Tylerkong
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Missing the third phrase of the game that Scheier covers. Probably the hardest to follow and identify targets due to lack of available information.
2015 FB Recruiting: Mr. South Carolina Matt Colburn signs with #theawakening!
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Missing the third phrase of the game that Scheier covers. Probably the hardest to follow and identify targets due to lack of available information.
DeaconSig
Well-known member
There is just only so much difference between personnel in a 4-2-5 and a 3-4. Its not like we have had JJ Watt and Julius Peppers at DE- our DEs haven't been that big to begin with. And an OLB in a 3-4 can often be interchangeable with a DE in a 4-3 or 4-2-5.
We are going to end up showing a variety of fronts throughout the year, with as few as 3 and as many as 6 on the LOS.
We are so used to Grobe lining up on each side of the ball playing vanilla football we should be excused for not believing coaches can run multiple looks from a base offense/defense. What will we WF fans think if we start blitzing? The biggest misuse of available talent was making Price run the option/modified option unless you count EL Lobo flanking out his fullbacks and tight ends as WR. No way Clawson is not smarter than this- give the guy a chance and let them play before you decide he does not know how to adjust to his available players. He has had 20 practice days to sort through the mess Grobe left him.
Here are summaries of two additional players to follow. One is a highly rated WR that announced yesterday (via Twitter) that he received a Wake offer after spending the day on campus with the coaching staff. His profile will remind some of you of a certain WR that just went to the NFL. The other is a S/OLB that was offered late in the evaluation period that I did not pick up on until recently. Note that I did not typo his last name.
Flynn Nagel (5’11 / 180 WR) – Lemont, IL
Ranking: 3-star / #53 WR in the country / #7 overall in Illinois
BCS Offers: Wake Forest (offered May 30), Boston College, Iowa State, Indiana, Illinois and Purdue
Background: A player that has been well known in Midwest recruiting for some time (there have been 44 different Rivals articles that have featured or mentioned Nagel between February 2013 and now). Draws comparisons to players like Wes Welker. He had 103 receptions for 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns last season. A very polished player, he has been consistently hard to cover at spring camps. He is not only quick, but he also excels at route running and has solid ball skills. Duke sees him as a versatile WR capable of playing outside or slot. Wake is trying to fill a need at slot WR. He makes frequent mention of his intent to study engineering in college. He also has a preference to play closer to home although he is willing to consider schools that are further away.
Recruitment: He says that he has visited Illinois unofficially 7-8 times. He has also taken unofficial visits to Purdue (raved about the Engineering program), Iowa State, and Minnesota (no offer yet). The Illinois and Indiana offers were made in 2013.
My take: There is a chance that he only visited Wake Forest because he was already coming to NC to visit Duke over the weekend. In fact, he more or less said so in an interview. The Duke staff has been recruiting him hard, and for a while now, even though they have yet to offer.
I am not sure what our chances are. On one hand, the staff has done very well with recruits that have visited campus. Plus, it sounds like the Wake offer might be the most direct route to early playing time. I suspect that the staff envisions him starting at slot WR as a true freshman. On the other hand, we are jumping into a recruitment where a lot of schools, including Duke, are already more firmly established. Also, I am not sure how the staff is addressing his interest in studying Engineering.
Justin Strnad (6’2 S/OLB) – Tampa, FL
Ranking: 2-star
BCS Offers: Wake Forest (offered May 22), Illinois and Duke
Background: Playing weight varies from 185 to 210 depending on the source. Regardless, he is a versatile player that could play OLB or S at the college level. I assume that we are specifically targeting players with that type of profile as it sounds similar to offerees Julian Jones and Mohamed Barry. He is indicated that he would like to go to college outside of Florida, with a preference for the Midwest.
Recruitment: Up until recently his offer list was topped by Marshall and 3 MAC schools. Wake Forest was the first Big 5 conference school to offer on May 22. Illinois (May 29) and Duke (May 30) jumped in shortly thereafter.
Flynn Nagel (5’11 / 180 WR) – Lemont, IL
Ranking: 3-star / #53 WR in the country / #7 overall in Illinois
BCS Offers: Wake Forest (offered May 30), Boston College, Iowa State, Indiana, Illinois and Purdue
Background: A player that has been well known in Midwest recruiting for some time (there have been 44 different Rivals articles that have featured or mentioned Nagel between February 2013 and now). Draws comparisons to players like Wes Welker. He had 103 receptions for 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns last season. A very polished player, he has been consistently hard to cover at spring camps. He is not only quick, but he also excels at route running and has solid ball skills. Duke sees him as a versatile WR capable of playing outside or slot. Wake is trying to fill a need at slot WR. He makes frequent mention of his intent to study engineering in college. He also has a preference to play closer to home although he is willing to consider schools that are further away.
Recruitment: He says that he has visited Illinois unofficially 7-8 times. He has also taken unofficial visits to Purdue (raved about the Engineering program), Iowa State, and Minnesota (no offer yet). The Illinois and Indiana offers were made in 2013.
My take: There is a chance that he only visited Wake Forest because he was already coming to NC to visit Duke over the weekend. In fact, he more or less said so in an interview. The Duke staff has been recruiting him hard, and for a while now, even though they have yet to offer.
I am not sure what our chances are. On one hand, the staff has done very well with recruits that have visited campus. Plus, it sounds like the Wake offer might be the most direct route to early playing time. I suspect that the staff envisions him starting at slot WR as a true freshman. On the other hand, we are jumping into a recruitment where a lot of schools, including Duke, are already more firmly established. Also, I am not sure how the staff is addressing his interest in studying Engineering.
Justin Strnad (6’2 S/OLB) – Tampa, FL
Ranking: 2-star
BCS Offers: Wake Forest (offered May 22), Illinois and Duke
Background: Playing weight varies from 185 to 210 depending on the source. Regardless, he is a versatile player that could play OLB or S at the college level. I assume that we are specifically targeting players with that type of profile as it sounds similar to offerees Julian Jones and Mohamed Barry. He is indicated that he would like to go to college outside of Florida, with a preference for the Midwest.
Recruitment: Up until recently his offer list was topped by Marshall and 3 MAC schools. Wake Forest was the first Big 5 conference school to offer on May 22. Illinois (May 29) and Duke (May 30) jumped in shortly thereafter.
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I haven’t posted an update on the QB position in a while. I haven’t been very successful to date in trying to read the tea leaves to figure out the staff’s preferences. However I am willing to take another shot based on a recent round of articles.
I will say that I had thought that we would have a QB commit by now. For context, 17 of the Rivals Top 20 Pro-Style QBs have already committed as well as 7 of the Top 10 Dual-Threat QBs.
Other schools that also looking for QBs that would appear to have the most potential to impact Wake: Rutgers (they are looking to add their second QB to the 2015 class), Pitt, UConn, NC State (they will likely take two QBs in this class), and Colorado. To a lesser extent, Wake may also be impacted by openings that West Virginia, Cal and Northwestern have for QBs in their 2015 classes.
I broke the recruits down into categories, but they are also listed in the order that I am guessing the Wake staff has them ranked.
If You Want to Dream Big Category
Sam Darnold (6’4 / 3-star / San Clemente, CA)
Elite 11 finalist, which means that he will be on the ESPN 1-hour special later this summer that covers the finals, mostly from Trent Dilfer’s perpective as head counselor. One of the surprises of the spring camps after converting from LB and then missing time last season with an injury. He holds BCS-level offers from Wake Forest, Duke, Northwestern, Oregon State, Tennessee and Utah. He is widely expected to get some offers from more elite programs after the remaining 4 and 5 star players make their decisions. Specifically, he is widely considered to be Plan B at Oregon if the Ducks miss out on current targets like Travis Waller. Darnold has expressed a pretty clear preference to stay on the West Coast. However, his current plan is to make unofficial visits to Northwestern, Duke, Wake Forest and Tennessee in late-June. We will see if that actually takes place.
Current Targets with Offers Category
Kendall Hinton (6’0 / 3-star / Durham, NC)
Hinton holds BCS offers from Wake Forest, Boston College, Duke, NC State and West Virginia. He is planning a visit to Boston College in early June. He said earlier this month that NC State was leading Duke. Since then Duke got a QB commit so I am not sure whether they are continuing to pursue Hinton or not. I am eager to get a more current update on his recruitment.
Ross Bowers (6’2 / 2-star / Bothell, WA)
He has offers from Wake Forest, Colorado State, Montana and James Madison. He is also in contention for open spots at Colorado and Cal. In the past I had been skeptical about whether he has a legit offer from Wake Forest, but he has gone into depth talking about what he has heard from the staff and it sure sounds like the offer is legit. He visited Wake in mid-April and says that the staff offered him the day after Ruggiero watched him throw. He is spending this weekend visiting Colorado (June 1 camp) and Colorado State (May 31). The Colorado visit is a camp where he will compete directly with Kyle Kearns in an effort to earn an offer from the Buffs.
Might Be the Next In Line to Receive an Offer Category
Kyle Kearns (6’2 / 4-star / Pleasanton, CA)
He has an offer from SMU. Kearns is the guy that has the offer sheet that has not lived up to his Rivals rating. Nevertheless, I am pretty excited about him. I may have an untrained eye but I like his film better than Bowers. It will be interesting to see who Colorado ultimately offers after he goes head to head with Bowers today in Boulder. They both competed at the Elite 11-Oakland regional and it sounded like it was pretty much a draw between them (but I thought Kearns performed better in the “Pressure Cooker” sequence at the end). He seems eager to get resolution on whether he will or will not get offers from Wake Forest and Colorado because he is ready to wrap up the process. He said earlier this month that he would camp at Wake Forest in June only if he had an offer from the staff.
Brett Kean (6’3 / 2-star / Lakewood, OH)
He is currently sitting at 13 offers with the headliners being South Florida and Air Force. He also has 7 MAC offers. He said very recently that Wake Forest is recruiting him the hardest out of the schools that have not yet offered. He plans to make an unofficial visit to Wake Forest in mid-June.
Might Be in the Picture Category
Billy Bahl (6’4 / 3-star / Woodstock, IL)
Bahl’s stock has been on the rise lately. Two weeks ago he was sitting with an impressive collection of MAC offers (he has been offered by 8 of the 13 schools in the MAC). Then he was offered by UConn (5/21) and Rutgers (5/30). He plans to camp at Syracuse and take unofficial visits to Northwestern and Wake Forest.
Alex Hornibrook (6’4 / 3-star / Malvern, PA)
Hornibrook’s stock has also been on the rise. He had been sitting on offers from Colgate, Lafayette, Akron and Yale for a while. Then in the late stages of the May evaluation period he got offers from Rutgers (May 19), UConn (May 30) and Pitt (May 30). Within the last two weeks he had stated that Wake Forest was maintaining a high interest level after having watched him throw.
Other Notes
Austin King (Alpharetta, GA) appears to have moved on as a possibility for Wake. He says that there had been a high-level of mutual interest with Wake Forest but the staff’s communication with him has recently “faded”. Overall he sounded like Wake is no longer a consideration for him. He is focusing on his current offers from West Virginia, South Florida and UCF. Also, he may ultimately be a factor for NC State in their search for a 2nd QB in their class.
Billy Bahl and Brett Kean will both compete in the Elite 11-Columbus regional on Monday.
From looking at the players on the list it seems like there may be a preference for size and passing skills over mobility. All QBs on the list are considered Pro-Style. There are a lot of pocket-passers on this list that don’t necessarily move that well outside the pocket. Kendall Hinton seems to be the biggest exception to that general rule as he looks to be a little shorter (he is likely even shorter than the listed 6’0) but also more mobile than the other targets.
I will say that I had thought that we would have a QB commit by now. For context, 17 of the Rivals Top 20 Pro-Style QBs have already committed as well as 7 of the Top 10 Dual-Threat QBs.
Other schools that also looking for QBs that would appear to have the most potential to impact Wake: Rutgers (they are looking to add their second QB to the 2015 class), Pitt, UConn, NC State (they will likely take two QBs in this class), and Colorado. To a lesser extent, Wake may also be impacted by openings that West Virginia, Cal and Northwestern have for QBs in their 2015 classes.
I broke the recruits down into categories, but they are also listed in the order that I am guessing the Wake staff has them ranked.
If You Want to Dream Big Category
Sam Darnold (6’4 / 3-star / San Clemente, CA)
Elite 11 finalist, which means that he will be on the ESPN 1-hour special later this summer that covers the finals, mostly from Trent Dilfer’s perpective as head counselor. One of the surprises of the spring camps after converting from LB and then missing time last season with an injury. He holds BCS-level offers from Wake Forest, Duke, Northwestern, Oregon State, Tennessee and Utah. He is widely expected to get some offers from more elite programs after the remaining 4 and 5 star players make their decisions. Specifically, he is widely considered to be Plan B at Oregon if the Ducks miss out on current targets like Travis Waller. Darnold has expressed a pretty clear preference to stay on the West Coast. However, his current plan is to make unofficial visits to Northwestern, Duke, Wake Forest and Tennessee in late-June. We will see if that actually takes place.
Current Targets with Offers Category
Kendall Hinton (6’0 / 3-star / Durham, NC)
Hinton holds BCS offers from Wake Forest, Boston College, Duke, NC State and West Virginia. He is planning a visit to Boston College in early June. He said earlier this month that NC State was leading Duke. Since then Duke got a QB commit so I am not sure whether they are continuing to pursue Hinton or not. I am eager to get a more current update on his recruitment.
Ross Bowers (6’2 / 2-star / Bothell, WA)
He has offers from Wake Forest, Colorado State, Montana and James Madison. He is also in contention for open spots at Colorado and Cal. In the past I had been skeptical about whether he has a legit offer from Wake Forest, but he has gone into depth talking about what he has heard from the staff and it sure sounds like the offer is legit. He visited Wake in mid-April and says that the staff offered him the day after Ruggiero watched him throw. He is spending this weekend visiting Colorado (June 1 camp) and Colorado State (May 31). The Colorado visit is a camp where he will compete directly with Kyle Kearns in an effort to earn an offer from the Buffs.
Might Be the Next In Line to Receive an Offer Category
Kyle Kearns (6’2 / 4-star / Pleasanton, CA)
He has an offer from SMU. Kearns is the guy that has the offer sheet that has not lived up to his Rivals rating. Nevertheless, I am pretty excited about him. I may have an untrained eye but I like his film better than Bowers. It will be interesting to see who Colorado ultimately offers after he goes head to head with Bowers today in Boulder. They both competed at the Elite 11-Oakland regional and it sounded like it was pretty much a draw between them (but I thought Kearns performed better in the “Pressure Cooker” sequence at the end). He seems eager to get resolution on whether he will or will not get offers from Wake Forest and Colorado because he is ready to wrap up the process. He said earlier this month that he would camp at Wake Forest in June only if he had an offer from the staff.
Brett Kean (6’3 / 2-star / Lakewood, OH)
He is currently sitting at 13 offers with the headliners being South Florida and Air Force. He also has 7 MAC offers. He said very recently that Wake Forest is recruiting him the hardest out of the schools that have not yet offered. He plans to make an unofficial visit to Wake Forest in mid-June.
Might Be in the Picture Category
Billy Bahl (6’4 / 3-star / Woodstock, IL)
Bahl’s stock has been on the rise lately. Two weeks ago he was sitting with an impressive collection of MAC offers (he has been offered by 8 of the 13 schools in the MAC). Then he was offered by UConn (5/21) and Rutgers (5/30). He plans to camp at Syracuse and take unofficial visits to Northwestern and Wake Forest.
Alex Hornibrook (6’4 / 3-star / Malvern, PA)
Hornibrook’s stock has also been on the rise. He had been sitting on offers from Colgate, Lafayette, Akron and Yale for a while. Then in the late stages of the May evaluation period he got offers from Rutgers (May 19), UConn (May 30) and Pitt (May 30). Within the last two weeks he had stated that Wake Forest was maintaining a high interest level after having watched him throw.
Other Notes
Austin King (Alpharetta, GA) appears to have moved on as a possibility for Wake. He says that there had been a high-level of mutual interest with Wake Forest but the staff’s communication with him has recently “faded”. Overall he sounded like Wake is no longer a consideration for him. He is focusing on his current offers from West Virginia, South Florida and UCF. Also, he may ultimately be a factor for NC State in their search for a 2nd QB in their class.
Billy Bahl and Brett Kean will both compete in the Elite 11-Columbus regional on Monday.
From looking at the players on the list it seems like there may be a preference for size and passing skills over mobility. All QBs on the list are considered Pro-Style. There are a lot of pocket-passers on this list that don’t necessarily move that well outside the pocket. Kendall Hinton seems to be the biggest exception to that general rule as he looks to be a little shorter (he is likely even shorter than the listed 6’0) but also more mobile than the other targets.
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Here is a wrap-up from the weekend. Overall, things weren’t that busy on the visit/camp front. It will be interesting to see if that picks up as we get further into June.
“As the QBs Turn” (an update to yesterday’s QB post)
Surprisingly there is no word yet on whether Ross Bowers or Kyle Kearns earned offers at the Colorado camp yesterday. I hadn’t really considered the possibility that neither would be awarded with an offer from the Buffs immediately following their camp, but that may be what happened.
Duke is willing to take a 2nd QB in their 2015 class…at least if that QB is Sam Darnold. Darnold confirmed that Duke is still coming after him hard, and that he doesn’t really care if a school already has another QB in the class. The quotes from Darnold indicated that he is not too familiar with Duke, although he did say that he knows that Duke has a good basketball team. I don’t see Duke, or Wake for that matter, become a major player for Darnold. He did provide dates for his Schools Not on the West Coast Tour (Northwestern, Wake Forest, Tennessee and Duke) which will take place from June 25-28. (Note: None of the info from Darnold sheds any light on whether Duke would take a second QB in this class if that QB is Kendall Hinton)
It sounds like Alex Hornibrook will be ready to make a call between Pitt, Rutgers and UConn in the next week or two. He doesn’t have plans to visit anyone else at this point. He seemed to indicate that there was still a narrow window of about a week for other schools to jump in the mix. I would be surprised to see Wake jump in as they appear to be focused elsewhere at the moment.
Big Board Members Attending Camps/Unofficial Visits
WR Steven Claude took an unofficial visit to hometown school Miami
WR Kalif Jackson is at Rutgers today
WR DJ Moore attended Maryland’s camp. I don’t think that he suited up though.
DMV-area recruits WR Scottie Washington and RB/FB Taylor Boose attended Boston College’s camp. Washington earned an offer from BC. He had already added an offer from UVA earlier in the week.
Other Big Board Members Adding Offers from Other Schools
DE/ATH GG Robinson added Kansas State
S Christian Taylor added Boise State
WR Jahrvis Davenport added Georgia Tech
Other Notes
It sure looks like WR Flynn Nagel left his Duke visit without an offer. That surprised me. A new article on Nagel made it sound like he is tracking towards a June commitment.
WR Tabari Hines clarified that he doesn’t have a Duke offer yet. That means that Wake Forest is currently his only BCS-level offer. Duke is still recruiting him hard though. (As a side note, there seems to be a ton of confusion on the part of recruiting websites like Rivals and 24/7 regarding which recruits have Duke offers. I wonder what the source of the confusion is.)
Everytime I read something about CB/ATH Keith Washington he seems less and less likely for the Deacs. First came the news that Northwestern had decided that they are willing to let him start out at QB. Then he added an offer from Mizzou. Then he gave his summer visit/camp list as Mizzou, Ole Miss, Miami, Northwestern, UNC and Duke (all have offered except Ole Miss). If I were updating the Big Board now, I would probably leave him off. I am still hoping that Clawson and staff can get him in for a visit though.
“As the QBs Turn” (an update to yesterday’s QB post)
Surprisingly there is no word yet on whether Ross Bowers or Kyle Kearns earned offers at the Colorado camp yesterday. I hadn’t really considered the possibility that neither would be awarded with an offer from the Buffs immediately following their camp, but that may be what happened.
Duke is willing to take a 2nd QB in their 2015 class…at least if that QB is Sam Darnold. Darnold confirmed that Duke is still coming after him hard, and that he doesn’t really care if a school already has another QB in the class. The quotes from Darnold indicated that he is not too familiar with Duke, although he did say that he knows that Duke has a good basketball team. I don’t see Duke, or Wake for that matter, become a major player for Darnold. He did provide dates for his Schools Not on the West Coast Tour (Northwestern, Wake Forest, Tennessee and Duke) which will take place from June 25-28. (Note: None of the info from Darnold sheds any light on whether Duke would take a second QB in this class if that QB is Kendall Hinton)
It sounds like Alex Hornibrook will be ready to make a call between Pitt, Rutgers and UConn in the next week or two. He doesn’t have plans to visit anyone else at this point. He seemed to indicate that there was still a narrow window of about a week for other schools to jump in the mix. I would be surprised to see Wake jump in as they appear to be focused elsewhere at the moment.
Big Board Members Attending Camps/Unofficial Visits
WR Steven Claude took an unofficial visit to hometown school Miami
WR Kalif Jackson is at Rutgers today
WR DJ Moore attended Maryland’s camp. I don’t think that he suited up though.
DMV-area recruits WR Scottie Washington and RB/FB Taylor Boose attended Boston College’s camp. Washington earned an offer from BC. He had already added an offer from UVA earlier in the week.
Other Big Board Members Adding Offers from Other Schools
DE/ATH GG Robinson added Kansas State
S Christian Taylor added Boise State
WR Jahrvis Davenport added Georgia Tech
Other Notes
It sure looks like WR Flynn Nagel left his Duke visit without an offer. That surprised me. A new article on Nagel made it sound like he is tracking towards a June commitment.
WR Tabari Hines clarified that he doesn’t have a Duke offer yet. That means that Wake Forest is currently his only BCS-level offer. Duke is still recruiting him hard though. (As a side note, there seems to be a ton of confusion on the part of recruiting websites like Rivals and 24/7 regarding which recruits have Duke offers. I wonder what the source of the confusion is.)
Everytime I read something about CB/ATH Keith Washington he seems less and less likely for the Deacs. First came the news that Northwestern had decided that they are willing to let him start out at QB. Then he added an offer from Mizzou. Then he gave his summer visit/camp list as Mizzou, Ole Miss, Miami, Northwestern, UNC and Duke (all have offered except Ole Miss). If I were updating the Big Board now, I would probably leave him off. I am still hoping that Clawson and staff can get him in for a visit though.
I am going to apologize upfront for the geeky QB-talk in this post. If you are not interested in QB camps, please do not read further.
I followed the Elite 11 Columbus regional pretty closely on social media yesterday because it was being attended by a number of former Wake targets and potential future targets. If you haven’t watched the documentaries on ESPN before, Elite 11 is a series of 8 intense QB skills development camps held across the country for high school QBs. Trent Dilfer is the head counselor. At the end of each regional camp, 5-7 regional finalists are selected for a final drill called the Pressure Chamber. Based on the overall performances at each regional the counselors hand out invites to the Elite 11 Finals. They have 18 total invites to hand out across the 8 regionals.
I know that there is a difference between performing well in a camp and playing well on the field, but my view is that the Elite 11 camps provide a really good evaluation and the Elite 11 staff seem to take the selections really seriously.
Anyways, Elite 11 Columbus was pretty loaded because it not only had guys from the Midwest, but a number of other guys from around the country came in for one last opportunity to make the Finals. From a Wake standpoint, potential targets Billy Bahl and Brett Kean were there (I think), as were Alex Malzone and Austin King. King had been a regional finalist earlier this spring in Atlanta, but did not get invited to the Finals so he made the trip to Columbus for another shot.
I followed several different guys on social media that were covering the event. I can say that Kean and Bahl did not get mentioned once. Neither were among the 7 guys chosen as Regional finalists. Austin King had a terrific camp, made the regional finals, and really was in a cluster of 4-5 guys that could have been viewed as the day’s top performer. It sounds like he basically matched Malzone and a couple of other guys throw for throw.
The Elite 11 staff met literally through the night (seriously) and ultimately awarded 3 Finals invites at the regional. Alex Malzone got one. King did not. Another went to the first real sleeper QB invited to the finals, 2-star Houston-commit Ben Hicks.
That left 3 more Finals invites. The staff then narrowed a list of 38 other QBs from all eight regionals down to a list of 11. Those 11 will be considered for the last 3 spots with the announcement coming in June. Kyle Kearns (regional finalist in both Oakland and Los Angeles), Ross Bowers (Oakland regional finalist) and Austin King (Columbus and Atlanta regional finalist) all made the cut. Kendall Hinton (Atlanta regional finalist) made the list of 38, but missed the cut down to 11. (On a side note, the list of 11 also includes Mark Rypien’s nephew Brett who is a 4-star Boise State commit and Pat Shurmur’s son Kyle who is a 3-star Vandy commit).
Another really interesting guy on the list of 11 is Detroit’s Ryan Brand. He apparently crushed two regionals (Chicago and Columbus) but is only FIVE FOOT EIGHT. He has an Air Force offer and an invite to a Pitt camp. I would love to see our coaches invite him to a Wake camp to at least get a look. One guy said he is a more developed passer than Russell Wilson was at that age.
So as a Wake Forest fan and an Elite 11 fan I am definitely #KyleKearnsIn, #RossBowersIn and yes, still #KendallHintonIn. I am not sure what happened with the staff and Austin King, but I would sure like to see Wake go back to recruiting him because I really want to be #AustinKingIn. I am also #InviteRyanBrandToCampIn
One last note: there is a funny picture circulating of Trent Dilfer pulling a hammy try to race the QBs from one drill to another. I am sure you can find it by googling Trent Dilfer hamstring
I followed the Elite 11 Columbus regional pretty closely on social media yesterday because it was being attended by a number of former Wake targets and potential future targets. If you haven’t watched the documentaries on ESPN before, Elite 11 is a series of 8 intense QB skills development camps held across the country for high school QBs. Trent Dilfer is the head counselor. At the end of each regional camp, 5-7 regional finalists are selected for a final drill called the Pressure Chamber. Based on the overall performances at each regional the counselors hand out invites to the Elite 11 Finals. They have 18 total invites to hand out across the 8 regionals.
I know that there is a difference between performing well in a camp and playing well on the field, but my view is that the Elite 11 camps provide a really good evaluation and the Elite 11 staff seem to take the selections really seriously.
Anyways, Elite 11 Columbus was pretty loaded because it not only had guys from the Midwest, but a number of other guys from around the country came in for one last opportunity to make the Finals. From a Wake standpoint, potential targets Billy Bahl and Brett Kean were there (I think), as were Alex Malzone and Austin King. King had been a regional finalist earlier this spring in Atlanta, but did not get invited to the Finals so he made the trip to Columbus for another shot.
I followed several different guys on social media that were covering the event. I can say that Kean and Bahl did not get mentioned once. Neither were among the 7 guys chosen as Regional finalists. Austin King had a terrific camp, made the regional finals, and really was in a cluster of 4-5 guys that could have been viewed as the day’s top performer. It sounds like he basically matched Malzone and a couple of other guys throw for throw.
The Elite 11 staff met literally through the night (seriously) and ultimately awarded 3 Finals invites at the regional. Alex Malzone got one. King did not. Another went to the first real sleeper QB invited to the finals, 2-star Houston-commit Ben Hicks.
That left 3 more Finals invites. The staff then narrowed a list of 38 other QBs from all eight regionals down to a list of 11. Those 11 will be considered for the last 3 spots with the announcement coming in June. Kyle Kearns (regional finalist in both Oakland and Los Angeles), Ross Bowers (Oakland regional finalist) and Austin King (Columbus and Atlanta regional finalist) all made the cut. Kendall Hinton (Atlanta regional finalist) made the list of 38, but missed the cut down to 11. (On a side note, the list of 11 also includes Mark Rypien’s nephew Brett who is a 4-star Boise State commit and Pat Shurmur’s son Kyle who is a 3-star Vandy commit).
Another really interesting guy on the list of 11 is Detroit’s Ryan Brand. He apparently crushed two regionals (Chicago and Columbus) but is only FIVE FOOT EIGHT. He has an Air Force offer and an invite to a Pitt camp. I would love to see our coaches invite him to a Wake camp to at least get a look. One guy said he is a more developed passer than Russell Wilson was at that age.
So as a Wake Forest fan and an Elite 11 fan I am definitely #KyleKearnsIn, #RossBowersIn and yes, still #KendallHintonIn. I am not sure what happened with the staff and Austin King, but I would sure like to see Wake go back to recruiting him because I really want to be #AustinKingIn. I am also #InviteRyanBrandToCampIn
One last note: there is a funny picture circulating of Trent Dilfer pulling a hammy try to race the QBs from one drill to another. I am sure you can find it by googling Trent Dilfer hamstring
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I hope they both come in and kill it- your back up needs to be ready and the third guy needs to be passably decent. Then we can s worry about the standard 5 running backs most programs shoot to have. So many problems/ opportunities on offense- wonder why? 
Recruits who are looking for playing time- we have it in abundance. I hope we can sell it!
Recruits who are looking for playing time- we have it in abundance. I hope we can sell it!Confirmed via his Twitter. Wow. Just wow. I really want to trust the staff on this one....they obviously have so much more info than we do...and decided not to offer but.......wow.
Admittedly, part of me just wanted the 4-star rated QB to say that we had a 4-star rated QB, but his highlights were impressive and he performed well at Elite 11 too. Must....trust......staff......
What really hurts about this is that Kearns looked like the most likely of the 4 QBs in that tier
Hinton is a NC State-lean
Bowers is leaning Colorado or Colorado State
Austin King and our staff have somehow decided they are not right for each other
We might have to push the reset button at that point. Here's hoping that the can reel one in.
I actually felt the opposite. I read that 4 or 5 guys really matched Malzone throw for throw (including King). Malzone was good, but an argument could have been made that any one of them could have gotten the invite. I was talking myself into the fact that the dropoff from Malzone to Kearns/Bowers/Hinton/King wasn't actually that big after all.
If you want to throw the ball 60 times a game, June Jones is your man. I wouldn't mind if we waited to see what have with Smith and Wolford. If they stink, we should be in full panic mode. If they live up to their press clippings, we can go with a developemental type to sit on the bench behind them.
PhDeac
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2015 FB Recruiting: Wake lands Rivals #28 DT Lee Autry
I doubt any coaching staff will truth their summer and fall evaluations of two true frosh QBs to determine how to recruit going forward.
I doubt any coaching staff will truth their summer and fall evaluations of two true frosh QBs to determine how to recruit going forward.
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