The rule that allows the NCAA to grant immunity for the players interviewed at Auburn and State also requires that they have an explicit reason to do so. Watch the vid to learn more.
In case you didn’t know, Red Cup Rebellion has an awesome Facebook page (go like it!), and on this awesome Facebook page, I do live, weekly broadcasts. In an effort to bring that content over to our regular readers, I’m going to start posting them here on the site.
NCAA Enforcement representatives have visited Auburn and Mississippi State, and perhaps at least one more SEC Western Division school, this summer to speak with players who were recruited by Ole Miss. The players were granted immunity from potential NCAA sanctions in exchange for truthful accounts of their recruitment, sources said.
Head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s emphasizes bringing accountability to the Virginia football program, speaking often about players’ roles are “given, not earned.” Under his policies, the team hasn’t been able to take things for granted anymore; that includes basic parts of their uniforms, like the v-sabre logo (earned a month ago) and their numbers, which were missing until today. (The team was VERY fortunate to earn their numbers just in time for the first game of the year. A forfeit would have been embarrassing.)
Sixty-one members of the roster have been assigned numbers, all of which are available to view over atVirginiaSports.com. Numbers aren’t all that interesting (to me at least), but Coach Mendenhall’s novel treatment of them gives us something to pry into. Here are a few takeaways:
Not everyone has a number yet.
Sixty-one players may now have a number listed next to their name on the team roster…but that also means that 41 players still don’t have one. The majority of this group is true freshman, none of whom received a number in the initial batch. Just three of the 41 players awaiting numbers are juniors or seniors (two of whom are walk-ons). Obviously, guys will all have numbers before the week is up, assuming they’ll be eligible to play against Richmond, and UVA Athletics’s Twitter account noted that:
2. There are tons of changes.
Coach Mendenhall and the team apparently did not take into account the integrity of Streaking the Lawn’s “Countdown to Kickoff” series, where we’ve been profiling each player by number for the past 3 months. For example, of the nine returning players who wore numbers of seven or less, six have now swapped. Be alert when you’re watching the game against Richmond, or conversations like this – “Hey, why is #22 Jahvoni Simmons lined up behind Benkert?! Oh, wait, that’s Daniel Hamm!” – will be common.
3. And there are some nontraditional ones too.
The team was quick to nab the single digits, and they weren’t confined to the traditional QBs, RBs, and kickers. (Though NFL defenders must always be above 20, and higher depending on position, there are no NCAA rules on numbers for defensive players). Two likely defensive line starters picked 1 (Donte Wilkins) and 9 (Andrew Brown), and two linebackers are between 10 and 19. On the other end of the spectrum, the nineties include kicker Dylan Sims (91) and QB Joe Spaziani (99). Not everything’s too strange though – starting quarterback Kurt Benkert will wear number 6.
A few months ago, I wrote this article about GT freshman QB Jay Jones. You should at least skim over it again before reading this article, as this review is built upon that one. In my previous article, I only had access to Jones’ junior film. I was recently contacted on twitter by Jones’ brother, who provided me with his senior film. In this article, I’ll be taking a look at what changed from his junior to his senior season, and what hasn’t.
Jones was still a talented runner in his senior season, displaying the great top end speed I saw as a junior. He’s still making defenders’ angles look foolish. He also filled out his frame quite nicely. The biggest improvements, however, were in the passing game, and there’s much more passing film to dissect in the senior film than there was in the junior film.
Arm Strength has improved. He can really sling the ball a long way, and a lot of these throws are all arm. No stepping into the throw or follow-through
Timing has improved. Throwing behind intended targets was a big problem as a junior, but he hits more targets in stride as a senior. He still needs work in this area, but there was progress
Part of what makes the arms strength so impressive was the fact that he often cut his follow-through short. He could put even more power into many of these throws. Needs to fix his throwing motion, however. Needs to consistently plant his feet, drive the ball, and follow through. If he can do that, he’ll be throwing some sizzling fastballs.
I’d still like to see more touch passes, and some proof that he can make a larger variety of throws.
The QB competition next year is going to be really interesting. There will be 4 guys with vastly disparate skills competing, some with more experience than the others. Going into a big opener against Tennessee, will Coach Johnson go with one of the more experienced players, or will a young player impress?
Jimbo Fisher made it official after practice on Saturday, announcing the redshirt freshman will start the opener.
Following Florida State football practice on Saturday, head coach Jimbo Fisher announced that redshirt freshman quarterback Deondre Francois would start the team’s opener against Ole Miss on September 5th. Fisher also said he is unsure about QB Sean Maguire’s status for the first game, and did not rule him out. The coach went on to say that the team has already begun its preparations for Ole Miss with Francois at the helm.
“If you didn’t think it was official a long time ago, I’m worried about you. I’m gonna talk to one of y’all’s bosses. Y’all need to be doing something else.”
Francois was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, ranked as the No. 3 Pro QB and 64th overall player in the nation according to 247 Sports. Last season, the Floridian redshirted and was named Offensive Scout Team MVP following the year. We wrote about Francois and the other quarterbacks on the roster in our quarterback preview.
The Huskers today picked up the commitment of Tight End Reese Leitao. He hails from Tulsa (Oklahoma) Jenks High School.
“>Leitao, who is 6’4 and a listed 235 pounds, is the 35th best Tight End in the 2017 recruiting cycle and the 11th best player in the state of Oklahoma.
Besides Nebraska, Leitao held offers from Maryland, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Minnesota and Houston.
(normally I have the Hudl for the prospect, but Leitao’s page is private. If/when I get a public tape, you’ll get it)
The Huskers offered Leitao back on April 11th, and visited for Friday Night Lights in June. After his visit, he put the Huskers in his Final 4 earlier this month.
Leitao will join Austin Allen as being the 2nd Tight End in the 2017 Nebraska recruiting class. There is a thought that the Huskers will be also taking Kurt Rafdal in this cycle also. They will replace Sam Cotton, Cethan Carter and Trey Foster who will be done with their eligibility after this season.
That makes 14 verbals for Nebraska in this cycle, and nudges up the 247 average a bit. Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
With the first Game Week approaching, we’re finally digging into the position groups to preview the 2016 Auburn Tigers.
With the season almost here, we’re taking a look at previewing the 2016 Auburn Tigers by each position group. The previous entries can be found in this story stream!
Key Losses –
Chris Laye
Key Returnees –
Jalen Harris, Chandler Cox, Kamryn Pettway*, Robert Muschamp
Newcomers (includes redshirts) –
Landon Rice, Spencer Nigh
H-Back/FB – Chandler Cox is an absolute beast and could be the person we’ve been looking for to replace Jay Prosch. He played very well as a true freshman last year and now has more time under his belt. Of course, he may see some time at running back, too. That’s where Kamryn Pettway has moved to full-time. I still included him in the list, here, because that versatility could see him on the field in an H-Back position on occasion if needed.
Spencer Nigh is a name to watch out for. Will he play? I don’t know. He’s 6’0, 272 lbs, a walk-on, and was a monster out in Texas in high school football. He’s earned some pretty high praise from coaches and insiders, so there’s a chance he could see time this year even as a walk-on true freshman.
Tight ends – Talent and size? Maybe? This is a position that was virtually non-existent last year. Jalen Harris and Chris Laye were on the field at times, but I don’t think they were ever targeted with a single pass. That has to change this season. Laye is gone, but Jalen Harris and early enrollee Landon Rice are ready to step up in the Lutzenkirchen/Uzomah role. Some of the Tigers’ biggest plays under Malzahn have come from throws to the tight end. With two players who meet the mold of past players at this position, hopefully they get back into the offense.
H-back/FB: Not concerned at all. Chandler Cox is more than capable of handling the position.
TE: We didn’t see much of what Harris could do last year, and Rice is a true freshman. The TEs have been used in throw-backs and double-move passes to the corner of the end zone under Malzahn. Those are passes we really didn’t see thrown last season. We didn’t see much of any downfield passing after White got hurt. This position is a huge unknown, and that is the absolute biggest concern.
The H-back spot will be more than fine. We’ll start to see a bit more of the TE used, but it’s never been a huge part of Gus Malzahn’s offense. They will be thrown to in some critical times, though, as Lutzie and Uzomah were. It will be a position similar to the offensive line: we’ll have high praise for them when they make a big play, but most of the time we’ll probably just forget they’re there while they go about the business of doing their job to make the offense roll along effectively.
The 2017 4-star quarterback led Westlake to a 32-29 win last night over the Katy Tigers, the reigning 6A Division II State Champions. And I was fortunate to watch it all go down in person.
From a stats perspective, it was a solid game for Ehlinger. He finished 18 for 30 with 256 yards and a touchdown through the air and had another 64 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
To put Ehlinger’s and Westlake’s performance into perspective, Katy gave up just 62 points over 16 games last season, including ten shutouts. Yet the Tigers couldn’t slow down or contain Ehlinger enough all game to come out on top.
Ehlinger’s highlight play of the night came with just over two minutes left. Westlake was up 25-23 looking to score in Katy’s red zone. He hiked the ball out of the shot gun, rolled left, escaped pressure, reversed fields and rolled right, then found his receiver in the back corner of the end zone for an 18-yard strike to put Westlake up by ten.
He did all of that right in front of Malik Jefferson, Holton Hill, DeMarco Boyd, Breckyn Hager (Westlake alum) and a few other Texas football players who were there watching him. After the game, they also joined Ehlinger to sing the Westlake fight song.
It’s plays like that touchdown pass late in the game that make Ehlinger special. Westlake’s had other great high school quarterbacks come through like Drew Brees, Nick Foles and Tanner Price. But in high school, none of those guys were built like Ehlinger, nor could quite do the types of things he’s been doing at Westlake.
He’s unique. He has the body of strong safety yet has a cannon of an arm, sees the field well, and is extremely elusive and light on his feet. Physically and mentally, he’s tough and strong. He ran into the locker room favoring one leg at half time. If he was feeling any pain the rest of the game, I couldn’t tell and it didn’t hinder him.
Gary Patterson would probably be all over Ehlinger trying to recruit him to TCU to play in his defense If he couldn’t throw as well as he can.
On another play last night, Ehlinger dropped back, waited a second or two, then launched a deep ball that looked like it went at least 60 yards right into the hands of a streaking receiver.
Click the video below if you want to catch more highlights of the game.
Without seeing him play in a game, I’m not sure how Buechele will pan out for Texas in this new offense. But regardless of the type of season he has, Ehlinger should absolutely be in the quarterback competition before the 2017 season begins (as long as he stays committed to Texas, of course. I don’t think Texas fans should be worried though, his commitment seems strong).
He’s good. Fans know that, his team knows that, opponents know that, even Texas football players know that. He impressed in his first two seasons as a varsity high school quarterback, and last night he started his senior season with a bang.
The quarterback position at Texas may see some more struggles this season, but help is on the way. His name is Sam Ehlinger.
Jamyest Williams’ commitment to South Carolina was a big deal as the Gamecocks landed a big-time corner that could start immediately. But where does Williams rank among recent Gamecocks recruits? As it turns out, pretty high.
ESPN has been releasing national recruiting rankings since 2006, first by rating the top 150 players and later increasing it to the 300 they rate today. Williams is 37th on the ESPN300 rankings for the class of 2017. That puts him in some rare company: only five former Gamecocks have ranked higher than 37th. Brian Maddox (2007, 14th) was one. Stephon Gilmore and Devonte Holloman (2009, 18th and 19th, respectively) were the second and third. Marcus Lattimore (2010, also 19th) was the fourth. You can probably guess who the fifth one was.
Over at 247Sports, I checked who they ranked as the Gamecocks’ top all-time recruits were. Clowney is obviously atop that list as well, but Williams is the highest-ranked by composite rating since Mike Davis in 2012. As far as national ranking, Williams’ ranking of #55 is highest among high schoolers since Davis was ranked #48. Obviously, the landscape has changed dramatically, but from a national standpoint, it shows you how well Williams is regarded.
At Scout, Williams is ranked at #52 in their annual rankings. That’s the highest since Shaq Roland was ranked #40 in 2012. Again, you can guess who the highest-ranked player on that all-time list is. (Outside of Clowney, Brandon Shell was ranked #35 in the 2011 class, while Lattimore was #9 in 2010. Stephon Gilmore was #44 in 2009, just a few spots beyond where Williams was slotted.)
Will Muschamp has gathered a great deal of momentum in the recruiting ranks over the past month. Can he keep this run going? We’ll see. But Williams’ pledge has generated a great deal of excitement among the fanbase.
The University of Tennessee football program announced Saturday its helmets will feature stickers honoring legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, per the Associated Press (via espnW.com).
“The sticker includes a capital ‘P’ inside a circle,” the AP explained. “The ‘P’ is based off the way Summitt wrote the letter in her actual signature.”
Chad Fields of Ace Uniform Report speculated what it could look like:
I can only assume the Pat Summitt helmet decal will be this, and I am all on board for that. pic.twitter.com/TQhv2NnDEh
Summitt, who died June 28 from early-onset dementia at the age of 64, is considered by many to be the greatest women’s basketball coach ever.
She coached 38 seasons at Tennessee, winning eight national championships in the process. She also holds the Division I record in both men’s and women’s basketball with 1,098 career wins.
“We all know what she stands for,” Volunteers head football coach Butch Jones told the media Saturday, according to SEC Country’s Evan Webeck.
Tennessee will debut the stickers Thursday night during its opening game of the season against Appalachian State. The Vols enter the new year as the AP’s No. 9-ranked team, the first time they’ve been in the Top 10 since 2006.
The Buechele family’s youngest was a medical miracle who grew up with Sooner siblings.
Outsiders cannot understand the complicated feud that is the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry. Words like ‘despise’ or ‘hatred’ don’t reflect its true nature. Instead, it’s the scarring memories that seem to provoke the resentment that actually boils underneath both fan bases. Sometimes it’s just the names of men — Akers, Switzer, Bosworth, or Gardere. Other times it’s a score — 65-13, 45-12, or 15-15.
I know those words, and more importantly those scores, sent some of you into a keyboard-banging rage, and that perfectly exemplifies what Texas-Oklahoma is about. It’s about the cocky players, intolerable behavior of fans, or coaches who embody what’s wrong in the world.
The relationship transcends proximity or annual meetings; there’s more passion and hatred than that.
Recruiting flares these tempers even more. If you live in Texas or are a legacy of the University of Texas, not only do you go to the University of Texas, but also you will never, under any circumstances, consider Oklahoma. The same goes for Oklahomans or the legacies of those who walked the grounds at the University of Oklahoma.
To spurn your school for their most bitter rival would be treason equivalent to burning an American flag. Good luck convincing the fan base it wasn’t personal — it sure as hell was.
With everything in mind, consider the improbable journey to Austin of one of the most important Longhorns in the 2016 recruiting class — quarterback Shane Buechele. The brother of four Sooner siblings, the Arlington Lamar prospect was surrounded by the lore of the crimson and cream from a young age.
While his dad played baseball at Stanford and his mother attended college in California, Shane’s siblings pushed all things Oklahoma his way.
Imagine how shocked the family was when Shane committed to the Texas Longhorns shortly after a visit to Austin during the spring of his junior year. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, his sister, Jordan, admitted it shocked the family and even “let down” some of her friends at Oklahoma.
“It just kind of shocked everyone,” she told the Morning News. “It shocked me. It shocked my family.”
Even the Texas coaches were surprised at his commitment.
So, how exactly did the Longhorns’ most important recruit switch his allegiance from a bitter rival to Charlie Strong?
It started with his relationship with the coaching staff, specifically the often-criticized former offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. While Watson certainly had his flaws as a play caller in Austin, his personal recruitment of Buechele helped land the Longhorns’ newest quarterback.
“He seems very real and to me, that’s the big thing,” the four star prospect said to 247 Sports during the recruiting process. “Recruiting is a big deal and they might just be talking jibber-jabber and telling me what I want to hear. Coach Watson’s for real and tells me the truth. I really enjoy that.”
Student Sports
Shane Buechele could be Texas most impactful recruit from the 2016 class.
Sealing the recruitment with Buechele may be Watson’s greatest legacy from his time in Austin when you consider the Longhorns didn’t receive considerable interest from the eleven other quarterbacks it offered in 2016.
From heavy-hitters like Shea Patterson to long shot dual-threat quarterbacks like Xavier Gaines, the Longhorns never had a strong chance with its other options. That’s why Buechele’s commitment to Texas, where a cloudy quarterback situation still looms, was vitally important.
When head coach Charlie Strong fired Watson shortly after the 2015 season, there was concern Buechele’s valuable commitment might waver, especially when the quarterback arrived in Austin for his December official visit in the midst of Tulsa co-offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert turning down the job after seemingly accepting it the night before.
Instability dominated Strong’s staff as schools flocked to recruit the highly-regarded quarterback. Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Oklahoma all contacted him during Texas’ coaching transition, but Buechele maintained his commitment to Strong’s vision.
During his weekend visit to Austin, Texas announced they hired a new offensive coordinator, Sterlin Gilbert, after president Greg Fenves, athletic director Mike Perrin, and tight ends coach Jeff Traylor all accompanied Strong on a last-ditch mission to Oklahoma to land Gilbert and his longtime offensive line coach and friend, Matt Mattox.
Disaster averted.
Buechele had the chance to meet his new coach, and he finally eased the young prospect’s worries about the new offensive direction.
“From what I’ve seen when I look up stuff, he does a lot of run-pass option stuff. We did a lot of that at my high school.” he told ESPN. “It’s pretty similar. The tempo is the big thing. We’re gonna be going fast.”
We won’t see Gilbert’s true vision until the Longhorns step on the field against Notre Dame, but Buechele’s comfort in the system was already apparent in the Orange-White game. In that game — in one half, in fact — he excited the fan base with an impressive performance, completing 22 of 41 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns. This offseason, coaches have raved about his performance in the weight room, practice, and even in ping-pong.
Dan Bender (247Sports)Shane Buechele in the Orange-White game
Whether it’s a few drives against Notre Dame next Sunday or controlling the offense by year’s end, his development represents the future for the quarterback position at the University of Texas.
With Westlake standout Sam Ehlinger also in the fold for 2017, that future seems to be a lot brighter because the combination of Buechele and Ehlinger may finally bring peace of mind to fans who worry about the Texas quarterback situation.
As the season opener rapidly approaches, it seems more likely Tyrone Swoopes will get the nod over the freshman, but there’s little doubt Buechele will see time on the field with Charlie Strong repeatedly saying he wants both quarterbacks to receive snaps. More importantly, the freshman quarterback appears to have the strongest case to start the 2017 season, which may hold massive implications for Texas’ return to national prominence.
Since he hasn’t been named the starter before Notre Dame, people have began to doubt Buechele. Reporters and analysts say allowing a true freshman quarterback to start will make major success improbable, but Shane Buechele is an improbable kid.
From committing to Texas to a miraculous conception to almost winning the Elite 11 competition, he has defied expectations most of his young life. Maybe, just maybe, Texas’ new gunslinger will continue that trend when he dons the orange and white for the first time next weekend.
Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images
Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Student Sports/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7003849/buechele%20o-w.jpg)
Dan Bender (247Sports)