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

In a mild surprise, Andrew Armstrong left his Syracuse visit without committing. He says he wants to take some more visits before making a decision. It will be interesting to see if the staff adds him to the big visit weekend on 1/22.
 
I came across some info that neither Larry Collins nor Pete Leota will visit Wake this weekend. I don't know the reasons, but obviously there could be a wide variety of factors at play.

That would leave Damon Hayes as the only expected visitor for this weekend. We will see if Andrew Armstrong schedules a visit.
 
I just read on 247 from an article dated today that Leota took his official visit to South Carolina and says he is now officially committed to the gamecocks. Hopefully we can still somehow get Collins on campus for a visit.
 
Richardwfu said:
I just read on 247 from an article dated today that Leota took his official visit to South Carolina and says he is now officially committed to the gamecocks. Hopefully we can still somehow get Collins on campus for a visit.
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Just speculation here, but it sure seems like there must be some kind of non-football issue impacting Collins. If Wake is no longer recruiting him, it's possible that no one is. Very odd considering he was terrific on the field this year (even though he missed some time with an injury).
 
There is a new name to add to the expected visitor list. Here are my notes:

Chinedu Udeogu (Georgetown Prep / North Bethesda, MD)
P5 Offers: Currently committed to Cal. Also has offers from Rutgers, Iowa State and Pitt.
Official Visits: Iowa State (January 15), Cal (January 22), and Wake Forest (January 29)
Measurables: 6’5 / 248 at Nike combine in April 2015. Ran a 5.21 40 and 30-inch vertical jump. Overall he earned a SPARQ score of 91 (a very good score).
Notes: Versatile DL could project as either a DE or DT. Cal sees him as a DE. Was somewhat under-the-radar when he committed to Cal in November. Back in July he named a top 3 of Yale, Rutgers and ECU. His brother recently committed to Iowa State as a JUCO OL. Chinedu told an Iowa State that he was very focused on studying engineering, however in previous interviews he has mentioned studying a combination of business and mathematics. Originally born in the U.S., his family moved to Nigeria for 10 years before returning to the United States. He attends a boarding school in Maryland. I believe his family lives in Chicago. Last name is pronounced “oo-DAH-goo”.

Udeogu sounds like a longshot for Wake. He’s obviously currently committed to Cal, and has made it sound like he is only taking other visits as a backup plan. His brother is openly recruiting him to Iowa State. On top of that he seems very interesting in studying engineering. However, like with anything else in recruiting you never know. He sounds like an academically-focused kid that has mentioned an interest in studying business. Just the fact that he’s visiting is an indication that he has some level of interest in Wake.


Some other notes:

Greg Dortch received an in-home visit from Coach Clawson and Coach Tabacca last night. Coach Clawson is making the rounds visiting several commits (for example, he had in-homes with Lukas Masterson and Je’Vionte Nash on Monday), but the Dortch visit is interesting given that he’s agreed to visit Maryland. There was also news yesterday that Maryland has offered Dortch’s teammate K’Von Wallace. Wallace is considering cancelling a previously scheduled visit to Pitt on January 29 so that he can visit Maryland with Dortch.

Andrew Armstrong committed to Syracuse last night. No word on whether he still plans to make other visits.

Arkeem Byrd had some positive comments about his Wake visit in his interview with Wake Rivals (here)and in this brief article (here). Byrd plans two more visits, but hasn’t decided which schools will get those visits. The second article indicates that a Clemson visit on 1/29 is still a possibility. Byrd is a backup plan at DB for Clemson. Byrd is an interesting first test to see what influence the new facilities will have on recruiting. He seems wide-open, but landing him will require clean wins over a handful of other P5 schools. This is exactly the type of recruiting battle that you hope the new facilities will help Wake win.

Tyler Watson picked up an offer from Indiana yesterday.

The day after Taleni Suhren tweeted that he was firm in his commitment to Wake a Vandy writer wrote (without mentioning Suhren’s tweet) that the Vandy staff had decided to head in a different direction because Suhren wasn’t a fit for what they wanted to do on the offensive line (yeah, right). Note: If I knew how to embed the Jennifer Lawrence “oh, okay” GIF I would have done it here.


Some non-Wake notes as well:

Jim Harbaugh made news again when he attended a high school class with 4-star DT Boss Tagaloa as part of his in-home visit.

I know that every year it seems like there is one team that gets hit especially hard by decommitments, but the meltdown this year at Maryland has been particularly spectacular. They made a lot of waves early in the recruiting season getting wins from highly-ranked in-state recruits by really emphasizing a “stay-at-home’ movement that was spearheaded by highly rated QB Dwayne Haskins. Now most of those recruits have moved on, including Haskins himself. Maryland is sitting with only 10 commits right now, with room to add as many as 17 more.

Speaking of “stay-at-home” movements, I’ve seen a lot of hashtags on Twitter and the new Rutgers staff using #FenceTheGarden has to be one of the worst.

Those of you who follow this thread know that I am envious of how Duke football, and especially assistant coach Derek Jones, use social media to define their program’s brand and market the program to recruits. For that reason I wasn’t surprised to see that Jones was invited to speak on that topic at the AFCA National Convention. I also read that 247 listed Jones as the primary recruiter for 10 of Duke’s commits in the 2016 class.
 
Deac94 said:
I know that every year it seems like there is one team that gets hit especially hard by decommitments, but the meltdown this year at Maryland has been particularly spectacular. They made a lot of waves early in the recruiting season getting wins from highly-ranked in-state recruits by really emphasizing a “stay-at-home’ movement that was spearheaded by highly rated QB Dwayne Haskins. Now most of those recruits have moved on, including Haskins himself. Maryland is sitting with only 10 commits right now, with room to add as many as 17 more.
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Locksley was told around Christmas he isn't coming back. That has been the impetus for the mass exodus from MD. He was primary recruiter on almost all those guys.
 
bernbp5 said:
Locksley was told around Christmas he isn't coming back. That has been the impetus for the mass exodus from MD. He was primary recruiter on almost all those guys.
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With that many ships available, MD has no choice, but to try to poach recruits from other schools. Not sure if any of WF's commitments considered MD. With the former coaches from Cuse, UVA and Ball State on board, would guess that the commitments from those schools will be targeted. Also, wonder where Locksley will end up. His background is very checkered, but he has always been an exceptional recruiter.
 
bernbp5 said:
Locksley was told around Christmas he isn't coming back. That has been the impetus for the mass exodus from MD. He was primary recruiter on almost all those guys.
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To followup and re-emphasis, it appears that Locksley was critical in the "stay at home" movement under Maryland's fired coach.

Just yesterday the Wash Post reported two more Maryland home grown players decommitted from Maryland and immediately committed to (the) Ohio State. Here is a link to the article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...te-assessing-marylands-future-at-quarterback/

Maryland is really short on recruits with only a few weeks until signing day. They are going to try to poach from everywhere.
 
At this point, I would be very happy if we didn't get any other commits as long as we hold on to our current commits.
Not sure if we have any more space anyway.
This is a very solid class. Many will play early and often.
 
The snow this weekend has the potential to disrupt official visit weekends across the East Coast. Cancellations could be a very big deal for schools that have a number of slots to fill. Right now the plan is for official visits at Wake to continue as planned, but here are some thoughts on how cancellations might impact Wake if they occur:

Damon Hayes – If Hayes is forced to cancel his visit, it is likely that he would not reschedule. He is scheduled to visit Rutgers on 1/29 and reportedly had a good in-home visit on Wednesday with new head coach Chris Ash who made clear that he wants Hayes at Rutgers. He’s already visited Boston College and reportedly would be very receptive to Maryland if they were to offer.

Greg Dortch – If Dortch is forced to cancel his visit this weekend, he would be forced to choose between Wake and Maryland for his visit on 1/29. The other school could receive a midweek visit, but that is less than an ideal way to experience an official visit.

Other Commits – I’m expecting other commits like Zander Zimmer, Tyler Watson, Lukas Masterson, Sulaiman Kamara, Je’Vionte Nash, and Thomas Cole to visit this weekend. I assume that if anyone has to cancel they could be rescheduled for 1/29, but there may not be a plan for a large group visit that weekend. So any visits on 1/29 might be more “one-off” – and therefore a different experience. Just speculating on that.

Arkeem Byrd – Wake could actually benefit if Byrd is unable to take a visit this weekend. He would be left with just one visit - unless he changes gears and decides to take a midweek visit somewhere.

One additional note of interest: there is an NCAA rule that may come into play that permits a school to extend official visits beyond 48 hours for extenuating circumstances (like weather) outside of the control of both parties. They have to be reported, but there are no penalties. So if a school gets a recruit on campus this weekend, there’s a chance they could keep them longer than a typical visit if flights were cancelled or roads weren’t safe (think about families trying to travel back to Maryland, Virginia or West Virginia on Sunday).
 
LSU looks to become the first school to have 20 ESPN top 300 recruits in a single class. Already at 18.

:eek:
 
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