Attrition

[Tony Almeida]

Sorry if this was already mentioned...what happened to Anthony Ware RB out of Florida? I see that his #34 now belongs to Ross Effertz a freshman DB out of Mandan, ND...

[A1pigskin]

This is the time of the year that I love reading the message boards. Speculation rules the day for the next five months until it is time to second guess play calling, which appears to be Carson's baby next year. On attrition, recruiting can be 65% talent mixed in with a 35% crap shoot on what the future brings. We can talk about being concerned about attrition but doesn't that concern have to be put in context when you are talking about four consecutive national titles? There is a huge difference in wear and tear when one consistently plays an extra month of football. NDSU has had this situation four the past five seasons but the benefit is the expedited learning curve for the young players who get that extra four weeks of practice. The hard cold reality is teams that consistently get a good recruiting class year after year are going to have good athletes eventually start leaving the program to try to get playing time. The other reality is that players who get their progress retarded due to injury or illness are going to have a harder time keeping pace with their competition. The young kids who are practicing every day during those additional weeks continue to improve while the injured are working to get back to where they were before that injury or illness. It's just a reality that athletes have to deal with. Take Austin Farnlof as an example. He' a guy who has had nothing but crappy luck since he joined the Herd and has busted ass trying to get back to where he was before his injury.
Although I don't like to see players leave, I have to hand it to Alex Hahn for sticking it out as long as he did. If I remember correctly, the kid was battling an illness his first year which set him back significantly. I would love to see where this kid would be at had he not been ill before joining his freshman season. I admire the fact that NDSU stuck with the WR from Missouri who got injured his senior season then reinjured his first year in Fargo. The kid transferred out of the program but the commitment that NDSU showed speaks volumes to the kids and coaches of the athletes that the Bison are currently recruiting. This reputation for honoring commitments to athletes will only help with recruiting which, in turn, will attract more skilled athletes, forcing some stagnating or struggling sophomores or juniors to look for other options to get a chance to play ball. It's a problem that is tempered when you consider that the sophomore class for next season has been at NDSU for 31 football games and probably 10 extra weeks of practice. The kids that are left are higher on the learning curve than athletes who have not had this extra time to improve, especially in the mental aspect of the game.
Attrition will always be there and the stakes get bigger the more games you play. I'm happy we have this problem and won't give attrition undue credence until we start losing 80% of the head to head recruiting battles like our peers are currently doing against NDSU. Recruiting is like killing zombies... keep reloading and go after the biggest and fastest first. The others can pick off the slower targets.

Lots of good points.

[BisonNeil]

I don't see a problem since none of the top players are leaving. It's the same in the job world if you don't get promoted fast enough or get passed over by someone else then it's time to leave and find a new job and maybe get a promotion in the process. If the top talent is leaving then something is wrong.

I don't disagree with the bolded section.

But you all can rationalize this all you want, attrition is not a good thing, and most of you are missing the most important piece. The attrition that is being discussed, as mentioned by me in other threads, is with the 2011 and 2012 classes. Back to back classes in which 2/3 to near 3/4 of the players are gone. In the rest of DI history only the 2008 class had that kind of attrition and it was a class sandwiched around three terrific classes of 2007, 2009 and 2010. The attrition rate of the 2009 and 2010 classes was the lowest in the DI era, and I would argue that low attrition of those two classes is a primary reason why NDSU has four nattys. Talent is one thing, experience is a whole other thing that is just as important.

Sure, perhaps not much talent is leaving, but do we really know that? Given the amount of talent, and the sheer numbers because of low attrition, in the last two classes to graduate, and win four national championships, were they really going to be that impactful? I don't know. But to simply rationalize it by saying better players are in the 2013 and 2014 classes is simplistic thinking. We have no idea how talented these guys are because most of them haven't played a game yet and to say they are that talented is nothing more than wishful thinking because NONE OF US KNOW SHIT about how good they really are.

With that said, I think the reality is that the coaching staff was ill-prepared to recruit and make deep runs in the 2010 and 2011 playoffs while trying to recruit at the same time. Bohl said as much in one of his radio interviews (in 2013 I think). So, I think there is probably some truth to the statements that many of you have made saying that the players who left are being beat out by better players. I think the 2011 and 2012 classes were weak and I think one of the reasons we see so many more verbals early. I think it is probably why they pretty much stick to guys who have been in camp because they are known commodities. These are likely only two of the adjustments the coaching staff had to make in order to get better quality recruits while also making deep playoff runs.

[BisonNeil]

Isn't the concern that attrition is an indication that the program missed on to many recruits not that attrition is an indication that top players are leaving the program?

Yes.

10 char

[BisonNeil]

A worst-case scenario would be if we were having to fill positions by accepting transfers from fbs schools.

You mean like this school?

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports...-to-fcs-level/

[thebigund]

I'm fine with us taking a few FBS transfers since we had two of our best players transfer up to the FBS.

[CaBisonFan]

I'm fine with us taking a few FBS transfers since we had two of our best players transfer up to the FBS.

We've played teams with a lot more fbs transfers. No problem.

[Mr Meaty]

I'm fine with us taking a few FBS transfers since we had two of our best players transfer up to the FBS.

We have played teams with all FBS players on them.

[ZHerd]

We have played teams with all FBS players on them.

So have they. Seems though like the outcomes are always somehow vastly different

[Bisonator98]

We have beat teams with all FBS players on them.

FIFY
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