Snyder won’t let success change recruiting approach

By KELLIS ROBINETT

The Kansas City Star

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MANHATTAN, Kan. | No matter what happens next month in the Cotton Bowl, Kansas State’s football team will head into the 2012 season with more momentum and hype than the program has seen in nearly a decade.

The Wildcats could benefit from added respect at the national level, extra TV attention and, in all likelihood, a preseason ranking.

Put all three together, and K-State could begin appealing to recruits that have ignored the school in the recent past. Those are the types of things that matter to high school players, and make them excited to pick up the phone when coaches call.

Though K-State coach Bill Snyder is hopeful the breakthrough 10-2 regular season will help the Wildcats on the recruiting trail, the longtime coach doesn’t see it changing his approach. The type of player Snyder’s staff targeted last season will continue to be they type of player it targets next season.

“I don’t think our direction has changed in regards to who we are recruiting,” Snyder said. “I don’t see us recruiting differently. I would always like to recruit better, but how we do it, I don’t think will be any different.”

That means K-State will continue to look for players who fit into the Wildcats’ culture and are ready to be coached when they arrive on campus, instead of seeking out players solely because of high rankings on recruiting websites.

Coaches will use their familiar contacts in Kansas, Texas and Florida to find high school prospects, and bring in junior-college transfers wherever necessary. Two- and three-star players are fine, as long as they fit the program. Five-star recruits are welcome, too, but only if they meet the same criteria.

“To me, the most significant factor is assessment and how you evaluate young people,” Snyder said, “to be strong enough in evaluations that they allow you to understand those intrinsic values that they bring, as well. You obviously have to have some on-the-field talent, but some of the other things become so valuable, as well, for us.”

K-State currently has 11 commitments for next season, according to Rivals.com. All are ranked as two-and three-star players, with quarterback Tavarius Bender of Lincoln, Neb., and offensive lineman Aderius Epps of Cedar Hill, Texas, headlining the class. Both are regarded as top-40 players at their positions.

Snyder and his staff could try and take advantage of K-State’s notoriety by aiming higher during the offseason. But Snyder says he learned the hard way that was a bad strategy 15 years ago when the Wildcats were regularly going to bowl games during his first stint as coach.

“We became a little more of a national program,” Snyder said. “At a particular point in time, we thought, ‘Now we can get in (with) whatever those x-number star guys are. We can get in those doors.’ What I found out very quickly was that we got away from some of the basic things that we believe in.

“Indeed, we did get in a few more homes. Really what happened was we spent an awful lot of time, an awful lot of effort and an awful lot of money, and we’d get in the top five, we’d get visits. … Bottom line was, at the end of the day, we weren’t getting those guys.”

Those misses were hard for his staff to take, especially when it hurt their ability to recruit the type of players they had targeted the year before. Because they spent so much time on higher-ranked players, the next tier of recruits was already interested in other programs by the time K-State called.

Back then, the Wildcats were unable to capitalize on their on-field success.

No matter how tempting the idea may be, Snyder said he isn’t about to let that happen again. He trusts the recruiting system he has in place.