Good American values........********. Stoops swoops in OK, you turn your head for a second and Big Game Bob swoops in and steals a Husker recruit. Travis Lewis, a four-star linebacker/safety from San Antonio, has backed out of his verbal commitment to Nebraska, according to KSAT-TV in San Antonio. Lewis, who played both sides of the ball in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, appears set to play for Oklahoma. He will make his announcement Wednesday, the first day of the national signing period. In retrospect, Lewis' comments in a Scout.com article dated Jan. 8 strike me kind of funny. "I told Bill Callahan that once I commit -- and I told this to Oklahoma -- that once I commit then I am committed. That is why I didn't make a decision early. I didn't want to be a player that would commit and decommit." Gotchya.
It's a free for all till they fax in those letters. You remember Ian Harris don't you? He was a Neb commit till he decided Missouri was the place to be and that lasted till Mack Brown offered him and Texas was where he wanted to be.... Then there is James Kirkendoll who on Dec 18th said this about his commitment to OU coach Bob Stoops and the Sooners That lasted till late Jan when he said this.
Uncle Urbie ain't finished raiding everyone else's recruits yet. Tonight he just too Indiana's top recruit from the Hoosier's and he may be taking yet another Irish defensive lineman. No comment.
And a UGa site says Chris Little may switch to Georgia because they are going to lose Greenlee to FSU. Sounds far fetched but, when a Bowden's involved, ya never know.
Wow, the Finch signing is a bit of a surprise. So, are the ND folks thinking Ian Williams signs with UF?
Good for him. While I was hoping he'd be a Gator, it's obvious he's a sharp young man who chose a great school over the likes of Fl State and Miami. Hope he does well at ND.
Is it me or has this been the worst year for kids switching schools? It seems like it used to be just a couple of kids, I remember when C.J. Leake made his switch from ND to Wake Forrest, it was shocking news. Now there are dozens of Chris Leakes.
Bad.. <t>Ending for ND today losing Little to Carolina and the nut limeman that finally signed with Georgia making them his third public commit. What a screwball that kid must be.</t>
I'll call the kettle black.....I think there's payola going on...somebody's making deals or promises at the last minute. There's a stench in the air... ...SMU blue chip recruit sends....
Huskerman, I guess there could be some payola, however I choose to remember we are dealing with 18 year old kids and they are not totally commited until their signature is on the line. So changing their mind is not illegal or in my humble opinion wrong just because they change. The Gators lost about three guys who had commited to other schools and also got several who changed their minds. That's the way it is with 18 year olds. And unfortunately the way it is for some adults is to expect payola or to pay off to get what they want.
It will be interesting to see if Greg Little's folks move into some upgraded housing in the near future 8) I think the other Little is just a 342lb. momma's boy.
I Knew... <t>When I heard Carolina had opened the vault for Butch Davis one of the first things I thought about was the Irish had better ramp up the love for the two Carolina recruits. We ended up losing Little and kept Benn. Butch Davis can recruit and has Blake there as well. Remember all those # 1 picks from Miami? <br/> He also lands the top DL recruit in the country Austin so things are looking up at NC. Hated to lose Little but the Irish program needs Benn a defensive kid much more at this time.</t>
Interesting article about hard-ball recruiting tactics: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601649.html
No doubt in my mind Benn was put up to that by Zook. I'm on the record as not being comfortable with coaches continuing to recruit kids, but it's clearly the way things are done. I'm going to guess that when a kid who has told you that he's comming but wants to remain silent (or not) and then later calls you to tell you that he's going to another school there might be some things said that maybe aren't too nice when reviewed later. I wonder what the conversations that Fla coaches had with Ian Williams trying to get him to decomit from Notre Dame were like? I really don't care, but they might not seem all lollipops and candies to the average person. I wonder what Mack Brown said to Ryan Perrileaux when he dropped him right before signing day 2 years ago, or what the conversations were with John Brantley when he backed out of his commitment. Irish got a kid named Brian Smith who had been commited to Iowa for quite awhile, just like Texas got a couple of kids who were commited to other programs in the last week. I'm just not comfortable with all of this, I think it's worse now than it has ever been and I think it's wrong. We need an early signing period. Terry
Don't forget grades, fellas. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that ND's standards are a wee bit higher than UNC's. A lot of these premium prospects just want to be left alone, play three years and get on to the NFL. School is for the less talented. That is the hypocrisy of the student athlete in big time programs.
Terry, I wonder if there is a way they can get rid of the entire oral commitment scheme since it appears that most coaches ignore the fact a commitment was made and try to undermine the commitment. It seems hypocritical to bust on some kid's chops for "breaking" his word when representatives of institutions of higher learning are working and plotting like sewer rats to get a kid to do exactly that. Maybe the University of Chicago was right in concluding 50-years ago that the principals inherent in running a university are incompatible with big time college football.
I like the idea of an early commitment period. With the way things have changed, if you haven't got offers out to kids for 2008 right now you are behind. In fact Texas will have a Jr. day this weekend and they will likely get 8-9 kids out of this weekend, and by March 1st they will likely have 10-12 of the total of 18-20 that they expect to take next year. It will be over for the most part by May 1 for Mack Brown. It would seem to me that an August 1st early signing period would be perfect. Those kids that want to be done are in fact done Aug 1. The can go ahead and play their Sr. years and not worry about anything other than having a great senior year. There will still be a lot of kids who will want to go through the whole thing and take the longest period and have the biggest whoha over them as possible. But at least the coaches don't have to baby sit their guys and protect them from other coaches. Not a complete solution but a way to help manage the situation. Terry