When Lane Kiffin released a rather unenthusiastic “hype video” for his new school, Florida Atlantic University, it was excellent content for the internet, including us. But according to Kiffin himself, he intended that all along…
Kiffin says the Hype Video was done poorly on purpos to generate attention.
— FAU OwlAccess (@FAUOWLACCESS) February 1, 2017
Well, it certainly did that. It’s not clear why Florida Atlantic deleted it in that case (after initially sending it out on their official Twitter account), but perhaps that was all part of the strategy to get people to pick it up. And as it turns out, Kiffin’s Owls did just fine in recruiting, at least as of Wednesday’s National Signing Day. SB Nation’s Underdog Dynasty was impressed, at least, calling it the “best class in FAU history” (impressive, considering that the Owls were coached by the famed Howard Schnellenberger from 2001-2011):
When FAU shocked the college football world by hiring Lane Kiffin as their head coach many believed that it was only matter of time before the Owls started to reach their potential and compete for conference championships.
After Lane Kiffin’s first recruiting class it’s safe to say that FAU is well on their way to proving pundits right. According to 247 Sports composite rankings FAU finished with the best recruiting class in Conference USA, good enough to finish 71st nationally.
…The class features 15 three-stars, the second most three-star players in C-USA and is filled with several players who are expected to see the field in 2017.
…Although Lane Kiffin’s resume as a head coach isn’t necessarily the best, no one can argue his recruiting chops, and this class is another example of Kiffin’s ability to get it done in February. Apparently FAU is still trying add more players for this class of 2017.
Kiffin’s recruiting has raised other questions, of course, especially with quarterback De’Andre Johnson (a highly-talented player, but one caught on camera punching a woman, which led to his eventual dismissal from Florida State in 2015). Also, it shouldn’t be presumed that this video had much to do with the recruiting class he pulled in; we don’t know that.
It’s clear that Kiffin has done pretty well recruiting so far, though, and the video certainly didn’t hurt his cause much. If anything, it fulfilled perhaps the most important goal for him; getting people talking about Florida Atlantic football.
