It feels as though recruiting has been rather slow this year, so I went back and did just a little research. At this point a year ago we had 13 highlighted by Brandon Green and Sam Maresh. Today we sit today with 10 verbal commitments highlighted by Eric Stephens and Hassan Lipscomb (more on them later). Things really are not that slow, but it feels like there isn't much momentum from the 7-1 start. I would have expected this incredible start to translate into more verbal commitments than we could handle. This hasn't happened but momentum is certainly going to pick up very soon.
With three home games in our remaining four there will be plenty of recruits coming to town for their official (or unofficial) visits. In 2007 Brewster had an incredible success rate with getting verbal commitments from kids who stepped foot on campus. This weekend with Northwestern coming to town there will be a spattering of offcial visits, but next weekend with Michigan in town anybody we can get on a plane will be here. There may be more recruits on the sidelines than players in uniform.
The moral of this story is that with this string of home games we will see plenty of recruits coming to town and hopefully a longer string of verbal commitments. We will keep you informed who will be in town and when we receive commitments we'll tell you what we can find.
Some Highlights of our Current Verbals
In Minnesota we are a couple rounds into playoffs so the season is winding down. But in Texas, where we get a couple great running backs, they are stil in the midst of their regular seasson. Hassan Lipscomb and Eric Stephens are racking up some impressive stats in their senior seaons.
In seven games, Hassan Lipscomb has 13 total touchdowns, is averaging 7.5 yards per carry on his way to 768 yards. His most recent game he ran for 174 yards and three touchdowns. His Cypress Ridge Rams are 5-2, 4-1 within thier district.
Mansfield Timberview RB, Eric Stephens is rumored to be reconsidering his verbal commitment to Minnesota. At this point he is still a Gopher commit and is not to be out done by Lipscomb on the field. Last week he also scored three touchdowns, rushed for 125 yards and had six receptions for 74 yards.
I am excited to see both of these guys in our backfield over the next four or five years. Currently Stephens is considering Texas Tech and there are rumors about Lipscomb's chances of qualifying academically. Those are just rumors at this point but worth keeping an eye on along with their eye popping stats.
My Current Top 10
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Bryce McNeal - WR - seems as though Michigan is clearly in the rear view mirror. I've always felt that if we had a successful season he'd end up a Gopher but other schools are still in the running.
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Michael Carter - CB - cousin of Tyrone Carter, narrowed his list down and we are still on it with some heavyweights to knock out. Will be here for Michigan and be the top recruit at the game. Wil make his commitment at the Army All-American game in January.
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Ra'shede Hageman - TE - would be a great fit and would guarantee us commitments from at least four of the top five Minnesota kids (McNeal would make us 5/5).
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Hayo Carpenter - WR - Will be visiting on Saturday for NU game. If he can make 1/2 the impact that last year's JUCO recruits made he'll be a steal.
- Jamar Howard - WR - receiving passes from Clint Brewster. Four star JUCO and if you are noticing a trend here then you are smarter than your comments make you out to be.
- Edward Nuckols - DT - 28th best DT overall, 29th best out of California. Benches 300 and squats 450. ASU, AZ and Col are after him.
- Tyler Lewhan - OL - new to my list, but Lewhan recently moved up to a four star kid. OL is so hard to grade out but our OL is struggling and you can never have too many good linemen.
- Kendrick James - OLB - defensive help is still a major need. 3.3 GPA is also nice to see.
- Vladimir Emilien - S -Florida native who is looking forward to playing in the Big Ten. Emilien is a four star kid who has very good grades. Mich, Wis and Ohio St are big players here along with Tenn. We need a great young safety to take over for Brock in 2009.
- Frank Crawford - S - three star out of Miami. Ole Miss is the likely front runner. Also offers from Alabama, FSU, W Vir, S Flor and S Car.
- Sentrell Henderson - OL - I know he's a junior, but he's one of the top juniors in the country and it would be tremendous to keep him at home.
Off the list - Craig Drummond narrowed his list to two and we were left out. Michigan native, WR-Cam Gordon also came off my list. I feel good about the receivers above him.
On the fense - Minnesota native Matt Garin. JUCO corner Taikwon Paige and JUCO safety Anthony Leon are both four star guys. At CB and S I'd rather see a stud freshman come in but these guys are talented and any depth/talent we can add the better.