Players lining up to join Tiger football team

January 31, 2007

Two recruits who made official visits to the University of Memphis last weekend and a third who toured the campus in mid-January are expected to sign national letters of intent with the UofM next week.

Offensive lineman Ronald Leary, a 6-2, 325-pound guard from Southern Lab in Baton Rouge, La., and Curtis Steele, a 5-11, 185-pound running back from Northwest (Miss.) Community College have committed to the UofM along with Mike Davis, a 6-foot, 225-pound running back from Newnan, Ga.

The commitments of Leary, Steele and Davis give the Tigers a total of 16 public commitments and mid-term enrollments with one week remaining until the start of the national signing period.
Steele rushed for 509 yards and helped Northwest to a 6-4 finish and its first MACJC North Division title since 2003.

A former standout at Centennial High in Franklin, Tenn., Steele led the region with an 8 yards-per-rush average.

He said he's been a fan of Memphis' football program for some time and is looking forward to beginning his Division 1-A career.

''It's not that far away from home, and I've been looking at (Memphis) since high school,'' Steele said. ''My grades weren't right (coming out of high school), so I had to go to junior college.

''Memphis offered me during the Christmas break, and I turned down everyone else. I wanted to be a Tiger. It's a good program, it's got a winning tradition and it produces good running backs.''

Steele said he feels as if he'll be an ideal fit for the Tigers' spread offense, which coach Tommy West introduced when he was named coach after the 2000 season.

All-America running back DeAngelo Williams joined the program in 2002 and helped the UofM to consecutive bowl games from 2003-05.

Steele said he attracted interest from Southern Miss, UAB, Ole Miss and Chattanooga. His Northwest teammate, Bryan Fitzgerald, with whom he shared the rushing responsibilities last season, committed to Chattanooga. But Steele said he was intent on continuing his football career in the Mid-South.

''I was waiting on Memphis to offer me, and when they did, I turned down everybody else,'' Steele said.

Leary, who has played only two years of varsity football, was instrumental in his team's 10-4 finish and its appearance in the Class 1A semifinals. Leary was named to the All-District 7-1A first team.

He had a trip planned to Alabama this weekend, but canceled the visit.

Davis, a native of Little Rock, also visited East Carolina, Mississippi State and UCF. He rushed for 1,012 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior at Northgate High in Newnan, Ga., and said among the reasons he liked Memphis was its proximity to Little Rock, where he has relatives.

-- Phil Stukenborg: 529-2543

my first thought is that with Steele and Davis, the Tigers must know that Elliott isn't coming. But then it says that Steele was offered over Christmas break, so who knows.

OneShiningMoment Wrote:Players lining up to join Tiger football team

January 31, 2007

Two recruits who made official visits to the University of Memphis last weekend and a third who toured the campus in mid-January are expected to sign national letters of intent with the UofM next week.

Offensive lineman Ronald Leary, a 6-2, 325-pound guard from Southern Lab in Baton Rouge, La., and Curtis Steele, a 5-11, 185-pound running back from Northwest (Miss.) Community College have committed to the UofM along with Mike Davis, a 6-foot, 225-pound running back from Newnan, Ga.

The commitments of Leary, Steele and Davis give the Tigers a total of 16 public commitments and mid-term enrollments with one week remaining until the start of the national signing period.
Steele rushed for 509 yards and helped Northwest to a 6-4 finish and its first MACJC North Division title since 2003.

A former standout at Centennial High in Franklin, Tenn., Steele led the region with an 8 yards-per-rush average.

He said he's been a fan of Memphis' football program for some time and is looking forward to beginning his Division 1-A career.

''It's not that far away from home, and I've been looking at (Memphis) since high school,'' Steele said. ''My grades weren't right (coming out of high school), so I had to go to junior college.

''Memphis offered me during the Christmas break, and I turned down everyone else. I wanted to be a Tiger. It's a good program, it's got a winning tradition and it produces good running backs.''

Steele said he feels as if he'll be an ideal fit for the Tigers' spread offense, which coach Tommy West introduced when he was named coach after the 2000 season.

All-America running back DeAngelo Williams joined the program in 2002 and helped the UofM to consecutive bowl games from 2003-05.

Steele said he attracted interest from Southern Miss, UAB, Mississippi and Chattanooga. His Northwest teammate, Bryan Fitzgerald, with whom he shared the rushing responsibilities last season, committed to Chattanooga. But Steele said he was intent on continuing his football career in the Mid-South.

''I was waiting on Memphis to offer me, and when they did, I turned down everybody else,'' Steele said.

Leary, who has played only two years of varsity football, was instrumental in his team's 10-4 finish and its appearance in the Class 1A semifinals. Leary was named to the All-District 7-1A first team.

He had a trip planned to Alabama this weekend, but canceled the visit.

Davis, a native of Little Rock, also visited East Carolina, Mississippi State and UCF. He rushed for 1,012 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior at Northgate High in Newnan, Ga., and said among the reasons he liked Memphis was its proximity to Little Rock, where he has relatives.

-- Phil Stukenborg: 529-2543

Phil should have read this board earlier. His news would be more up to date.

Does the 16 commits mentioned include transfers. I wish the paper would print a complete list as we can't rely on scout/rivals for accurate listing?

Question for Idaho as well, does it worry you that we have 8 JC players listed. I mean doesn't that practice catch up with you at some point?

Does anyone know for sure on Bimbo, Dozier, Henderson?

dscat Wrote:Does the 16 commits mentioned include transfers. I wish the paper would print a complete list as we can't rely on scout/rivals for accurate listing?

Question for Idaho as well, does it worry you that we have 8 JC players listed. I mean doesn't that practice catch up with you at some point?

Does anyone know for sure on Bimbo, Dozier, Henderson?

Not Idaho but I think a few Jucos every year and periodically as many 8 will work out.

You have to choose them well. They need to be able to contribute immediately.

You must have a great need. We do. We have a lot of holes to fill and TW knows we can't survive another year like last year or we would have lost all progress we gained over the previous 4.

You can't do it every year. As long as your primary recruiting philosphy continues with HS kids, one year will not kill you.

Quote:Question for Idaho as well, does it worry you that we have 8 JC players listed. I mean doesn't that practice catch up with you at some point?

I don't have any more insight on that than you guys do. Tigerx3 put it well: if you have needs, and you're recruiting the right ones, there's no problem with a lot of JC's. Bill Snyder at Kansas State produced consistently good teams for years with JC's he got from Kansas and Texas JUCO's.

The biggest drawback most coaches and fans cite with the JUCO's is that you only have them for two years, and it usually takes them a year to get acclimated and move up the depth chart. So often you're only getting one really productive year out of them.

As far as the Tigers this year, given the kind of holes they have to fill, particularly on defense, I was expecting the high number of JUCO's. It is the only quick fix they have available. They can't go out and recruit 4- and 5-star HS kids who could come in and play right away, though we all wish they could.

TigerEdward mentioned recently that he thought there might be even more JC's than the mid-year ones they've already signed. I wouldn't be surprised as well to see a few more than the ones already announced.

Getting Fred Barnett was really big for the Tigers. He could really make a difference on the defensive line. Highly rated player coming out of high school. Some of the other JC's sound interesting as well. We'll see.

Well, here's my concern and if I am wrong feel free to correct me. but it is my understanding that a school can only sign 25 players per hear

so as it stands now we will lose 35 players after the 2008 season(8 jc and 3 transfers + the 24 in that class now). So for the 2009 season we would have 21 seniors, 19 juniors and a max of 14 sophomores(assuming we sign a full 25 this year and all are HS kids) and yet could only sign 25 players. Seems like when you commit to signing a large JC class you are guaranteeing that you must repeat that process every couple of years to fill the holes you create when you lose 2 years of elligibiliy

The ones who signed in December will not count towards this years numbers. If I understand the rule correctly, you can bring in JUCO's/transfers to replace players who left the program so long as you don't go over the 85 total limit.

You are correct the max number in a single class is 25 but the first 6-7 signed in December and are already enrolled. They count towards the 85 but not the 25. We also had 2-3 transfers that will not count towards the 25. We may not be able to sign the full 25 if we're pushing the 85 limit.

If I understand the rule incorrectly someone please correct me.

I don't know the rules on the 25 per year, but by my count we have the following:

60 players on scholarship from last year
3 Transfers that can practice in the spring and play in fall 07
6 JC signed and in school Jan 07 that can practice spring and play fall 07
3 JC commitments that can play in the fall
7 HS commitments that can play fall 07
1 HS verbal that can play fall 07
80 total
5 more offers to give
85 grand total

Based on this the 25 should not be an issue this year (already at 85) and if the 3 transfers and 5 JC signed don't count then room to play this year and next. "Normally" schools sign more because coaches know they are losing players from last year (grades/palying time) and recruits not qualifying.

GO TIGERS

Michael_H Wrote:The ones who signed in December will not count towards this years numbers. If I understand the rule correctly, you can bring in JUCO's/transfers to replace players who left the program so long as you don't go over the 85 total limit.

You are correct the max number in a single class is 25 but the first 6-7 signed in December and are already enrolled. They count towards the 85 but not the 25. We also had 2-3 transfers that will not count towards the 25. We may not be able to sign the full 25 if we're pushing the 85 limit.

If I understand the rule incorrectly someone please correct me.

unless you had less than 85 on scholarship the preceding year. The replacement rule is to encourage graduation, but if you have left over scholly's at the end of the year you can't use the replacement rule