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Wake Forest Football Recruiting

Must have shown out in camp last week. Looks good on film. 6’, quick and fast. Will pop you.
 
I made the comment last year, there is far too much talent in the DMV for Wake Forest not to spend considerable resources recruiting here. This year is one of the most talented in a a while from a recruiting aspect, and Wake seems to have made it a priority. We should see more and more players coming from this area attend Wake.

Glad to know Clawson and company read the boards and follow our advice.
 
Interesting that you say that, 4 of the top 25 ranked recruits this year are from the DMV, while only 1 is from Florida. When you look at the top 100 recruits though, 12 are from FL, and 7 are from the DMV (I'm not counting Richmond area and below).

Florida historically has strong programs, FSU, UF, Miami, while MD and VA schools haven't necessarily had the same sort of drawing power. Yes, PSU and OSU have some pull in the area, but there is room for Wake Forest to make an impact. Since Clawson has been head coach, Wake hasn't had more than 3 players in the recruiting class from that area, and now we already have 4.
 
One advantage for schools recruiting in the DMV as opposed to FL or GA or TX, is that there is no loyalty to the in-state programs in the DMV. The DC area is generally pro-sports focused, and there is no pressure for a local kid to attend U of MD or UVA or VT. The #1 DT in the country in the class of 2020, Bryan Breese from Damascus, MD (same HS as WF OL Michael Jurgens) chose Clemson over Bama, Duke, BC and Auburn -- MD was not on his list. The #2 LB in the country Mekhail Sherman of DC, chose UGA over tOSU, Bama, Arizona and Arkansas - again no local school even made the list.

It's different story trying to pull a top rated recruit out of FL who will face pressure to play for UF, FSU or Miami.
 
Not that it matters, but if you think Bryan Breese was actually considering Duke or BC, I've got a bridge to sell you.
 
Not that it matters, but if you think Bryan Breese was actually considering Duke or BC, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Haha after a player commits, 247 just lists the other offers alphabetically, those were just at the top, he had offers from every big school in the country, but to Pilch's point his top 5 were Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, UGA and Penn State, not UMD or UVA.
 
Interesting that you say that, 4 of the top 25 ranked recruits this year are from the DMV, while only 1 is from Florida. When you look at the top 100 recruits though, 12 are from FL, and 7 are from the DMV (I'm not counting Richmond area and below).

Florida historically has strong programs, FSU, UF, Miami, while MD and VA schools haven't necessarily had the same sort of drawing power. Yes, PSU and OSU have some pull in the area, but there is room for Wake Forest to make an impact. Since Clawson has been head coach, Wake hasn't had more than 3 players in the recruiting class from that area, and now we already have 4.

Part of the change is likely due to assistant coaching changes and their preexisting relationships. Lineburg's coaching history and growing up as the son of a hall of fame coach at Radford High, was primarily Virginia as a player and coach at UVa and coach at Richmond and William and Mary. Hemphill and Santucci both were from Stony Brook so were probably recruiting the DMV area and more northeastern (Bothroyd from CT. and Taylor from NJ). Crawford was at Bucknell for 3 years and likely dipped down into DMV as well. Crawford also coached at Harvard which could explain the interest from Rappleyea and Vaughn from Milton Academy.
 
Or the algorithm showed DMV was an untapped market so Clawson went and hired coaches familiar with the area.
 
Don't care about the why--just excited to see the coaches getting these kids on board and committed early! Now just hang on to them.
 
One advantage for schools recruiting in the DMV as opposed to FL or GA or TX, is that there is no loyalty to the in-state programs in the DMV. The DC area is generally pro-sports focused, and there is no pressure for a local kid to attend U of MD or UVA or VT. The #1 DT in the country in the class of 2020, Bryan Breese from Damascus, MD (same HS as WF OL Michael Jurgens) chose Clemson over Bama, Duke, BC and Auburn -- MD was not on his list. The #2 LB in the country Mekhail Sherman of DC, chose UGA over tOSU, Bama, Arizona and Arkansas - again no local school even made the list.

It's different story trying to pull a top rated recruit out of FL who will face pressure to play for UF, FSU or Miami.

UMD fans are very hopeful that this will change with the addition of Mike Locksley as HC. I find it hard to believe, but many of them think he will be the answer to recruiting.
 
UMD fans are very hopeful that this will change with the addition of Mike Locksley as HC. I find it hard to believe, but many of them think he will be the answer to recruiting.

Locksley will be an improvement over previous at MD, but he won't be the answer.

ETA:

Now is a great time to make some inroads with Maryland high school coaches. The new head coach is regarded well, but the athletic director and university president are not well liked in the state. There is still suspicion about how players will be handled by Maryland football trainers and medical staff.
 
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Locksley is 3-31 as a head coach. Good chance he fails miserably at UMD.

He may not do well at Maryland, but at this writing he isn't considered a jerk or an asshole. His predecessors were.
 
He may not do well at Maryland, but at this writing he isn't considered a jerk or an asshole. His predecessors were.

"He carries a 3-31 career record that including a 2-26 stretch at New Mexico that ended in his third season. Locksley has baggage beyond the win-loss record after a string of off-field incidents, including age and sex discrimination allegations and assaulting an assistant coach."

From an article when he was hired. Sounds like a quality guy!
 
Doesn’t matter. Got paid.

Applies to Locksley and MD athletics.
 
Yeah Locksley has a shit ton of baggage in addition to having a horrific record as a head coach. Somehow spending a season on Saban’s staff causes the people making these hiring decisions to just completely overlook past track record.
 
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