I was hoping that this entry was going to serve as my return. By now, you know that wasn’t the case given the news that was breaking about Wednesday’s big visit. The random juke box returns with the one-hit wonder of Donny Iris.
****
First, many thanks to you who were understanding of my vacation time. The dilemma with running these sites is that they require daily maintenance. So you’re kind of in a pickle of exactly when to take some down time. Fortunately, I have strong assistance from Matt Clare who kept a watch of things. But I’m sure many of you would agree that you have to get away. You don’t live to work. You work to live. If you don’t then you burn yourself out and wind up becoming stale and therefore, not enjoying what you do.
This isn’t going to be a “What I did on my Summer Vacation” essay. However, I can assure you that where I went turned out to be about 20 degrees cooler than Texas. The family enjoyed and relished the time together. We got a little wet, and I can still bring it on roller coasters that go upside down, become inverted and make drops of about 100 feet going 55 mph. We had actually left on July 4 to see the inlaws in Arkansas. I can tell you that the drive on I-49 to Fayetteville will always be breathtaking because there is a peace of driving through the beginning of the foothills of the Ozarks. Lots of green. And we can thank the rains this late spring and summer for making this possible.
We returned Friday afternoon refreshed. And now I’ve turned into Bob Villa and “This old House” because there are painting projects and other little deals that have to be addressed. Painting is an either/or exercise. You either really love to do it or you really don’t. It definitely demands patience. I start out with the loathing part because it takes me some time to get into a rhythm. Once I get into it, then I think I’m Ok.
****
Ok, so enough about that. Of course, the reason you saw me more active over the weekend was because of this big visit that’s planned for Wednesday on the Baylor campus by some big 2017 recruits.
If it comes off with everybody showing up, you’re going to have the Rivals No. 83 player in Houston Episcopal OL Walker Little, No. 94 in WR commit Hezekiah Jones from Stafford, No. 17 player in South Grand Prairie safety Jeffrey Okudah, No. 48 in RB Toneil Carter, No. 113 in DE LaGaryonn Carson among others. Then you’re going to have QB commit in SA Reagan’s Kellen Mond. You can see the thread here about who all is expected to show up.
I think we can all agree that if this was the Baylor of 10 years ago, the idea of this even happening was more fantasy than anything else. But this should serve as a reminder of where Baylor’s recruiting has come and where it plans on going in the coming years. This is real. This is happening. Baylor continues to compete for top players. And this program will get its share. The formula is very simple. Baylor is winning championships and has the name that is resonating. The process continues to evolve. Even if you get a few players who are window shopping and going into the store, you at least have them coming into the store to look around. Even if no one commits Wednesday, it would be considered a successful day because more and more kids want to know more.
Credit Jones and Mond who have apparently taken on the roles of being the ringmasters of the 2017 class. They’ve been in just about every known prospect’s ear about Baylor and the opportunity that it presents. One of them seems convinced that Houston St. Thomas WR Jhamon Ausbon will commit to Baylor. That might be unbridled enthusiasm. That might be a fact. But I can tell you that when we talked to Ausbon about that first Wednesday visit to Baylor on June 24, he said he nearly pulled the trigger and committed. Don’t think Baylor isn’t seizing that opportunity.
In an unrelated matter, I finally got the No. 1 player in the country in Houston Episcopal defensive tackle Marvin Wilson. He told me he is no hurry to make a commitment to Baylor or anywhere else. And given what happened with Rivals making him the nation’s top recruit last week, he knows he has recruiting leverage. Any and every school will wait for him. This decision may go to NSD 2017.
And even if some of those Houston recruits don’t come, they still have another opportunity to be with the Baylor coaches at the final camp event of the summer this Friday at Bellaire (Matt will be there to cover it).
****
As for the recent 2017 rankings, I’m sure there was some disappointment that Mond didn’t make the 250 nor become a 4-star recruit. Maybe I’m too close to the rankings process in terms of just being around it a lot, hearing about it a lot and absorbing it. It’s getting to the point where I become numb.
It’s not that Mond didn’t deserve to move up (that’s the regional analyst’s call when they meet). He probably did. But what I can tell you is that when an Art Briles coaching staff evaluates players and moves in on them that should serve more for your confidence than anything else. The track record suggests that Briles and his staff have something that they’re looking for from these players. I’m not going to put them on a pedestal and say they can do no wrong. There have been misses. But the track record suggests more hits than anywhere else.
Look no further than Shock Linwood. Did any of us really think he was coming to Baylor and have a chance to become the school’s all-time leading rusher.
Look no further than LaQuan McGowan. The staff found him at a little place in the Panhandle and I’m sure when he arrived, there were a lot of shrugged shoulders. He catches a touchdown pass against Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl and is blowing up spring football coverage from every corner of the press.
Look no further than Xavien Howard. When Baylor recruited him from Houston Wheatley, it seemed more of a shot in the dark. Now, Howard is a starter and is a candidate to have an all-Big 12 type of 2015.
Look no further than this 2016 class with the commitment of Daingerfield’s Denzel Mims and Mesquite Horn’s Jared Atkinson. Sure, those players had some solid offers. But they weren’t blowing up either. When Baylor comes along and offers and then secures commitments, that’s when heads turned. Given Baylor’s success, don’t think there was some coaching staff in this state (take your pick of who) asking themselves, “What did Baylor see that we didn’t see?” I think I wrote this before but I can remember talking to someone at one of the Baylor camps about this sort of thing. He said it’s probably because no one trusts their own evaluations. I don’t think Baylor falls into that line of thinking.
This is all about player development. This coaching staff is one of the better groups I’ve watched in 24 years of doing this stuff of maximizing the most out of their players. That’s why you see those three examples above. The coaches do their homework. They evaluate and look for that one element that may other staffs don’t see to determine how they can help.
The rankings are great for the ego. People want to say over the water cooler that they’re school has the No. XX class in the country. But there are times when people make this more personal than it needs to be.
For example, we tweeted last week that Jones was the No 94 player in the first ranked Rivals 100 for 2017. In response, I get a tweet back saying he’s “under rated”. Hence, the ego and bias angle. When it’s all said and done in 2017, you’re going to have about 3,200 players signing Division I letters of intent. I responded back to the person and said, “Tough crowd considering that he’s going to be in the top 3 percent of those players signing.” I get people wanting to fight for their kids. But the use common sense didn’t hurt anyone either. Is nobody happy about anything?
****
You know football is getting closer when the media days are starting. That happens today with the SEC. I have to wonder what new commissioner Greg Sankey is going to say as the conference transitions. Mike Slive will give his farewell address before he exits on July 31. But Sankey is going to have to put his mark on that conference and not rest on the laurels of what Slive did.
This is an important period for the SEC. For the first time in about 10 years that conference didn’t win national titles in football, basketball and baseball in the same academic calendar. Obviously, it’s not that the conference is going to hit a downward trend because Kentucky played for the national title in basketball, Vanderbilt played for the national title in baseball and Alabama was in the national semifinals in football.
That said, we could be seeing the end of a cycle of dominance. That’s where Sankey, the conference directors of athletics and school presidents have to stay on the same message to keep advancing the brand.
I’ll dedicate my thoughts to Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby when the Big 12 media days start next week.
****
Lots of watch lists are out there, let’s catch you up:
>Bronco Nagurski (National Defensive Player of the Year): Jr. DT Andrew Billings and Sr. DE Shawn Oakman.
>Outland Trophy (Top Interior Lineman on offense or defense): Sr. OT Spencer Drango, Billings and Oakman.
>Rimington Trophy (Nation’s Top Center): Jr. Kyle Fuller
>Maxwell Award (College Player of the Year): Jr. QB Seth Russell and Jr. RB Shock Linwood
>Bednarik Award (Nation’s Top Defensive Player): Billings and Oakman
****
Quick takes
>If ESPN ever winds up going the way of Netflix, count me as one of those who won’t pay for that service. That network already priced its way into oblivion with cable and satellite deals. I can follow college football by other means. I consider myself resourceful enough to figure it out. Now, this could impact the conferences. But consider this could be an opening for FOX to make a bigger play into the world of college football. I don’t have a problem with a weakened ESPN. Neither should you.
>KD Cannon became a father last week. He tweeted some pictures of his girl. Now, it’s a little early for all that. But maybe you’ll see a different type of player. Take it from a father of two girls, they definitely make you see the world differently.
>I think you can consider the Rangers a 75-80-win team. There’s just not enough consistency in the lineup for this team to stay in it once the second half resumes. I still don’t have a problem with Josh Hamilton being here. But given how brittle he is, I’m not sure if he can ever get into a rhythm. Adrian Beltre could be on the other side of his career. Even before he got hurt, he wasn’t hitting very well then. We’ll just have to watch Matt Harrison and see how he progresses. Plus, Martin Perez comes off the disabled list.
>If you’re an Astros fan, the rest of July should tell if you this team is really going to stay in it or not. I think the Angels are going to win the West again.
>I’m not a Dallas Mavericks fan, but it really was a bad deal about DeAndre Jordan giving a verbal commitment and then backing out and re-signing with the LA Clippers. Had to laugh at some of the barbs thrown by Chandler Parsons at him. Jordan pretty much deserved it. I think the Clippers come to Dallas twice next year. This could be a case where he every time he touches the ball, he’ll get booed. And as awful as he is shooting free throws, the crowd is going to get all over him even more when he steps to the line.
Let’s make it a great week.
****
First, many thanks to you who were understanding of my vacation time. The dilemma with running these sites is that they require daily maintenance. So you’re kind of in a pickle of exactly when to take some down time. Fortunately, I have strong assistance from Matt Clare who kept a watch of things. But I’m sure many of you would agree that you have to get away. You don’t live to work. You work to live. If you don’t then you burn yourself out and wind up becoming stale and therefore, not enjoying what you do.
This isn’t going to be a “What I did on my Summer Vacation” essay. However, I can assure you that where I went turned out to be about 20 degrees cooler than Texas. The family enjoyed and relished the time together. We got a little wet, and I can still bring it on roller coasters that go upside down, become inverted and make drops of about 100 feet going 55 mph. We had actually left on July 4 to see the inlaws in Arkansas. I can tell you that the drive on I-49 to Fayetteville will always be breathtaking because there is a peace of driving through the beginning of the foothills of the Ozarks. Lots of green. And we can thank the rains this late spring and summer for making this possible.
We returned Friday afternoon refreshed. And now I’ve turned into Bob Villa and “This old House” because there are painting projects and other little deals that have to be addressed. Painting is an either/or exercise. You either really love to do it or you really don’t. It definitely demands patience. I start out with the loathing part because it takes me some time to get into a rhythm. Once I get into it, then I think I’m Ok.
****
Ok, so enough about that. Of course, the reason you saw me more active over the weekend was because of this big visit that’s planned for Wednesday on the Baylor campus by some big 2017 recruits.
If it comes off with everybody showing up, you’re going to have the Rivals No. 83 player in Houston Episcopal OL Walker Little, No. 94 in WR commit Hezekiah Jones from Stafford, No. 17 player in South Grand Prairie safety Jeffrey Okudah, No. 48 in RB Toneil Carter, No. 113 in DE LaGaryonn Carson among others. Then you’re going to have QB commit in SA Reagan’s Kellen Mond. You can see the thread here about who all is expected to show up.
I think we can all agree that if this was the Baylor of 10 years ago, the idea of this even happening was more fantasy than anything else. But this should serve as a reminder of where Baylor’s recruiting has come and where it plans on going in the coming years. This is real. This is happening. Baylor continues to compete for top players. And this program will get its share. The formula is very simple. Baylor is winning championships and has the name that is resonating. The process continues to evolve. Even if you get a few players who are window shopping and going into the store, you at least have them coming into the store to look around. Even if no one commits Wednesday, it would be considered a successful day because more and more kids want to know more.
Credit Jones and Mond who have apparently taken on the roles of being the ringmasters of the 2017 class. They’ve been in just about every known prospect’s ear about Baylor and the opportunity that it presents. One of them seems convinced that Houston St. Thomas WR Jhamon Ausbon will commit to Baylor. That might be unbridled enthusiasm. That might be a fact. But I can tell you that when we talked to Ausbon about that first Wednesday visit to Baylor on June 24, he said he nearly pulled the trigger and committed. Don’t think Baylor isn’t seizing that opportunity.
In an unrelated matter, I finally got the No. 1 player in the country in Houston Episcopal defensive tackle Marvin Wilson. He told me he is no hurry to make a commitment to Baylor or anywhere else. And given what happened with Rivals making him the nation’s top recruit last week, he knows he has recruiting leverage. Any and every school will wait for him. This decision may go to NSD 2017.
And even if some of those Houston recruits don’t come, they still have another opportunity to be with the Baylor coaches at the final camp event of the summer this Friday at Bellaire (Matt will be there to cover it).
****
As for the recent 2017 rankings, I’m sure there was some disappointment that Mond didn’t make the 250 nor become a 4-star recruit. Maybe I’m too close to the rankings process in terms of just being around it a lot, hearing about it a lot and absorbing it. It’s getting to the point where I become numb.
It’s not that Mond didn’t deserve to move up (that’s the regional analyst’s call when they meet). He probably did. But what I can tell you is that when an Art Briles coaching staff evaluates players and moves in on them that should serve more for your confidence than anything else. The track record suggests that Briles and his staff have something that they’re looking for from these players. I’m not going to put them on a pedestal and say they can do no wrong. There have been misses. But the track record suggests more hits than anywhere else.
Look no further than Shock Linwood. Did any of us really think he was coming to Baylor and have a chance to become the school’s all-time leading rusher.
Look no further than LaQuan McGowan. The staff found him at a little place in the Panhandle and I’m sure when he arrived, there were a lot of shrugged shoulders. He catches a touchdown pass against Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl and is blowing up spring football coverage from every corner of the press.
Look no further than Xavien Howard. When Baylor recruited him from Houston Wheatley, it seemed more of a shot in the dark. Now, Howard is a starter and is a candidate to have an all-Big 12 type of 2015.
Look no further than this 2016 class with the commitment of Daingerfield’s Denzel Mims and Mesquite Horn’s Jared Atkinson. Sure, those players had some solid offers. But they weren’t blowing up either. When Baylor comes along and offers and then secures commitments, that’s when heads turned. Given Baylor’s success, don’t think there was some coaching staff in this state (take your pick of who) asking themselves, “What did Baylor see that we didn’t see?” I think I wrote this before but I can remember talking to someone at one of the Baylor camps about this sort of thing. He said it’s probably because no one trusts their own evaluations. I don’t think Baylor falls into that line of thinking.
This is all about player development. This coaching staff is one of the better groups I’ve watched in 24 years of doing this stuff of maximizing the most out of their players. That’s why you see those three examples above. The coaches do their homework. They evaluate and look for that one element that may other staffs don’t see to determine how they can help.
The rankings are great for the ego. People want to say over the water cooler that they’re school has the No. XX class in the country. But there are times when people make this more personal than it needs to be.
For example, we tweeted last week that Jones was the No 94 player in the first ranked Rivals 100 for 2017. In response, I get a tweet back saying he’s “under rated”. Hence, the ego and bias angle. When it’s all said and done in 2017, you’re going to have about 3,200 players signing Division I letters of intent. I responded back to the person and said, “Tough crowd considering that he’s going to be in the top 3 percent of those players signing.” I get people wanting to fight for their kids. But the use common sense didn’t hurt anyone either. Is nobody happy about anything?
****
You know football is getting closer when the media days are starting. That happens today with the SEC. I have to wonder what new commissioner Greg Sankey is going to say as the conference transitions. Mike Slive will give his farewell address before he exits on July 31. But Sankey is going to have to put his mark on that conference and not rest on the laurels of what Slive did.
This is an important period for the SEC. For the first time in about 10 years that conference didn’t win national titles in football, basketball and baseball in the same academic calendar. Obviously, it’s not that the conference is going to hit a downward trend because Kentucky played for the national title in basketball, Vanderbilt played for the national title in baseball and Alabama was in the national semifinals in football.
That said, we could be seeing the end of a cycle of dominance. That’s where Sankey, the conference directors of athletics and school presidents have to stay on the same message to keep advancing the brand.
I’ll dedicate my thoughts to Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby when the Big 12 media days start next week.
****
Lots of watch lists are out there, let’s catch you up:
>Bronco Nagurski (National Defensive Player of the Year): Jr. DT Andrew Billings and Sr. DE Shawn Oakman.
>Outland Trophy (Top Interior Lineman on offense or defense): Sr. OT Spencer Drango, Billings and Oakman.
>Rimington Trophy (Nation’s Top Center): Jr. Kyle Fuller
>Maxwell Award (College Player of the Year): Jr. QB Seth Russell and Jr. RB Shock Linwood
>Bednarik Award (Nation’s Top Defensive Player): Billings and Oakman
****
Quick takes
>If ESPN ever winds up going the way of Netflix, count me as one of those who won’t pay for that service. That network already priced its way into oblivion with cable and satellite deals. I can follow college football by other means. I consider myself resourceful enough to figure it out. Now, this could impact the conferences. But consider this could be an opening for FOX to make a bigger play into the world of college football. I don’t have a problem with a weakened ESPN. Neither should you.
>KD Cannon became a father last week. He tweeted some pictures of his girl. Now, it’s a little early for all that. But maybe you’ll see a different type of player. Take it from a father of two girls, they definitely make you see the world differently.
>I think you can consider the Rangers a 75-80-win team. There’s just not enough consistency in the lineup for this team to stay in it once the second half resumes. I still don’t have a problem with Josh Hamilton being here. But given how brittle he is, I’m not sure if he can ever get into a rhythm. Adrian Beltre could be on the other side of his career. Even before he got hurt, he wasn’t hitting very well then. We’ll just have to watch Matt Harrison and see how he progresses. Plus, Martin Perez comes off the disabled list.
>If you’re an Astros fan, the rest of July should tell if you this team is really going to stay in it or not. I think the Angels are going to win the West again.
>I’m not a Dallas Mavericks fan, but it really was a bad deal about DeAndre Jordan giving a verbal commitment and then backing out and re-signing with the LA Clippers. Had to laugh at some of the barbs thrown by Chandler Parsons at him. Jordan pretty much deserved it. I think the Clippers come to Dallas twice next year. This could be a case where he every time he touches the ball, he’ll get booed. And as awful as he is shooting free throws, the crowd is going to get all over him even more when he steps to the line.
Let’s make it a great week.
