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2017 Football Recruiting

A general rule, I never post direct quotes from published articles but I’m going to do it here because I really want people to read this quote. I want say who it’s from, because that’s not important. I will say that it’s a 3-star high academic-type kid with multiple P5 options. He visited a number of P5 schools over his spring break. Here is what he said about Wake:

“Wake was the biggest surprise to me. The facilities that they’re building for a small school are impressive. I think what I’ve learned through this week is that you can’t pick a school based on facilities. They’ve all got them already or they’re breaking ground to stay in the arms race.

“Wake Forest had something special set up for us. All I will say is that Coach Dave Clawson is going to work on that program. He knows his stuff and I’d be surprised if he didn’t win.”

There are several points to make here:

1. The facilities comment is outstanding. We aren’t going to beat the Clemsons and Alabamas of the world in the facilities arms race (we aren’t going to beat those 2 programs for recruits either). My hope is that we can close enough to the big public schools that enough of these kids say “Wake’s facilities are close enough that I’m going to make my decision based on other factors”. I can’t understate how much facilities matter. These recruits are just about to start narrowing their lists and they are all taking campus tours to check out facilities. It’s the very first thing that most recruits talk about in interviews. Almost without exception.

2. Clawson continues to be convincing.

3. The “something special” is a comment I’ve heard before (for example, from Sulaiman Kamara). It shows that the staff is trying to be creative and different with some aspect of these unofficial visits. Some amount of uniqueness in approach is a MUST if Wake is going to be successful.

Great stuff. Go Deacs!

Be curious to see where this unnamed player finally commits
 
To be balanced, here's an example that demonstrates that we still lag behind.

Jordan Pouncey (Orlando, FL) was another kid that did a spring break college tour. Pouncey is considered to be a strong UCF-lean because of some family connections there. On his tour he visited Wake and then immediately went to Louisville. Afterwards, he said in an interview that he was pretty much set in his mind that he would stay in-state until he saw Louisville's facilities. Then he decided to consider the 'Ville (the obvious inference being that he wasn't swayed by Wake's facilities).
 
"Former Florida QB Will Grier to transfer to WEST VIRGINIA.
Must sit out 2016, could be eligible for 2017"

We were mentioned as a possible destination at one time.
 
3. The “something special” is a comment I’ve heard before (for example, from Sulaiman Kamara). It shows that the staff is trying to be creative and different with some aspect of these unofficial visits. Some amount of uniqueness in approach is a MUST if Wake is going to be successful.

This was the way Skip approached recruiting, and it seemed to work out pretty well.
 
A look at the cornerback position:

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Yusuf Corker – He named Wake as his leader very early on but since then he has been on a lot of SEC visits. His offer list is tough to get a read on because he didn’t tweet his offers until recently. I think Rivals might be overstating his offer sheet. Since his last visit to Wake he’s been to Vanderbilt, Georgia, Auburn and Tennessee. I think that he’s headed to South Carolina today and Duke, NCSU and UNC this weekend. He also tweeted that he picked up an Alabama offer. He’s not naming any favorites, but Wake has to be considered a long shot at this point.

Germane Crowell – One of the most important recruits in this class for Wake Forest. He’s made multiple visits to Wake. Son of the former NFL WR / current Carver HS head coach Germane Crowell. A very quiet recruitment because he doesn’t tweet about recruiting. It took a while to learn that he had picked up offers from schools like Florida and Penn State. He is a D1 level prospect at a number of different positions but word is that he’s decided he wants to be a CB. Has great size for the position. It’s interesting to note that a number of different programs seem to be confident that they will land him. He’s a UVA legacy and he seems to like them a lot. He’s a priority for Duke. NCSU seems to think that they lead. The VT writers also seem confident that they are in a good position. Wake has the hometown advantage and reportedly have a very strong relationship. Other than Mike Allen, I can’t think of too many targets that are more important for Wake than Crowell.

Aapri Washington – I honestly don’t know much about him. These kids who receive most of their offers as freshmen and sophomores are very difficult to get a read on because you don’t know who still has interest. His top schools seem to be Kentucky, TCU, Wake, West Virginia and Mississippi State, but I’d really like to get more clarity. He’s a smaller corner (5’9ish).

Dameon Williams – He named a top 3 of Georgia Tech, Duke and UNC last month. I kept him on the list because of a report that he was going to visit Wake in March. I think he’ll probably end up at Georgia Tech.

Madison Cone – I think conventional wisdom is that it is a 3-way race between VT, Wake and Duke, however there’s chatter that he might not be as big of a priority at VT and Duke as you might expect.

Troy Simon (5’11.5 / 187 at Nike-Atlanta. 4.98 40 and 4.61 shuttle) – From the same HS as Tyler Watson and 2016 preferred walk-on Davis Johnson. He was the surprise DB MVP at Nike’s The Opening camp in Atlanta and also drew praise at Rivals Camp a few weeks later. Curiously, he ran a 4.98 40 at The Opening though.

Trey Creamer (6’0/168 at Nike-Atlanta. 4.69 40 and 4.26 shuttle) – There is a sense that he is still ascending as a recruit. He continues to be a favorite of mine (and CreamyGoodness). Added an offer from West Virginia yesterday. I’m eager to see if he visits Wake for the Spring Game. I’m still optimistic he’ll end up at Wake.
 
I didn't realize that Crowell was higher rated than Cone. Would love to have both of them.
 
Not that I'm proposing this, but Corker has said in the past that whatever school offers his cousin (Wallace) he will commit to. I don't think he has a single FBS offer, but they go on all the visits together.
 
NCAA banned satellite camps today

The decision on satellite camps is a fascinating one. There are clearly some positives. It prevents yet another arms race in college athletics. It reduces the travel burden on coaching staffs around the country. However, the negatives are overwhelming (and I’m really not talking about Wake specifically here). It doubles-down on a model that makes it very hard for recruits outside of the most elite tier to consider schools further away from home. Even if those schools would be a better fit from an educational, social or football standpoint. It also makes it harder for under-the-radar kids to get noticed because you have to “audition” for one program at a time.

The NCAA had a choice of allowing the schools to go where the recruits are, or make the recruits pay to travel to where the schools are. They chose to make the recruits pay. If they can't afford to travel to camps further away then they will be forced to consider only those schools that are closer to home. There are LOTS of college football players that are at the schools that they are at because they went to a satellite camp or were spotted by a “guest” coach from a smaller school at one of the larger school’s camps. That won’t happen anymore.

I’m sure that there are plenty of creative solutions that could be put in place to address this issue. None of them would involve satellite camps. However, finding creative solutions isn’t exactly the NCAA’s strong suit.

From a competitive perspective for Wake I think it’s basically neutral. I’m eager for Wake to be able to recruit academic kids from outside of the region, but on the other hand Wake has a better than average territory right now and I guess there’s something to be said for keeping programs like Boston College and Syracuse from hosting camps in North Carolina.

The most immediate impact is likely to be the end of “guest coaches” at Wake’s camps (if I understand the impact of the rule change correctly). In the past there have been coaches from FCS and Division II programs assisting at Wake’s camps. It makes perfect sense, the lower-tier coaches get a chance to scout players that don’t make the cut for a P5 program. Wake gets a chance to find a diamond in the rough that a lower-tier program might have recruited to the camp. More than anything it drove attendance. High school kids came to Wake’s camp for the opportunity to “audition” in front of several different schools at one time. If I’m thinking about it correctly, this could significantly change the size and structure of those camps. I’d suspect that they will be much smaller now.
 
I'm expecting Mike Allen to be at the Spring Game tomorrow.
 
Interesting perspective on satellite camps, 94. In the article I read, the rule concerning guest coaches only applies to FBS coaches. They can only coach at their own school's camps or clinics. The rule does not seem to apply to coaches at the FCS level on down.
 
Interesting perspective on satellite camps, 94. In the article I read, the rule concerning guest coaches only applies to FBS coaches. They can only coach at their own school's camps or clinics. The rule does not seem to apply to coaches at the FCS level on down.

That would be good news. I hadn't picked up that detail. That would make for an odd distinction though. Good idea for small schools. Have to restrict it for large schools??


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Jamal Riggins made the trip from Florida to visit Wake again this weekend.
 
To be balanced, here's an example that demonstrates that we still lag behind.

Jordan Pouncey (Orlando, FL) was another kid that did a spring break college tour. Pouncey is considered to be a strong UCF-lean because of some family connections there. On his tour he visited Wake and then immediately went to Louisville. Afterwards, he said in an interview that he was pretty much set in his mind that he would stay in-state until he saw Louisville's facilities. Then he decided to consider the 'Ville (the obvious inference being that he wasn't swayed by Wake's facilities).

I'm not so sure. It could just be that he wanted a large school - in a bigger conference - and Louisville fit the bill.
 
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