Rodriguez Is Good on Offense, but Can He Recruit?

Alabama fans have been speculating about the relative merits of various candidates for their open coaching positions. If you follow college football at all, you understand that the ability of a team of Rodriguez's to score points is unquestionable. Those who have forgotten the Sugar Bowl already might question whether or not his offense can work in the SEC. They'll point to Urban Meyer, who had to make some significant changes to his offense to get it to work at Florida. These people, however, forget how easily WVU's offense moved through Georgia's defense.

Others, however, seem concerned about Rodriguez's ability on defense and his capacity to recruit. While I firmly believe that Rodriguez, should he come to Alabama, needs to leave his defensive staff in Morgantown, many criticizing his recruiting skill don't realize what a nightmare it is to recruit in West Virginia.

Paul at Georgia Sports Blog does, though. He describes Rodriguez's ability to recruit at WVU nothing short of miraculous.

Last year's recruiting class had ZERO in state kids. There weren't any worth offering. This year, the state has only 2 players rated above 3 stars. He's signing both of them. He normally has to go into Pennsylvania and battle with Penn State. He has to go into Ohio and battle with Ohio State. Or get their left overs.

All of this with crap facilities in a Tier 2 conference. That's more time on the road. That's less time knowing kids b/c you're spreading your relationships thinner. That's just tougher recruiting.

Yet, he's put together a quality team.

Go read the whole thing.

UPDATE (4:30pm): Yes, yes. I know. Rodriguez is staying at WVU. That doesn't make Georgia Sports Blog's post any less true.