Last Season Leaves Jose Down Conference

NCAA Football Betting Lines

After going 1-12 and 0-8 in the WAC in his first season with the Spartans in 2010, San Jose State improved drastically in 2011, going 5-7 and 3-4 in conference play.

 

Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For a second straight offseason, football recruiting at the University of Rhode Island may be the toughest job in CAA Football, yet the easiest in the Northeast Conference. A year ago, URI head coach Joe Trainer and his staff faced having to assemble their first recruiting class since the university announced two summers ago it would leave the CAA to join the smaller NEC for the 2013 season.

 

The coaches basically had to attract players who would enter college at a higher level of competition than they would leave it. That could have alienated the Rams from some prospects whose aspirations rest with playing on the highest level of the FCS.

 

"To be candid, we've never beaten Villanova and William & Mary and James Madison and Delaware and those schools for kids anyway," Trainer said. "To me, it really hasn't changed much. You're trying to go and find diamonds in the rough and maybe go into some areas that other people don't necessarily go in there to pick kids.

 

The CAA allows for the full 63 scholarships on the FCS level, but URI has to shed some in moving down to the NEC, where 40 will be allowed in 2013. In addition to the athletic grants, NEC programs are allowed to offer need-based aid.

 

Trainer kept his recruiting class to 12 last year. It produced a gem in gritty junior college transfer Doug Johnson, a linebacker who was second on the team with 79 tackles and first with six sacks and two interceptions. He was named to the All-CAA third team.

 

URI coaches are targeting offensive and defensive linemen as well as defensive backs as the focus of this year's recruiting class because they are areas of concern due to graduation.

 

With fewer scholarships, but a chance to have more impact players in the NEC than the CAA, the Rams can be selective in recruiting. As Keith Croft, the veteran head coach of Rhode Island's top-ranked 2011 high school team, Division I state champion Bishop Hendricksen in Warwick, points out, the Rams don't necessarily have to find talent that possibly slipped through the FBS cracks. They can focus on players ready to be performers on the FCS level.

 

"I think it's a positive. I think the people in Rhode Island, especially the high school coaches, are excited about URI moving to this new league."

comments

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•    At the half, Fresno State MBB trails La Tech 29-21. WBB tip off at 7 p.m. vs. San Jose State at the SMC.

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