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re: Class of 2018 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: So Long Old Friend Edition
Posted on 4/11/17 at 10:13 am to TideSaint
Posted on 4/11/17 at 10:13 am to TideSaint
quote:
S -- Quindarious Monday, Atlanta (Ga.) Carver
Auburn leads for the 4-star safety from Georgia -- who happens to play on Cam Newtons 7-on-7 team.
2
Posted on 4/11/17 at 10:14 am to TideSaint
Apparently Neibuhr does this once a month. Here are the changes from March:
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Added
4* OT Dylan Wonnum
4* S Quindarious Monday
3* QB/ATH Gerry Bohanon
3* DE Caleb Tannor
3* OL Kameron Stutts
changed Nathaniel Watson to TE target
changed Kolbi Fuqua to WR target
Removed
4* RB Harold Joiner
4* WR Jacob Copeland
4* TE Tyneil Hopper
4* OG Tank Jenking
4* OT Christian Armstrong
3* DE Andres Fox
Posted on 4/11/17 at 10:15 am to TideSaint
So according to Niebuhr they are going to sweep all of the top in-state prospects this year.
Posted on 4/11/17 at 10:16 am to TideSaint
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Coynis Miller is making his case to be the state's top defensive prospect, and the Jackson-Olin defensive end has spent plenty of time at Auburn and Alabama lately.
The 6-foot-4, 290-pound Miller was at Auburn's A-Day game on Saturday. During his spring break, he spent three nights at Auburn and attended practice at Alabama.
Miller said he was pleased to see Auburn's defense "getting after it" during A-Day, and is working on building relationships with all of Auburn's coaches, not just defensive line coach Rodney Garner.
"Just the coaches and the players, they're down to earth," Miller said. "They treat me like family.
"One thing that (stood out during the 3-day trip), (head) Coach (Gus) Malzahn came and got me and put me on the field right behind him. I got to see the plays up close, seeing how they're supposed to go and execute it."
Miller also saw Alabama practice, and plans to be at Alabama's A-Day game on April 22. After that, he plans to just "chill for a while" before Jackson-Olin starts spring practice.
"Just the intensity of their practices (stood out), just moving around, being where they're supposed to be," Miller said of Alabama.
Miller was asked Saturday in a group interview setting which defensive linemen he looks at as a possible model for his game.
"I like to look at (Alabama's) Da'Ron Payne," Miller said. "He's a leader who puts the team in the right position I try to look at him. I look at other people like (Alabama's) Quinnen Williams."
When asked which Auburn players he looks at, he said, "I like to look at Derrick Brown. When I go off to college, we'll be playing the same position. I look at Marlon Davidson. I just like the way he plays."
Miller was an Alabama fan growing up, but is focused on making the right business decision for college. His friend and teammate T.D. Moultry signed with Auburn in February and was at the spring game.
"He probably wants me to come play (with him at Auburn), but he hasn't said anything," Miller said. "When me and him talk, it's just normal conversation."
Miller said right now, his top schools include Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia and probably Ole Miss, but in no order. He's planning on visiting Florida this summer.
Moultry committed to Auburn in May of last year, but Miller said he'll wait until after the season.
LINK
Posted on 4/11/17 at 10:32 am to TideSaint
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Alabama still a top school for Williams despite silent recruitment period
BUFORD, Ga. — One result when a coaching change happens is the new staff member needs to quickly repair and establish a relationship with a recruit who may have already had a strong bond with the former staff member who was spearheading his recruitment. Sometimes, the new bond could be better than the previous one and then sometimes it can start slowly.
The latter has happened for 4-star wide receiver Seth Williams, who is the No. 4 prospect in the state of Alabama, and the Crimson Tide. Williams visited Tuscaloosa for Alabama’s junior day event on Feb. 25, but as of March 25, which is when this interview was conducted, the team hadn’t talked to him during that time frame.
That would tend to be an issue for a majority of recruits, especially for a recruit who lives fewer than 15 miles away from the university, one who attends Paul W. Bryant High School and one who grew up a Crimson Tide fan.
Williams is taking things in stride, though.
“They’re one of my top schools, but I don’t really communicate with them,” Williams said. “They don’t really communicate with me.”
Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has taken over Williams’ recruitment, and, obviously, the new coach is still getting adjusted to being in a new place and establishing a new offensive identity. That could be a reason for the lack of communication.
The 6-foot-3, 212-pound prospect said his February visit went well and he did get a chance to speak with the staff then. Williams said he was given no indication that he had fallen down the staff’s main targets at wide receiver, which could be a reason for the lack of communication. Hence, he doesn’t have a clue as to why the staff hasn’t reached out since.
“I really don’t know why they haven’t talked to me,” Williams said. “It’s just recruiting. It happens.”
Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Ole Miss and Oregon have been communicating with Williams. He said those schools hit him up nearly every single day. Williams nearly committed to Florida State back in January. He decided to hold off because he felt like a January commitment was too early. He’s now going to make a decision after his senior season ends, so there’s plenty of time for Alabama to get back in Williams’ good graces.
“It’s just recruiting,” Williams explained. “You’re going to have some schools show you love and some that don’t. I still have lots of schools that are interested in me.”
Williams and 5-star wide receiver Justyn Ross, who is from Central High School in Phenix City, Ala., are believed to be near the top of the Tide’s wish list at the position. It’s hard imagining the Tide striking out on both of them, but there’s obvious work to do with Williams. Auburn is also strongly in the mix for Ross, who lives approximately 30 minutes or so from the school’s campus.
It’s possible the Tigers can come into Cottondale, Ala., and steal a recruit from Paul W. Bryant High School, but the Tigers have a legitimate chance. He’s visited Auburn numerous times and has become comfortable there.
“They want to build me into an NFL wide receiver,” Williams said. “I just want to look at the entire offense, but the quarterback situation is nice.”
I would expect things to heat up with Williams once again. After all, he lives in Alabama’s backyard.
FWIW, Niebuhr didn't predict Williams in the Auburn class either.
Posted on 4/11/17 at 10:33 am to TideSaint
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Alabama fighting to stay alive in the race for 5-star OT
Jackson Carman, the nation’s No. 1 offensive tackle, has been told by the Alabama staff that he’s one of the top offensive tackles that has ever been recruited by the coaches. How true that is is unknown. This is recruiting, after all, where recruits are always told what they want to hear every single day. Granted, Carman is one of the best players in the country in the Class of 2018.
But if Alabama is going to land him, it has some work to do.
“(Clemson and Ohio State) are like 1A and 1B,” Carman told our own Jeremy Birmingham who covers Ohio State for Land of 10. “I’d say ‘Bama is kind of tied for No. 3 with the other five schools I’m considering.”
There really aren’t five other schools in the race for Carman at this time, though he says otherwise. The Tigers lead for Carman after a trip to Clemson a few weeks ago. It was his first-ever trip there.
“I liked the people (at Clemson), how they recruit,” he said. “They’ve never signed a JUCO player; they sign high-character guys. They’re going to only sign like 15 guys this year.”
The good news for Alabama is that Carman, who is from Fairfield, Ohio, is talking about leaving the state for college. Carman has been viewed as a near lock for the Buckeyes ever since he became a national recruit, but things don’t look as cut and dried as they once did.
“I’m not sure that I want to stay close to home,” Carman said. “The other reason (he would consider going somewhere other than Ohio State) would be that I just found a place I feel in love with more. It’s not like I don’t like Ohio State, but I feel like if Ohio State wasn’t in Ohio, I’d already be committed there. They can’t fight that.”
Carman, who visited Alabama last fall, said he wants to make it back to Tuscaloosa this summer. With someone who is actively talking about leaving the state, you better believe offensive line coach Brent Key and coach Nick Saban will show him why Tuscaloosa is better than Columbus and Clemson if he makes it to campus this summer.
Posted on 4/11/17 at 10:36 am to TideSaint
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Tennessee 4-star athlete commit Alontae Taylor has sure given Vols fans something to worry about over the last month.
Although Taylor has been committed to Tennessee since June of last year, his primary recruiter, former receivers coach Zach Azzanni, is no longer with the program. While his departure didn’t result in Taylor directly softening his commitment to the Vols as it did for 2019 commits T.J. Sheffield and Kendrell Scurry, it definitely spurned an interest from other schools — namely South Carolina, Georgia, LSU and, more recently, Alabama.
Taylor visited South Carolina at the end of March and then followed up with a visit to Georgia the following weekend. This weekend, he plans to head to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to visit the Crimson Tide, which hasn’t offered him yet. But sandwiched in between all those visits was his most recent, his first trip to Knoxville since the Vols’ first junior day, before Kevin Beard had been hired as Azzanni’s replacement. And that visit might’ve been enough to keep him firmly planted with Tennessee.
“I’d say 100 percent, to be honest with you,” Taylor told SEC Country of his commitment status with the Vols after his visit. “With those schools like Georgia and South Carolina and Alabama and LSU, it’s not going to just take me to come up there and visit and then get a good vibe from it and flip me. I’ve built a really great relationship. I understand coach Z and all of them are gone, but just with the university itself, I have a really good relationship there.”
When it comes to Taylor, the “vibe” of a school goes a long way on visits. When discussing his visits to the other schools he’s taken over the last month, he said he just wanted to see “what kind of vibe” the school has and “how I’ve felt around the coaching staff.” Tennessee put both of those things at the top of their priorities for Taylor on Sunday and it paid off big time.
“When I walked on campus, I was kind of seeing if that feeling was still there, the same feeling I had when coach [Azzanni] was there,” Taylor said. “The feeling was the same and maybe even a little bit better. I was just really pumped up to see coach Beard and he was the first coach that I came in contact with whenever I came into the facility so that was great.”
The relationship with Beard was probably the most important aspect of the visit. While the two have spoken over the phone, this was their first chance to meet face-to-face. Beard emphasized the Vols’ need for good receivers in the next class, but spent most of his time with Taylor focusing on off-the-field stuff.
“We was talking about life and talking about family, like building that relationship other than just talking about football, things like that,” Taylor said. “I watched practice and he was telling me things that the guys were doing and talking about the great group of players that we have at wideout and how were were going to be a little short at receiver and things.”
When Taylor wasn’t getting face time with Beard, he was spending time with head coach Butch Jones talking about the offense.
All in all, the weekend was a huge win for the Vols in keeping Taylor committed. While he will be in Alabama over the weekend, he’s already planning on making one last trip to Knoxville for the Orange and White game on April 22 before his spring football season. That visit will likely be the last unofficial visit that Taylor takes, barring a potential visit to LSU that he wasn’t able to fit into his schedule.
Having Taylor completely on board for that visit is a huge recruiting gain in itself for Tennessee, because several of the Vols’ highest targets are likely to be in attendance, which will give Taylor a chance to do a little recruiting of his own from the inside, something he hasn’t shied away from doing.
LINK
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:06 am to TideSaint
quote:
A few schools in the SEC are lucky enough to have already found their man at quarterback in the 2018 class, but there are also plenty of programs that are still searching -- and in some cases battling each other –- to land their man at the position. Using the final 2017 SEC recruiting rankings, we take a the top five teams in the conference and examine their 2018 quarterback recruiting situations.
LINK
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:07 am to TideSaint
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Alabama
Quarterbacks offered: 14
Top available target: Dorian Thompson-Robinson
The situation: Signing Jalen Hurts in 2016 may have started a new era at Alabama at the quarterback position. Hurts is a dual-threat quarterback, and other than Blake Sims for a season, Nick Saban has not played a quarterback like that since taking over in Tuscaloosa. Thompson-Robinson is a top target for the Crimson Tide, and Alabama is on his list of favorites, but UCLA is considered the front-runner.
The quarterback that inks with Alabama may be one who still has yet to be offered. Look for numerous signal callers to be in camp early in the summer to be evaluated further by the staff. It would not come as a surprised to see some new offers go out to prospects at the position. They have already offered numerous dual-threat quarterbacks, and that could be the style they go hard after this cycle.
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:30 am to TideSaint
Justyn Ross is in Clemson.
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:35 am to TideSaint
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They picked the worst picture possible of Brown to run in that article:
It looks like those quirky action shots they were still putting out 30 years ago.
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:39 am to CapstoneGrad06
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Who are the highest rated defensive tackles in the Midlands region before the spring evaluation period hits? Scout takes a closer examination.
LINK
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:39 am to TideSaint
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The Top Five
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1. Michael Thompson, St. Louis (Mo.) Parkway North
Thompson is a two-way player in high school, but is projected at this time to end up playing defensive tackle once he arrives on the college scene, but he is also a dominant blocker. It is quite impressive the level that he is able to play out on both sides of the ball, especially in the trenches, and he will only get quicker and more coordinated as he matures into his frame. On defense, he can close and get to the football quickly. In the camp setting he has proven that his quickness is tough for interior offensive line prospects to deal with. His development on and off the field will be key, but once he settles in at one position he should be an All-Conference type of talent. Thompson has a national offer list, but recently toured schools like Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU and Mississippi.
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:40 am to TideSaint
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The Best of the Rest
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6. Dare Rosenthal, Ferriday (La.)
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:41 am to TideSaint
Scout's analysis of Dare Rosenthal:
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Dare Rosenthal is a versatile prospect who could play either side of the ball in college at a high level. Rosenthal possesses a massive frame at 6-foot-7 and around 310 pounds. However, he's not only played both lines, he's played tight end and even lined up in the slot. Rosenthal possesses rare athleticism, especially straight-line, for such a large-framed prospect. He's dominant in small-school football and very raw technically, but Rosenthal's ceiling -- especially at offensive tackle -- is very high. He possesses that requisite frame and athleticism to become a major prospect nationally at that spot in the 2018 cycle, while also being a candidate to fit an odd-front D-line role. - Gabe Brooks
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:42 am to TideSaint
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Tanner McKee is one of the elite quarterbacks in the country with unlimited upside.
We've said it many times but it's rare to find a quarterback with his 6-6 frame who can mover around and make plays with his legs as well as deliver strikes all over the field.
He's a unique signal caller and has an equally unique recruitment as he'll be leaving for his Mormon Mission right after high school, so he could commit at any time and to any school, even if they have a QB committed, since the two would be two years apart by the time he returned from his Mission.
Earlier in the month, McKee took several visits with stops at Alabama, Auburn, BYU, Duke, Georgia and North Carolina. This past weekend, McKee visited UCLA.
"UCLA was awesome, I loved it there," McKee said. "I was there for the Tom Lemming photo shoot and then spent a good five hours or so on campus. I watched their practice, ate lunch with Coach (Jedd) Fisch and then later on, i was able to talk with Coach (Jim) Mora.
"There are a lot of pluses with UCLA. It's a pro-style offense, I would have a chance to get developed by coaches who have NFL experience and it's close toe home. They have already told me they're fine with me going on a Mission out of high school and I have no issue with them taking two quarterbacks in this class and neither do they so like I said, a lot of positives there."
McKee said Fisch made a very good impression on him.
"I had never met Coach Fisch before, this was first time for me," McKee said. "I really enjoyed talking with him, he has a lot of NFL experience and I like the offense he's installing there. I was already looking at UCLA but this visit definitely helped me and I'm considering them even more so now."
Next up for McK will be a visit to Texas (May 6) and that's all he has one the schedule at this point. As we mentioned, McKee's recruitment is unique and we won't be surprised if he takes a little longer to make his decision than most quarterbacks.
The majority of signal callers commit over the summer to lock in their spot but with McKee, he could take official visits in the fall and take as long as he needs since there really isn't a spot to lock in with his enrollment being part of the class of 2020.
LINK
He may be a good QB, but he wouldn't step foot on campus until 2020. We need a guy for depth NEXT year.
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:49 am to TideSaint
McKee does have nice film though.
This post was edited on 4/11/17 at 11:50 am
Posted on 4/11/17 at 11:50 am to TideSaint
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The Top Five
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1. Max Wright, Katy (Texas) Taylor
HT: 6'4 | WT: 276
Wright assembled a great comeback year as a junior and re-established himself as one of the top overall prospects in Texas for 2018. He is big and agile, has really good hips, and he's quick enough to make plays behind the line of scrimmage, while also being strong enough to hold up and defend against the run game. Have any type of doubts of what type of athlete Wright is? Then check out the highlights of him running with the football. Wright's running back days may soon be over, but his football days are not. He's an elite defensive end prospect who will likely fit multiple schemes. Wright is considering offers from programs like Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, and many more.
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