re: Class of 2018 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: So Long Old Friend Edition

quote:

---

Thompson 2019 QB Taulia Tagovailoa added power-5 offers from Arizona and Nebraska this week as his recruiting stock continues to rise.

The Class 7A Back of the Year finalist help the Warriors to 12 straight wins before they lost a rematch to Hoover in the state semifinals.

"If Taulia improves as much this year as he did last year, I think he can be as good as anyone out there," Thompson coach Mark Freeman said. "A lot of people compare him to his brother (Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa) and that is probably unfair at this juncture, but Taulia can be special. He already is special, special guy."

The 5-foot-11, 202-pound Tagovailoa is currently the 11th ranked player in the state for 2019, according to the 247 composite rankings. His early offers already include Alabama, Florida, FAU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Oregon.

Though he didn't arrive in Alabaster from Hawaii until last spring, Tagovailoa caught on quickly at Thompson. The first-team ASWA All-State selection threw for 3,823 yards and 35 touchdowns for the Warriors. He was intercepted just eight times. He is thought to be one of several contenders for the state's Mr. Football award, which will be handed out on Jan. 30 in Montgomery.

"The thing I was most impressed with was Taulia's work habits and study and preparation for games," Freeman said. "At first, we tried to take things he was already good at and incorporate it into our system so we would have something to fall back on if needed, but he picked up our offense very easily. He could see the system and where we were trying to go with the ball. It was all clear to him."

Though Freeman said it is a bit premature to compare Taulia to older brother Tua -- who rallied Alabama from a 13-0 halftime deficit in the national championship game to an overtime win over Georgia - he noted there are plenty of similarities.

"He and Tua are so very similar in the many ways you can see just watching them play," Freeman said. "You see a lot of Tua in Taulia because of how they both play, the throws and decisions they make. I don't know how anyone in the state could have done more for their team did Taulia did for us this year. He came in here and acted like he'd been here his whole life. The kids accepted him right away, and that is why we were so successful."

Freeman said Taulia also compares favorably to another quarterback he's extremely familiar with, 2015 Mr. Football winner Tyler Johnston. Freeman and Johnston helped Spanish Fort to the 2013 Class 5A state title. Johnston is now at UAB.

"Those two guys, Tyler and Taulia, are both very unselfish players," Freeman said. "They are similar in the fact that Tyler was and Taulia is respected by all their teammates and deservedly so. They weren't respected because they were the quarterback. They were respected because of how they worked in practice, how they studied film, the effort they both gave all the time. They are both quiet leaders. They do it with their actions and character."

Freeman said his main goal for Taulia is for him to get stronger in the offseason.

"I think if he puts a little weight on and gets physical stronger, it will take him to a whole new level," he said. "He's very accurate already. He knows where to go with the ball. On every play, he has three parts of the field he has to look at and get it to the right part of the field whether it is by run or pass. Taulia has an uncanny knock to see things very fast."

---

quote:

---

1. What was the toughest decision you faced personally?

Rob Cassidy (Southeast/Florida): I didn’t know what to do with Tyson Campbell. His potential is sky high and his measurables are off the charts. He’s an incredible talent. That said, he’s prone to lapses and isn’t quite as consistent as you’d like a five-star prospect to be. In the end, I think we made the right choice.

Mike Farrell (National): Not having a specific region and heading up the rankings, I don’t really have any personally challenging decisions. However, the debate over Tyson Campbell was an interesting one. On the one hand, he’s tall, athletic and rangy and could be an elite cornerback. On the other hand, he tends to lose concentration at least once a game and gives up too many big plays. Are there really two five star cornerbacks on the same team, as he and Patrick Surtain hail from American Heritage in Florida? It was a heated debate, but in the end we felt Campbell is too special to pass on for the fifth star.

Adam Friedman (Mid-Atlantic): Ranking USC commit JT Daniels was the biggest discussion we had in the meeting. It's always difficult slotting a player that moves into the top tier of the rankings, because that means other players will move down. Coming to terms with where some of the players in my region moved because of Daniels' placement wasn't the easiest thing to do.

Adam Gorney (National/West Coast): The toughest choice was where to place Anthony Cook. The five-star cornerback had a bad week at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, but it was a small sample size. So was it necessary to completely drop him in the rankings - or not? I still think Cook is an athletic kid who could be a shutdown cornerback, but he was routinely beaten, especially on the deep ball, in San Antonio. He needed to be placed differently in the position and state rankings but I didn't want to plummet him, either, since it was only one event where he struggled.

Josh Helmholdt (Midwest): The top four in the state of Ohio are so close you could throw a blanket over them. There really is very little separation between the group from a rankings standpoint, and determining a pecking order was among the most difficult decisions we faced in this cycle.

Nick Krueger (Texas): This time of year it’s easy for us all to throw each other under the bus because we can’t all be at both major All-American games. But those events tend to play a significant role in many players’ final rankings. I was not at the Army game, but was disappointed to find out how much Anthony Cook struggled. Having to help choose where he should fall without having seen for myself the things he was judged on is an unfortunate part of the process. Up until the final rankings, Cook had as impressive a body of work at every event we had seen him in as anybody. But he seemed to not have his best stuff in San Antonio and paid the price for it. It’s disappointing, but he’s not the only player that this happens to on an annual basis.

Chad Simmons (Southeast): The toughest decision for me, not only at the end here in January, but for the last few months was at defensive end in Georgia. Adam Anderson and Brenton Cox had big senior seasons, both were All-Americans, and both are likely to have bright futures. So even though both have different skill-sets, they both rush the passer and it was a tight race on who was the top end in the Peach State.

Woody Wommack (Southeast): One of the toughest decisions I had to face was what to do with Rivals100 wide receiver Devonta Jason. After a dominant spring, Jason was elevated to five-star status, only to later drop due to concerns over his speed. If you base it solely on production, both in camps and on Friday nights, it's hard to argue many players should be ranked ahead of Jason. But as we are projecting forward, everything has to be taken into account and weighed. Jason is still ranked high, and I think he will have a great career, but he was - and is - a tough player to project in terms of how close he is to his ceiling.

---

quote:

---

2. Who do you think we might have too low?

Cassidy: I think Josh Jobe could make us pay. He has NFL size and his physicality is off the charts. I think he’s the kind of prospect that could have challenged for five-star status. But he transferred north, away from my region, last year so he’s not my problem anymore.

Farrell: I think Tyreke Smith, the Ohio State commitment, will be a guy we look back on and say we should have had as a five-star. He’s still new to football, continues to add good weight and strength, and I think in a couple of years he will be a dominant edge rusher for Ohio State and a highly coveted draft prospect. He’s our highest four-star, but we could regret not giving him that fifth.

Friedman: If I had my way, future Buckeyes Tyreke Smith and Blue Smith and NC State signee De'Von Graves would be higher in the rankings. We had a pretty good discussion about Tyreke Smith and it wouldn't surprise me if Blue Smith turned out to be the best wide receiver in this class. Graves was a tough evaluation because he plays sub-par competition and didn't come out to showcases or 7on7 tournaments. He still earned a 5.8 Rivals Rating, but I have a feeling he should have been higher.

Gorney: Brandon Kaho might be one of the best linebackers in this class and he's ranked in the Rivals100 but there could be five-star potential there. The problem was Kaho did not participate in the Army Bowl, which would have been an excellent evaluation tool and he's at the Polynesian Bowl, but that's only chance this month to see him. Kaho didn't do many camps and didn't play a lot of 7on7, so there wasn't a lot of offseason exposure there. But Alabama absolutely loved the kid and Washington got a huge pledge from him, so he could be something really special.

Helmholdt: Ohio State wide receiver signee Kamryn Babb tore his ACL in August, missed all of his senior season and did not play in the Army Bowl. With no new evaluations since last off-season to adjust Babb's rating, he ends up lower in the final Rivals250 than I ultimately feel he would have if we'd had another evaluation this winter.

Krueger: In my region, DeMarvion Overshown seems to have a ton of potential - and others have him ranked higher than we do - but there is still a lot of rawness to his game. He comes from a town of little more than 900 people, so he’s played in a small classification during his high school career and has spent most of it chasing down runners rather than defending passes. That didn’t stop him from making several highlight-worthy plays on passes during his week at Under Armour, but then again, the quarterbacks didn’t have a spectacular week, either. Regardless, he could end up being a superstar for Texas down the road.

Simmons: I would have to say Brey Walker. He is a top 50 prospect, so he’s not that low, but being an offensive tackle - a premiere position - he could be a high NFL Draft pick down the road. He has the frame, the skill-set, and at his position, he could be one we look back on and think we had a little low.

Wommack: Based on the current rankings I think Tyson Campbell is too low at No. 88. In my mind Campbell has the potential to be a future first-round pick and has everything you look for in an elite cornerback prospect.

---

quote:

---

Isaiah Hazel received one of Alabama’s newest offers on Friday and the Crimson Tide have already made a strong impression on the 2019 Rivals250 wide receiver out of Upper Marlboro (Md.) Wise.

IN HIS OWN WORDS…

“I was very excited by the Alabama offer,” Hazel said. “Coach Locksley believes in me as a player and as a young man. I don’t know too much about him just yet but our conversation was really about how much he liked my game and the certain things I do that stood out to him. He said he had to offer me because he loves my game and the way I play. I’m going to go down there and sit down to talk about everything.

“The tradition they have at Alabama and the way they have everything set up is really impressive,” he said. “They get their young men into the NFL and they get their degree. That’s important to me.

“Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech are still three big schools for me,” said Hazel. “I don’t have any visits planned yet but I’m going to get to a couple schools like Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia Tech.”

RIVALS’ REACTION...

Hazel’s new Alabama offer will give him a lot to think about going forward. Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech are the entrenched contenders here but Hazel’s recruitment will not be over any time soon. Expect Hazel to get out on the road to see more schools this spring and do more research.

---