Greg Goff on the recruiting trail

[TrueBulldog1962]

Depends on the kid, depends on the school--until there's evidence to the contrary, I'll trust our coach to discern. Slaughter is another private school kid who's apparently the real deal.

I can agree with you to a certain extent, multiple examples from just the Shreveport area is pretty evident. Bronson Gilliam failed at Arkansas, then Tech. Jeff Harvill, who was drafted out of high school failed at Arkansas, Connor Castellano failed at Vanderbilt and cant get on the field at TCU. Kids from Shreveport that played at the highest high school level that have succeeded include Taylor Love from Byrd who happens to be our best player, Chase Daughdrill an All-Louisiana selection from Airline has found a great deal of success at Northwestern State, Austin Ross from Captain Shreve who succeeded at LSU, Ben Alsup from Ruston who succeeded at LSU, Chris Cotton who played at Byrd also succeeded at LSU. Those are just a few. I'm not saying lower level high school kids can't succeed, but they are way more apt to fail than a kid who has been challenged at the highest level in high school. Do kids from 4 and 5A schools fail? Absolutely, but the competition change is still a much smaller adjustment and makes the talent assessment much easier. We have got to stay away from the kids who have the so called best "bodies" and start going after the best baseball players.

[theprofessor]

I love that Coach Goff is on the recruiting trail, and nothing against the kids from OCS but in all reality small school kids just don't face the competition that is necessary to succeed at the Division 1 level. Pitchers succeed far more than hitters, a good example from the area is Braden Bristo, but he is gifted as an athlete like few I've seen that have ever been in this program. Small school position players on the other hand, stay away. I've seen far to many of them fail.

Yep, Mark Laird is a small-school position player (coincidentally from this very same OCS program) who is just a failure waiting to happen.

As is the case with much of life, you need to look at things on a case-by-case scenario. There have been plenty of small-school players who succeeded. One from my area here is J.C. Holt, who played at Class B Oak Hill before becoming a star at LSU and spending eight seasons in the minors, rising all the way to AAA. Yeah, he was terrible.

[LABulldog]

Yep, Mark Laird is a small-school position player (coincidentally from this very same OCS program) who is just a failure waiting to happen.

As is the case with much of life, you need to look at things on a case-by-case scenario. There have been plenty of small-school players who succeeded. One from my area here is J.C. Holt, who played at Class B Oak Hill before becoming a star at LSU and spending eight seasons in the minors, rising all the way to AAA. Yeah, he was terrible.

Good points. Shane Reynolds, another OCS graduate, is one that very much succeeded!

[PawDawg]

Bronson Gilliam failed at Arkansas, then Tech.

Thanks for posting. You have posted some great baseball info..

This was a controversial situation. One story was that he failed. Another story was that, like many of Sim's and Tree's players, he was injured. He had a pretty good year this year after his arm healed.

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas at Monticello junior first baseman Bronson Gillam has been named the Great American Conference Baseball Player of the Week after posting a 1.231 slugging percentage in this past weekend's three-game sweep over East Central at home.

Gillam became the first player ever in the GAC to hit two grand slam homeruns in a single game in UAM's 17-5 victory over East Central on Saturday. His first came in the seventh, clearing UAM's version of the "Green Monster" in right field before repeating in the eighth to right center to put UAM up by double-digits, thus ending the game due to the NCAA's 10-run rule.

A day later, he added his third homerun of the weekend with a solo shot over the wall in right field as a part of UAM's five-run rally in the second inning of the second game, a 7-3 win over the Tigers to record UAM's second straight GAC series sweep.

Throughout the three-game series, the Bossier City, La. native posted a .385 batting average (5-for-13) with 10 runs batted in and 16 total bases. He also added a walk and a hit by pitch for a .467 on-base percentage throughout the weekend.

Gillam and the 24-10 Boll Weevils return to the diamond on Wednesday on the road against nationally ranked Delta State. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Boo Ferris Field in Cleveland, Miss.

[TrueBulldog1962]

Yep, Mark Laird is a small-school position player (coincidentally from this very same OCS program) who is just a failure waiting to happen.

As is the case with much of life, you need to look at things on a case-by-case scenario. There have been plenty of small-school players who succeeded. One from my area here is J.C. Holt, who played at Class B Oak Hill before becoming a star at LSU and spending eight seasons in the minors, rising all the way to AAA. Yeah, he was terrible.

You're taking what I said the wrong way? I never said small school kids could not succeed. I said big school kids are more apt to succeed than small school kids. If I'm a coach I'm going with the surest bet which is a kid who has played at the highest level of competition. I loved Laird coming out of high school, told Sim many times to go after him, but he didn't and it has cost us. Although we will never know he could have given Laird's scholarship to Love and to me that was a fine trade off. All I'm saying is that I'll always put my money on a kid who has had big school success over a kid who has had small school success regardless of size and stature.

[Rooster]

If a kid can throw 92, he can throw 92... if a kid can hit, he can hit. Alot of what you are saying is true b/c naturally, because of the law of large numbers, bigger schools will put more players in college. The summer league competition has gotten more competitive and will weed out most of what you are saying. You are right in the sense if little Billy Smith is hitting .610 in single A ball does not make him an all American. Obviously, he is not going to face the quality of pitching that a kid that plays for Ruston High will see week after week...BUT, that is the job of the college coach, to come in and evaluate. I bet the kids that fail on the D-1 level in college is the same as 5A schools or class C schools...the numers are proportional...also, depending on what you call failure. For a kid to be on a D-1 roster, more than likely he has talent.

[TrueBulldog1962]

Thanks for posting. You have posted some great baseball info..

This was a controversial situation. One story was that he failed. Another story was that, like many of Sim's and Tree's players, he was injured. He had a pretty good year this year after his arm healed.

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas at Monticello junior first baseman Bronson Gillam has been named the Great American Conference Baseball Player of the Week after posting a 1.231 slugging percentage in this past weekend's three-game sweep over East Central at home.

Gillam became the first player ever in the GAC to hit two grand slam homeruns in a single game in UAM's 17-5 victory over East Central on Saturday. His first came in the seventh, clearing UAM's version of the "Green Monster" in right field before repeating in the eighth to right center to put UAM up by double-digits, thus ending the game due to the NCAA's 10-run rule.

A day later, he added his third homerun of the weekend with a solo shot over the wall in right field as a part of UAM's five-run rally in the second inning of the second game, a 7-3 win over the Tigers to record UAM's second straight GAC series sweep.

Throughout the three-game series, the Bossier City, La. native posted a .385 batting average (5-for-13) with 10 runs batted in and 16 total bases. He also added a walk and a hit by pitch for a .467 on-base percentage throughout the weekend.

Gillam and the 24-10 Boll Weevils return to the diamond on Wednesday on the road against nationally ranked Delta State. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Boo Ferris Field in Cleveland, Miss.

I'm not sure if you know Bronson personally or not, but the kid lacked a work ethic that needs to be seen throughout every player. If you let one player slide, then it trickles down to the rest of the team and leads to massive failure. Yes wins and losses are what is measured, but what we can say about Sim's team last year is they at least played hard regardless of the outcome. I'm not advocating for Sim, but they did give the effort.

[PawDawg]

Laird was never going anywhere but lsu. He went to BR as an excellent student. Was about to walk on to the football team when there was a sudden opening on the baseball team. He was asked to come out and easily made the baseball team.

[PawDawg]

I'm not sure if you know Bronson personally or not, but the kid lacked a work ethic that needs to be seen throughout every player. If you let one player slide, then it trickles down to the rest of the team and leads to massive failure. Yes wins and losses are what is measured, but what we can say about Sim's team last year is they at least played hard regardless of the outcome. I'm not advocating for Sim, but they did give the effort.

I believe you. You are the first to actually say "why" he was cut loose.

[theprofessor]

You're taking what I said the wrong way? I never said small school kids could not succeed. I said big school kids are more apt to succeed than small school kids. If I'm a coach I'm going with the surest bet which is a kid who has played at the highest level of competition. I loved Laird coming out of high school, told Sim many times to go after him, but he didn't and it has cost us. Although we will never know he could have given Laird's scholarship to Love and to me that was a fine trade off. All I'm saying is that I'll always put my money on a kid who has had big school success over a kid who has had small school success regardless of size and stature.

I know what you said, and you're wrong. There have been just as many big-school failures as there have been small-school failures.

[maverick]

You're taking what I said the wrong way? I never said small school kids could not succeed. I said big school kids are more apt to succeed than small school kids. If I'm a coach I'm going with the surest bet which is a kid who has played at the highest level of competition. I loved Laird coming out of high school, told Sim many times to go after him, but he didn't and it has cost us. Although we will never know he could have given Laird's scholarship to Love and to me that was a fine trade off. All I'm saying is that I'll always put my money on a kid who has had big school success over a kid who has had small school success regardless of size and stature.

Yes you did. You said "small school kids just don't face the competition that is necessary to succeed at the Division 1 level."

Additionally, you said "Small school position players on the other hand, stay away. I've seen far to many of them fail."

You're generalizing and people, including me, simply pointed out that you can't do that. If the question is "do small school baseball players succeed at this level" the answer is "it depends."

[TrueBulldog1962]

I know what you said, and you're wrong. There have been just as many big-school failures as there have been small-school failures.

To each his own opinion. I respect your thoughts, all I was saying is what I believe to be true.

[LABulldog]

I'm not sure if you know Bronson personally or not, but the kid lacked a work ethic that needs to be seen throughout every player. If you let one player slide, then it trickles down to the rest of the team and leads to massive failure. Yes wins and losses are what is measured, but what we can say about Sim's team last year is they at least played hard regardless of the outcome. I'm not advocating for Sim, but they did give the effort.

I met Bronson (and family) years ago (I've been around youth teams he's played on) and I've see this problem from first hand experience. When he wants to be good, he is very good but I've seen him slack off at times too when he doesn't want to give that extra effort. Maybe because he's been told by many people that he's the next MLB All-Star that he feels he can get away with it. Yes, if he really put his mind to it I feel he could possibly make it to the "Show", but that nagging feeling inside me tells me he'll slack off at the wrong time(s) and it would considerably hurt his chances. From inside information, when he was at Tech, he didn't want to participate in certain drills or some type of team activity one day and it really bothered some of the coaches that were involved. The players (at least some) saw it too. So, there appears to be a pattern. Could he have helped Tech? Definitely, if he had the right attitude. Unfortunately, we'll never know since he never played a minute.

On the comment regarding playing hard, I completely agree. In the four years that I focused on the team, the team never quit. They always played hard. Yes, bone-head plays happened but I truly feel the team didn't give up. Got beat by bad pitching (or good pitching depending on your point of view) at times, and/or lack of hits when need but the effort was always there.

[Soonerdawg]

It would be silly to say small school players can't make it at the D1 or pro level. Too many have made it to say otherwise.

It is my personal opinion, though, that it has to be harder to evaluate players in the smaller schools. The reason I moved my boys from Cedar Creek to Ruston was because I was going to both of their games for several years and I saw a vast difference in the level if play. It would seem to reason that the better the level of play, the easier it would be to evaluate the players.

Since then, two college coaches have told me that it is harder to evaluate the players at the smaller schools, but, of course, not impossible.

I think Jake makes it wherever he plays. It wouldn't matter to me if he played at Quitman.

[skilldawg]

To each his own opinion. I respect your thoughts, all I was saying is what I believe to be true.

For what it is worth I agree with you. Obviously there are exceptions to the general rule which you have yourself acknowledged.