Rumours abound that Te'o classmate, Robbie Toma a UCLA verbal has received an offer from Charlie and is considering comming to ND. Looking at his Scout Profile, he's not exactly an elite WR, but unless UCLA was just offering him as bait for Te'o then I'd trust Chow and Slick Ricks judgement on a WR. Hope he comes.
South Carolina has a great day so far. We finally got some offensive explosiveness with players like Jarvis Giles. This could be our answer to Florida's Harvin. Also we stole a big time receiver from Southern Cal. Alshon Jeffery who was a strong commitment to Southern Cal signed with South Carolina today after his cousin DaMario Jeffery talked him into joining him with the Gamecocks. Name Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Hometown Last School Josh Dickerson LB 6-2 217 Kingsland, Ga. Georgia Military College Jarvis Giles RB 5-11 176 Tampa, Fla. Gaither HS Stephon Gilmore DB 6-2 181 Rock Hill, S.C. South Pointe HS Devonte Holloman DB 6-2 210 Rock Hill, S.C. South Pointe HS Tony Straughter LB 6-0 215 Madison, Fla. Georgia Military College Chaz Sutton DL 6-4 236 Savannah, Ga. Fork Union Military Ronald Byrd DL 6-6 285 LaGrange, Ga. Fork Union Military Andrew Clifford QB 6-3 215 Tampa Fla. Wharton DaMario Jeffery DB 6-4 215 Columbia, S.C. Columbia Chris Payne DB 5-10 173 Columbia, S.C. Columbia Matt Coffee LB 5-11 210 Mary Esther, Fla. Ft. Walton Beach DeMario Bennett WR 6-3 185 Douglas, Ga. Coffee County Alshon Jeffery WR 6-3 217 St. Matthews, S.C. Calhoun County D.J. Swearinger DB 5-11 196 Greenwood, S.C. Greenwood Rokevious Watkins OL 6-4 340 Fairburn, Ga. Georgia Military Aldrick Fordham DL 6-4 234 Saint Stephen, S.C. Timberland Corey Addison DB 5-11 177 Jacksonville, Fla. Andrew Jackson Leon Mackey DL 6-6 260 Wilmington, Del. Hargrave Military Academy Chaun Gresham LB 6-3 205 Auburn, Ga. Apalachee Lamar Scruggs WR 6-3 212 Jacksonville Beach, Fla. Duncan U. Fletcher Nick Allison OL 6-4 285 Asheville, N.C. T.C. Roberson Ben Axon RB 6-1 195 Bradenton, Fla. Manatee DeAngelo Smith WR 6-0 170 Kingsland, Ga. Camden County Quin Smith LB 6-0 205 Lenoir, N.C. Hibriten Justice Cunningham TE 6-3 242 Pageland, S.C. Central Charles Holmes WR 6-3 190 Rock Hill, S.C. South Pointe
Charlie referred to a big time commit for the Class of 2010 also came in today...turns out it is Chris Martin the 5* DL from Oakland CA...what a bonus. This years class is thin on the DL, and we always have a big need there, and Chris Martin is a top 25 Nat'l player. Maybe Charlie is figuring out he needs more than QB's and Wr's to have a great team. Need a great defense as well.
NU's WALK ON'S The In-State Scholarship program is breathing again... We'll be back ladies..... Robert Barry LB 6-8 220 Battle Creek, Neb. (Battle Creek HS) Brandon Chapek OL 6-5 320 Wahoo, Neb. (Bishop Neumann HS) Tyson Clark WR 6-4 185 Lincoln, Neb. (Lincoln East HS) Nick Failla WR 5-10 180 Omaha, Neb. (Millard North HS) Dwight Jones OL 6-4 240 Gretna, Neb. (Gretna HS) Ron Kellogg Jr. QB 6-1 210 Omaha, Neb. (Westside HS) Ty Kildow WR 5-7 165 Omaha, Neb. (Millard South HS) Jake Long TE 6-4 230 Elkhorn, Neb. (Elkhorn HS) Spencer Long DE 6-4 250 Elkhorn, Neb. (Elkhorn HS) P.J. Mangieri LS 6-4 245 Peoria, Ill. (Dunlap HS) Devin Paulsen LB 6-2 210 Lincoln, Neb. (Lincoln Christian HS)
Te'o is a huge pickup for Charlie and the Irish. It taps into a group of players that have never given us a thought before. They are talking about this kid like he could start out of the gate. The best part? By the time he gets back from his mission, Carlo Calabrese will be named on some AA lists. You heard it here first.
Gators lose two players who had committed to Tennessee. Teague who was listed above and Nu'Keese Richardson a wide receiver who at one time was going to be an early entry. We also picked up a couple, but only have 16 signed. A bit smaller than class than usual but all pretty highly rated. Life goes on.
There is a lot of talk that Jawanza Starling, while he did announce at a press conf today that he is going to USC, has not faxed his LOI to USC. That he and Charlie are talking. Some have said that he did sign the LOI to USC and that even if he doesn't fax it to them it is still binding. So there could be some more drama with this situation. If he tears up his LOI to USC and opts for ND, assuming he can do that under NCAA rules, that would be incredible for the Irish. Terry
Jelani Jenkins: Wow....this Gator recruit has the accolades!!! "Named the Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year in both 2007 and 2008...Rushed for 22 touchdowns on 87 carries during his senior season and made 70 tackles on defense...First player in the 71-year history of the District's Pigskin Club to earn both Defensive Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors…Will travel to Los Angeles later in February as one of five national finalists for the Watkins Award, the high school equivalent of the Heisman Trophy...... A standout sprinter in track, he has recorded a 4.4 40-yard dash...Chose Florida over Notre Dame, Penn State, Southern Cal and Stanford...Coached by Bob Milloy…His GPA is above perfect 4.0, owing to extra credit to Advanced Placement in the classroom... His parents devised a three-page matrix of their son’s college choices, breaking down schools by such categories as world academic ranking, graduation rates, diversity and number of NFL draft picks in the past five years…His father, Maurice Jenkins, is a renowned architect in the Maryland/Washington D.C region...His mother, Stephanie Hall played basketball at Howard and is a black belt in karate…The name Jelani is Swahili for "mighty"."
If he signed it, technically, Charlie can't talk to him. However, if he has not signed it... the game is still on. Now I've even read cases in which kids said that they had signed multiple LOIs and then faxed in the one they wanted to commit to, but I never understood how that was legal. you can read about the LOI from the NCAA here
Cory, The debate rages, somebody said they'd analyzed the video and can't see him actually signing the LOI. MCG: Jelani Jenkins is a stud no doubt.
Ohio State ends up with 25 players. Interesting thing is that Tressel had only 30 official visits. Pretty good closing ratio in my book. Five linebackers in the list. No academic issues with any of the signees. Don
Tennessee had a nice class. It wasn't great but I didn't really expect it to be. Losing Marlon Brown to an SEC East rival stings but they did steal a couple of commits from Florida so that helps ease the pain a little. I would have liked to have seen a couple of the top rated OL decide for Tennessee as the Vols are painfully thin in that department. I think my favorite surprise of the day was Darren Myles Jr. signing. He can hopefully help ease the pain of losing Eric Berry after next season. The Vols lost out on a couple of big time RB recruits but I don't think that was a position of immediate need anyway. A couple of possibilities still exist for late announcements as TE Orson Charles, RB Bryce Brown, and CB Janzen Jackson are all rumored to still be considering coming to Knoxville. Landing one would be a huge boon to the Tennessee class but all are most likely long shots. Looking ahead...Tennessee did get a verbal from a LB who is expected to be the top high school player in the state next season in Jacques Smith who stands 6'3" and weighs about 240. He sounds like a blue chipper and is another part of building a fence to keep what good prospects Tennessee produces in-state. Let's see what Kiffin and Co. can do with a full year to build relationships.
Don, 30 visits and 25 players signed that's amazing. I don't think many schools can do that, but also I don't think many schools have more than somewhere between 40 and 50 visits. Also I'll bet that Tressel had quite a few more "unoffical visits" that did not result in an offer and thus no offical visit. Terry
Checked on ND offical visits. Weis had 27 offical visits and signed 17 ...so far. He could sign 2 more. The Toma kid and Starling are still possible.
Good news is that Purdue got all 20 commitments signed. Bad news is that we are either 9th or dead last in B10 ranking, depending on who you read...and we don't have that much returning. Danny Hope better be able to pull rabbits out of his hat, or it's gonna be a long couple of years.