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2016 Football Recruiting Thread - Notes from NSD Press Conference and Reception

Updated stats for Beal in the loss. Only 4 rushes for 21 yards and a TD and 5 catches for 32 yards.
 
Wake coaches were at forest view yesterday to talk to Moe Neal, again.
 
DeacsOrDie said:
Wake coaches were at forest view yesterday to talk to Moe Neal, again.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that Dino Babers will be on the phone with this evening. Maybe he'll invite him up there in January. We can only hope.
 
Tra Redd and Magna Vista led 21-0 at half and held on to win 28-23. They'll play for the state championship next week. No stats yet other than Redd had a 53-yard run to setup the first TD.

Greg Dortch and Highland Springs will also play for a state title next week. Dortch had 9 catches for 134 yards and 3 TDs in a 35-10 win. #baller
https://twitter.com/804Varsity/status/673265923403423744
 
Some recruiting notes from this weekend:

NEW TIGHT END OFFER

Chase Allen (Nixa, MO)
Rating: 3-star (5.6) on Rivals.
Offers: Minnesota (November 19), Illinois (November 19), Iowa State (December 1), and Wake Forest (December 4)
Measurables: 6’7 / 225 (unofficial)
Background: Also an accomplished basketball player, Allen played power forward on the MoKan Elite EYBL team that featured Trae Young and Michael Porter. Started to translate his basketball skills to the gridiron as his senior season progressed. Has decided to commit himself fully to football. His family has a lot of football background in his family. Has a 4.0 GPA. Wants to study engineering and says that it is one of the first things he looks for in a school.
Recruitment: Already has three 247 Crystal Ball predictions to Minnesota. Allen is taking his official visit to Minneapolis this weekend. The Gophers have told him that he is their #1 TE target.

ARKEEM BYRD
Byrd (who recently received an offer from Wake) got a 247 Crystal Ball prediction for Minnesota yesterday. That was before home state program Georgia Tech offered today. Wake already had a lot of competition for Byrd, and it looks like there will be more offers coming. This is one of the reasons that I hate December / January recruiting. The few prospects that break out during their senior season draw plenty of P5 offers.

GREG DORTCH
There are recruits that are higher rated and safer bets in the 2016 class, but I would argue that Dortch has become the most interesting. I doubt that we have recruited a smaller player in the past 10 years. His straight-line speed hasn’t timed well. Outside of Wake and James Madison he did not draw much college interest at ANY level. However, his highlights this season have featured a number of electric plays and he has played his best in some of his team’s biggest games. In the 5A state semis yesterday he had 9 catches for 134 yards, including touchdown receptions of 34 and 40 yards, plus a 63 yard kick return TD. There is a small group of Virginia Tech fans actively campaigning on Twitter for Dortch to get a VT offer. Is there a possibility that he could return kicks for Wake in 2016? I think he is VERY intriguing.

SCHOLARSHIP COUNT
I got some reliable info about a player in the 2016 class that will grayshirt. I’d rather not say which one until it is made public, but it’s not someone that has been mentioned very often in this thread over the last couple of months. Not someone that would have been a potential contributor in 2016.

With the grayshirt news and yesterday’s disclosure from Tyree Harris, my projected scholarship count is down to 87. That number includes Bryant Gross-Armiento. If Gross-Armiento has indeed retired, then the projection would be down to 86. I think it is a safe bet that there are other commits who have given consent to grayshirting if necessary, so fitting in the current commits all of a sudden looks very doable.

MINI-BOARD (WORK IN PROGRESS)
This will probably fill out a LOT more over the next two weeks, but why not start now? Best guess is that there will ultimately be 8-12 names on the mini-board for what is looking like maybe 3 (?) remaining spots. All of the following recruits have offers:

WR
Phil Patterson (Virginia Beach, VA) – Rated as a three-star (5.6) by Rivals. Former Virginia Tech commit is now considered a VT-lean. Said recently he is still in frequent contact with Wake Forest. UNC is also in the picture, but I need to research how heavily involved they are at this point. Patterson attended Junior Day at Wake and has been recruited by Wake for at least a year.

Larry Collins (Hopkins, SC) – Rated a three-star (5.7) by Rivals and the #9 overall recruit in South Carolina. Despite early offers from schools like Clemson, Florida State and Tennessee, Collins still hasn’t found a home. He had a strong senior season and was invited to the Shrine Bowl. His recruitment has gone very quiet (he hasn’t been mentioned in a Rivals article since February, or a 247 article since August). He was Crystal Balled to Wake by a 247 writer, but that was a while ago now. I’m putting him on the mini-board, but I’d love to get some confirmation that Wake’s recruitment is still active.

RB
Arkeem Byrd (Savannah, GA) – See above. Rivals rates him as a 2-star. Senior season breakout performer is attracting plenty of interest. Has been considered a Minnesota-lean, but it looks like more offers close to him are starting to come in.

TE
Chase Allen (Nixa, MO) – See above. Has to be viewed as a longshot for Wake considering the distance from home, the head start that Minnesota has had and his desire to study engineering.
 
94, there are two I figured would grey-shirt because of how lightly recruited they were. The third was Watson who said he would do it if asked to, when he committed. Is there a 4th?
 
Deac94 said:
Some recruiting notes from this weekend:

NEW TIGHT END OFFER

Chase Allen (Nixa, MO)
Rating: 3-star (5.6) on Rivals.
Offers: Minnesota (November 19), Illinois (November 19), Iowa State (December 1), and Wake Forest (December 4)
Measurables: 6’7 / 225 (unofficial)
Background: Also an accomplished basketball player, Allen played power forward on the MoKan Elite EYBL team that featured Trae Young and Michael Porter. Started to translate his basketball skills to the gridiron as his senior season progressed. Has decided to commit himself fully to football. His family has a lot of football background in his family. Has a 4.0 GPA. Wants to study engineering and says that it is one of the first things he looks for in a school.
Recruitment: Already has three 247 Crystal Ball predictions to Minnesota. Allen is taking his official visit to Minneapolis this weekend. The Gophers have told him that he is their #1 TE target.

ARKEEM BYRD
Byrd (who recently received an offer from Wake) got a 247 Crystal Ball prediction for Minnesota yesterday. That was before home state program Georgia Tech offered today. Wake already had a lot of competition for Byrd, and it looks like there will be more offers coming. This is one of the reasons that I hate December / January recruiting. The few prospects that break out during their senior season draw plenty of P5 offers.

GREG DORTCH
There are recruits that are higher rated and safer bets in the 2016 class, but I would argue that Dortch has become the most interesting. I doubt that we have recruited a smaller player in the past 10 years. His straight-line speed hasn’t timed well. Outside of Wake and James Madison he did not draw much college interest at ANY level. However, his highlights this season have featured a number of electric plays and he has played his best in some of his team’s biggest games. In the 5A state semis yesterday he had 9 catches for 134 yards, including touchdown receptions of 34 and 40 yards, plus a 63 yard kick return TD. There is a small group of Virginia Tech fans actively campaigning on Twitter for Dortch to get a VT offer. Is there a possibility that he could return kicks for Wake in 2016? I think he is VERY intriguing.

SCHOLARSHIP COUNT
I got some reliable info about a player in the 2016 class that will grayshirt. I’d rather not say which one until it is made public, but it’s not someone that has been mentioned very often in this thread over the last couple of months. Not someone that would have been a potential contributor in 2016.

With the grayshirt news and yesterday’s disclosure from Tyree Harris, my projected scholarship count is down to 87. That number includes Bryant Gross-Armiento. If Gross-Armiento has indeed retired, then the projection would be down to 86. I think it is a safe bet that there are other commits who have given consent to grayshirting if necessary, so fitting in the current commits all of a sudden looks very doable.

MINI-BOARD (WORK IN PROGRESS)
This will probably fill out a LOT more over the next two weeks, but why not start now? Best guess is that there will ultimately be 8-12 names on the mini-board for what is looking like maybe 3 (?) remaining spots. All of the following recruits have offers:

WR
Phil Patterson (Virginia Beach, VA) – Rated as a three-star (5.6) by Rivals. Former Virginia Tech commit is now considered a VT-lean. Said recently he is still in frequent contact with Wake Forest. UNC is also in the picture, but I need to research how heavily involved they are at this point. Patterson attended Junior Day at Wake and has been recruited by Wake for at least a year.

Larry Collins (Hopkins, SC) – Rated a three-star (5.7) by Rivals and the #9 overall recruit in South Carolina. Despite early offers from schools like Clemson, Florida State and Tennessee, Collins still hasn’t found a home. He had a strong senior season and was invited to the Shrine Bowl. His recruitment has gone very quiet (he hasn’t been mentioned in a Rivals article since February, or a 247 article since August). He was Crystal Balled to Wake by a 247 writer, but that was a while ago now. I’m putting him on the mini-board, but I’d love to get some confirmation that Wake’s recruitment is still active.

RB
Arkeem Byrd (Savannah, GA) – See above. Rivals rates him as a 2-star. Senior season breakout performer is attracting plenty of interest. Has been considered a Minnesota-lean, but it looks like more offers close to him are starting to come in.

TE
Chase Allen (Nixa, MO) – See above. Has to be viewed as a longshot for Wake considering the distance from home, the head start that Minnesota has had and his desire to study engineering.
Click to expand...
Think we have a shot with Moe Neal?
 
GeeseGeese14 said:
Think we have a shot with Moe Neal?
Click to expand...

Wake coaches visited him at his HS on Friday. Moe has been waiting for the new Cuse coach to be named (Babers) before he makes the decision to de-commit or not. As of now, no Cuse commits have de-committed.
 
DEACS76 said:
94, there are two I figured would grey-shirt because of how lightly recruited they were. The third was Watson who said he would do it if asked to, when he committed. Is there a 4th?
Click to expand...

I only know of one. Anything beyond that is just speculation on my part. Seems logical that there would be more.
 
Thanks 94. The staff is going after an RB, TE this is where they see a need to fill. Their pursuit of WRs like Larry Collins was foreshadowing of Tyree leaving. I'll be looking for a RB or TE to maybe turn the page.
 
It's still early, but at this point I don't really have any big concerns about any of our current commits flipping. There are a couple of kids that seem to want bigger offers but I don't think they'll get them. Georgia Southern may be checking in with a couple of our commits, but nothing significant at all (as best I can tell). None of the red flags that were popping up this time last year.

I have to say that all of the interest that other schools had in our commits last year was actually kind of validating, although I hated seeing recruits decommit. This year I think the staff has done a great job continuing to recruit our commits. I hope it continues to pay off.
 
Another round of articles and 247 crystal ball predictions make our chances with Byrd and Allen look even slimmer. It will be interesting to see if we get another round of RB or TE offers, or alternatively maybe the staff is looking more at best available players regardless of position.

I think Wake has a better chance at getting a visit from Byrd than Allen, but Byrd is already dropping hints about committing to GT.
 
The oft-mentioned John Lamot tweeted that he has been offered by Boston College.
 
Pretty sure I saw the BC RB coach on the flight from GSO to ATL this morning.
 
WR Jeremiah Brown tweeted that he will be enrolling in January. I took from his tweet that this was a new development. Perhaps the staff thinks they might need more WR depth next season.
 
Phil Patterson "recommitted" to Virginia Tech. I feel like my attempt at a mini-board yesterday is already falling apart. Things move so quickly this time of year. Time for some new names!
 
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