Congrats, you guys. Each and every one of you. The moment is one that “they” will never take from you. It SHOULD be placed in the same compartment as your wedding day, the birth of your first child and so on. Things MOST of you aren’t even remotely close to experiencing yet, but you will. Some of you may not have experienced what you “thought” you would experience–but you experienced it nonetheless and hopefully it’s a moment in time that you will cherish for the rest of your lives. Now get back to work. One stage has ended, while another has just begun. You’re experiencing what life is all about–and you’re doing it in a time in which the opportunities are endless as long as you keep contributing like you have. SEE THE LIST OF SIGNEES
National Signing Day as compared to recent years was a raging success across the Tampa Bay area. What drama there was–was actually centered around kids choosing between schools–and not some sort of Fugazi kidnapping of NLI’s or fax machines breaking down–what have you. Of course the flips are exciting, but they provide shock value for the most part and then our consciouses move on.
We now give you some of the highlights–and our thoughts to accompany them–plus mention that the comprehensive wrap-up of ALL of the signings–from ALL of the counties in coverage–will be continued on our podcast, which we guarantee you will enjoy. Now for our thoughts on the comings-and-goings from National Signing Day 2016.
When you’re in the BUSINESS of recruiting and you’re ballin’-on-a-budget, that feeling of pulling up in a Prius and driving off the lot in a 600-series Benz is the reason why this country is so awesome. Seriously. If you’re schools like the University of Pittsburgh, University of South Dakota, Oregon State University and –that’s precisely what happened to you. Before you say, WAIT! Two of those schools are Power Five schools!!–just chill. We don’t have their budget offices sliding in our DM’s with critical information, but we CAN ASSURE you their TV money ain’t making their misery any more comfortable–and those alumni bases–although happy when their teams win–aren’t exactly donating money SOLELY for athletic purposes. What those respective coaches did for their schools as a whole by landing players they normally don’t even have chances to flirt with–much less commit–could potentially provide returns in spades. Time will tell.
And if you think South Dakota isn’t ever going to be an option–they play in a domed stadium–and there are direct flights from St.Pete/Clearwater AND Sanford to Sioux Falls–which is about 45-60 minutes away. It’s not as hard as you think. That’s why they were able to land talent from both sides of the I-4 corridor from schools like Mainland and Tampa Bay Tech and will be back for more. Now–they just need Allegiant Airlines to stay on point.
Scott Frost was hired on December 1st and the Knights were in DEAD LAST in terms of class rankings in the AAC on Tuesday night–and finished fifth. They stopped recruiting kids from random towns in Georgia stuck in the middle of peanut farming country and ACTUALLY started building barriers in their backyard. Frost has made it poignantly clear that the will use his deep friendship with Phil Knight to strengthen the Knights’ panache in terms of uniforms and so on. If it weren’t for Houston being EVERYONE’S nightmare in the AAC, USF and UCF would be providing us with alternating shots at titles. Oh–and don’t forget about Temple–they actually finished at the second spot in front of USF.
The Gators might not have had the best of signing days, but they got some pretty important pieces to enroll early and secured arguably the best WR in the nation out of Texas to pair with Felipe Franks. Jim McElwain showed a few signs of a disturbance in the force with references to “having a long way to go” in terms of recruiting blue-chippers in the state of Florida though and part of that could stem from a simple formula of a two-point performance against your arch-rivals in your own house plus a myriad of issues in the back half of the season. McElwain shouldn’t have to get stuck in battles with Arkansas and Ole Miss for recruits–or should they? Just like the way many other schools felt in this cycle–there weren’t exactly generational talents readily available at each position. The rubber-meets-the-road the next two seasons and the “exposure” of the strength of this class will come if the Gators can’t provide any depth at the skill positions because the bulk of first-year impact players lie within the next two cycles of recruits.
We are not condoning what KJ Sails did to elicit the response he did from the University of Cincinnati’s fan base, but he certainly helped expose (yet again) that social media–for all intents and purposes in 2016–is relatively suboptimal in it’s quality of participation at the moment. Although the joking around with the headgear was more awkward than funny–it’s not excuse for ADULTS to cuss-out and wish failure upon a kid–one who represents an area YOU DAMN SURE NEED TO RECRUIT IN THE FUTURE YOU STUGOTZ–while hiding behind an avatar nonetheless.
STOP RUNNING OFF ON THE PLUG–THAT’S ACTUALLY NOT SAFE. Plies was trending in the city of Tampa yesterday on Twitter. There was a time when that sentence would have gotten us kicked out of every single professional setting in America–now it’s a) great “real life” advice and b) completely relevant to sports and the recruiting world. Yesterday, the commitment to “Do Something” was capped-off with vines and short-videos of Head Coach Willie Taggart and his staff–plus recruits–performing this seemingly innocuous motion that bears a striking resemblance to calisthenics. The Bulls will be LOADED next season, but let’s hope that Quinton Flowers isn’t running from the plug–aka the DT’s and NG’s from opposing defenses due to the fact that his brick wall in front of him might be made of thin materials. If there’s a bone to pick with the Bulls, it’s that the “small” class of 16 signees may have a distinct air of quality over quantity, those trenches that provide the last obstacle to the backfield need to be dug a little deeper.
Miami–26 de-committments this past cycle and ZERO 10-win seasons in the last decade. Even worse–Mark Richt must have felt like he never left Athens after losing two of the ‘Canes best players to Tennessee mere hours before the letters were to be faxed. We’re not saying it’s bad, Miami–but it’s not good. Richt won’t be judged–nor should he be–for this year’s NSD flameout. Coaches across America have ZERO excuses when it comes to improving due to the fact that the ’17’s and 18’s in this country–and state–are stacked from top to bottom. There’s enough talent to actually go around–for all of the schools in-state–and Richt better get to landing it–history says he will so just a little more patience ‘Canes fans.
Brotherly love…Jayvaughn and Nate are bringing a one-two punch to the plains of Alabama. There must be something in the water in Auburn–and Clemson for that matter–but far be it for us to speculate what’s in that water. Whatever’s in it–something tastes good. We can’t wait to see what these fellas do to opposing defenses in the coming months and years. The Tigers (both Auburn and Clemson) now own property in the Bay–and they’ve built some pretty nice dwellings on said property. Everything’s better when the “free” market has competition.
FSU returns all eleven starters on offense next season, and signed an OL class that averaged 6-5/310 if you need them–including the nation’s #1 center, Baveon Johnson and flipping DT Shavar Manuel. They also inked a sure-fire lock for the NFL in CB Levonta Taylor and are building a defense that’s going to conjure up the recent memory of 2013. The ‘Noles were hanging around in that top spot and were poised to win that mythical recruiting title, but Alabama went full Alabama and GlenGary-Glen Ross’ed (hint: A.B.C.) their way into the poll position. Somewhere Rick Trickett and Tim Brewster are playing “Don’t Cry for Me A-C-C ya” however as hey handled their business in historical fashion for FSU.
Jim Harbaugh is officially that uncle that you love unconditionally–but you hate to see walk into the family function a la “dang, here comes crazy Uncle Jim–stop talking about jive turkeys and start doing push-ups before he takes off his shirt again like that one time at satellite camp.” Whew buddy that Johnny Carson Variety Show in Ann Arbor was a spectacle. And while you sat and stared at the TV screen like a hypnotized fish–crazy Uncle Jim announced he’s bringing the Wolverines to IMG during their spring break to practice so he can circumvent the brand new rule about satellite camps. That’s like the ninja throwing a smoke bomb and disappearing right in front of you–only to pop-up behind you and smack you upside the head or give you a noogie while in a headlock. Seems to us like crazy Uncle Jim is genius Uncle Jim. Go ahead and laugh at him if you want.
A young man committed to his future while skydiving–so there’s that. Actually, that’s prey-ty, prey-ty freaking cool, BUT not to turn this into the Holy Matrimony of Negative Nancy and Bobby Buzzkill and all–you do realize had the unthinkable became a reality that life insurance policy is actually null-and-void, right? Doesn’t matter–you jump out of a perfectly good airplane and the underwriter is simply going to shed a tear at the funeral–while not scratching you a check. Let’s think this out a little further next time, shall we? Of course, that would be facts getting in the way of an awesome narrative and that’s just not the 2016 thing to do.