National LOI Day...NCAA Football..How Is Your Schools Class Looking?

[The Great Escape]

Gwaltney expects to start Game 1 for West Virginia




http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/ny-skjason024132474feb02,0,3217078.story?coll=ny-football-headlines

[SharonRB]

1. Michigan's class is looking as good as or better than usual.

[1gobluedem]

5. In almost everyone's top five

And rated first in the Big Ten.

Go Blue!

[The Great Escape]

11. Here Is The One You Will Be Going Toe 2 Toe With Buckeyes For Next Year...

http://michigan.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=31982


Getting a player like that out of NE Ohio won't be easy. Of course, how things play out with tOSU, Tressell and the NCAA could impact the kids decision. Alot of the Buckeye fans that hang out occasionally on the WVU Rivals board, seem to think they are going to be fine with the NCAA but that Tressell might not be around much longer.

[LisaM]

15. With Brady poised to win his third Super Bowl MVP

Michigan really gets to rack up the top recruits. I checked two years ago and Michigan had twice as many players in the pros when the 2002 NFL season started than MSU did (didn't compare to other schools.)

[Robroy]

2. Tennessee's looking very strong this year...

n/t

[The Great Escape]

3. I Heard A Rumor That Brent Schaeffer Was Looking To Transfer...

after spring ball. I guess Ainge must have a stranglehold on that job?

[Scurrilous]

4. The Canes...

...signed Kenny Phillips (the nation's No. 1-rated safety):

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/10796875.htm?1c

[ThorsHammer]

6. Wow, very impressive get by WVU

I still couldn't believe they got him away from USC. Is that huge RB (KJ Harris, I think) still there? IIRC, he had some very early Heisman buzz, then disappeared.

[The Great Escape]

8. KJ Is Graduating...

he played in the Senior Bowl this past week. He was dinged up in the second game of the season and he never was able to get back to his game one form. Of course East Carolina having the worst run defense I have ever seen for 3 years running, didn't hurt his huge game. He missed a few games the the rest of the season. Finally, in the Gator Bowl he got back to 100 % and had a very good game versus an excellent FSU defense. Looks like he is going to be a mid to late round draft pick.

[ThorsHammer]

10. Gwaltney sounds like a pretty good replacement

I forgot about the Gator Bowl, KJ did look very good against a solid FSU defense. How do you all feel about next year's team? Most people had WVU going to the BCS this year, rather than that god-awful (for a BCS team) Pitt team. Adding Louisville should help add some depth to the conference, and Pitt has the local talent to be just one good coach away from turning it around.

[The Great Escape]

12. 7-4, 8-3 Would Be as Welcome Next Year as It Was Disappointing This Year

WVU will be breaking in a new starting QB...they have some excellent young prospects that will be competing for the job, but I expect a few lumps as the new QB learns his way. If Gwaltney does turn out to be all he is projected to be then RB is very solid and deep. The OL should be very good, as MOST of their 2 deep returns. WR is a big ? Chris Henry was a very productive receiver but his on the field antics and me first attitude was a big factor in this years team not living up to expectations this past year IMO. He is going into the draft a year early and my first instinct is, "see ya." They have alot of talented young athletes that will be starting for the first time on D next year. I expect they will be solid but not spectacular. Rodriguez has stepped WVU's recruiting up tremendously over the Nehlen years. Now we just have to see if he can coach better than DN. He has a very young and hungry staff, that is very agressive on the recruiting trail, plus alot of them have ties to the state of WVa and that has kept the turnover fairly low on his staff. I still have some concerns about the spread offense, but they say he is getting his type of players in place to properly run it now.

I am excited about the future of the conference. UConn does everything in a first class manner. I think they are going to have an excellent program. UL brings alot more to the table than VaTech did when they first came in to the BEFC at it's inception and we know how the Hokies have taken off in the past decade. Pitt made good hire in Wannstadt (his pro experience should keep alot of the Western Pa talent at home). Syracuse won't stay down forever. I have concerns about USF, Cincinnati and Rutgers but they deliver markets that the new conference needs. Of course, I would love to see ND in the league in the future but that is probably a pipe dream. At least ND has supported the BEFC to the extent of keeping itself a part of the conferences bowl package. That has kept the Gator Bowl on board for now and most certainly helped the league maintain its BCS affilliation for the next several years. I will most certainly agree that this conference as it is situated right now, is not a great conference by any stretch of the imagination. Given time I think it has a bright future.

[ThorsHammer]

14. That sounds pretty pessimistic....how is the OOC schedule?

Other than Louisville, who also loses several good players (Le Fors, Shelton, Russell), I can't think of too many BE teams that are clearly better. Pitt is very up and down, and Cuse has been down for a while. I agree on UConn, but they are still a few years away and also lose Orlovsky. I'm assuming you play VT as an OOC game, and I'd guess something like 8-3 should be well within reach.

[ThorsHammer]

7. ND: decent, only 15 signed though

I'd much rather have good players and great coaches who know how to develop them, than great players with mediocre coaches who waste them. I'm very excited about Weis, and he has put together an extremely strong staff. The recruiting class was solid but small, and wasn't too bad given the circumstances. I expect a very good class next year once they have time to recruit (much like NU this year).

[The Great Escape]

9. I Know ND Lost Some Excellent Early Verbals Over The Ty W. Firing...

that is certainly to be expected. I think the Irish got the right guy for them in Weis.

[ThorsHammer]

13. Yep; in the grand scheme it's all worth it though

Losing Harrison, especially to UM, really hurt due to our lack of CBs. Wilson to OSU wasn't much of a surprise, and Nelson to UF didn't surprise me either. From what I've heard, Ty was selling himself as well, which led many of them to drop us. IMO, getting 3-4 star talent with good coaching is a lot better than 4-5 star talent with no coaching. Weis was part of something similar with the Pats (good, but not overwhelming talent), and I hope he can bring the same attitude here. The same approach would also help given our recruiting limitations. (ESPN had this: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=wojnarowski_adrian&id=1983331
as their front page college FB story today) Ty's 8-0 start was great, but likely created more false hope than anything. I wish him well at UW as he's a good man, but can't say I'm sorry to see him gone from ND.

[jakefrep]

16. I'm a Bowling Green fan...

...so the recruiting gurus couldn't pick our guys out of a police lineup.

[democracyindanger]

17. #1 Running back in the nation

Jonathan Stewart. Can you believe this kid is only 18?

Ducks are looking good. This year's class is at least as good as last year's, when we got one of the top receivers in Cameron Colvin.

Now if we could just win some games...