[QUOTE=Rev.Zeke Vodka;317403]Thats sometimes easier said than done because immediate gratification-even if its not certain gratification- is often easier for us to pursue. Thats just human nature I believe...And its hard to not decide to grab an available body and hope for the best.

Having said that, I do lean toward agreeing with you for the reasons you mention...

If we have 5 to give out in the '13 class, any prospect you pick up at this stage is taking one away from the '13 class...Even though we are getting a late start on the '13 class there is still the opportunity to compile a very solid class that could have multiple prospects that can step in and provide immediate help...Anyone you pick up now MIGHT be able to provide limited minutes as back up in a narrowly defined role...Might be able to because you arent certain at all if they will be able to play at the ACC level...A player you pick up now-unless very fortunate with a graduating player with eligibility or a foreign kid- is going to be a MM prospect. Further, that MM prospect would not be in your first tier of '13 recruits. Nor would he be in your second tier '13 recruits...Or 3rd tier even...He would be well down the line as an 'emergency, if we strike out on all our prospects' type and his value is very limited...You get much greater value out of any prospect you would be bringing in with the '13 class, because you would be expecting those '13 prospects to have large roles in their entire 4 year career....You would be expecting to be able to win with those players...A late '12 addition isnt someone that you can see a great, substantial 4 year career here in a winning, tournament contesting program. They just wouldnt be. They would provide some short term soothing factor type minutes.But they arent who you build around and would be taking a scholarship away from a building block '13 kid...

Essentially, we have to simply cross our fingers and hope for good health....We have an 8 man group that can compete. We also have zero margin for error as well and even one injury impacts the team greatly...But a player you bring in now is simply going to be a guy that just plays a handful of minutes in a depth role behind your 5 starters, who will lodge the vast majority of minutes...And IF you have a critical, season-ending type injury to one of your starters, the guy you pick up right now will be so far removed from the caliber of starter you lose that your season probably wont be able to handle that injury anyway. In other words, you wont be going to post season play with injuries so whether you miss post season as a .500 team or miss post season as a 12-18 team really makes no difference to me...Its the same result, no post season so having a band-aid ready in case your arm gets severed open really doesnt stop the end result: You are going to bleed out anyway...[/QUOTE

Rev. Any possibility with a walk-on that can at least provide a ready body at practice, or even
offer at bit of rest for one of the 8 scholarship players during a game? This would allow the staff to keep the scholies for 2013.