Wednesday, May 30, 2012

recruiting board update

It's that time again.  Recruiting board time.  And with a big junior day weekend coming up, hopefully there are a few names spending their last week in the blue or green sections before their promotion to orange.  I do expect a commitment or two.  No specific name in mind, just, this is the kind of weekend for Things To Happen.

Speaking of orange and blue, another of the former came out of the latter this week.  Not blue as in section, blue as in sky, which rhymes with "who is this guy?"  This guy is Texas cornerback Hipolito Corporan, who surprise-committed to the Hoos this past week, shortly after I said I didn't expect any upcoming commitments until the junior day.  I had seen the name Hipolito Corporan exactly once before: when perusing the offer lists last week or the week before for potential names to be added.  I decided I hadn't read enough about him to add him to the board.  Whoops.

You notice there aren't a ton of defensive backs on this board, because of the glut of them we took last year.  That said, Corporan's commitment isn't going to change the coaches' pursuit of guys like Kirk Garner.  And since this is one of those sight-unseen commitments - Corporan has never been to UVA - the stickiness of this one will naturally be in question until he does take a visit.  Coaches tend to like their odds of swaying such a player; they certainly tried with Demeitre Brim last year.  Brim was solid, but they aren't always.

Anyway, here are this week's changes to the board:

-- Added CB Hipolito Corporan to orange.

-- Added WR Keeon Johnson to yellow.

-- Added CB Priest Willis to red.  Red is typically a section for players to drop into until such time as they commit somewhere else, and I'm not usually in the business of adding players there.  That said, it makes sense here; there's enough out there to connect Willis to UVA at least tenuously, but you should see his damn offer list.

-- Moved LB Larenz Bryant from yellow to green.  We are certainly sitting in the catbird seat, linebacker-wise.  That position is likely to be the strongest in our class; Micah Kiser was a terrific start, and UVA is in great shape with four-star types with long offer lists like Bryant, Doug Randolph, Buddy Brown, and especially Peter Kalambayi.

-- Removed TE Arshad Jackson from yellow.  Committed to Auburn.

-- Removed ATH Reon Dawson from red.  Committed to Illinois.  His drop into the red section was precipitated by a stated interest in staying in B1G country, and he has done exactly that.

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