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

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Jeudy's performance was no shock to me or anyone that followed his high school career. My expectations for him are also high for the fall but I still contend that he'll be the third-best receiver in Alabama's 2018 recruiting class when all is said and done. The other two just aren't on campus yet.

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All this early signing day talk doesn't really matter for a guy like touted quarterback Tanner McKee.

Ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the nation's No. 5 pro-style passer, the 6-foot-6, 205-pound standout out of Corona (Calif.) Centennial will take a two-year LDS Mission before enrolling at the school of his choice.

"Notre Dame called last night and said they were fired up I was going on a mission because that made me 2020 recruit," McKee said with a laugh.

Over 20 schools including Alabama, Arizona State, Colorado, Duke, Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M, BYU, UCLA and Utah have offered with programs like Auburn and ND showing strong personal interest.

"I will start narrowing things down to 10 or so schools in a month," McKee said. "Just kind of waiting to see who is interested in me so I can make an informed decision."

A few of those programs look to be in strong shape to make the cut.

"Things can change but I would say the best relationships right now are with Texas, Bama, UNC, BYU and Washington," McKee said. "They are who I talk to most. I've been talking to Auburn, Texas A&M, and Notre Dame recently so I'm looking forward to learning more about them.

"They are all great schools with good football programs."

McKee has been making the rounds and will check out the Sun Devils at the end of the month.

In the discussion as America's top signal-caller, McKee played a tough schedule as a junior including four nationally-ranked teams and carved the opposition up by completing 73 percent of his passes for 3,522 yards and 36 touchdowns with another 539 yards rushing and 15 more scores.

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No. One of my numerous stalkers, Rohan Gravy, wasn't bright enough to know that one can change their team symbol on a whim.

I made it LSU to frick with him. It even got a response from him.

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Tommy Brown (apparently we're very high on him, not just because he's a legacy.

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He's the one whose dad ran track, I believe.

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DE- Max Wright (big surprise... supposedly in very good shape behind the scenes)

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Max Wright’s family has a special place in Texas history.

Back in the 60s, M.P Wright had a ranching and slaughter business in South Texas. When ranchers would stop by to sell longhorns, M.P. would select the best of the bunch for breeding stock.

By 1965, M.P.’s herd consisted of 222 registered Texas longhorns. At the time, it was the largest longhorn herd in the world.

While the numbers aren’t as large, the Wright family still has longhorns on their ranch in Realitos, Texas — a small town with a population of 184.

Max, a Katy Taylor defensive end, doesn’t work directly with the herd, but he spends as much time on his family’s ranch as possible and is proud of its rich heritage.

“It’s pretty cool to know that my family once owned the largest longhorn herd in the world,” Wright said. “My uncle is running the herd down there now. It’s not as big as it was, but it’s just cool that’s part of my family history.”

Wright never took an interest in cattle. But he quickly became an outdoorsman. When he was a kid, Wright would spend countless hours fishing, hunting and running wild on the family ranch.

With the recruiting process and life in general getting more hectic, Wright uses his ranch time as an escape.

“I like to call it the South Texas Riviera,” said Wright’s mother, Cydney. “The kids love it. They’ve always grown up outdoors. I love that they can get away from all the distractions and just chill. It’s super important for him to get away. It keeps his head straight.”

For Wright, the ranch truly is an oasis.

“It’s great to get away from living in Houston,” Wright said. “I don’t have cell phone service out there, so I get to help out with things on the ranch and just get away from all the craziness.

“It’s something I really enjoy. I love it down there. I hate being cooped up. It’s where I feel at home.”

Wright spends most of his time on the ranch during the summer. Along with going to school and playing football, Wright is also a star on the baseball diamond. His busy schedule gets overwhelming at times, but he always creates time to make the four-hour trek south.

Wright’s favorite activity on the ranch is hunting hogs, but his skills don’t stop there. Wright is a sharpshooter when it comes to a number of different wild game.

“Quail is so fun to hunt,” Wright said. “It still scares the crap out of me. We walk through a field, and they just pop up. It keeps you antsy, but it’s fun. I hunt dove too, and hogs are big down there. Turkey are a lot of fun to hunt.”

In case you were wondering, Wright hunts deer as well.

He actually shot his first one before enrolling in the first grade. Taking down bucks comes just as natural as sacking quarterbacks on Friday nights.

“It’s buck fever,” Wright said. “I think I shot my first deer when I was five or six years old. I was freaking out. I was a big kid, but I always thought those animals were so massive. I was like woah.”

Wright has become so good with a gun that he actually has an entire freezer packed with deer sausage — some are even filled with jalapenos and cheese.

“I hate when people say it’s disgusting to kill animals, but we don’t waste any of it,” Wright said. “We eat the meat. We don’t just shoot it and say goodbye. I actually think I have 50 pounds of deer sausage in my freezer. It’s super good.”

Hunting is a way of life for Wright. But it’s not the most impressive activity he partakes in.

The Wright family ranch features several small lakes. One day, his uncle decided to give spear fishing a try. He made his own spear out of PVC pipe and metal prongs and had success.

Wright one upped his uncle and ordered spearfishing gear off the web. With a scuba mask on his face and a spear in his hand, Wright often comes away with double-digit fish.

“In one day, I could get 10 or 11 fish,” Wright said. “I’ve gotten really good at it. I love it. It’s actually not hard. You just load it up, you sit there and you wait. Once they come by, you just aim and stab at it.”

The Wright family history is in ranching, but sports seem to be its future. Wright’s brother plays baseball at St. Edwards and his sister played volleyball at St. Mary's.

By the time he was three years old, Wright already played whiffle ball in the backyard. A couple of years later, he led his tee ball team to a national championship.

Wright might be a big-time football recruit, but at one point, baseball appeared to be his path. In fact, Wright received some interest from schools as a freshman.

“Baseball was my first love,” Wright said. “But my love for football grew and grew. I still love baseball. It’s harder than football because it’s such a mental game. If you fail seven out of ten times, you’re a Hall of Famer. Seriously, if you bat .300, you’re probably going to be a Hall of Famer.

“It’s such a mental game that it messes with you. In football, you can run wild. You don’t have to think. You can just go kill somebody. I can tune out my mind. It’s so much fun.”

Wright has blossomed into one of the most feared defensive players in the state and a hot commodity on the recruiting trail. As a junior, Wright notched 70 tackles and nine sacks en route to earning all-state honors.

What makes that even more impressive is Wright did all of that one year removed from an ACL tear. He suffered the gruesome injury just four games into his sophomore year.

“(My mom) couldn’t look at me,” Wright said. “I was in a lot of pain. They had to straighten it, and it was really nasty. I started to scream and cry. She cares for us and loves us so much. But I don’t want to live in fear. That’s not how you’re supposed to live. I learned that when I was younger.”

That life lesson came during one of Wright’s outdoor expeditions when he was just six years old.

While riding ATVs with his siblings, a sharp turn caused him to roll over five times. The accident resulted in a deep wound on his foot, which was infected with flesh-eating bacteria.

Wright spent a month and a half in the hospital and underwent half a dozen surgeries. To this day, he has no feeling in his heel.

Wright could’ve easily gone back to baseball or pursued something else after the ACL tear, but he decided to overcome the adversity.

Cydney didn’t allow Wright to play football until he was in the fourth grade because she was afraid of injuries. While she still worries, she’s learned to take them in stride and is proud of her son for working his way back on the field.

“He’s going to play sports,” Cydney said. “I’m thankful for the opportunities he’s had. But come on, I’m a mom. Let’s just be real. I pray every day for my kid’s protection. Football is a violent game. You’ll find me at the games at the top of the 50 praying. I’ll just leave it at that.

“This kid has had a litany of injuries. We’ve paid for a lot of doctors’ summer homes. But he’s bounced back. And he’s put in a lot of hard work.”

As mentioned, Wright is coming off a stellar junior season and is 100 percent healthy going into his senior year. Recruiters have no reason to proceed with caution and are relentlessly pursuing Wright.

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4-star ATH Devon Williams told FightOn247 he has three big upcoming trips to Alabama, Oregon and Florida State. Williams confirmed that he has already booked a trip to check out the Tide on June 9th.

"I'm expecting it to be a good trip," said Williams, who has never been to Alabama. "I'm looking to take a lot of notes. See what I have to do to get there and compete with the other players that are already there."

Williams said he will book a trip to Florida State upon his return to California. But FSU will be the final visit, after a trip to Oregon, which offered him first. He said those trips will be right after each other.

"Same with the Alabama trip, I just want to get out of it as much as I can," said Williams of Florida State.

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