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souljahbill
07-18-2012, 09:01 AM
Out of boredom, I looked at the last couple of (real) recruiting classes for the service academies. I see that they usually get a handful of 3* kids and live off the 2* guys. For those in the know, what are the restrictions, outside of academics, that the service academies have when recruiting? I heard that they can't recruit kids over 250 lbs. once and I think I heard that all freshmen were redshirted automatically. Can any confirm or deny those? Following those guidelines might make for an interesting dynasty when you can't recruit just anybody.

gigemaggs99
07-18-2012, 10:52 AM
I'm not sure on the weight limits or if the football team falls under a different set of standards but the military in general has height and weight standards for it's enlisted and officers. The officers usually have a tighter set of parameters.

As far as the Navy is concerned they can't be too tall if they are going to serve on a submarine or in confined quarters (see David Robinson).

As far as the game is concerned it would be really cool if you could have your players for all 4 years. Once they commit to the service academy and sign a contract w/ the US Government to serve, they cannot leave early to go to the NFL. They do have the option of 2 years of service then 6-reserve so they can try out for the NFL after their 2 years of active-service. It would just be cool to start a dynasty with Army, Navy, or a team builder VMI and have your players for their entire 4-5 years, not having to deal w/ the "convince them to stay and not go early to the NFL" as this isn't an option in real life.


Here is the Naval Height/Weight standards: http://www.navycs.com/navyheightweightchart.html

Here is the Army Height/Weight requirements: http://army.com/info/apft/heightweightandbodyfat

SmoothPancakes
07-18-2012, 02:53 PM
For Navy, even the football players have to conform to the height and weight standards (thus why the option game fits so well there), but the offensive linemen are allowed to bulk up on weight during the football season, but then once the season ends, they have to lose that weight and get back down to academy standards. I don't know the exact numbers, I'd have to search them out, but I remember the linemen being able to add weight in-season, but then having to drop all that weight after the season ends.

souljahbill
07-18-2012, 03:15 PM
I'm not sure on the weight limits or if the football team falls under a different set of standards but the military in general has height and weight standards for it's enlisted and officers. The officers usually have a tighter set of parameters.

As far as the Navy is concerned they can't be too tall if they are going to serve on a submarine or in confined quarters (see David Robinson).

As far as the game is concerned it would be really cool if you could have your players for all 4 years. Once they commit to the service academy and sign a contract w/ the US Government to serve, they cannot leave early to go to the NFL. They do have the option of 2 years of service then 6-reserve so they can try out for the NFL after their 2 years of active-service. It would just be cool to start a dynasty with Army, Navy, or a team builder VMI and have your players for their entire 4-5 years, not having to deal w/ the "convince them to stay and not go early to the NFL" as this isn't an option in real life.


Here is the Naval Height/Weight standards: http://www.navycs.com/navyheightweightchart.html

Here is the Army Height/Weight requirements: http://army.com/info/apft/heightweightandbodyfat

Wow! Looking at those charts, if someone tried to recruit based off those standards, they'd have to recruit blocking TEs to play o-line and LBs to play d-line.

JeffHCross
07-19-2012, 12:03 AM
Smooth, you might be able to answer this, but one thing I've always wondered is how often do the academies really recruit. I mean, they can't convince a kid who has no interest in the military to come play for them because of playing time or whatever. The kid has to be at least receptive to the idea of the 5 year commitment. So how much are they really recruiting, and how much are they finding kids who are already interested in the Academy, and basically walk-on to the team?

SmoothPancakes
07-19-2012, 02:29 AM
Smooth, you might be able to answer this, but one thing I've always wondered is how often do the academies really recruit. I mean, they can't convince a kid who has no interest in the military to come play for them because of playing time or whatever. The kid has to be at least receptive to the idea of the 5 year commitment. So how much are they really recruiting, and how much are they finding kids who are already interested in the Academy, and basically walk-on to the team?

It's sort of a mix. They definitely are out there recruiting. Pulling some information from a recent post from one of my favorite blogs, the blog Birddog recently talked about recruiting and the academies.


What might shock the average college football fan is the amount Army ($512,000) and Air Force ($336,000) spent on recruiting. Navy did not provide a number. That’s some pretty hefty spending on first glance. Of course, what many people don’t realize is that the service academies are recruiting nationwide. Take a look at the big school on any given Saturday and you’ll see that their teams are stocked with local kids. Georgia has a lot of kids from Georgia; LSU has a lot of kids from Louisiana; Florida has a lot of kids from Florida. You get the point. The service academies don’t have a regional focus and they shouldn’t; but nationwide recruiting costs a lot of money if you want to do a good job and fight for a limited pool of athletes that are interested in playing FBS football and also serve as military officers. Travel expenses are a major factor. Many service members who read this blog know that a two week cross country temporary additional duty (TAD) trip can cost $5,000 when you include airfare, hotels, rental car, per diem, et al. Now, start applying these costs to multiple football coaches and multiple trips and you can see how costly recruiting can get. That’s just the travel budget. We’re not even talking about all the other expenses like those shiny brochures.

http://thebirddog.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/the-cost-of-recruiting/

So they are out there recruiting guys to the academies. They're just not recruiting anybody. You'll never see someone like Ray Ray Armstrong recruited to Navy (nothing against him, just stating facts). Troy Calhoun said it best back in 2008, when talking about who he recruits.


"I can tell within five minutes if [a recruit is] Academy material or not," he said. "We're looking for Ivy League caliber students but really, what separate most kids are their leadership qualities. You'll find they have a strong parent, one who has a tremendous impact on their lives. Usually you'll find they are responsible, driven and focused."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/columns/story?columnist=lawlor_christopher&id=3450865

You also have the people who want to attend the academies and contact the academies first, filling out a questionnaire on the academy website. Navy's for instance, you can specifically list a sport you are interested in and that questionnaire and your interest in playing that sport for Navy will be forwarded to the coaches of that sport if you would like to be contacted for recruitment.

Ultimately, the coaches can recruit as much as they want, the kids ultimately have to get accepted. The last time I heard numbers for admission, you had to be in or around the top 20% of your graduating class, a high as hell SAT (1300-1400 will definitely help), and a good to great GPA (haven't heard any specifics on GPA numbers). You have to send in a very detailed preliminary application and get the nomination from your Senator or Representative JUST to even be designated as an official candidate, before going through the process of very thorough and intense medical exams, candidate fitness assessment, and interviews and even then you're still not guaranteed a spot.

So the coaches are out there recruiting and recruiting hard, focusing on players who fit the academy's requirements, who maybe is a child of a former Navy officer and enlisted man, who has contacted the academy themselves because they want to go there or maybe their coaches sent videos to the academy (if knowing the kid wanted to go there), etc. They just are limited on who they actually can recruit, since they can't go recruit any and every Tom, Dick and Harry from any high school as anyone they recruit has to actually get admitted into the academy, unlike the regular universities who can offer a scholarship to someone who is practically illiterate as long as he is one damn great football player.

That's why you won't see much as far as an official list of committed players to Navy, because they have to be admitted and inducted first. Navy only just released their list of 2012 recruits back on June 28th after they went through the induction ceremonies and began plebe summer. Though their list truly does show their national recruiting efforts.


Navy Announces 2012 Football Recruiting Class

58 prospects representing 19 states went through induction ceremonies and began plebe summer on Thursday.

June 28, 2012

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo released the names of the 2012 Navy football recruits on Thursday evening as 58 prospects representing 19 states went through induction ceremonies and began plebe summer.

"We are excited about the group we brought in this year," said Niumatalolo. "If they work hard and do the things they are supposed to do in Bancroft Hall, in the classroom, in the weight room and on the practice field they will have a chance to contribute."

Texas and California produced the most prospects with eight, while six hail from Florida and Maryland. Georgia produced five prospects, while Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia all produced three.

http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/062812aac.html

The full list of recruits and their information is in the linked story on NavySports.com.

gigemaggs99
07-19-2012, 06:49 PM
AWESOME Smooth, thanks for sharing this information! :up: