Bobby Pope: Bobby Lamb finally will have fully loaded Mercer roster
When Mercer opens the 2016 college football season next fall at Five Star Stadium against The Citadel, Bears head coach Bobby Lamb will be playing with a fully loaded gun for the first time.
In the initial year of the program's reboot, Mercer finished the season with a 10-2 record with a non-scholarship roster. In the second year after joining the Southern Conference, which allows programs to have a maximum 63 scholarships, the Bears had 38, and this past season the number increased to 51. Next fall that number jumps to the full 63.
Even with the reduced numbers, Mercer finished at 6-6 in 2014 and 5-6 during the 2015 campaign, which included a win over third-ranked Chattanooga.
Wednesday is the first day teams are allowed to sign players for the 2016 class, and Lamb said the Bears will bring 15 newcomers to the roster. Included will be three offensive linemen, one quarterback, one tailback, one tight end, two wide receivers, two safeties, one cornerback, one inside linebacker, one outside linebacker and two defensive linemen.
Lamb and his eight-member coaching staff will have seen close to a 1,000 players in search of those 15 individuals. Mercer's primary recruiting base is Georgia, where each coach is assigned an area in the state. The coaches also have additional areas in the border states with three coaches scouting in Tennessee, three more in South Carolina and Alabama and four in Florida.
Transfers, especially from the U.S. Service Academies, have played a major role in Mercer football recruiting in the previous three years, but none are expected this year. The Bears have had nine transfers from Air Force, one from Army and one from Navy. Lamb said he receives information from a prospective transfer every day, but often times those players have academic problems, discipline issues or other baggage that eliminate them from consideration.
Lamb say the major difference in recruiting at the Power 5 level, which includes the likes of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Alabama, and at the FCS level, which includes Mercer, Furman, Wofford and other Southern Conference members, is that at the Power 5 level coaches have to be great recruiters while at the FCS level coaches have to be great evaluators. Mercer apparently has done an excellent job in its evaluations to date as Lamb feels there are currently 10 players who could play at the FBS level and at least two who are good enough to play at a Power 5 program.
Lamb doesn't get caught up in the three-, four- or five-star designations of players by recruiting services because for the most part the Bears are not being considered by those individuals. He said he occasionally will check the recruiting sites to see what players have been offered by what programs.
Lamb said that recruiting is a fluid situation, and it will change week to week. I always have felt you never know how you actually did in recruiting players until you see them in action after they arrive on campus.
As for opening the 2016 season against a conference rival, Lamb has no problem with facing the Bulldogs in the opener. The Bulldogs run a similar offense that is used by Georgia Tech, Mercer's second opponent next fall, and that should provide good experience for that game. Wonder how many of this year's signees will see action in the opener against The Citadel?
Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com
This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Bobby Pope: Bobby Lamb finally will have fully loaded Mercer roster ."