2010 Signing Day

[lawdog]

If Travis Thomas was visiting this weekend, hope he left Washington area yesterday...understand they are snowed in bigtime.

[crabbyterrier]

i was wondering if both recruits made it to campus yet and how it is going.

anyone hear anything yet???

[54football]

Appalachian State scores big on National Signing Day
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Appalachian State, which finished third in the final Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision poll for 2009, garnered one of the top FCS recruiting classes going into next season.

The Mountaineers scored 15 recruits -- 12 high school seniors and three junior college transfers. Among them are quarterbacks Elijah Adamiak and Kalik Barnes.

With QB Armanti Edwards, a two-time winner of the Sports Network's Walter Payton Award, exhausting his eligibility, ASU is likely to start Jamal Jackson or DeAndre Presley at QB next season, but Adamiak and Barnes could fill supporting roles if they're not moved to a different position.

The Mountaineers also secured Drew Bailey, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound tight end from Spartanburg, South Carolina. He was rated as a two-star prospect by Rivals.com and also starred at defensive end at Dorman in high school.

ASU also got a pair of three-star prospects, according to Rivals.com, in defensive linemen Derrick Shuemake and Dan Wylie.

"This is an exceptional class of newcomers and we couldn't be more pleased to have all 16 join our program," ASU head coach Jerry Moore said. "Perhaps the thing that excites me the most is the eagerness that this group has displayed to take ownership of their team as soon as possible. We're looking forward to them doing so beginning this summer."

It should be an interesting season in 2010 for Appalachian State. The Mountaineers open against Chattanooga in the stadium of the national title contest. The final game for the Mountaineers will be on the road against a team that landed one of the best recruiting classes in FBS -- the Florida Gators.

Defending national champion Villanova signed 14 recruits to national letters of intent. Interestingly, nine of the athletes were from New Jersey, including running back Austin Medley of Delsea High. He was the Philadelphia Inquirer Offensive Player of the Year.

Montana, which lost the FCS title game to the Wildcats, reloaded their offensive line for the 2010 season after losing three starters from last year -- Terran Hillesland, Levi Horn and Chris Dyk. The Grizzlies inked 19 players, including four offensive linemen -- Jake Hendrickson, Danny Kistler Jr., William Poehls and Stephen Sabin. Hendrickson and Sabin are both transfers from Scottsdale Community College in Arizona.

"We had to go after linemen," Grizzlies new head coach Robin Pflugrad said. "I think our staff did a tremendous job of identifying and getting those linemen signed, sealed and delivered. We're excited about them. That was the No.1 goal in this recruiting class."

Also high up on the scale from Rivals.com, as far as FCS teams are concerned, were Richmond, South Carolina State, Northwestern State and Western Carolina -- ranked No. 2 through 5 in that order.

Richmond, the 2009 CAA football champs, signed 17 student-athletes, including bruising running back James McKinney who starred at high school in Round Rock, Texas. He gained over 900 yards on the ground as a senior with 15 touchdowns.

It was tough for the Spiders to retain their players who verbally committed, considering Mike London left as head coach to take the job at Virginia in December.

"When you're dealing with 17-year-olds, you worry but we wanted guys who wanted to be here at the University of Richmond," head coach Latrell Scott said. "And for the most part, the guys who committed earlier stayed and the guys we picked up later in the process were kids that really, really wanted to be at Richmond. We did everything we could do as a staff and keep the entire class together."

The Spiders could also have a star quarterback on their hands for next season for Scott. Aaron Corp began last year at the top spot on the depth chart for the USC Trojans, but lost out the starting job when he suffered a cracked fibula prior to the start of the season. He has since transferred to Richmond.

Twelve of SC State's 22 recruits were from in-state. Wide receiver Antuawn Blue, defensive back Xavier McFadden and offensive lineman C.J. Wilson were all Shrine Bowl participants.

Northwestern State secured the fourth-best FCS recruiting class according to Rivals.com and will try to turn around a disastrous season from last year, when the Demons went 0-11. They signed seven offensive linemen out of their 35 recruits, but the biggest name on the board was probably quarterback D.J. Palmer. Out of high school in Many, Louisiana, Palmer was the Class 2A Offensive Player of the Year after accounting for 51 touchdowns and over 3,600 yards, averaging 304 yards of total offense.

Western Carolina signed 11 players on defense and also inked quarterback Casey Turner, who red-shirted in 2008 at Connecticut. He didn't play in 2009, but comes to the Catamounts with plenty of credentials. He ranked among the top four in Virginia high school history in career completions (577), passing yards (7,968) and touchdowns (82).

[dude]

My guess is that Wofford typically gets more recruits who are below the radar a bit. That is to say, I suspect Mike Ayers and his staff understand what kind of talent they need to compete -- if they're happy with their class, then sounds OK.

It is interesting, though, to see the upswing at WCU -- I wonder how that's happening.

[terrier06]

WCU has had a top rated class for a couple of years now. It's a combination of a large group and rivals/scout-rated recruits. The big recruiting sites might be decent (emphasizing 'might') for the BCS level of FBS, but they don't really do such a hot job with the FCS level. UTC was the same about 3-5 years ago, consistently having 'top ranked' FCS classes with nothing to show for it when the rubber meets the road. I'd put more stock in how coaches on our level evaluate rather than evaluators making money off of BSC recruiting. WCU (like UTC) before has gained hope in their rivals classes, but I've yet to see those hopes fulfilled. We'll just have to see when it really matter.

[Terrier Hawk]

The Rivals Star ratings tend to come from camps and combines where "Rivals" scouts are present, such as at a college or special camp, or a combine that they are running. Thus, if you don't attend one of those camps or combines, you don't get a rating. Some kids live in those camps from Pop Warner ball to High School. Some kids never go to anything other than what their HS provides. Some kids put up huge numbers and don't even get rated.

I think we have all seen highly touted players that came into college, and didn't really live up to expectations, although many times they do. We've also seen the walk-ons that came in and started 4 years, rare but it happens.

When I look at Mr Favors numbers out of Cedar Grove HS in Dekalb County, over 2300 yards of total offense, 15 TDs passing, 17 TD's running, and on the All Dekalb County Team. That impresses because there is some pretty competitive football in Dekalb County.

The star ratings are a decent rule of thumb for potential, but I've seen 5 star flops, injuries, grades, behavior issues, and I've seen no star 4 year starters. What attitude they bring to school and camp in August is what matters. I think we got a good group.

[terriers]

Great analysis, Terrier Hawk.

[youngterrier]

keep in mind fellas, on one of these recruiting sites Armanti Edwards had NO stars

[newfan]

Congrats to Travis Thomas on becoming a Wofford Terrier, I can guarantee the Terrier Nation that he will not disappointed.

[youngterrier]

Congrats to Travis Thomas on becoming a Wofford Terrier, I can guarantee the Terrier Nation that he will not disappointed.

so it's official?

[boulder3m]

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

[newfan]

It's official, he signed his LOI this afternoon

[youngterrier]

It's official, he signed his LOI this afternoon

alright, you may now proceed by posting film

[crabbyterrier]

what about the kid from california?

[Ruckus]

Thomas has video on youtube with both offense and defense highlights. He is fast and VERY physical on both sides of the ball. Smooth flexible hips, quick burst, and great leverage/pad level. I like him better as a LB although he is impressive running and catching the ball too. Put 10-20 lbs on him and he is all-SoCon material. Will be interesting to see if we play him inside or outside.
I like him as much as the Trotter kid.
Now for the Cali kid. If he is as impressive, this class tops last year.