OT: All Purpose NCAA Football Thread (2014-15)

[LegionOfDoom91]

Virginia is quietly stacked in football talent. The high school up the street from me was ranked 5th in the country a couple weeks ago.

They've always been good & deep overall but in recent years they've had a crazy amount of high end talent like top 100 kids in the nation according to recruiting sites. The #1 recruit in the country for the current cycle (2015 class) by most of the major recruiting sites is from Virginia.

2015
DE Josh Sweat 5* (#1 overall) Undecided
LB/DE Ricky DeBerry 4* (#69 overall) Undecided
DT Tim Settle 4* (#73 overall) undecided
DE Clelin Ferrell 4* (#90 overall) Clemson
OT/G Matthew Burrell 4* (#94 overall) Undecided

2014
DE Deshawn Hand 5* (#5 overall) Alabama
S Quin Blanding 5* (#6 overall) Virginia
DT Andrew Brown 5* (#11 overall) Virginia
DE Jayln Holmes 4* (#80 overall) Ohio State
DT Derrick Nnandi 4* (#99 overall) Florida State

2013
QB Christian Hackenberg 5* (#13 overall) Penn State
DE Jonathan Allen 5* (#16 overall) Alabama
RB Derrick Green 5* (#27 overall) Michigan
S Holland Fisher 4* (#59 overall) Virginia Tech
RB Taquan Mizzell 4* (#60 overall) Virginia

*I used 247 Sports composite rankings. They take their ratings, Rivals, Scout, & Espn to get an average rating (most consider them the 4 major recruiting services).

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

The key is going to be getting off to a hot start. I anticipate the crowd being insane, and RU players being fired up. If the crowd gets taken out early by an INT or early PSU touchdown...it will be trouble. Nova needs to stay calm and find Leonte Carroo. The two have unbelievable chemistry when Nova doesn't have the hot foot. James (and Peoples) will be a good decoy to get Carroo some deep balls with the safeties creeping in. I said in the beginning of the year, if they only win one game this year, I want it to be this one. I bought season tickets just to ensure I would be at this game.

Yeah a Rutgers win could help Flood's job security so I expect him to get these guys fired up. Rutgers as a program needs a serious shot in the arm in regards to recruiting as well which that would at least be a start as well.

Are you familiar with the famous college football message board persona RutgersAl? That guy is a real hoot.

 

[sobrien]

ODU. We're the new kids on the block in the conference, but I have to say that I'm pretty impressed that they went from a brand new program (excluding their program from 50+ years ago) to an FBS conference in only five years.

Nice! Welcome to C-USA! Lost some pretty decent programs the last couple years, hopefully ODU and a couple others can fill the void.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Yeah a Rutgers win could help Flood's job security so I expect him to get these guys fired up. Rutgers as a program needs a serious shot in the arm in regards to recruiting as well which that would at least be a start as well.

Yeah, I'm not a huge Flood fan so a win here would certainly help to change that. Recruiting to me is a crapshoot. Plenty of 2-3 star guys turn out to be excellent players, and plenty of 4-5 star guys fizzle (in Rutgers case see: Huggins, Savon). Obviously the biggest superstars of the recruiting world do tend to play better than the lower stars, but I'm not all that concerned with how Rutgers operates. I would have loved to keep Peppers in state.

Are you familiar with the famous college football message board persona RutgersAl? That guy is a real hoot.

No I am not. This is the only message board I frequent.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Recruiting to me is a crapshoot. Plenty of 2-3 star guys turn out to be excellent players, and plenty of 4-5 star guys fizzle (in Rutgers case see: Huggins, Savon). Obviously the biggest superstars of the recruiting world do tend to play better than the lower stars, but I'm not all that concerned with how Rutgers operates. I would have loved to keep Peppers in state.

Yeah but generally the top teams in college football are annually in that top 25 for recruiting classes. So while you do see overachievers & underachievers when it comes to individuals overall you want to be somewhere in that picture. I mean even the recruiting juggernauts like Alabama are backfilling their classes with those potential diamond in the rough 3* guys to go along with the 4* & 5* guys at the top & middle.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Yeah but generally the top teams in college football are annually in that top 25 for recruiting classes. So while you do see overachievers & underachievers when it comes to individuals overall you want to be somewhere in that picture. I mean even the recruiting juggernauts like Alabama are backfilling their classes with those potential diamond in the rough 3* guys to go along with the 4* & 5* guys at the top & middle.

Oh for sure. Obviously I'd much rather be on that list (and I think they were Schiano's last couple years), but I don't put too much stock into that. When Rutgers were on those lists, it didn't do much for them. Haha. They should better at keeping in state talent home, though. Too many big name guys leave. They are good at getting good NJ players to stay, but most of the big time guys leave. Barnwell, Hamilton, and Huggins were relatively good "gets" in recent years, but they should be getting more than that.

 

[flyershockey]

Nice! Welcome to C-USA! Lost some pretty decent programs the last couple years, hopefully ODU and a couple others can fill the void.

It should be fun to watch, even if we don't have the same success that we had in FCS right away. What school did you go to?

 

[Halladay]

Rutgers could be a really good program if they could ever get the top kids in NJ to stay and start tapping into Eastern PA.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Rutgers could be a really good program if they could ever get the top kids in NJ to stay and start tapping into Eastern PA.

2011 through 2013 they did a pretty good job. They got #1 in NJ in 2011 (Huggins...who has been disappointing), #1 in NJ 2012 (Hamilton, who has been awesome), and in 2013 they got Barnwell who was top five in the state IIRC. They also got high ranking guys in those years in addition to this. Then Flood took over and he lost that recruiting power that Schiano built up. Still not bad, just not as good.

 

[sobrien]

It should be fun to watch, even if we don't have the same success that we had in FCS right away. What school did you go to?

Marshall

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Marshall

Always had a soft spot for Marshall ever since Randy Moss and Chad Pennington were kicking about.

 

[sobrien]

Always had a soft spot for Marshall ever since Randy Moss and Chad Pennington were kicking about.

Great little school. Love that it still gets support and appearances from Moss, Curry, Leftwich, most frequently Pennington, and other pros.

They're due to make a lot of noise this season despite their strength of schedule

 

[flyersfan018]

I'll be at the Rutgers/Penn State game

 

[CutOnDime97]

They're due to make a lot of noise this season despite their strength of schedule

Their schedule is sooo bad. Best team they play is Rice.

 

[flyershockey]

Their schedule is sooo bad. Best team they play is Rice.

The game at Akron won't exactly be a walk in the park. There are also some other quietly tough games in there as well.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

I'll be at the Rutgers/Penn State game

Me too. I'm pumped. Today can't end soon enough.

 

[Halladay]

2011 through 2013 they did a pretty good job. They got #1 in NJ in 2011 (Huggins...who has been disappointing), #1 in NJ 2012 (Hamilton, who has been awesome), and in 2013 they got Barnwell who was top five in the state IIRC. They also got high ranking guys in those years in addition to this. Then Flood took over and he lost that recruiting power that Schiano built up. Still not bad, just not as good.

I know the have, I just think they could be a really good program ( consistently being ranked). They are in a good recruiting area with not many direct rivals near by.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

I know the have, I just think they could be a really good program ( consistently being ranked). They are in a good recruiting area with not many direct rivals near by.

Absolutely. I think the game tomorrow could lead to some serious interest, at least from local guys. They locked Flood up for two years (which I am not a huge of that deal) and there are a lot of recruits going to be in attendance. If the stadium is juiced, and Rutgers gets the W, it could be a very good day on the recruiting trail. Here's a list of the 4 and 5 star recruits are to be in attendance (there are also some other recruits not 4/5 star that will be there, full list here http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/i...naugural_big_ten_opener_against_penn_sta.html)...

5-Stars

2016 Rashan Gary, DE, Paramus (N.J.) Catholic; Kareem Walker, RB, DePaul Catholic (Wayne, N.J.);

4-Stars

2016 Dwayne Haskins, QB, The Bullis School (Potomac, Md.); Quayshon Alexander, DE, DePaul Catholic; Hasise Dubois, WR, DePaul Catholic; Ahmir Mitchell, WR, Cedar Creek (Egg Harbor City, N.J.); Jordan Fuller, ATH, Old Tappan (N.J.); Brad Hawkins, WR, Camden (N.J.); Ron Johnson, DE, Camden; Jamal Holloway, DE, Camden; Steven Smothers, WR, Franklin (Reisterstown, Md.); Naseir Upshur, TE, Imhotep (Philadelphia, Pa.); Liam Smith, OT, Red Bank Catholic; Sonny Abramson, QB, Pope John XXIII (Sparta, N.J.); Jovani Haskins, TE, Bergenfield (N.J.)

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

So it looks like we'll finally see a scenario possibly play out that many ask "what if".

A top 2016 football recruit is opting for soccer over football. He had offers already from all the heavy hitters like Alabama, LSU, Florida State, etc.

http://247sports.com/Article/Four-star-recruit-opts-for-soccer-31095515

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Rumors going around that Harrisburg native & potential first round draft choice this spring Noah Spence might be done at OSU.

He is/was slated to comeback this week from his suspension for failing a drug test.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

So it looks like we'll finally see a scenario possibly play out that many ask "what if".

A top 2016 football recruit is opting for soccer over football. He had offers already from all the heavy hitters like Alabama, LSU, Florida State, etc.

http://247sports.com/Article/Four-star-recruit-opts-for-soccer-31095515

I doubt this becomes a trend of any sort. MLS players still make a pittance compared to NFL players (though I imagine it would be easier to become an MLS guy over an NFL guy). Chances are, if you are going to play in college, you aren't good enough to make the big bucks in Europe as soccer player. Those guys sign pretty young over there, no?

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I doubt this becomes a trend of any sort. MLS players still make a pittance compared to NFL players (though I imagine it would be easier to become an MLS guy over an NFL guy). Chances are, if you are going to play in college, you aren't good enough to make the big bucks in Europe as soccer player. Those guys sign pretty young over there, no?

I don't think he's planing on going to college to play soccer. My guess is he turns pro with the MLS & if he does well the Euro options will open up for him ala Tim Howard.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

I don't think he's planing on going to college to play soccer. My guess is he turns pro with the MLS & if he does well the Euro options will open up for him ala Tim Howard.

Could be. Article says he is a D1 soccer prospect as well. Doesn't make mention of plans to go straight to MLS (or Euro) or if he is going to college. Either way, I doubt this becomes a trend. Haha.

 

[flyershockey]

The MLS salaries are all over the place. The high end guys (Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, etc.) make 7 figure salaries, but the a lot of the low end guys make as much school teachers.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Could be. Article says he is a D1 soccer prospect as well. Doesn't make mention of plans to go straight to MLS (or Euro) or if he is going to college. Either way, I doubt this becomes a trend. Haha.

No that was just speculation on my part based off of him being a very good soccer prospect. My guess is that some MLS team will take a shot to get him into their system just based on his stature & athleticism alone.

I don't think it will become a trend neither but it's still a big win for USA Soccer to get that type of athlete in their system.