Back to the subject, rumors are now circulating that David Oku may wind up in Orange after all and that Bryce Brown, the No. 1 overall recruit in the nation may visit the Vols.
You're right, Terry but I'm not holding my breath. I would really like for the Vols to sign Oku as well and I think that is the more likely possibility. If Tennessee can get Brown on campus though, who knows??
Don't know for sure Doc. Pelini didn't comment on the situation. Speculation is that the kid wasn't holding up his end of the bargain, which may have lead to the last minute scramble for Martin's services. I don't think Bo would promise and then yank the offer without a great reason. Then again....
It looks like Alabama got 27 LOIs. I'm not sure how that works either. Some slots opened up by early departures, career ending injuries, early enrollments, late enrollments etc. Obviously they make it work I just am not sure how.
The part I like is that Alabama got 7 OL's and 6 DLs that were all 3/4/5 stars. That should make life good for Trent Richardson and AJ McCarron for a while.
Wow, kp, I would like that part too. I don't think Tenn. will ascend back into the upper echelon of college football until they start bringing in dominant big uglies.
Big, talented OL will always be the MVP of any offense. Great backs can't be great w/o big holes and Qbs can't throw w/o time afforded by good pass blocking. OL is the area where UF probably did the best in this recruiting haul also...by signing 5 big uglies with Xavier Nixon the stud of the class. Overall UF did not have the numbers but that opens up next year for a bigger class. The players UF did get are quality talent and should be seen on the field if not this year then certainly the next. Andre Debose will probably play a ton this year I suspect to replace Percy. Seems like the rest of the SEC isn't letting off the gas with several schools in the top 15 or better so I foresee some fierce conference battles in the coming years. Should be fun to watch as always.
There were a couple of late signings 1. Robbie Toma, who is Te'o teammate from Hawaii has flipped from UCLA to ND. The word was that he called Slick Rick to tell him he was considering ND and that was why he didn't fax in his LOI that he needed more time to think. Slick pulled his offer on the spot. Most of the ND guys who watch films say the kid is a player and should fit well in the slot reciever position. 2. Kenny Guiton , QB signed with Ohio State. Now this one is interesting. According to a story in the Chronicle last summer Kenny had offers from 4 schools including Houston and Rice. But he was hopeful that a great Sr. year would result in some of the big boys offering him, so he slow played the 4 in hand. Well those 4 eventually dropped out leaving him with no offers from anybody, he clearly waited too long. He sent letters of interest to teams, nothing. As of last week the kid had 0 offers, but Ohio State needing a QB in the class got wind of him came to Houston last Wed and met with him, saw tape, looked at transcripts, arranged a trip to Columbus and offered him a scholarship at QB. He naturally took it and is headed to Columbus. I had to chuckle at his vision, he said he would arrive at OSU as the 3rd string QB (is that right you guys only have 2 QB's?) and was told once he learned the ropes he could compete for the starting position. Oh my...I guess they didn't tell him about Terrell Pryor!! Anyway, he's got his full ride, and he's happy. Good story! except I hope he can play another position!!
Toma <t>Terry,<br/> <br/> After watching this kid on film, you have to kind of like him a lot. He's not bif but he really gets after it. Sort of a Matt Shelton type with really great hands and speed but seems really hard-nosed and plays tough. <br/> <br/> Nice capper for this class.</t>
Terry, We now officially have three QB's. There is a rumor floating around that the backup to Pryor, Bauserman is contemplating transferring, but I find that hard to believe. There was a definite need in that we almost ended up with no QB in this group coming in for this fall. Don
I pulled this off another board I don't have a link to the whole article. But it adds some needed levity!!
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/feb/10/brown-visit-ut-weekend/ It looks like the messageboard rumors are true. Tennessee seems to be a player in the sweepstakes for what some consider to be the number one high school senior in America. Most still believe he will end up in Miami with his brother. This guy's a curious case. I was reading today that he may have flirted with the idea of playing in the CFL rather than going to college. His recruitment is being handled by one of these "mentors." Whomever winds up with this kid may wish that they hadn't. We'll see....
From what I read about him at the all-star games he really wowed people with his abilty at RB. I would certainly be leery of him, he has a handler who seems to be looking for the best "deal" for him. When somebody starts talking about going Pro because it's all about the money and stuff. You have to wonder how you are going to keep him from getting into the Reggie Bush stuff, where money is funneled to people he knows by agents hoping to sign him when he goes Pro. But a great talent, so sometimes when you are striving to be the best you have to roll the dice with some of these kids and hope that you get 3 great years from them before they go to the NFL and have no ancillary "agent" type of issues. I think I read that his brother was disappointed at Miami because he thought he would be a starter from Day 1 on the defense and that didn't happen. He supposedly has considered transfering.
Aquilla, Are all those guys mentioned in that article still unsigned from the 2009 class or are they 2010 guys? Terry
They're all '09 guys. David Oku is widely regarded to be an excellent RB as well. He was recently ranked in the top 50 or so by TSN overall. Orson Charles is usually listed as a TE and is possibly the top TE prospect in America. My guy feeling on him is that he goes to USC. I think Oku may end up at Tennessee. He was previously committed but then took trips to Syracuse and Auburn. He had a very close relationship with Stan Drayton (former UT RB coach) who was not retained by Kiffin. Drayton wound up at Syracuse. Trooper Taylor (former UT RB coach) is recruiting hard for Auburn. It will be interesting. Most expected him to announce for Tennessee last Thursday but it never materialized. If Tennessee could pull the ultimate coup and land all three guys, it could catapult Tennessee's class into the top 10 easily. I don't expect it though and would be very happy if they could just reconvince Oku.
I had no idea there were that many top players still out there. I have to assume these guys did this on purpose to eval where everybody ended up, guaging competition at their positon or quality of OL recruits in their class if they are offensive skill players, etc. I hope this doesn't become a trend.
I think this trend will become more and more prevalent as a result of how highly publicized Terrel Pryor's recruitment was and his decision to wait to make his choice. I wouldn't be surprised at all if you see many more top players take this route next year.
It would seem to me that you would have to be a TOP player to expect that schools A, B, & C each would keep a spot open for you while you ruminate on your decision. For that reason, I would think that it would not become more prevalent.