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I love Gary Patterson and how he has turned the program into a first tier, first class model for what NCAA football can be. He has specialized in finding the great athletes with character who have the “chip on his shoulder” for being snubbed at other schools. In the world of 5 star rating services, rarely would he recruit a player with more than 3 stars, usually all his recruits being one or two.

Just think of the following lightly recruited 2 star high school players: Jerry Hughes; Darryl Washington; Andy Dalton; Ed Wesley; Tank Carder; Marcus Canon; Jeremy Kerley. The list goes on.

Last year Mack Brown complained that his team of 4 and 5 star Texas players seemed to have a sense of entitlement. They carried their press clippings from high school and assumed they would be instantly great with a Texas helmet on their head. They “don’t work hard enouigh.” Texas went 5-7.

So the question is this: Now that the lowest ranked recruit for Gary Patterson over the last 3 years is 3 star, will he miss the opportunity to develop and motivate the next Jerry Hughes (a former high school running back)? Will the teams of the future lack the same heart and drive of a snubbed high school recruit who is now All American (Tank Carder) ? Will the 4 or 5 star QB with a rocket arm and elusive legs bring the talent and intangibles to the table of Andy Dalton?

The 2012 verbal commitment class is supposed to be awesome, with 13 quality names. Evidently, TCU passed on some local talent which other “name” schools are pursuing. This is something new.

Gary Patterson has one more year in which he can play the us-against-the-world card, as he transitions new talent into a roster which lost 11 starters. He also faces an MWC which is doing all it can to find a way to beat him, the most blatant case being to switch the Boise State game from Fort Worth to the blue field, and schedule it in November, a week after a road game in Wyoming. The likelihood of snow and poor flying conditions is high. Such nonsense has proven to be a big motivator in the past. MWC to TCU: “Thanks for elevating our conference status and raking in maximum BCS Bowl dollars for all of us. Now please lose a few, and go away.”

One school of thought is that if Patterson gets a slew of higher-rated overall talent, their performance under his system will exceed what they would attain under another big name program. The other school of thought is that he may lose the magic of finding that great athlete with attitude and desire, the guy with “something to prove” because the Mack Browns of the world ignored them. This type of guy suddenly will end up at SMU or equivalent.

Less than two months to go before we get the answer. And there isn’t a lockout in the NCAA this year.

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