long overdue update

OK, so as you probably know, Tony Bennett is en fuego this week, and the basketball team has its third commitment in K.T. Harrell from Alabama. I will do the usual for him later. For the short term, know that this is more or less the end of the line with Mychal Parker, who will probably end up a Twerp now. Not that I'm complaining - Harrell sounds beastly talented by all accounts. Today, though, we need to get to the recruiting board, which is in dire need of an update, and this looks like the best chance to get around to it. Tomorrow is almost certainly going to be the next season preview with Clemson in the hopper, and Harrell is probably Friday. The bonus to all this extra content that needs to get out there, for you anyway, is that weekend posting is probably in the cards. Plus, doing this recruiting board update gives me an excuse to throw in a few tidbits I want to touch on that don't really merit their own post.

First, we've been snubbed - twice. You probably saw ESPN's silly mock draft of 40 college teams yesterday, which is snub #1. You also probably don't need me to point out the idiocy of claiming to be selecting a "modern meritocracy" and then including Texas A&M and Michigan State. Actually, the whole exercise being what it is (a way to better crown a national champion) strikes me as having the lesson that the more "perfect" a system you create for deciding a national champ, the more you destroy the traditional underpinnings of college football. Snub #2: Gobbler Country's list of 10 ACC games he's looking forward to this season. Apparently Baylor vs. Wake Forest is more interesting to a diehard Hokie than a certain Thanksgiving matchup? We need to beat these people more often.

I've also been meaning to register my disappointment about the changes to the NFL draft. This was a much better event when you could kick it off at like noon on Saturday or whenever and commence knocking back beers until the shindig was over Sunday evening. It's officially no longer fun when spread over three days and in prime time. The better for cramming obnoxious "analysis" down your throat and having to watch more ads.

Finally, Jeff White offers a list of freshmen that might see playing time this year, and, surprise surprise, the list is full of defensive linemen.

OK, let's bother ourselves with this recruiting board, it needs a little polishing.

- Gone are QB Stephen Morris (Miami), DE Marcus Rush (Michigan State - dammit now I look foolish for calling him a future Hoo and even worse he's gonna be a Spartan), and LB Holmes Onwukaife (Florida State.)

- Added DE Ethan Farmer to yellow. We offered a while ago but I didn't bother because he's listed as a tight end. Should have known we'd be recruiting him for defense.

- Re-added CB Urell Johnson to red. For whatever reason I still don't have any sense of confidence he'll end up here, but he decommitted from Southern Miss so whatever, he's back on the market and therefore back on the board.

- Also re-added S Nick Dew to yellow. If he was anything but the huge Tech fan he's rumored to be, he'd probably be in the blue (and obviously wouldn't have been dropped in the first place) but still. We'll just have to see what happens after he visits. By the way there is like this huge screaming discrepancy between ESPN's evaluation of Dew and the other two. He's very much middle-of-the-road to Scout and Rivals: Scout says, 71st-best safety in the country. ESPN thinks he's the #48 player overall and the #6 safety. This is what happens when a recruit chooses the Under Armour game over the Army All-American one.

- Lastly, added DT Johnathan Hankins to yellow. If I didn't think he's sort of got one foot already in Columbus I'd put him in the blue, but this is a guy that the Michigan fan in me has been following for a little while. Michigan didn't offer, by the way. They told him he needs to get in better shape. Seems like a little bit of a red flag, but there are a lot of other high-profile offers on his kitchen table and he's huge and just the sort of space-eating defensive tackle the 3-4 needs.

So many projects, so little time. Clemson tomorrow, K.T. Harrell Friday, and probably something over the weekend, like Duke maybe. Plus I want to finish the videos sometime this month so I don't have them hanging over my head come football time, plus the depth chart needs an update already. Gee, I sure hope someone doesn't commit to the football team soon so I have even more to do here. That would suck, right?