I was going to include this as an addendum to the next recruit profile but holy shiitake mushrooms Batman has the recruiting exploded since last week. So once again the board gets its own post.
A grand total of four commitments have rolled in since last week, which is a mind-blowing number for a week that doesn't include a junior day, camp, or NLOID. Even then you usually don't get that kind of action. Let's recap:
-- Re-added WR Mario Nixon to orange. You remember Nixon. Ex-Hokie commit. It was great stuff to flip Darius Redman last year but now that the shoe is on the other foot, Hokie fans are a little huffy. The timeline goes something like this:
Saturday: Nixon visits a UVA practice with his family.
Monday: Twitter rumors abound that Nixon has flipped, or will.
Tuesday: Doug Doughty reports Tech pulled their offer. Nixon is a UVA commit a couple hours later.
Wednesday: Nixon seems to contradict Doughty's report a little bit by saying that he told the Tech coaches, not the other way round.
So did Nixon decommit first or did Frank Beamer pull his offer first? It probably doesn't matter. Last year, Dominique Terrell had one foot in Blacksburg (not literally) when the rumors filtered down the pipes that the Hokies had shut the door on him. Jokes followed that the Hokies did that just so they could claim they didn't "lose" him to UVA. Whether or not it's totally true that Beamer had a hissy fit that Mario Nixon would have the unmitigated gall to be present in Charlottesville without Beamer's express permission, Beamer is still gaining quite the reputation for being a bastard about this stuff. I have no problem with coaches telling a kid that if he's still allowing himself to be recruited, they're going to keep recruiting his position. It's a tough balancing act coaches have. I don't even have a problem with pulling an offer if the coaches are telling a kid, look, we just don't have room any more. Getting so pissy about a simple visit? I question the logic in that. Still, if Beamer wants to sabotage his own class like that, he should feel free. No doubt if he really did pull the rug out from under Nixon, coaches around the state - particularly the ones that NCS's coaches are friendly with - will take notice.
Nixon's commitment gives UVA the Norfolk Christian grand slam, and nine commits from six different 757 schools, for those who like to keep track.
-- Moved DE Eli Harold and RB Kye Morgan from blue to orange. Harold picked UVA over Florida and Penn State as his other finalists, and offers from Ohio State, Miami, Tennessee, and LSU besides. Morgan brings a badly-needed running back into the fold, but is sometimes mentioned as a possible defensive back. So the staff won't stop recruiting Chris Mangus, and if we get him too, then Morgan's a candidate for the secondary. Regardless, two great and badly needed pickups.
-- Moved QB Greyson Lambert from green to orange. WHOA. Matt Johns surely has some potential of his own, but Lambert gives UVA some legitimate star potential under center. And here I had dropped Lambert earlier because I thought he'd never be pulled out of the deep South.
Perhaps you read this article at ESPN about the "it" offers in the world of recruiting. (How such an article excludes Ohio State and probably Michigan and Oklahoma can only be chalked up as an extreme southern bias with a touch of trendiness by including Oregon. Still.) The schools mentioned as "special" offers are Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Oregon, USC, and Texas. With Lambert and Harold adding their presence to the class this week, UVA now has at least one recruiting win over each of these schools except FSU and UT (the latter of which almost literally never recruits outside their home state anyway.) That's the Mike London Difference.
-- Removed LB Trey Edmunds from blue. VT won that one.
-- Removed DT Rod Chungong from green. As generally expected, he's going to Georgia Tech.
-- Removed OL Greg Pyke from yellow. Georgia.
-- Removed ATH Devin Fuller and DE Noah Spence from red. Two guys who came out with long top-12 lists or something, both without UVA. It's just as well, we're getting to the point where we can only focus our efforts on a few more guys.
There are only nine names left on the realistic part of the board, so I'm not adding more must-haves with their names in orange. Recruiting from here on out can't get any crazier than it just did, can it?
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3 comments:
Great summary of the Nixon story, Brendan. Are you surprised that Tech's staff reacted the way that they did to Nixon's visit? It comes off as kind of petty to me on Frank and co.'s part...
Also, what do you think of the bush league reporting by DD and others? A few of the common inaccuracies were who Nixon traveled to Grounds with on his visit this past Saturday (his mother, not teammates) and who cut the tie between Nixon-Hokies first (but like you said, that's slightly irrelevant)...
Regardless, I've enjoyed following all this recruiting action right before I head back for my fourth year. Should be interesting to see who enrolls early (Greyson Lambert, possibly Kevin Green, etc.)and who we actually sign in February. Is there anyone on our list that you could see switching their commitment before signing day (WR is looking pretty strong right now, especially if we bring on Canaan Severin...also I've heard rumors of both Brim and Valles looking elsewhere)?
It did surprise me that Beamer reacted that way. Nixon isn't indispensible as a prospect but neither is he chopped liver, and VERY rarely does a coaching staff overtly kick a guy out the door. There are some tricks coaches pull to get a kid to decommit and let him think its his idea, but yanking an offer in retaliation? Almost never happens.
I didn't think the reporting on it was all that bad. Did try to portray the Hokies in the best possible light but at least it didn't trash Nixon.
As far as decommitments, I sort of worry about Brim, but mainly because of the way he's gotten such attention after he committed. It's hard to blame someone if they suddenly see a lot of other options in front of them. Would like to see him take an official during the season.
Honestly, the guy I sort of worry about is Lambert. Alabama's going to put a hard charge in for a QB, as there's a chance that the loser of McCarron and Sims transfers. They'd have, uh, Ely?, as depth, but they really could use someone in this class.
Overall, it's a solid, follow-up recruiting class. It's been awhile, probably since early Groh, that I could remember back to back solid to strong classes. Late Groh was good class/eh class. This class has covered a lot of bases, adding quality options at QB, RB, WR, LB, and potentially, some DB depth. The only two areas that somewhat trouble me are OL/DT (well, to an extent, TE, but there's no current seniors on the squad, and Nixon/Dockins both are intriguing to a certain extent).
Not much left on the board. Cyrus Jones makes it sound like he's going to head south. Ekanem doesn't seem likely to come to a 4-3 chase scheme. Severin/Mangus are the two hopes, but I feel like Mangus is going to stay in-state, and I don't view him as a must-get. Severin, I'd love. There's the dream hopes for Brown/Diggs/Goldman (and Goldman would address a particularly glaring need and likely have a chance to start next year), but realistically, those are dreams.
Overall, a good 2nd outing for a rebuilding program. Got the top QB a bit late in the process to get the typical carry-on's that they might bring, but 2013 should be focused on the deep VA prep class, with QB a big target.
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