I have been going to this event for at least 6 years. . .maybe 7. This is the first time that Grobe did not field any questions afterwards. It wasn't so much awkward as out-of-character.
Grobe did mention that we had 16 3 star players per Rivals which is the most that we have ever had. These are all 5 star kids who are also pretty good football players. He felt that ever single one of these players would fit in at Wake even if they were not football players.
Coach Lobo talked about Ty Hayworth, Will Smith, Joel Suggs, Laronji Vason, and Anthony Rooks. He really likes the O Lineman. Ty has primarily been a run blocker. His only exposure to pass blocking was at the Wake and Cincy camps (which were the only two offers he received). He believes he will be a Tackle for us. He said that it is hard to project what kind of a pass protector a guy is going to be if all that he does is run block. That may explain why he did not have more offers. He also said that his height caused some schools to steer away from him. He joked that 6'3" was just too short to block at the collegiate level. He loved the way that he just mauls opposing defensive players. Will Smith was a basketball player until recently. They discovered him at a camp where he showed up as a D Line player. The Staff encouraged him to switch to offense, which he did. The next year when he was at camp he played offense and had made significant strides. He is a work in progress but has a ton of upside. Laronji is a straight up competitor. Lobo went to scout him at a spring practice. When he saw Lobo watching him, they were doing these drills were the CB was supposed to blow up a bubble screen. He cut to the front of the line and destroyed the receiver. He then waived off the next kid in line and took another turn. He mauled another receiver. This kept going until Lobo walked away from the drill for fear that he was going to either kill himself or one of the receivers! Regarding Rook, they really like his athleticism. He said that this year they plan on using the TE's more standing up. . .more like H Backs.
Coach Galloway spoke about Jonathan Williams. Said he was very quick and has great hands. He said that between him and Crump, they would be pulling up the slack left by Givens' departure. As an aside, I was surprised to find that Coach Galloway just didn't seem very comfortable at the podium. Also, he has a very "down home" style which I bet works well for him when recruiting
Coach Elrod spoke about James Ward, Shelldon Lewison and Jared Crump. He described Ward as a combination of the Energizer Bunny and The Most Interesting Man in the World. He plays every sport at his school. EVERY sport. He just picked up soccer this year and is the starting forward on his team. He plays on the tennis team. . .as the #2! Apparently, it frustrates him that he just can't beat the Brazilian kid on the team. He has very diverse interests including hunting and fishing. The team coach called them about Crump. He transferred in his Sophomore year from a different school. The Coach specifically called our staff because he really likes them and wanted to alert them before other schools started going after him. That advance warning apparently paid off.
Coach Mac spoke about Tyler Cameron, Ryan Janvion, Josh Banks, Tylor Harris, Dominique Gibson, Kevis Jones, Teddy Matthews, . Regarding Cameron, he said that Coach Elrod graded four QB's this year and he was at the top of the list. He said there was a camp or spring game that had 26 scouts present and afterwards, Cameron received 26 offers. They were actually a little bummed when Alec Morris committed. . .but they stayed on Cameron regardless. Cameron and his parents were very deliberate about their process and eliminated any school in which they did not visit. Consequently, some classes were already full by the time he was ready to decide. The final cut had about 11 schools in it. He was described by his coach as the toughest kid he has ever coached. Tylor Harris was the salutatorian of his class. 3.9 GPA. Stanford told him that they were concerned that he might not qualify academically, which seems like it may have been a pretext for a concern over a knee injury he suffered during the year. This kid is the real deal. He will get up to 280lbs and is as close to an SEC DE as we are going to ever get. Josh Banks was the Player of the year in his conference, which is really hard for a defensive player to get. Coach Mac said that he was surprised that more schools were not on him. If Harris is a salutatorian type, then Ryan Janvion is a valedictorian type. He goes to the same school as Daniel Mack and was described by his coach as the best athlete he has ever coached. Dom Gibson comes from an area in Fla where committing early usually means you have a target on your back. It is rare that these kids keep their commitments, but Gibson never wavered. Ray may have let it slip to Gibson that he might get a chance to play tailback, which caused Mac to smile (sort of like wink wink).
Coach Russ spoke about Josh Wilhite, Steve Donatell, Zach Gordon. Regarding Wilhite, Josh called him during the year after tweaking a previous knee injury (ACL tear). The knee needed to be drained and Josh wanted to know whether the coaches felt he should get surgery and shut it down for the year. Russ asked him what he wanted to do. . .to which he responded that he wanted to play. Russ told him that he had a scholarship to Wake Forest and that was not going to change, so knock yourself out. He played at the hardest classification of any HS in the Nation and played really well. . .with a banged up knee. His mental toughness is going to put him in good stead with Coach Grobe. Donatell is a kid who is just someone you want to have in the program no matter what position he ends up at. He has a terrific football IQ and an incredible attitude/leadership skills.
I may have gotten some of these wrong and/or left some things out, so anyone else that was there feel free to correct or fill in the blanks.