I think I owe an apology to Chris Fetters and Scout.com. I think because the insults were posted on this board, the apology should also be posted here. If the moderators want to remove this apology because it involves another site, so be it.
Over the years, for the fun of it, I have paid close attention to the Scout talent evaluation that has been assigned to Cal recruits and Cal commits. We know, or at least we think we know, that Chris Fetters likes UW. Even though MB has told us several times that Fetters does not have that much input on what rank Scout assigns the players, I have watched several top 10 prospects commit to Cal and then get thorough Scout ranking demotions. It has happened seemingly many times over the last 8 years. With enough consistency from year to year of it happening time and again, it appeared that Scout was just being D---- for the fun of it against Cal players. For that, I insulted them.
However, for those insults, I now apologize. Scouting the high school players in their junior years and then watching them perform in college is a 6 year process and almost a 7 year process. Everybody knows that you can't be entirely accurate on everybody because scouting involves projecting what the players will become in college. In reference to the Cal players that received thorough downgrades after committing to Cal, I have watched many of their careers play out at Cal. Many of them joined the team with bright and shining stars attached in my mind. Promptly upon arrival, they disappeared and gave almost no contribution to Cal during football games. It makes me think that maybe Scout was right in giving them high school senior year downgrades. I am thinking of specific names. But, I am not mentioning the specific names because I do not believe in publicly insulting college kids. The athletes are limited public figures but they are still just college kids and even if they don't produce on the field, they still chose Cal and for this they have my allegiance. Sorry to Mr. Chris Fetters and Scout.com for publicly on internet forums attacking your best efforts in ranking hundreds of athletes year after year.
Over the years, for the fun of it, I have paid close attention to the Scout talent evaluation that has been assigned to Cal recruits and Cal commits. We know, or at least we think we know, that Chris Fetters likes UW. Even though MB has told us several times that Fetters does not have that much input on what rank Scout assigns the players, I have watched several top 10 prospects commit to Cal and then get thorough Scout ranking demotions. It has happened seemingly many times over the last 8 years. With enough consistency from year to year of it happening time and again, it appeared that Scout was just being D---- for the fun of it against Cal players. For that, I insulted them.
However, for those insults, I now apologize. Scouting the high school players in their junior years and then watching them perform in college is a 6 year process and almost a 7 year process. Everybody knows that you can't be entirely accurate on everybody because scouting involves projecting what the players will become in college. In reference to the Cal players that received thorough downgrades after committing to Cal, I have watched many of their careers play out at Cal. Many of them joined the team with bright and shining stars attached in my mind. Promptly upon arrival, they disappeared and gave almost no contribution to Cal during football games. It makes me think that maybe Scout was right in giving them high school senior year downgrades. I am thinking of specific names. But, I am not mentioning the specific names because I do not believe in publicly insulting college kids. The athletes are limited public figures but they are still just college kids and even if they don't produce on the field, they still chose Cal and for this they have my allegiance. Sorry to Mr. Chris Fetters and Scout.com for publicly on internet forums attacking your best efforts in ranking hundreds of athletes year after year.
