Powered by the fantastic news about Lee Autry, here is the updated Big Board for the DL position. It features 3 additions and 2 removals (including the Autry commit) and some other minor updates and notes. Next time I update this I will organize it so that all of the DE/OLB hybrids (Daniel, Hames, Ray, Bailey and Brinson) are together in one place.
Kengera Daniel (6’6” / 240 DE)
3-star recruit from Raleigh. Rivals #18 Weakside DE in the country. Recorded 42 tackles for loss, 13 sacks and 1 interception last year. BCS offers from Wake Forest, Alabama, Boston College and Miami. A very interesting offer list as Alabama was the first to offer and relatively few schools have followed so far. I am pretty sure that Wake was his 2nd offer. He attended Wake’s Junior Day and recently tweeted a picture of him wearing a Wake jersey that was taken during his visit. He has taken unofficial visits to Alabama for Junior Day and the Spring Game. Alabama is recruiting him as an OLB. He has not named a leader. I think that he wants to appear open-minded because he is hoping for offers from Ohio State, Clemson and Florida State. He plans to camp at Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Wake Forest. He wants to commit on July 29th and enroll in January. His parents are Florida State grads. This would be very interesting if the Alabama offer didn’t work out for whatever reason. He says that education is most important to him (he also said that he knows that this sounds “cliché” which immediately established him as a personal favorite of mine). He wants to major in biomedical engineering. Interesting side note: I saw that Brian Knorr recently started recruiting him for Indiana
5/3 Update – He added offers from Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky. He attended Wake’s Spring Game.
5/14 Update – He added offers from Louisville and Indiana. We learned that Kentucky is recruiting him as a hybrid OLB/DE. He is generally done with unofficial visits, but trips to Virginia, Kentucky or Tennessee are still possibilities. I noted that when he was asked about which camps he would attend this summer, Wake Forest was the only school that he mentioned specifically.
5/22 – He says that Wake Forest and Alabama are recruiting him the hardest. He is planning trips to Tennessee, Miami and Virginia.
Channing Hames (6’5”/250 DE)
2-star recruit from Arlington, VA. Offers from Wake Forest, BC, UVA and West Virginia (Lonnie Galloway is his WVU recruiter). The Wake offer is very recent and right now he is naming the other 3 schools as his “Top 3”. Named one of the DC-area prospects whose stock is on the rise after he performed well at the Rivals Camp Series event.
5/3 Update – Added Purdue offer. He disclosed that some schools are recruiting him as an OLB. Out of the schools that have offered, he talks to BC, West Virginia and Wake Forest the most. Hames was born in North Carolina.
5/14 – Virginia Tech visited his HS on May 5. It sounds like he is pretty high on VT and attended their Junior Day but an offer hasn’t come through yet.
5/22 – No update
Kyle Henderson (6’2”/280 DT)
3-star recruit from Tampa, Florida. Offers include Missouri, BC, Georgia Tech, Mississippi St, Indiana, UCF, USF, Oregon St, Pitt, and Syracuse. His family moved to Tampa from Atlanta where he was a Georgia Tech fan. His father is a Georgia Tech alum. He said in an interview that Wake Forest was “in touch the most”. Kyle is currently planning to visit Wake Forest for the Spring Game.
5/3 Update – As previously mentioned on this thread, Kyle attended Wake’s Spring Game and tweeted that he had a great time with his “new bros” Lee Autry, Kengera Daniel and Wake-commit Paris Black. He plans to take his time with recruiting and visit a number of schools. He also thinks that a number of additional offers may be coming.
5/14 Update – Pitt visited his HS to watch a practice and told Kyle that he was “Aaron Donald-like” in the way that he practiced (basically because of his quickness off the line as a DT). He named Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Indiana and Pitt as being the most involved with him. He is targeting an August decision.
5/22 Update: No update
Carl Thompson (6’3”/240 DE)
3-star recruit from Dallas-Fort Worth area. Rivals #89 player in Texas. Wake Forest and Northwestern have offered (Wake offered first). Originally from Jamaica. His father was a cricket player and mother was a track athlete. High school team has won back-to-back state championships in Texas. Thompson had 8 sacks and 44 tackles for loss. Might play DT.
5/3 Update: I read a great eval from a Scout publisher for another school’s website. It said that Thompson’s greatest strength was his quickness off the ball as an inside player. He is effective shooting the gaps inside, both as a pass rusher and run stopper. I was struck at how much this eval sounded like another player on the list, David Pfaff. After reading this I suspect that we are specifically targeting quick inside players that can be a 3-technique DT in the new system. To get that type of player, we may need to go for someone a bit undersized to play DT right now and develop them in the strength and nutrition program. The Scout writer thought that Carl Thompson’s offer list is going to continue to grow as more teams evaluate his tape, but that Big 12 programs have stayed away so far because of concerns that he is undersized and will get neutralized by larger OL.
5/14 Update: Added a Kansas offer.
5/22 Update: Northwestern and Houston are leaders, however I am going to keep him on the Board a little longer.
GG Robinson (6’4” /260 DE) – added 5/3
Unrated recruit from Lilburn, GA. Wake Forest just offered this week. Other BCS offers from Mississippi St, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Kansas St. Most of the BCS-level offers have come in the last 3 weeks so Wake Forest is not really playing catch up. This is an interesting situation as he played exclusively at TE last season, but I am pretty confident that we are recruiting him at DL. I know that Virginia and Georgia Tech are recruiting him at DL as well. GG is a big Auburn fan and his father played for the Tigers. Looking to major in Kinesiology.
5/14 Update – G.G. added an offer from Iowa State. Virginia has established itself as the early leader but he mentions Wake Forest, Iowa State and Kansas State as well. He says that UVA is in contact through Twitter on a daily basis and UVA QB-commit Nick Johns has reached out to him to try to persuade him to commit. Coach Elko was the one that made the visit to his HS on May 12 which I think further confirms that he is being recruited as a DL and not a TE (although I guess there is a chance it is just Elko’s area).
5/22 Update: Added a Louisville offer. I think there is a chance that we offering him as an Athlete (meaning that TE is still a possibility for his ultimate position). Wake Forest now looks to be in his top 2 (with Virginia).
Brentavious Glanton (6’2” / 270 DT) – Albany, GA
Rating: Unrated
BCS offers: Wake Forest, Tennessee and Georgia Tech
Background: Wants to major in sports medicine. He is looking for a school with a “big city feel”.
Recruitment: Glanton said that he had been getting the most attention from Wake Forest and Marshall, but that was before the offers from Georgia Tech and Tennessee. All 3 BCS-level offers came between May 7 and May 11.
5/22 Update: Added an offer from Indiana. He says that Georgia Southern and Marshall are recruiting him the hardest.
Additions to the Big Board
Wyatt Ray (6’3” / 230 DE) – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Rating: 3-star
BCS Offers: Wake Forest (offered May 14), Boston College and Syracuse (offered May 9)
Background: He was the #8 overall defensive performer at the Rivals Camp in Miami. They noted that he “flashed” game changing potential and had the type of frame that could fill out before playing on the next level. All of his BCS offers came after that camp. Originally from Los Angeles, he is open to playing on the West Coast. He is looking for a balance of academics, college atmosphere and quality of football program.
Recruitment: Boston College had a small head start from an offer perspective, but this recruitment sounds like it is really just getting started.
Rahn Bailey (6’4” / 227 DE) – League City, TX
Rating: 2-star
BCS Offers: Wake Forest (offered May 8), Wisconsin and Kansas
Background: Both Kansas and Wisconsin are recruiting him as a DE/OLB hybrid. 12 sacks and 17 tackles for loss last season.
Recruitment: Kansas offered first when Bailey went to Kansas on an unofficial visit. He is being recruited there by KU’s Charlie Weis. He is currently scheduled to attend camp at Wake Forest this summer. Even before the offer he said that he was talking to Wake Forest “a lot”. He is currently targeting an end of year decision.
Kenneth Brinson (6’3” / 220 DE) – Atlanta, GA
Rating: 3-star
BCS Offers: Wake Forest, Boston College and Georgia Tech
Background: Boston College is recruiting Brinson as a rush DE. Georgia Tech is recruiting him as a Hybrid DE/OLB. He attended Georgia Tech games with his father when he was a kid. Had 13 sacks as a junior. Competes in wrestling at a high level (won the state 4A wrestling tournament). Has a 4.1 GPA and is looking for a quality academic school. He is targeting a commitment at the end of the year.
Recruitment: He has made two unofficial visits to Georgia Tech as a recruit. The Georgia Tech and Boston College offers have been outstanding for a while so I think that those two programs have a head start and have been named as leaders. The odds sure seem to be in Georgia Tech’s favor, however I am going to add him to the Big Board for a while and monitor whether the offer from Wake Forest has any impact.
Removed from the Big Board
Lee Autry (6’2 / 265 DT)
3-star recruit from Albemarle, NC. Rivals #28 DT in the country. BCS offers from Wake, UNC and Mississippi St. He had named Georgia as the early leader in January, but they have yet to offer. His brother played DL at Mississippi St. Lee was a UNC fan growing up, has taken 8 unofficial visits to UNC, and has a close friend on the team. Despite all that, he recently named Wake as having a (slight) early lead at this stage.
5/3 Update: As posted earlier on this thread, Autry is now making stronger statements that Wake Forest is the leader. He also said that UNC has pulled back somewhat in the amount of contact that they have with him. He visited Wake for the Spring Game and also took an unofficial visit to Mississippi St.
5/14 Update – No update.
5/22 Update – COMMITTED TO WAKE FOREST!!!!!!!!
David Pfaff (6’2” / 255 DE)
2-star recruit from Mequon, WI. BCS offers from Wake Forest, Syracuse and Iowa St. The Wake Forest offer was very recent (April 14th). I think that it is fair to say that he wants to go to Wisconsin, but they have yet to offer. He has taken 5 unofficial visits to Wisconsin and will camp there this summer. Iowa St and Syracuse are recruiting him as a “quick off the snap” 3-technique DT. I think he will wait for a significant Big 10 offer before committing anywhere.
5/3 Update: He named Wake Forest in his Top 4, which is not a tremendous accomplishment since he only has 3 BCS offers, but still worthy of mention and keeps him on my board. I continue to think that he ends up staying in the Midwest.
5/14 Update: Pfaff was named the #10 overall defensive performer (#4 DL) at the Rivals Camp in Chicago. That is notable because those camps are typically pretty loaded. Evaluators noted that he was both one of the biggest DL at the camp and also one of the most explosive.
5/22 Update – COMMITTED TO WISCONSIN
Other Notes
24/7 lists a Wake Forest offer for DE/OLB Chris Calhoun of Roswell, GA. So far they are the only ones listing it. He is a 3-star and a Duke-lean. If I can confirm the offer with another source I will add him to the list next time.
Wake made the top 5 for highly-recruited 3-star DE Trevon Hill of Virginia Beach, VA. That is a nice accomplishment because Wake made the cut when some big name schools did not. However, I don’t like our chances against Clemson, Virginia Tech, UNC and NC State. VT and UNC are the heavy favorites. A commitment should come relatively soon.
Similar to the Trevon Hill recruitment, UNC and VT are also the heavy favorites for DE Houshun Gaines of Rocky Mount, NC. Also similar to Hill, Gaines is looking to commit soon. He says that he intends to visit Wake Forest before making a decision, so the staff will have an opportunity to work the “if they visit, they will come”.
