Baylor Football: Matt Rhule’s staff will not recruit IMG athletes

Matt Rhule is trying to turn Baylor football around. He’s going to try and do it without the help of football factories like IMG Academy in Florida.

Matt Rhule is now the face of the Baylor football program. Baylor has been through a major scandal over the past year and the one bright spot has been the hiring of Matt Rhule. As head coach Rhule has done an amazing job of trying to turn the page on Briles regime and the bad news that plagued the program since his dismissal.

Rhule hired a staff of well-respected Texas high school football coaches. He has said all the right things and made all the right moves. He put together a strong recruiting class after having only one recruit on the day he was hired. Last week he was a hit at Big 12 Media Days and definitely made impression on media and his peers alike.

This week before, Baylor begins practice, Rhule was at the Texas High School Coaches Association annual meeting. During his time speaking he made a stand against football factories such as IMG Academy. These academies pluck kids from other states and enroll them in their “school”. IMG is the most notable of these academies and pull kids from talent rich states such as Texas, California and Florida public schools.

While speaking to Texas high school football coaches Rhule took a stand. Baylor and his staff will not recruit kids from IMG and the like that pull kids out-of-state. One could argue that Baylor is not really in running for caliber of players at IMG. These academies are filled with four-star and five-star talent and tend to sign with power house programs.

By making this statement Rhule sent a clear message to coaches in Texas and that message was the he is one of them and he has their back. In recruiting relationships are important and Rhule just solidified his relationship with Texas football coaches.