This is a slow day. The calm before the storm. I thought it would be wise to discuss talent coming into the program, since tomorrow we will likely witness a talent deficit on the field.
1. Tyrequek Zimmerman–he reminds me of Sammie Stroughter combined with David Boston. In other words, a monster. He should be at least a 4-star prospect.
2. Bradin Cooks–I don't see the reported top end speed on film, but I do see great body control, agility, and hands. He'll be a perfect compliment to Zimmerman and Mullaney.
3. Darryl Jackson–Ideal size for a tackle. Mature and intelligent football player.
4. Dylan Wynn–Some argue he should be a 4-star. I think high 3-stars is correct. Intense, high motor type player who gets a lot of his production off of effort.
5. Richard Mullaney–I'm probably saying this because he is white and tall, but he reminds me of a young Ed McCaffrey, with a little Steve Largent thrown in for good measure.
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Those are the five prospects I consider cornerstones. Expect at least 3 more to be added to that list before this recruiting cycle is finished. These are the best of the rest, in order.
1. Storm Woods
2. Rusty Fernando
3. Malcolm Agnew
4. Na'Alli Robins
5. Joshua James
6. Brandin Bennett
7. Peter Ashton
8. Justin Addie
9. Kellen Clute
How do you feel about the order? Criticize where you see fit, and I'll reassess that player. Also, feel free to share your own rankings in the comment area.
When the class is complete in February, I am going to make a recruiting card for each player and grade them out. I don't want to do it now, because it's a waste of time since players decommit.
any update as to what recruits we’ll have in town this weekend? grant kids still coming? any shot at colt lydra – and do we even want him? hearing he’s kind of a suspect kid.
What is suspect about him? I don’t think we have a shot because UofO offered him.
LB Lamar De Rego, Storm Woods, and Blake Harrah (we’re his only offer).
What do you think of Harrah’s tape? He looks like he’s very strong and aggressive, but a little raw when it comes to pass rushing moves.
hopefully this visit is good enough to keep woods around
He visits Utah next week.
Robbins doesn’t exactly impress me he seems slow for a DE and small for a DT. I like the film on the Jawsha James kid (he gets after it and plays with swagger. hope he isn’t a penalty machine). I think some of it depends on what position guys play. I think Bennett goes DT and I think one or two of the other DE recruits go LB. Bennett could make a good undersized DT if we can find a monster to play next to him. I personally like Agnew over Woods for our system that seems to thrive on scatty backs, although in terms of raw prospects the nod probably goes to Woods. I still am not seeing someone with the toughness and speed to replace James.
One thing for sure people grow a lot mentally, physically and emotionally from 17-20 so it is tough to know. One think Riley and co. do a great job of is projecting that growth. Hopefully that continues to be the case now that we are getting guys that are rated about a half star higher.
I would put Storm Woods in the Top 5 for sure. With a name like that I think he will be a good one.
This is a response I got from a guy who is a diehard Longhorn fan and knows TX HS football real well:
Woods ran for over 1200 yards and 20 TDs on 8.6 ypc, and in the district Pflugerville is in, that’s pretty impressive. He’s got a nice size/speed combo and should make a nice compliment to Quizz, and he’ll make a solid go to back when Quizz leaves.
Bennett is from the Houston area, which IMO is right there wiith South Florida as the most talent rich area in the country, so odds are he’s faced pretty stiff competition. I’ll have to see a little more tape of him, but I think in the end he grows into a DT.
As for Storm Woods, I don’t think he will de-commit because Utah picked up their 2nd RB in the class yesterday in Robert Johnson.
For the rankings, I think you have Robins maybe 2-3 spots too high and I think Clute and Addie are maybe 1-2 spots too low.
The beginning of his response is “Woods ran for over” and ends with “grows into a DT”. Everything else is what I’m saying.
I’ve heard and read a lot of comments disparaging Kellen Clute without any evidence to support the analysis. I know H-back doesn’t seem to be a glory position or even a position of need at the moment. But I’ve talked to Zags fans who tell me Clute is no diamond in the rough in Spokane.
He’s an old school baller who plays with a nasty streak. According to these people, they thought he was in line for a D-I offer as a LB or a FB before he switched to H-back this year. Then he just took off.
They say he should be a high three star recruit due to his raw athleticism and high football IQ. I keep asking if anyone has any tape, but apparently they don’t have cameras in Spokane.
1. (Kenzel Doe…errr) STORM WOODS – Steven Jackson part II. His film is pretty impressive IMO.
2. BRANDIN COOKS – If his speed is legit
3. DARRYL JACKSON – Huge
4. TYREKQUEK ZIMMERMAN – Stroughter indeed.
5. RICHARD MULLANEY – A larger version of Jeff Maehl.
If RAHMEL DOCKERY commits, he goes to #2 and everyone else moves down on spot.
have heard from folks in hills that colt is a bit of a punk. either way, still a freak i’d love to see in reser.
any word on how akuna or any or our best recruits from last year have fared in practice?
I think the Mullaney comparison to McCaffrey is dead on given how much he’s underrated… down to the same gawky running style. That’s better than saying he’s Mike Hass, only taller, faster and stronger.
I’d also consider the ESPN evaluations of the class by adding grey shirts to the list. In that case, I’d add Thompson to the top of the list and put Welch and Romaine in with the impact players. And if Storey plays OLB or DE, he and Ward can be players of consequence before their careers are over.
The thing I don’t get is our personnel decisions once some of these kids come in. I think Robins should be a DT and would flourish there with his strength and active hands. But I don’t see him as a DE.
I do see Bennett playing anywhere on the line due to his athleticism, but he needs to work on his technique to play. He’s a project, but there’s no in-between with him. He’ll either be a bust, or he’ll be another Victor Butler.
I see Jaswha James the same way. If he develops, he plays at a high level. If not, he sits.
Wynn should be a four star for his smarts alone. Add in the effort and ability, and that should solidify the rating. The CIF coaches are the only group not underrating him when they pick him as all-everything as a DE. Just like Mullaney, I say media evaluations be damned. By the end of both those careers, Pac 12 coaches will be scratching their heads and wondering why they didn’t recruit these highly decorated and record breaking kids (I think the same of Ward as well). Where I think the media fails is their propensity to project HS talent on the NCAA like they would NCAA talent on the NFL. That’s just wrong. The NFL takes talent because heart isn’t enough. Heart is everything in college ball. A winner is a winner is a winner. And winning in HS translates very nicely to the NCAA.
That makes Justin Addie something of a to thmystery to me. I’ll leave it at that.
I like Woods’ balance and vision. I also love his choppy little stride. It looks a lot like an Emmitt Smith shuffle when guys are falling all around his legs, and he’s just bouncing off hits while maintaining speed and direction. I’d put him with the impact players.
If Ashton becomes our punter, I think we will all love the kid when he leaves. I know we don’t like the current incarnation of QB turned punter. But Ashton produces at a high level already as a P.
And I’m told Clute blocks like Steven Jackson runs the ball. He has a propensity to bury his target with violence. He also has excellent speed and physicality as a receiver as well. I don’t want to say much more without seeing the kid play myself, but the Zags fans I’ve talked to say that he’s a helluva PF on a not so good hoops team… good enough to get a D-2 scholarship if he wanted one… maybe higher.
Any news on what K.T. Tuumalo thought of his visit? I’d love to get him because he plays with a lot of intensity and is very fast for a linebacker.
Oh, and if Strom Woods does decommit, I hope we pick up DeSean Martin. He’s a really underrated 3 star, and he only has 2 BCS offers (us and Vandy). He’s really fast and shifty and is also a great receiver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwVXIWy7q2w
I like the looks of DeSean, he has some speed, some shiftiness and appears to like contact.
Posted on Cliff’s blog… so true:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il-ytpmXj3E
That is good… “Nike Keg”
“Did your frat have Nike kegs at it’s parties? Mine did. Therefore, you are the douche-bag here.”
Are Duck fans watching this and wondering where anyone is finding humor?
where would you rank the guys who haven’t committed anywhere yet and realistically could go to OSU?
Angry, can you please give trollers like me some help and school me on what positions these guys represent. Got kind of an idea but not a 100%.
I think talking about OSU recruiting classes at this time of the year is usually a crap-shoot, mostly because the most interesting thing is the final tally (with greyshirts and other walk-ons that randomly seem to pop up on our roster when Spring camp happens)…
I wish I had any idea what to think of this class. But I’ll make a generic prediction about it…
Somehow, we’re going to lose people to academic issues and other shit.
Some mysterious players will pop up, and although they’ll be walk-ons, they’ll end up playing/starting.
We’ll get at least crazy diamond in the rough that people will stroke themselves about, even though I think this class sucks ass without more O-linemen.
^LOL
Well done, Sir. Odds are, you hit it right on the head.
Speaking of recruits, Larry “the commish” Scott committed late tonight. Another WR, yay.
I’ve heard he’s also a pretty good DB, so maybe we’re recruiting him to play at CB?
Here’s some tape if anyone’s interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxyJutenxAM
Tyler Trosin, another WR (!), apparently committed.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/03/3229634/grants-thompson-folsoms-graves.html?storylink=lingospot_related_articles
The follow-up to that story:
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/04/3232372/graves-has-six-tds-as-folsom-topples.html#storylink=omni_popular
Does anyone here think we’re going to a spread passing scheme?
Ok… I wanted to watch this tape and say ‘meh, we already have enough WR’s in this class.’ But I can’t do it. This kid’s a baller. I’m thinking he’s going to be a S at OSU. The defense part of the tape starts around 7:30. He’s a really good cover S… especially in the red zone. He also has a really pretty long stride. He has to be a track athlete.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob8Q8_BhAEQ
I should say that IF he comes to OSU. Beat writers usually have better sources, so I don’t doubt it at this point. This is the same way we found out about Brandon Bennett.
Are we starting to run what Texas Tech used to run with Leach? My god.
That’s what I’m wondering. Either that or these kids are all going to supplant our current O-line. Things could be worse.
Maybe the Grant kids or Peat commit today too? (Hey, I can dream)
Grant lost last night, so maybe?
Trosin by all accounts is a great WR. 2-stars seems way low.
Too bad we can’t get Hobbi. He would make this class just so much better. Any other OL we’re looking at? I know we offered Teofilo, but I think he’ll end up at ASU. Seems like we haven’t even offered that much OL guys this year.
Nowiki is the big one still in play.
The Ducks landed 3 of our top targets, which does not help in any way.
Darryl Jackson was a great get, but we have to do better than Justin Addie.
I would love to see an OL next year of Jackson-Philipp-Andrews-Kelly-Enger, but you know the coaches can’t have an OL with at least 2 walk-ons on it.
To be fair, Geoff Garner should probably be in the mix. He’s an LDS walk-on, but he was a good prospect as a signee. And getting Mau Nomani back to add to Darryl Jackson, Michael Beaton, Roman Sapolu and a couple others means that we have a lot of good young talent on the roster.
We just need to play them.
Is Sapolu can play center (what he played in HS), then they can move Andrews around, probably to guard. All reports are that Andrews is the center in waiting, though, and once these coaches set their mind on something it doesn’t change.
Speaking of which, is Pankey starting today??
I agree with this. I think a core of Sapolu flanked by Andrews and Philipp would make just about any OT look good… on either side.
Is Jackson game ready? I doubt it.
Garner, Phillip (definitely needs to move to guard), Andrews, Nomani, Enger
?
Remmers et al are back, though, so we still have to “work through” these walk-ons. Ugh.
Ah, I forgot about Nomani. I really hope he starts as he could be better than any G we have right now.
I’m hoping for Nowicki. I like his game more than any other prospect left. He’s not as good as Andre Y, but I think he should be rated an equal to Johnstone.
I also don’t know how anyone watches Trosin’s tape and isn’t really impressed. I’d give him four stars on either side of the ball, then I’d take one away for size. He should be a high three star.
I don’t know what to think about the ‘Grant kids’ package deal. If I’m honest, I say Vei Moala is the real target, and I like Puka Lopa as a project with good to great upside.
Paulo isn’t much to write home about. I can find many Oregon kids with much better skills. And Sample is just a slower version of Donnel Welch. I’d still take him, because being a slow Donnel Welch means you can still be faster than 99% of the OLB/S prospects out there.
I just get the feeling all the Grant kids go their separate ways after this year.
If taking Paulo and Lopa means getting the other guys, specifically Moala, then I’m all for it. He could come in day 1 and be a force to be wreckoned with in the Pac-10. Grant had over 80 sacks this year, with Lopa and Moala in double digits. We need Vei BAD.
Clifford Johnson, 3-star CB, has high interest in the Beavs, but doesn’t have an offer. He has offers from Kansas State, Kentucky, SMU, and Iowa State.
I wonder why we haven’t offered. I’d gladly take him if McClure books elsewhere.
Here is Trosin’s film. Some of these catches are absolutely amazing. Clearly a 4-star if not 5-star recruit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob8Q8_BhAEQ
He’s definitely faster than 4.55 IMO.
He looks “quick”, and he also looks like a player whose speed doesn’t really matter because he has so many other things working for him. How is this guy 2 stars? Glad he is, because if he had a proper rating big schools would be after him.
Do you know how many scholarships we have left to give out in this class? I hope guys like Harrah and De Rego don’t take up space to bock bigger name guys from getting in.
8 by my count, but they’ll greyshirt projects like Klute if need be.