2012 FOOTBALL Commits and Recruiting News

[Ed O]

they'll be able to bend this a little this year by having up to 3 players qualify for last years class as Early Enrollees, but this scholarship limit is still going to hurt a lot. The top shelf types they go after tend to have better NFL prospects, so like Barkley and Kalil they'll continue to have a higher rate of true Juniors looking to go pro early... Robert Woods would be a good guess to go pro early next year. Fewer players coming in + a higher rate of attrition = a shrinking roster. Remember how gassed they were in the 4th Q this year?

That totally makes sense.

I know you probably don't follow USC as closely as you do Oregon, but how did they get 31 commits last year?

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/school/_/id/30/class/2011

Even if they can get three from the previous year as early enrollees, that'd be 28. I thought the limit was 25? Maybe some of those were walk-ons? Or maybe ESPN is wrong?

I'm just a bit confused as to how this works

Ed O.

 

[Wheels]

That totally makes sense.

I know you probably don't follow USC as closely as you do Oregon, but how did they get 31 commits last year?

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/school/_/id/30/class/2011

Even if they can get three from the previous year as early enrollees, that'd be 28. I thought the limit was 25? Maybe some of those were walk-ons? Or maybe ESPN is wrong?

I'm just a bit confused as to how this works

Ed O.

USC had some attrition with juniors leaving and transfers etc. iirc they loaded up last year while they were going through the appeals for scholarships lost. Which if/when they lost the appeal would make next year's class (this year's now) even smaller.

 

[Da_O]

Hey Ed O does this story have anything about Oregon in it?
http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncf...pn.go.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/east/post?id=878

Some guy posted it on DT but I don't have insider and he didn't say what it said.

 

[Ed O]

Hey Ed O does this story have anything about Oregon in it?
http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncf...pn.go.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/east/post?id=878

Now, Centreville is in Saturday's state semifinals and with a chance at a state title is little more than a week away, Ekanem has sworn off thinking too much about recruiting until his season is over.

“I think of it as one thing at time right now,” the four-star prospect said. “I'll do all the recruiting stuff after the season. That's what I've been planning on since the summer.

...

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound outside linebacker who has 18 scholarship offers is down to five schools: Oregon, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and North Carolina.

He basically then kissed the butt the first four of those schools, including:

There will be two factors in Ekanem's decision that bear watching: the type of defense a program runs and what type of business connections a college can give him after schooling.

Oregon has both, and a coach that has caught Ekanem's fancy.

“I like Chip Kelly,” the four-star prospect said. “He's a players coach. He's a very good coach. They have a good connection with Nike. If I went there I would want to go into sports marketing.”

Ekanem added that he's also impressed with how the Ducks are able to get the most out of their players.

I guess it's about as possible as a five-way tie can be

Ed O.

 

[Da_O]

That's great to hear. On a side note Justin Hopkins on DT says he thinks we have more than a good chance to land Arik Armstead unless USC clears up that stuff with his brother.

 

[STOMP]

That's great to hear. On a side note Justin Hopkins on DT says he thinks we have more than a good chance to land Arik Armstead unless USC clears up that stuff with his brother.

from what I've heard, Arik's older brother 6'5 295 DE/DT Armond Armstead is done with USC and looking to transfer over them not clearing him to play this season. The brothers would like to play together if possible and it's said to be between Cal and Oregon. Despite graduating 2 of their 3 DE's who received a lionshare of the snaps this season, the Ducks look to be (in ESPN's Ted Miller's words) "likely to win 10 games again in 2012 and will be the overwhelming favorite to win a fourth consecutive conference title". Add the Armsteads to shore up one of their few ? spots and MNCG possibilities loom... their DLine would go from tough to nasty. Or they could stay local & go to Cal and...

STOMP

 

[Ed O]

I remain a bit confused as to why Cal is so high on so many prospects' lists.

Is it a good school, academically? Sure.

Is it located in a good metro are? Yep.

But does Cal win games at the same level that USC and Oregon and even Boise State does?

Eff no!

I don't get why prospects consider Cal a top-tier destination when the school has no history of success.

Ed O.

 

[MickZagger]

Tedfords had some good years there and has produced many pro's. Successful pro's too.

If your a Northern California kid and want to stay local so family can see you, and don't have the grades to get into Stanford, they usually want to go to Cal.

 

[Da_O]

I remain a bit confused as to why Cal is so high on so many prospects' lists.

Is it a good school, academically? Sure.

Is it located in a good metro are? Yep.

But does Cal win games at the same level that USC and Oregon and even Boise State does?

Eff no!

I don't get why prospects consider Cal a top-tier destination when the school has no history of success.

Ed O.

Those are the exact reasons why they do so well, along with being positioned in northern California. Most people know California has one of the toughest high school systems as far as football competition goes, and it's easy for them to pluck a lot of those blue chip PSA's outside of LA. Tedford is a great recruiter as well, even if his X's and O's are becoming outdated.

It would be better for the Pac-12 as a whole if California could start winning more consistently(with us beating them of course).

 

[Da_O]

from what I've heard, Arik's older brother 6'5 295 DE/DT Armond Armstead is done with USC and looking to transfer over them not clearing him to play this season. The brothers would like to play together if possible and it's said to be between Cal and Oregon. Despite graduating 2 of their 3 DE's who received a lionshare of the snaps this season, the Ducks look to be (in ESPN's Ted Miller's words) "likely to win 10 games again in 2012 and will be the overwhelming favorite to win a fourth consecutive conference title". Add the Armsteads to shore up one of their few ? spots and MNCG possibilities loom... their DLine would go from tough to nasty. Or they could stay local & go to Cal and...

STOMP

Interesting, I have not heard anything about Cal being in the picture for Arik Armstead. On the last Q&A portion of DT they wrote this.

Q: With Arik Armstead's other OV's being so far away and then general feeling he might like to be close to home (and sc hopeully out of the picture), do you feel confident in saying we are the team to beat for Arik?

A: I do think Oregon is the team to beat with USC close in tow until the situation with his brother is resolved. The longer that drags on the worse it is for USC IMO.

That worries me if we're in a head to head with Cal as we seem to lose those battles more often than not.

 

[Da_O]

In this article http://rutgers.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1301802 it says DJ Foster has eliminated us.

Four-star standout D.J. Foster, who rushed for 3,058 yards and 54 touchdowns, had narrowed his list to Oregon and Arizona State but the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Saguaro prospect is back to being wide open.

Apparently, Foster eliminated Oregon recently and then wants to hold off on the Sun Devils until a new coach is in place. One source said Foster might have committed to Arizona State regardless of the coaching situation - this was when Dennis Erickson still had a job - but Foster decided to open up and wait things out.

I haven't read any other source that confirms this though.

Also I've heard Freddia Tagaloa has committed to Cal.

 

[STOMP]

tipped off by the word apparently, I read this DJ eliminating Oregon stuff as writer speculation to the actual news that he's decided to take an official visit to USC.

STOMP

 

[Mediocre Man]

I realize a Cal education is far better than an Oregon one, but I am tired of losing kids to that school. In order to really start being a recruiting dynamo, Oregon needs to bolster their academic side of things

 

[Ed O]

tipped off by the word apparently, I read this DJ eliminating Oregon stuff as writer speculation to the actual news that he's decided to take an official visit to USC.

Yeah, that seems like a pretty significant leap for the writer to make.

Ed O.

 

[Ed O]

I realize a Cal education is far better than an Oregon one, but I am tired of losing kids to that school. In order to really start being a recruiting dynamo, Oregon needs to bolster their academic side of things

Tail wagging the dog, huh?

The Oregon program just needs to do what is within its control: win lots of games and (secondarily) put players into the NFL.

Ed O.

 

[Da_O]

Coach Azz will be having an in-home visit with the Armstead's sometime this week.

Most likely Thursday.

 

[PapaG]

I realize a Cal education is far better than an Oregon one, but I am tired of losing kids to that school. In order to really start being a recruiting dynamo, Oregon needs to bolster their academic side of things

Since those players qualify at both schools, it makes me wonder about the quality of a Cal education, though. If it's that much superior to UO, either the players get smarter when they enroll there, or the reputation for academics is a bit overblown.

I remember Doug Gottlieb saying on ESPN that his brother, who is a Cal coach, told him that between the football and basketball teams, there were maybe five players total who would have been accepted to Cal without being on either of those teams. The question I have is how do those guys get through school there, if it's so tough?

 

[3RA1N1AC]

well, i would say that the majority of cals rep comes from its science/ math/engineering departments, and would bet that most of the athletes dont go near that part of campus

 

[PapaG]

well, i would say that the majority of cals rep comes from its science/ math/engineering departments, and would bet that most of the athletes dont go near that part of campus

Still, it's not like they let in a bunch of dumb asses into the other colleges there. Is there a football/basketball-only major, where they aren't so overwhelmed by the intellect of those surrounding them?

 

[porkchopexpress]

Since those players qualify at both schools, it makes me wonder about the quality of a Cal education, though. If it's that much superior to UO, either the players get smarter when they enroll there, or the reputation for academics is a bit overblown.

I remember Doug Gottlieb saying on ESPN that his brother, who is a Cal coach, told him that between the football and basketball teams, there were maybe five players total who would have been accepted to Cal without being on either of those teams. The question I have is how do those guys get through school there, if it's so tough?

I think for most players the short answer is class choices and tutors. Your average athlete at Oregon or Cal won't be in advanced calculus or physics. And even if they are only taking "Rock for Jocks" they probably have 2 or 3 tutors. I remember someone I knew from HS say that Derick Anderson had 6 tutors at OSU. Not sure if that was true or not, but I wouldn't be surprised.

But, if a kid is specifically choosing Cal (or Stanford, Northwestern, etc) over Oregon I'm guessing that they'll actually put some effort into their classes. Just because only 5 out of 100 (rough guess on a basketball and football team) would have qualified on their own doesn't mean that only those 5 can handle the curriculum. My sister got into Cal because of soccer. She had a good GPA, took honors classes, but only an okay SAT. There is no way that she could have gotten into Berkeley on that alone. Because of soccer she got in and ended up graduating with honors.

 

[Ed O]

I had limited interaction with any of the athletes in my four years at Northwestern (other than in pickup basketball games). I remember picking up my test booklet from a stack in a political science class or something (one where there were a couple of hundred students; pretty rare at NU) and seeing the name of a guy on the basketball team on a booklet. He got a D. Maybe he wasn't a good enough player for a tutor

I think porkchop is right: the special skill of playing a sport gives average students a chance to get in that they otherwise would not have, but it doesn't mean that they can't cut it if/when they get in.

Ed O.

 

[Da_O]

Chip Kelly doing an in-home with 5* star Kyle Murphy right now.

Coach John Neal visited Shaq Thompson today and Shaq had this to say, "It went really well. I saw him at my school today and after he went and talked with my mom. I like coach Neal, he's a straight shooter."

And as I said already Coach Azz is scheduled to do an in-home visit with Arik later this week.

 

[Wheels]

hmmm thats good news that we are still talking with Shaq at least.

 

[Da_O]

hmmm thats good news that we are still talking with Shaq at least.

I don't think John Neal would be talking to him if he thought the Ducks had no shot.

 

[MickZagger]

I had limited interaction with any of the athletes in my four years at Northwestern (other than in pickup basketball games). I remember picking up my test booklet from a stack in a political science class or something (one where there were a couple of hundred students; pretty rare at NU) and seeing the name of a guy on the basketball team on a booklet. He got a D. Maybe he wasn't a good enough player for a tutor

I think porkchop is right: the special skill of playing a sport gives average students a chance to get in that they otherwise would not have, but it doesn't mean that they can't cut it if/when they get in.

Ed O.

I thought you said you went to Marquette?

 

[Ed O]

I thought you said you went to Marquette?

My brother did.

Ed O.

 

[ACE1111187]

Still, it's not like they let in a bunch of dumb asses into the other colleges there. Is there a football/basketball-only major, where they aren't so overwhelmed by the intellect of those surrounding them?

Communications

 

[STOMP]

hmmm thats good news that we are still talking with Shaq at least.

articles I've read recently indicate he's all Cal talking them up to other recruits.

STOMP

 

[Wheels]

jk Stomp. Thanks for that update

 

[Da_O]

Coach Gary Campbell visiting 4* star Texas WR commit Thomas Johnson today. Apparently he has been blowing up Scott Frost's phone but no word of a decommitment yet.

Given the fact that in addition to 5* WR Cayleb Jones and 2 other 4* stars committing to Texas, and that he is the one initiating contact, it seems to me that Johnson might be looking elsewhere.

Also he is a former teammate of Anthony Wallace.