DAMN!

Justin Woodall (Four star DB) and Chris Smelley (Four star QB) have committed, and they're not going to be Tigers. Woodall went to Alabama and Smelley went to South Carolina.

Keep working 'em TW! We're anxious for a strong class!

Quote:Why would kentucky come in here and beat us out for Mosby?

Kentucky's recruiting under Brooks certainly appears strange, particularly since for the last two years there have been calls for his head throughout the season, he gets a reprieve for one reason or another, then goes out and quickly recruits players from all over the country--though the overall quality of what he has been getting has been questionable.

This year, Kentucky has been able to keep at least some of the top Kentucky players at home, headed by the No. 1 prospect in the state, Micah Johnson of Ft. Campbell. They're almost finished with their recruiting already (26 commits, some possibly counting against last year's class, and some possibly grayshirt candidates), which is a little unusual, especially for a team with a lot of problems. Why wouldn't you hold a few scholarships open for highly rated players in case you were able to sway them at national signing day? It's not as if the guys they have committed are high-school All-Americans, with the exception of Johnson. But I'm just a fan who really likes to follow recruiting, but has no inside information, only opinions like everybody else.

Perhaps Kentucky's success with Mosby and Foote results from the realization that the only place in Tennessee where they could make recruiting inroads would be in Memphis, where the recruiting is more wide open, and Tennessee doesn't dominate as much as they do in the rest of the state, though they still sign a lot of Memphis players. They probably think it's a lot easier to recruit Memphis than Middle Tennessee, where they run up against Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn, among others. Another factor in Kentucky's recruiting recently is that they've had to change their approach because of the probation and scholarship reductions.

One interesting thing I have noticed looking over the Kentucky recruiting lists the past couple of years is that they have been bringing in a number of California JC players. Living out West and following the PAC-10 as I do, I can attest that getting California JC players is a fine idea, if you're getting good ones. The depth and quality of JC talent in California is fantastic. Many of these kids have unusual personal stories, and are late bloomers. They go to California JC's from all over the country, too. Jerome Harrison of WSU, who has been named first-team All-American running back by a number of organizations now, came to WSU from Pasadena City College. He was originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, went to Eastern Michigan for a year but didn't play, ended up in junior college in California, signed with WSU, and eventually become an All-American. Brooks undoubtedly retains his connections in California from his days as the coach at Oregon, where he was instumental in reviving the Oregon program before leaving for a pro job. He had a reputation as a tough, take-no-prisoners recruiter.

Like Brooks, Coach West also does a very good job of recruiting JC players, only he doesn't have to go as far to do it. There are tons of good JC players in Mississippi junior colleges. Probably this year's Memphis recruiting list will contain a number of players from down there, and maybe a few from Kansas, where the JC football is also good. California, Kansas, and Texas are the Big Three of JC fooball west of the Mississippi.

The Memphis coaching staff really does a good job of evaluating these JC players from what I can see from a distance. But you guys know a lot more about the local recruiting than I do. All I know about Memphis high-school football is what I read in the paper and what posters relate on this board. Though they apparently don't have that many scholarhips to offer this year, I'm sure the Tigers will pull in some good recruits.

The Christian Bros. linebacker Mosby also has committed (to Kentucky). Anthony Summers, the Olive Branch athlete, has said he will visit the U of M on a recruiting trip.

that means that 2 of our top recruits are going elsewhere Why would kentucky come in here and beat us out for Mosby? he must have really been wanting to get out of Memphis As for woodall he would have been a good recruit also but damn Alabama comes and scoops him from us....oh well maybe well get Matt Malouf from Oxford or Summers from Olive Branch,...we have to get Lucky somewhere ,...wouldnt you think?

TigerTodd72 Wrote:The Christian Bros. linebacker Mosby also has committed (to Kentucky). Anthony Summers, the Olive Branch athlete, has said he will visit the U of M on a recruiting trip.

Did Mosby committ since Saturday? It was my understanding that as of Saturday no one had offcially offered. In fact I am not sure he has taken his visit to Kentucky yet (Note: He may have taken it this past weekend). Ole Miss was expectd to offer this week, with Memphis and Kentucky apparently going to offer soon. I think Kentucky was a little higher on his list than Memphis, with Ole Miss third.

Mosby is listed as a Kentucky commit on both Rivals and Scout. There's a story on him up on Kentucky Sports Report, but you have to have a Premium subscription to read the whole thing.

http://mb7.scout.com/fkentuckywildcatsfr...=1&stop=20

The link is interesting because of the detailed post on Kentucky recruiting this year. As of now, they're on course to be oversigned and contemplating doing quite a bit of grayshirting.

That's the kind of thing we get into out here this time of year on Cougfan.com, the WSU board. From now until signing day, there is always at least a thead or two on the latest recruiting visits, commits, decommits, possible grayshirts and walk-ons, etc. It's a lot of fun, in some ways almost as much fun as the games, because everybody has hope during the recruiting season.

Because Coach West has a different policy, which seems perfectly logical to me given the recruiting environment Memphis is in, that's not possible with Memphis recruiting. Whatever helps the Tiger football team is okay with me.

But the Kentucky and WSU boards represent the dilemma many boards face this time of year: how far do you go trying to aid the recruiting efforts of your team, and how far do you go being totally objective about what's going on in recruiting? It's difficult to balance. Also, recruits and other interested parties read the posts, which makes it even more complicated. I really enjoy the recruiting process; it's exciting, unpredictable, and, most important, provides much-needed hope.

I think everyone should prepare themselves for the fact that as long as we are not in a BCS conference that we will always have recruiting classes similar to the last 3 years.......maybe a 4 star will commit here or there, but our classes will be made up mostly of 2 stars and JUCO's.......

I think *most* Tiger fans are realistic in that regard. . .I don't expect to sign a stable of 4 star talent, but we do seem to be in on a good number of 3 star athletes this year, with two 4-star guys thrown in for good measure (Summers and the RB Grant from MS). Considering all the offensive firepower we're losing with Avery and DeAngelo, I would think we would be attractive to some of the skill position guys we're recruiting out of MS, GA and TX. Locally, the LB Brandon Jackson is supposed to decide between us, Mississippi, and Bowling Green this weekend.

HoopDreams Wrote:I think everyone should prepare themselves for the fact that as long as we are not in a BCS conference that we will always have recruiting classes similar to the last 3 years.......maybe a 4 star will commit here or there, but our classes will be made up mostly of 2 stars and JUCO's.......