Friday, July 02, 2010
Time growing short for wavering recruits
Recruiting rules set to change for class of 2012
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's College Notebook Plus is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Fridays.
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As Virginia’s football recruiting class has reached the high teens, an unprecedented level for either of the state’s Division I-A programs at this stage, some UVa prospects could be feeling a squeeze.
That was the case with defensive end Rob Burns from Stone Bridge in Loudoun County, who committed to UVa on Thursday. The Cavaliers, who now have 18 commitments, rolled the dice. But they weren’t alone.
Burns’ other offers were from Boston College, Duke, Maryland, Penn State and Stanford.
Virginia “pretty much said, ‘We like you Rob, but we can’t wait much longer; you’re going to have to make a decision here,’ “ Stone Bridge coach Mickey Thompson said.
“He knew what the deal was. It’s like when Penn State offered him. They said he was the 11th guy at defensive end that they had offered. I said, ‘Rob, Rob, they’re only going to take a couple.’
“As we got further into the summer, if a couple guys got picked up, they were going to make a call and say, ‘We’re full at that position.’ He was planning on making a decision in July anyway.”
Thompson, a defensive lineman at UVa in the late 1970s, has been the head coach at Stone Bridge for 10 years. Burns will be his first Stone Bridge player to make an oral commitment to Virginia, although the Cavaliers did sign one of Thompson’s players when he was the head coach at Park View-Sterling, Andrew Hoffman.
“I knew [Burns] was getting ready to pull the trigger,” Thompson said. “I honestly wasn’t sure where he was going. I knew it was either Boston College or UVa. And Penn State, those were kind of his three. He waffled depending on the day.”
A major factor was Jeff Hanson, the Cavaliers’ defensive-line coach under new head coach Mike London.
Thompson said, “The only advice I gave him was, ‘You can’t go wrong school-wise. There are no guarantees your position coach might change in a year but you need to make the best guess you can. You need to make sure you talk with your position coach and try and get down and watch him coach.’ ”
The lead recruiter for Burns was UVa receivers quarterback coach Shawn Moore, a former star quarterback for the Cavaliers.
“He had that love of having played there, had that love of the school and that passion when you talked to him,” Thompson said. “When we went down for their seven-on-seven tournament, all the assistants were right there. They were aware of our kids. We’d been before, when it was, ‘We know this one, but we’re not aware of the others.’ “
THOMPSON LIKES THE idea of having his players commit early but thinks the system is geared to players who pass the look test and the skills tests. He thinks schools are making a mistake in not recruiting Stone Bridge defensive back Spencer Rositano.
“He’s the best player we’ve had here and he still hasn’t been offered by a I-A [program],” Thompson said. “We’ve had 18 guys play in the ACC in 10 years and he’s the best one we’ve had. It’s driving me nuts, [people saying] ‘we’re only taking one safety.’ But, he’s a safety-outside backer kid, so you’ve got to have the right scheme and the right fit for him.’ “
Anybody hear of Cody Grimm?
I’ve seen Rositano listed at 5-10, 160. In a January edition of Notebook Plus, I had him listed at 6-1, 185. I’m guessing that’s a little bit generous.
Thompson also gave a good report on his 6-4, 210-pound quarterback, rising senior Brian Rody.
“He’s come a long way,” Thompson said. “He’s still got to do it on the field, but weight-room wise, leader-ship wise, he’s there. Seven on seven, we should have won the Virginia one. We should have won the Richmond one. He can throw it around.”
Thompson said UVa also has shown interest in Dan Chrost, a 6-6, 230-pound defensive end who was sidelined as a junior after tearing his ACL.
THOMPSON SAID IT’S up to a coach to do his job and promote a late bloomer, such as Devon “Y’Lou” Brown, who transferred from Bishop O’Connell to Stone Bridge before his senior year.
Brown signed with Wake Forest, where he had a team-high 61 receptions last year as a redshirt sophomore.
“The problem I have is with the new date that they’ve come out with,” Thompson said. “They say [the colleges] can’t make an offer in writing until Aug. 1 of your senior year.
“Guys make verbal offers all the time and then I go back and say, ‘Can I get something in writing?’ Some like to do the writing. Some of them say, ‘We don’t do written offers.’
“For instance, when my boys were offered at Wake, [the Deacons] don’t do anything in writing. I just feel better if it’s in writing. Now, they can’t do it till Aug. 1 of your senior year and I just think it’s going to cause people to throw out verbal offers like candy and not be accountable for any of them.
“Part of me says, if a college gives a verbal offer, the [high-school] coach can push for a written offer. Plus, you can release that offer to the press. So, the press is publicizing the offer and plus, now you’ve got the written offer, so it’s really hard for a school to go back on its word.”
IN AN EFFORT to familiarize myself with the change, I called Virginia Tech recruiting coordinator Jim Cavanaugh, who said he was aware of the proposal but wasn’t sure it had become a rule.
I subsequently was able to come up with information that indicated the legislation was passed in April and will go into effect for the entering Class of 2012. Let’s take Patrick Henry offensive lineman Ryan Revia, a promising rising junior. He can’t get a written offer till Aug. 1, 2011, one month before the start of his senior year.
Up till now, written offers could be made as early as Sept. 1 of a prospect’s junior year.
“It doesn’t surprise me that somebody is doing this,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s because of all the craziness, such as the Delaware eighth-grader who got an offer [from Southern Cal]. I offered two sophomores in the last couple of year and I’d never done that before.”
Internet reporters pick up the kids’ names and start calling them “but we’re not allowed to call with any of these kids or deal with any of these kids,” Cavanaugh said. “Part of the reason for the legislation potentially is to make it more in line with the rules that now exist.
“Right now, the rules don’t coincide with when these kids are making up their minds.”
And, this is Doug Doughty speaking, but I’m not sure the new rule addresses that. In fact, it might make it worse.
