CSNbbs

Big East fans please say welcome to USF's newest commitment, Bradley Battles.
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Marianna RB Battles commits to Bulls
USF has picked up its third commitment toward the 2009 recruiting class as Bradley Battles, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound running back from Marianna who is rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, committed to Bulls assistant Mike Canales on Monday night.

Battles, who rushed for 2,200 yards and 27 touchdowns as a junior, is rated as the No. 163 prospect in the nation according to Rivals, which has him as the No. 15 "athlete" in the country. Only 20 running backs are ranked higher nationally.

"It's a super pickup for South Florida," Marianna coach Rob Armstrong said. "He's a powerful runner, a good student, a good kid. He's the total package, for sure."

Battles, playing in the Panhandle about an hour west of Tallahassee, also had scholarship offers from Louisville, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Kentucky and Purdue, and was being recruited by the likes of Auburn and Florida State, Armstrong said. Battles had 70 tackles on defense, but is expected to come to USF as a running back. Armstrong said his strength is how hard he runs, and how durable he has been in carrying the ball 275 times last season.

"He gets stronger as the game goes on," he said. "He's better on his 27th or 28th carry than he is on the first five carries."

Battles, whose commitment was first reported by USFnation.com, is the third player to commit to USF for 2009, joining Dunedin (4-star)running back Adaris Bellamy and Tallahassee (3-star)linebacker Chase Griffiths.


Link: http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/

Thats TWO 4 star RBs committed for next year. Adaris Bellamy being the other.
Battles is #163 player in Rivals top 250 and BOTH are in ESPN's top150

To compare USF best total recruiting class EVER, had a total of two 4 star players.

If USF has a breaktrough season this year as expected, recruiting could explode.

I think this year's recruiting is a holdover from last year's brief fling with the #2 ranking.

bit
I agree but is just the start. Last years #2 gave us the opening to be considered legitimate options for these kids but IF USF breaks thru and wins BE, heads to a BCS bowl. Then the floodgates open because kids see that USF can offer everything that the other three do. So this is just the beginning.

Great get Bulls. A strong USF means a weak Miami, FSU and a crappy ACC.

SF Husky Wrote:Great get Bulls. A strong USF means a weak Miami, FSU and a crappy ACC.

Not a bad viewpoint. This kid is the kind of player that gave Miami and FSU so much depth in the past. They would rest their starters by putting in these types of players and not even miss a beat. I think over the years with schools like Louisville and Rutgers going down there and picking up these kids along with USF and to a lesser degree UCF, eventually affects the depth of the Miami's and FSU's.

It is a good start. Naturally, most Bulls fans are excited but its still a LONG way until National Signing Day and anything can happen.

What I have noticed is that BigEast schools are on a LOT of 4-star and 5-star kids lists. That is VERY encouraging for the longterm health of the league.

nice get! I wish UC could get a 4* rb out of Ohio....maybe one day.

i think we still get him in the end, but our recruiting would look even better if 4 star wr difton didn't de-commit. say what you will about us trailing off at the end but for our stage in development last season was a huge success, beating auburn and wvu on national tv and having espn talk about us ad nauseum gave us much needed legitamacy for these top recruits.

Bearcats#1 Wrote:nice get! I wish UC could get a 4* rb out of Ohio....maybe one day.

I won't get all worked up over those ratings. Donald Brown and Andre Dixon are both 2 star RBs that landed at UCONN. I would say they are two of the top RBs in the entire BE if not two of the better RBs in the country. I am sure they are way better than many 4 star or 3 stars out of high school.

Cubanbull Wrote:bit
I agree but is just the start. Last years #2 gave us the opening to be considered legitimate options for these kids but IF USF breaks thru and wins BE, heads to a BCS bowl. Then the floodgates open because kids see that USF can offer everything that the other three do. So this is just the beginning.

Just making a BCS bowl game would do it. I think The BEast gets 2 bids this year, and either UC or USF will get an at-large bid.

WVU takes The BEast's auto-bid again...

We would have love to have had him but it's good to see USF keep him in the Big East. We just lost a 4* running back out of Illinois who was buried on the depth chart. He will either end up at Wisconsin or Illinois.

Don't get wrapped up in the star ratings. A two star name to remember: Bilal Powell from Lakeland Florida. In his only significant action last season against Rutgers he averaged 7.0 yards per carry.

Good enough that our starting 3* star back from Tampa Jesuit, Athony Allen, decided to transfer to Georgia Tech.
CJ

UoL's fortunes seem to be tumbling. Kragthorpe better turn it up.

CardinalJim Wrote:We would have love to have had him but it's good to see USF keep him in the Big East. We just lost a 4* running back out of Illinois who was buried on the depth chart. He will either end up at Wisconsin or Illinois.

Don't get wrapped up in the star ratings. A two star name to remember: Bilal Powell from Lakeland Florida. In his only significant action last season against Rutgers he averaged 7.0 yards per carry.

Good enough that our starting 3* star back from Tampa Jesuit, Athony Allen, decided to transfer to Georgia Tech.
CJ

usf fans are well aware of powell he came from the same school that grothe came from and felt slighted that we didn't offer, he had grade issues that scared a lot of schools off and affected his ranking. i always thought allen was too stiff and slow to make it at running back, i know usf recruited him only as a linebacker which is why he dropped us. powell is a much better back. that 4 star rb had talent but wasn't able to establish himself due to injuries, but between powell and victor anderson louisville will be just fine at running back.

bitcruncher Wrote:UoL's fortunes seem to be tumbling. Kragthorpe better turn it up.

Agreed!!!!!!!!!The Ville Defence is Suspect even with English.