Buttermaker
Well-known member
Question with him is likely to be durability.
2017 Football Recruiting
- Thread starter Deac94
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
GENERAL UPDATE
There continues to be not much news on the football recruiting front. All of the coaches are spending time on the road covering their respective recruiting territories during the spring evaluation period that runs through the end of the month. I don’t think there will be many commits in May and that means that we are probably setting up for an important camp season. The majority of Wake’s camps will be between June 3 and June 17, with two more scheduled for mid-July. That will be an important time for recruits to earn offers or move up Wake’s priority list. However, like previous years it appears that will be dependent on recruits making the drive to Winston-Salem. No satellite camps have been announced yet, although I expect that there will be one. I also haven’t heard any news yet about members of our staff attending camps in other locations, but that may be in the works as well.
I think this will be a class of around 20 recruits, but that would require some reasonable attrition and greyshirt offers so it’s possible that the number could be lower. The most notable thing about Wake’s recruiting is that the activity is heavily focused on certain positions. Other than QB, the top priorities (in order) appear to be: (1) OL, (2) size at the CB position, (3) size at the WR position and (4) size on the interior of the DL. While I noted that the staff appears to be looking to add “size” at these positions, if the past is any indication the staff won’t compromise athleticism. They will take a smaller player before they will take a big kid that is lacking in athleticism.
Very few new 2017 offers are being made. That tells me that the staff is either comfortable with their board or they want to wait until camp season is over before making major moves. Similar to last year, the most significant new offers during the eval period are coming from outside Wake’s “six hour radius” recruiting territory. I’ve added to my Board at WR from Long Island, a DT from Baton Rouge, and a very nice CB from Tampa.
A FEW NOTES ON SPECIFIC PLAYERS
One of the most recent articles on Mike Allen gave me the impression that Wake may be falling behind Tennessee and Georgia. That’s just one article though, and it wasn’t a video interview (which is easier to get a good read from). The good news is that Allen’s mother will need to “sign off” on any schools that Mike could consider committing to. The bad news is that she has already signed off on UT and UGA (as well as Wake). Allen has now been offered by every SEC school except Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M. He’s also picked up offers from Notre Dame and USC. I still expect Wake will be in the running with Allen until the very end.
If you are looking for possible in-state commits out of the current offers I would look at Dmitri Emmanuel as being the most likely, but don’t count out LB Chase Monroe. Despite the SEC interest I think Wake remains neck and neck with Kentucky. I would put Wake’s chances with Cade Carney’s former teammate in the 40-50% range.
I’m really hopeful about Wake’s chances with DB/ATH Josh Blackwell. Blackwell is teammates with Wake commit Jake Simpson. They visited together for Wake’s Junior Day. Blackwell’s recruitment has been very quiet until last week when he announced offers from UNC, Vanderbilt and Penn State. We will have to see how his recruitment develops from here.
THE QB SPOT
It still looks very likely that Wake’s QB commit will be either Taylor Powell or Tavon Bowers. Johnathon Lewis (who held a Wake offer) took the Rutgers QB spot, so Wake would appear to be Bowers only remaining P5 opportunity. Powell’s P5 options may be down to Wake and Vanderbilt, unless a new offer comes in or a school like Purdue is looking to take 2 QB’s. Powell recently added non-P5 offers from FAU and Utah State.
FLASHBACK TO 2015 RECRUITING…
Two former Wake targets have already left their respective programs. WR Freddie Simmons held our attention for much of the summer and may have come close to committing to Wake on two different occasions. Ultimately I think Wake backed off because of character concerns. He ultimately committed to N.C. State, but he and the school have already parted ways.
Wake brought in DT Mose Hall for an official visit despite him being a strong Minnesota-lean. Hall eventually committed to the Gophers but has already left the program.
There continues to be not much news on the football recruiting front. All of the coaches are spending time on the road covering their respective recruiting territories during the spring evaluation period that runs through the end of the month. I don’t think there will be many commits in May and that means that we are probably setting up for an important camp season. The majority of Wake’s camps will be between June 3 and June 17, with two more scheduled for mid-July. That will be an important time for recruits to earn offers or move up Wake’s priority list. However, like previous years it appears that will be dependent on recruits making the drive to Winston-Salem. No satellite camps have been announced yet, although I expect that there will be one. I also haven’t heard any news yet about members of our staff attending camps in other locations, but that may be in the works as well.
I think this will be a class of around 20 recruits, but that would require some reasonable attrition and greyshirt offers so it’s possible that the number could be lower. The most notable thing about Wake’s recruiting is that the activity is heavily focused on certain positions. Other than QB, the top priorities (in order) appear to be: (1) OL, (2) size at the CB position, (3) size at the WR position and (4) size on the interior of the DL. While I noted that the staff appears to be looking to add “size” at these positions, if the past is any indication the staff won’t compromise athleticism. They will take a smaller player before they will take a big kid that is lacking in athleticism.
Very few new 2017 offers are being made. That tells me that the staff is either comfortable with their board or they want to wait until camp season is over before making major moves. Similar to last year, the most significant new offers during the eval period are coming from outside Wake’s “six hour radius” recruiting territory. I’ve added to my Board at WR from Long Island, a DT from Baton Rouge, and a very nice CB from Tampa.
A FEW NOTES ON SPECIFIC PLAYERS
One of the most recent articles on Mike Allen gave me the impression that Wake may be falling behind Tennessee and Georgia. That’s just one article though, and it wasn’t a video interview (which is easier to get a good read from). The good news is that Allen’s mother will need to “sign off” on any schools that Mike could consider committing to. The bad news is that she has already signed off on UT and UGA (as well as Wake). Allen has now been offered by every SEC school except Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M. He’s also picked up offers from Notre Dame and USC. I still expect Wake will be in the running with Allen until the very end.
If you are looking for possible in-state commits out of the current offers I would look at Dmitri Emmanuel as being the most likely, but don’t count out LB Chase Monroe. Despite the SEC interest I think Wake remains neck and neck with Kentucky. I would put Wake’s chances with Cade Carney’s former teammate in the 40-50% range.
I’m really hopeful about Wake’s chances with DB/ATH Josh Blackwell. Blackwell is teammates with Wake commit Jake Simpson. They visited together for Wake’s Junior Day. Blackwell’s recruitment has been very quiet until last week when he announced offers from UNC, Vanderbilt and Penn State. We will have to see how his recruitment develops from here.
THE QB SPOT
It still looks very likely that Wake’s QB commit will be either Taylor Powell or Tavon Bowers. Johnathon Lewis (who held a Wake offer) took the Rutgers QB spot, so Wake would appear to be Bowers only remaining P5 opportunity. Powell’s P5 options may be down to Wake and Vanderbilt, unless a new offer comes in or a school like Purdue is looking to take 2 QB’s. Powell recently added non-P5 offers from FAU and Utah State.
FLASHBACK TO 2015 RECRUITING…
Two former Wake targets have already left their respective programs. WR Freddie Simmons held our attention for much of the summer and may have come close to committing to Wake on two different occasions. Ultimately I think Wake backed off because of character concerns. He ultimately committed to N.C. State, but he and the school have already parted ways.
Wake brought in DT Mose Hall for an official visit despite him being a strong Minnesota-lean. Hall eventually committed to the Gophers but has already left the program.
DeaconSig
Well-known member
Looks like he took state's offer.
Tre Harbison (2016 class) is transferring from Virginia. In UVA's new offense he was relegated to fullback. Harbison seems like a good kid and is very talented, so I hate that for him, but I guess he took the risk knowing that a new staff was coming in.
Tylerkong
New member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
- Messages
- 111
- Reaction score
- 4
Nadir Thompson from Southern Nash committed to state.
Nate Thompson is from Southern Lee and did not commit. Mama loves Wake & staff. Hope Wake offers soon.
Neurodeac
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 17, 2011
- Messages
- 2,540
- Reaction score
- 276
That's a real low point for state's recruiting...
Not Wake related, but I thought it was interesting the UNC denied admissions to a 3-star safety from South Florida that the Tar Heels signed last February. That's an interesting sign that the school is making at least modest changes to how they approach athletics. The lower Academic Progress Rate actually might be an indication that the school is challenging their athletes a little more in the classroom as well.
I still haven't seen any indication that the football program takes any specific interest in the higher academic recruits.
The 3-star safety is taking an official visit to Syracuse starting today.
I still haven't seen any indication that the football program takes any specific interest in the higher academic recruits.
The 3-star safety is taking an official visit to Syracuse starting today.
Buttermaker
Well-known member
:thumbsup:
sailordeac
Well-known member
good news, thanks 94, what's he like?
Deacfreak07
Ain't played nobody, PAWL!
IN YOUR FACE, SLUTGERS.
Can we offer his WR teammate (#4) too? That kid looks great as well. Great ball skills and routes.
Turd Ferguson
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2011
- Messages
- 6,286
- Reaction score
- 1,677
Ha ha. Who is the shill and who actually looked up the recruit before posting? :noidea:
CumberlandDeac
Well-known member
Wish we could. He's a 2016 recruit who is headed to Boston College.
DeacsOrDie
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2011
- Messages
- 7,330
- Reaction score
- 721
Arm strength looks impressive
A guy who was somewhat under-the-radar (with the exception of the Rutgers offer). I think people will be impressed with his highlights.
TAYVON BOWERS (Bishop McDevitt HS / Harrisburg, PA)
Unofficial Measures: 6’2 / 215
Stats: 3,560 yards passing and 42 TDs / 13 INTs (yes, that's in one season)
Playing Style: Some sites have him listed as a dual-threat QB. I don’t agree with that. He’s an athletic pass-first spread QB. Arm strength looks legit. Has a little bit of an unusual delivery. Something about his release point (??).
Notes: Not rated by either Rivals or the niche recruiting website QBHitList.com (that website goes 100-deep at both pro-style and dual threat). As far as I know he hasn’t been to a Rivals Camp and didn’t compete at Elite 11 (the last part is the most surprising, I thought everyone went to Elite 11). Not attending those camps may be part of the reason he is unranked. I think there is a good chance he would have landed at Rutgers if Johnathan Lewis hadn't taken the spot there. Says his GPA is “near 4.0”. He had an Ivy League offer. He visited West Virginia and (I think) Boston College as well, however neither school offered. Visited Wake on April 30. Prefers to play in a spread offense. Attends the same high school that former Bowling Green QB Matt Johnson attended. His father was a former high school star QB that was killed in a homicide that remains unsolved.
Keep in mind that the staff had other options, including waiting on Taylor Powell. The fact that they moved on Bowers says they are very high on him.
TAYVON BOWERS (Bishop McDevitt HS / Harrisburg, PA)
Unofficial Measures: 6’2 / 215
Stats: 3,560 yards passing and 42 TDs / 13 INTs (yes, that's in one season)
Playing Style: Some sites have him listed as a dual-threat QB. I don’t agree with that. He’s an athletic pass-first spread QB. Arm strength looks legit. Has a little bit of an unusual delivery. Something about his release point (??).
Notes: Not rated by either Rivals or the niche recruiting website QBHitList.com (that website goes 100-deep at both pro-style and dual threat). As far as I know he hasn’t been to a Rivals Camp and didn’t compete at Elite 11 (the last part is the most surprising, I thought everyone went to Elite 11). Not attending those camps may be part of the reason he is unranked. I think there is a good chance he would have landed at Rutgers if Johnathan Lewis hadn't taken the spot there. Says his GPA is “near 4.0”. He had an Ivy League offer. He visited West Virginia and (I think) Boston College as well, however neither school offered. Visited Wake on April 30. Prefers to play in a spread offense. Attends the same high school that former Bowling Green QB Matt Johnson attended. His father was a former high school star QB that was killed in a homicide that remains unsolved.
Keep in mind that the staff had other options, including waiting on Taylor Powell. The fact that they moved on Bowers says they are very high on him.
Last edited:
Bowers was discussed already in this thread, sorry you missed it. 3500 yds, 42 touchdowns, and "near 4.0 gpa" per Deac94. But I was most excited because the staff identified and offered him in April and now has him signed in May. My impression is that this staff does a really good job of identifying QB talent, but they have struggled to sign some of that talent. In this case, Bowers was offered when the staff had an open offer out to Powell, so they must have been pretty impressed with Bowers.