked tall players though many of the running backs he brought in stood 5'10 or under.
He seemed to focus on athletic potential among players bringing in guys like Devante Davis, Brett Boyko, Taylor Barnhill, Cameron Jefferson, Trent Langham, Sonny Sanitoa, etc. Players who weren't superstars in high school but had unique athletic skill and physical upside.

Sanchez seems to be focused on shorter tough guys.
He did have success on the high school level with a roster of 80% of his 69 varsity players standing 6'0 or shorter. Only 8 kids on the roster taller that 6'0 were starters. Only Cordell Broadus and Alize Jones stood taller than 6'2.
Locals Melvin Johnson and Justin Polu are the only known current targets listed at taller than 6'2

 

[Rebel1986]

While it may be true that the new coaching staff is not exclusively looking for bigger taller players, they still are recruiting a lot of players that are well over 6 feet tall as you can see from the attached recruiting list.

Some of the players UNLV is going after or has already received a verbal from include"

Gaustin 6'5", 242 DE not likely to get since on every list

Stickland 6'4" 195 WR

Togiai 6'5" 215 TE

Sims 6'4" 235 TE

Whisenhunt 6'4" 280 OG

Polu 6'4" 290 OG

and so on.

But it is true some of the other positions have player under 6 foot tall, but the biggest difference appears to be that the coaching staff is also looking for players with speed. Speed can not be learned.

The defensive coach came out and said that he knows the biggest thing they need to fix on the defense is the lack of speed.