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

Most of us have been following Harry's progress since the kid was 13-14 years old. It will be gut wrenching if we lose out on him. Even more so if we don't have a top 30 class when 2016 is said and done. Danny has done really well to put some pieces in place for him(2015 class), and hopefully he recognizes that as an opportunity to lead a formidable unit to the big dance and make our first run since 04. That being said, we shouldn't count out this years squad.
 
Deac94 said:
It's funny how perceptions develop. In general, the best players at Wake's camps have offers from Georgia Southern, App State or Marshall. They are trying to break into P5. If Moe Neal didn't have offers from Syracuse and Wake Forest, he would likely be looking at that same tier of schools (especially App State and Georgia Southern). The difference is that, at one point, schools further up the food chain recruited Neal. I admit that influences my perception as well.

I will be disappointed if we don't get Neal. I've been following his recruitment closely for over a year. He is reported to be a very good, very likeable kid. I love the see the wins in the home state. But I don't view him as a program changer. I also understand how tight he is with 'Cuse commit Robert Washington. They are very, very close. 'Cuse fans have also done a great job on Twitter. It seems like there are hundreds of them, and they've been doing crazy stuff like editing video tributes to him on YouTube for months.
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disaster was too strong of a word. While I know Neal is not a program changing player, I think that in order to actually "change the program" Clawson needs to land guys like him. also, dudes in basements tweeting at kids is creepy as shit
 
Deac94 said:
It's funny how perceptions develop. In general, the best players at Wake's camps have offers from Georgia Southern, App State or Marshall. They are trying to break into P5. If Moe Neal didn't have offers from Syracuse and Wake Forest, he would likely be looking at that same tier of schools (especially App State and Georgia Southern). The difference is that, at one point, schools further up the food chain recruited Neal. I admit that influences my perception as well.

I will be disappointed if we don't get Neal. I've been following his recruitment closely for over a year. He is reported to be a very good, very likeable kid. I love the see the wins in the home state. But I don't view him as a program changer. I also understand how tight he is with 'Cuse commit Robert Washington. They are very, very close. 'Cuse fans have also done a great job on Twitter. It seems like there are hundreds of them, and they've been doing crazy stuff like editing video tributes to him on YouTube for months.
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Washington has continued to flirt with UNC. He visited this last Friday. He's been on UNC's campus a dozen times. Washington could be UNC's back up to Jordan Brown. How about Wake starts the dominoes by landing Brown, Washingtom flips to UNC with Neal then coming to Wake.
 
I would be very surprised if Washington signs with Syracuse on Signing Day. Dude is the perfect example of a drama queen.
 
The Maryland 247 writer put in a Crystal Ball for Traveon Redd to Vanderbilt.
 
For what it's worth, coaches at Moe's HS would "be surprised" if he went to Cuse. Says his family ties are close.
 
Is Moe Neal also aware of the fact that his friend and current Syracuse commit, Robert Washington from North Carolina, very recently attended a football camp at UNC? This leads me to believe that Washington is not as enamored with SU as he once was. Washington could end up flipping over to UNC.
 
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Wouldn't it just be a kick in the nuts if Moe and Washington both announced for UNC on Saturday?
 
HugeDeacFan said:
Wouldn't it just be a kick in the nuts if Moe and Washington both announced for UNC on Saturday?
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Hopefully Wake is recruiting smarter players than that. But if both chose UNC on Saturday, Id say Wake dodged a bullet.
 
A few different topics I thought I would cover:

“Niche” Recruiting

I posted this Clawson ESPN interview on the other thread: http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/83582/83582. Some folks noted in that thread that his discussion of Wake football recruiting sounded very similar to Grobe’s line about Wake’s recruiting pool being a “puddle”. Indeed, Clawson uses the term “niche” to describe Wake recruiting for the first time that I recall (the remainder of the recruiting discussion is standard Clawson fare). I think we would all agree that Wake is a niche recruiting school, but I don’t think that equates to Grobe’s puddle. I don’t think Clawson sees it that way either. I think Wake’s niche is actually fairly large. If you assume that even 1 in 10 top high school football players would have an interest in a private, high-end academic school over large public school, that is a big pool of recruits to work from.

Phil Patterson

A reminder that Rivals #86 WR Phil Patterson also announces his decision on Saturday. Patterson has Wake in his top six. I had been hoping that Wake would be in contention, but I see no evidence that Wake is actively involved. Patterson received 2 Crystal Balls yesterday for Virginia Tech. Larry Collins remains the only name on my list in terms of outside receivers being actively recruited by Wake.

The Safety Position

The safety position seems very important in the 4-2-5 defense. Not only do they have be gifted athletes versatile enough to contribute equally in run support and pass protection, most 4-2-5 defenses give their safeties the ability to decide – or change – formations on their side of the field. Think of it as 2 separate QB’s on defense.

Clawson didn’t recruit any of safeties of his own in 2014. Demetrius Kemp and Cameron Glenn were already on board from Grobe’s recruiting. However, the position got significant attention in 2015. At one point, the class had commits from Dior Johnson, Christian Matthew and Andrew Rector before signing only one safety (Jessie Bates). Now that 2-year journey seems to be ending with Lukas Masterson, possibly Jacquez Williams (depending on whether he ends up positionally) and hopefully Traveon Redd.

One last note on Masterson. I think there were 3-stars that Wake was involved with – and probably could easily have landed - but decided not to offer. Two examples are Anthony Womack (Virginia Beach, VA) and Jeremiah Maddox (Hilton Head, SC). I think the staff simply liked Masterson better. Most of us would probably agree that the difference between a two-star and a low 3-star (5.5) is also pretty negligible from a ratings perspective anyways.

This local newspaper article on Masterson http://www.news-press.com/story/sports/high-school/football/2015/07/28/gulf-coast-safety-lukas-masterson-commits-wake-forest/30778997/ says that when Elko came to see Masterson in May he told him that there were 3 safeties that Wake was focused on. I don’t know which 3 recruits that is referring to – or if that info is even correct – but I would guess it would certainly have included Traveon Redd, Myles Dorn and now South Carolina-commit JJ Givens. Wake was also recruiting Jarret Cole by that time as well.
 
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deacfromnc said:
Is Moe Neal also aware of the fact that his friend and current Syracuse commit, Robert Washington from North Carolina, very recently attended a football camp at UNC? This leads me to believe that Washington is not as enamored with SU as he once was. Washington could end up flipping over to UNC.
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This will be interesting to watch. It is widely thought that UNC has only one RB spot available and it is earmarked for Jordon Brown. I have no idea what UNC's coaches think about Washington, but I know that the Inside Carolina guys think he is wildly overrated. They actually ranked Washington as only the #36 overall recruit in North Carolina in their own state rankings, behind guys like Wake-offeree/current Vandy target Rico Dowdle. There is a belief on that board - as well as some on this board I think - that Washington somehow had this year's record for most noncommitable offers. How much of that is true? Who knows.

Moe Neal does not have a UNC offer.
 
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