Thoughts on 22 new USF players ...

Here's how I know it was a busy day: My crappy, one-star cellphone didn't make it to 5:15 p.m. tonight.

I'm talking to recruiting coordinator Carl Franks, who has probably piled up some minutes this month, and he's midsentence, and the phone battery gave up. One of those perfect deals where you're a half-hour away from your charger and don't have time to get to the charger for at least two hours. Remind me next year to pack the charger everywhere I go ...

Anyway, lots of calls today, lots of conversations, lots of thoughts on this recruiting class. This is going to be way, way too long a post, but I'll limit myself to 10 distinct thoughts and their accompanying ramblings and/or tangents. I'll throw in 10 more in the morning, just to pace myself.

1. The signing of B.J. Daniels puts a big exclamation point on this class. Jim Leavitt said he was USF's No. 1 target at quarterback, and his coach at Lincoln, Kyle Rice, said he should be. Four-year starter, and Greg Gregory likes the Matt Grothe combo of throwing and running. One ranking has him with the fifth-strongest arm in the country, but Rice said what you can't see on Youtube is how smart a leader he is. "He's a coach on the field," Rice said. "He certainly understands football, and he understands leadership." The B, for the record, is for Bruce. Remind me to talk more about him and basketball on Thursday.

2. I wouldn't be surprised to see George Baker returning kicks this fall. He's that fast. USF cites a 4.38 40 time and drops in a 38-inch vertical right after that. He's tiny at 168 pounds, but they don't need him to be a corner, even a nickel, this fall. He rushed for 1,010 yards on 93 carries as a junior, which works out to more than an 11-yard average. Added 1,643 on 209 carries with 19 touchdowns this fall. To pry him away from an Auburn commitment, it's strong recruiting work by Larry Scott and Troy Douglas.

3. There's a great clip on gousfbulls.com where Dan McCarney talks about going to see David Bedford during USF's bye week. He says he's watching Bedford and thinking that he and George Selvie would be the best pair of defensive ends in college football. And Bedford -- like Craig Marshall -- is a three-year guy, which means he'll be there after Selvie's gone. Had 13.5 sacks last year. He and Kion Wilson will make the biggest impact of any signees during the 2008 season. Is it too much to ask USF to sign another end named Stuyvesant?

4. Leavitt made a great comment about Maikon Bonani in saying that when the kicker made his official visit, Delbert Alvarado was his host. Nothing says team better than trying to convince someone to become your biggest competition in the fall. We've talked about Bonani's leg here on the blog, and between him and punter Justin Brockhaus-Kann, I don't think you'll see Alvarado needing to handle kicks, punts and kickoffs in the same game this fall. Leavitt already had two returning kickers on scholarship, so he's clearly allocating resources to special teams.

5. Speaking of which, Leavitt is excited about Miami Northwestern linebacker Quavon Taylor. He saw the way Taylor made plays everywhere on defense, and thinks the kid can be a difference maker on special teams, potentially on all four returns and coverage teams. Miami loaded up with eight Northwestern kids, but give USF credit for going in and getting a leader from that defense -- they went into Texas and ended a 49-game win streak in front of 31,000 fans. I think we'll write a lot about how small he is, over and over, before he's done.

6. Guess who I need to thank for giving me Jatavious Jackson's phone number? That'd be Jessie Hester Sr., the new head coach at Glades Central, which gives USF a great, great in at an absolute powerhouse. Jackson, also from Belle Glade, was the last-second surprise of the class, literally signing minutes before Leavitt's news conference. He signed with FSU last year, never got through the NCAA Clearinghouse, and how's this for three impressive "other offers": LSU, West Virginia and Clemson. "Every year, that program makes progress," Jackson said Wednesday night. "I like what's going on there." He'll be a defensive tackle at USF, and he and Danous Estenor could be a huge upgrade on the second-team interior, behind Aaron Harris and Terrell McClain. Another name to remember on the interior line: Keith McCaskill.

7. Barring injuries, I don't think Evan Landi will stick long at quarterback. Leavitt mentioned him as a safety or receiver -- the latter's a new wrinkle -- and said he wants a shot at quarterback, but they let him know upfront that B.J. Daniels was the guy they were bringing in as a passer. Landi's a first-team all-state safety, with good size at 6-3. I'm sure he's flattered that USF's bio says he was "timed with a 40-yard dash as low as 4.7." He's as versatile a player as there is in this class -- he can punt, and moonlights in hoops, baseball and hockey.

8. Mike Lanaris is listed at 6-0, 217, but I think that's a typo. Leavitt said he's 237, which is much more like a middle linebacker. He should be able to redshirt this fall, but USF loves his smarts quarterbacking a defense, citing an 1180 SAT, and his toughness. USF's bio says he had 223 tackles as a senior, which almost has to be a typo, or the most generous stat crew on the planet. USFnation.com had him with 112 tackles on the season last month, which is a more reasonable total. Don't forget this little nugget: he blocked four kicks this year.

9. Of the guys that got away, I think the one that hurts most was Corey Liuget, the defensive lineman from Hialeah who stuck with his commitment to Illinois after strongly considering USF for the past two weeks. As for Miami Northwestern's Tommy Streeter, it's hard to get a kid to look past the Hurricanes when they're signing seven of his teammates. I think George Baker's signing makes it less of a loss that Leonard Johnson picked Iowa State, and while it's no shame to lose a final coin-flip to Ohio State, I know USF has liked Orhian Johnson for a long time. As far as losing four-star commitment Anthony Jones to Middle Tennessee State, I'll just say that I think USF allowed it to happen and leave it at that. Remember Josh Price, who committed to USF only to find they wouldn't accept his pledge? Landed at ... Western Michigan.

10. Theo Wilson is on board, so don't worry that he wasn't included in Wednesday's signings. He'll be a cornerback at USF and a fast one at that -- it's an obscure technicality that USF can't comment on him, but he'll join Kion Wilson and Craig Marshall as the latest from the Pearl River pipeline. The past signings from Pearl -- Gene Coleman, Frank Harry, Donte Spires and Carlton Hill -- have all come and gone with little to no impact, but I think that will change this fall.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments? Send 'em now and I'll answer them Thursday. ...

Comments

[702JV]

G.A. great job! The insight is outstanding!

[Ari Hinkelberger]

Solid coverage. Earning your check and punching the clock.

good job.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

I really think the unspoken story of this signing day is how horrible of a recruiting class West Va put up.

This could be the beginning of the end in Mountie land.

Maybe this class could be the first class that wins back to back Big East titles.

And how bad was Uconn's class? Did they sign anyone?

Great work today. I agree with your Liuget assessment. I've gotten over us losing out on him though, since undoubtedly this will turn out to be our best recruiting class ever. We've got two immediate contributors to say the least in Bedford and Kion Wilson and five potential standouts (considering their skill sets and bodies of work from high school) in Murray, Daniels, Baker, Taylor and Lejiste. From what I saw of Engram, he might be the 'USF' annual hidden gem winner, and I think we can all trust Wally Burnham's eye for a linebacker such as Lanaris--especially considering the aforementioned (video) coaching ties involved. That's nine solid prospects, without even considering all the lineman we signed...and yet, my greedy nature must wonder about Odoms situation and the likelihood of one more indulgence from the talent poll cookie jar.

[Tampaboi]

DONT FORGET POPEK ! eVEN AT 3 STARS HE MAY BE UNDER RATED .

[Tampaboi]

Is landis time higher than a 4.7 ?

[Mike Lakeland]

Nice writeup, Greg! I love it!

GO BULLS!

[Brendan]

Greg,

Great coverage. Definitely the best college blog out there.

Ari,

W.V. didn't have a great recruiting season because of Rich Rodriguez leaving. A head coaching change in December basically resets your recruiting to square one. They'll have a good recruiting class again next year unfortunately.

[Tom]

So what happens to the extra schollies? What happens if some don't qualify? Any room to sign a few later?

[Josh]

Baby steps, baby steps. I'm very pleased with this recruting class, undoubtedly our best class ever. To even be considered by guys like Streeter, Liuget, Shaw, and Odoms speaks very well for our program. Keep being competitive, churning out NFL prospects, getting games on national T.V.( and winning them,) and more 4 & 5 stars will come. Our campus is growing and support levels are at an all time high. Really looking forward to the next few years of USF football.

[G.A.]

Leavitt said Wednesday that he's not necessarily done recruiting. Again, by my count he has 23 recruits counting toward this year's class, with 21 scholarships available. Again, you can anticipate some lesser returning players transferring out, and some signees getting placed in junior colleges or deferred until January. He'll keep a scholarship in play this summer for potential transfers.

[mulham]

This may have been USF's best recruiting class, but the national websites are ranking USF as the 6th best class recruiting class in their own conference.

Per Rivals,
# 1 Pitt
# 2 WV
# 3 Rutgers
# 4 Syracuse
# 5 Louisville
# 6 USF
# 7 UConn
# 8 Cincy

I hope these are wrong. What's your take Greg - Are we the 6th best recruiting class in the Big East?

[Blake]

Great write up greg. It was great following the blog all day in between classes (and during some) to keep up with all of the signings...Who needs MicroBio.

[Dave W]

mulham, who cares what Rivals thinks? They've missed on virtually every one of our star players and ignore the fact that our class is from Florida (meaning that most of these guys are underrated, like someone said above, even at 3*, Popek is underrated). We didn't come close to the prestige of Pitt's class, but I don't see how a case can't be made as to us having the 2nd or 3rd best class. WVU did alright all things considered (they got Pat White's little brother and some interesting guys yesterday), but Scout lists us as being really close with Rutgers, Syracuse, Cincy and Louisville. It's just a judgement call.

I think because we filled our needs with JUCO players (except on the O-Line), added two potentially top-tier skill players (Bryant and Murray), got some beef for the lines (can't argue with 2,000 pounds of strength), grabbed the QB of the future, and should be given the benefit of the doubt on guys like Engram and Lanaris, we could easily claim the #2 spot. The BEAST to me is Pitt, every one else, and then UCONN in last. But UCONN took my friend's little brother, Blidi Wreh-Wilson, so all of a sudden I like them a lot more. Plus, UCONN won with unheralded guys, so I give them the benefit of the doubt as well.

Best class in USF history; Estenor clearly solves the size problem at DT while Jackson should get bigger but infuses talent at the position already. Lanaris and Sanchez will continue the strong LB play. DB and DE are clearly in better shape with immediate contributors in the JUCO guys. Plus, Baker's return ability helps another spot. The O-Line has more bodies (a big problem from last year), the offense has more skilled players (just get Murray the ball and see what happens), and BJ is the future.

Martavious Odoms would be welcomed, for sure, and he in fact may be necessary with the loss of Jones and the Streeter miss. Let's grab some more speed, it can't hurt.

[RR]

I never thought about how much we have struck out with our Pearl River signees until Greg gave us that list.

We're 0 for 4! Like Greg said, hopefully that will change beginning this fall.

But WOW! That's very noteworthy when you hear the old "pipeline" addage. Pearl River has contributed exactly ZERO to this program so far.

[Adam]

Recruiting class rankings are bogus.

For instance, if you have Tebow and Newton and sign a 5 star QB, does that really benefit your team? I don't know if UF signed any QB's, just using an example.

These sites don't take need into account. We needed corners, OL, DL, and LB's. I think we met all of our needs and had an added bonus of getting a stud QB and RB in the mix. Don't worry with the rankings, I do think this will be our best class ever, and I think we can all breathe easy for a couple more years now about the post-Grothe era. Of course, at that time, we will be stressed out again about getting Daniels replacement.

[gbudzban]

Have to agree that (on paper) this is the best class in USF history.

The more video I see of BJ Daniels, the more excited I get. I can see him leading us to victory in the Swamp in 2010 (I'm not kidding).

Great athletes from top to bottom, and in addition, a well though out class, addressing needs.

Didn't need wide receivers this year, so the loss of Streeter and Jones means little. Liuget would have been nice, but next year we'll have even more pull.

[USF Bill]

Will Buie graduate and come back next year?

[Mark]

B.J.Daniels will be the next Charlie Ward with a stronger arm.

[Sailingbull]

As usual, Pitt gets a ranking at the top, but how biased / dishonest are these rankings when such a large number of national 5-star kids are from Pennsyl-tucky? It's pretty obviuos that the guys from rivals and scout get a little too excited about kids from Charcoal-land. Florida really is where it's at in HS talent.

[J]

In my opinion, this is definately the best class in USF's history.

I don't think WVU's class is as bad as a couple of people have indicated. They signed Josh Jenkins, who is an absolute beast on the OL (#1 in country according to Rivals). They also got Coley White, and while I don't think he's as good as B.J. Daniels, I wouldn't discount his skills either. Other than Jenkins, I think their class was on par with ours, so they're probably a little ahead of us. And that's with a completely new coaching staff and an outgoing coach that was actively trying to steal recruits.

I think our program is moving in the right direction to become the Beast of the East, but we're not there yet. WVU holds that title until we remove it from them in a couple of years.

[DELdaBULL]

How bad is the Pitt coaching staff? This is supposedly the 4th straight year of Top 25 recruiting. They have not won more than 6 games yet.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

How about Uconn's class.? Co-Big East Champs and their recruiting class was ranked DEAD last in the league.

You think Randy Edsall's flirtation with Ga Tech hurt him a little bit?

Nah... couldn't have.