KevinUSF00

Kelly still is scheduled to visit LSU and FSU later this month, but it's still good to see him here this weekend. At this point we are #42 in Rivals Team ranking and the highest rated non P-5 team, so that's a good sign. The next: #42 USF #49 Cincy # 51 Western Michigan #61 Temple

Great hire!

Interesting Mike Blakely article in the Bradenton Herald today. http://www.bradenton.com/2014/01/15/4936675/commentary-former-manatee-football.html Alan Dell - Bradenton Herald Wednesday, January 15th, 2014 For Mike Blakely, running between the tackles has been a lot easier than navigating through the NCAA's web of rules. But there is one benefit. Blakely has been forced to slow down. The standout running back couldn't wait to get his college career going. He left Manatee High early so he could be ready for spring practice at the University of Florida in 2011. Unfortunately, he found the road to his dreams filled with obstacles. With two years of eligibility remaining beginning next season, Blakely is planning on attending a fourth school. He hopes this will be his last. Sink or swim, it looks that way. His first choice is the University of South Florida, where Willie Taggart has reopened the school for second chances he used to run at Western Kentucky. If that doesn't work out, South Alabama would be Blakely's next choice, and then there are others who covet his services. Blakely has talent and is due for some good fortune. He was rated the sixth-best running back in the nation and a five-star prospect at Manatee and could've written his ticket to nearly any school in the country. Things started to go wrong almost immediately at Florida, through no fault of his own. Urban Meyer, who recruited Blakely, left. Then Blakely injured his shoulder. It was a washout, but Auburn came calling, and Blakely got a second chance at the big time. He played with the Tigers in 2012 and things just didn't work out with the Tigers' stable of running backs looking like Grand Central Station at rush hour. The 5-foot-9. 205-pounder left Auburn after the 2012 season and thought he was headed for USF. He was banking on the NCAA granting him a hardship waiver because he was coming home to take care of his 1-year-old son Mike III. Like most college athletes, Blakely was naïve to believe in the NCAA. College football's ruling body said he could not play for a third Division I school until he secured an associate's degree. Blakely played for Hutchinson Community College in Kansas last season. If he gets his degree this spring, Blakely says he will be eligible to play at a Division I school. "I left Auburn (after the 2012 season) because I wanted to come home and take care of my son. I thought was going to get a waiver," Blakely said. "I felt it was the right thing to do. I left Auburn on good terms and was happy to see them do well and go to the BCS title game." Blakely might have been part of that title run. He and Onterio McCalebb were battling Auburn's leading rusher, Tre Mason, for starting time in 2012. Mason, who rushed for 1,835 yards and 23 touchdowns this past season, won that job with 1,038 yards in '12. Blakely finished third with 158 yards on 33 carries. He led the Tigers in rushing against Mississippi State and Arkansas and his potential was evident, but it's a numbers game with a lot of programs. "I learned college football is a business, but it was fun at Auburn. I talked to Tre the other day, and we still keep in touch," Blakely said. After a tough season last year under first-year head coach Taggart, USF is looking for a running back to help ignite an offense that is based on a strong ground game. "I think I could do well there, and I talked to assistant coach (Ray) Woodie. They haven't promised me anything," Blakely said. "I talked to the coaches at South Alabama more than anywhere, and that is a possibility. There are other schools interested in me." Alan Dell, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2014/01/15/4936675/commentary-former-manatee-football.html#storylink=cpy

Dugans is also a heck of a recruiter and had the North Florida territory, including Jacksonville. We need help up there.

Did Andre Hall not start a game with Denver once?

Looks like he is scheduled to visit UCLA on 1/24. I guess we shall see.

The drama is coming from this article "http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/bbrown-vic-enwere-commits-cal-coaches-identify-new-possible-target". One which he retweeted on his twitter account this weekend. Written by: Brandon Brown "Not surprising to anyone 2014 RB Vic Enwere reaffirmed his commitment to Cal tonight via Twitter and it appears the Michigan coaches already knew it was coming. Well before Enwere announced anything publicly, earlier today Coach Singletary and Coach Nussmeier reached out to RB Marlon Mack who is currently committed to UCLA. The offer from the Bruins is by far his biggest on paper as most of his other offers are from less than powerhouse programs. Position: Running Back Ht/Wt: 6'0" / 190 lbs. Location: Booker High School (2014) – Sarasota, FL Offers: Ball State, Florida Atlatntic, Florida Intl, Indiana, Iowa State, Marshall, Middle Tenn St, Northern Illinois, Ohio, South Florida, UCLA Ranking: ★★★ .8365 (247 Composite) FILM Coach Singletary and Coach Nuss reached out to Mack today and expressed how impressed they were by his film. He told me that the coaches asked him a lot of questions to see how interested he might be in Michigan and tried to make sure he understood that they had taken notice of his skills. Mack was very open with me about how he basically committed to UCLA simply to see what other schools might then become interested. He told me that he likes UCLA, but he doesn't love them. That to me sounds like a kid fishing for a specific offer, although he tells me that there isn't necessarily one particular offer he covets. This might come off as a little dishonest but he told me that he truly feels like he's been overlooked and thought committing would be a good way to get noticed. He did say he felt shocked that Michigan has now taken notice. The coaches didn't mention anything to him about an offer yet but obviously they would like to add a running back to the 2014 class and Mack appears to be a backup plan if things go south with Jeff Jones."

That's possible. He might have thought Knox was lost to Louisville and that Hudson wasn't going to happen a few weeks back. Things changed....

Wonder if he visits since all his upcoming weekends are already booked up. Also raises concerns about our confidence in signing Johnson or Mack IMO.

Wonder if he is back in play with Frankin now gone at Vandy. We were in his top 5 back in the early fall. So I'm curious where Gibson's head is at now.

Maurice Hall (3* on Rivals) was a 1st Team 5A player this year and has been listed as a UCF commit. There was word back in September that he might have been considering switching to USF, but that went away. Looks like UCF is now backing away because of grades. Hall was an athlete that I was hoping would be part of this class. I wonder if we might pull the ole Jim Leavitt sign and place at Pearl River move with Hall. http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Maurice-Hall-132963 UCF reporter Brandon Helwig posted the following on Twitter on January 8th: Any word on what's up with Maurice Hall? Seeing a lot of recruiting website's missing his name recently... Brandon Helwigâ€@UCFSports8 Jan @BoringSauce UCF dropped him because of poor academics.

January 17th: Quinton Flowers Kendall Sawyer JoJo Robinson Chris Nelson Marlon Mack Ryeshene Bronson Juwuan Brown Jimmy Bayes D'Ernest Johnson Zach Hudson Tajee Fullwood Josh Black Chris Jones Tyre McCants Nick Holman Elkanah Dillon DeAndre Porter Kevin Bronson January 24th Stanley Clerveaux Bruno Reagan Mazzi Wilkins Rohan Blackwood Delroy Steele Nat Dixon And I have no information on whether or not this data from Scout.com is accurate or not. I'm just sharing what's out there. I agree that it would be suprising to see either Jones or Blackwood here for a visit, but you never know....Just added Bronson as well. Impressive list of visitors for sure!

According to free info our Scout.com: http://southflorida.scout.com/a.z?s=359&p=9&c=6&dv=20140114&yr=2014 January 17th: Quinton Flowers Kendall Sawyer JoJo Robinson Chris Nelson Marlon Mack Ryeshene Bronson Juwuan Brown Jimmy Bayes D'Ernest Johnson Zach Hudson Tajee Fullwood Josh Black Chris Jones Tyre McCants Nick Holman Elkanah Dillon DeAndre Porter January 24th Stanley Clerveaux Bruno Reagan Mazzi Wilkins Rohan Blackwood Delroy Steele Nat Dixon

Yes please. http://www.hudl.com/athlete/158491/highlights/99760376?autoplay=1 He had 16 sacks as a Junior in Apopka. Looks like he has been injured over the past two years at JUCO that has hurt his stock a bit. Only a 2 star on Scout, but these measurables work for me. Ht: 6-3 Wt: 235 40: 4.55

We found our rivalry trophy. A bronzed slashed tire. Every rivalry needs a good story behind the trophy. We have one now.

Finally, I can end my ESPN boycott. Perception wise it looked bad to not have a blog listed with the other top conferences.

Important Update: Q's thread is getting dangerously close to overtaking Vincent Jackson's hold as the most talked about recruit for the class of 2014. Still a ways to go to catch AW from 2013 though.

Kloss Lattimore White Shaw Davis

1) South Florida 2) 21-10 3) Marcus Shaw 4) Andre Davis 5) 406

If Jarvis stays committed, we will have a young core of Tice, McCray, and Stewart. I still think we need one more in this class though. I think given our existing commits, our biggest needs are: 1. WR 2. QB 3. DE 4. RB

Have a feeling this recruit is still in play. 3 QB's in the current class and I can't believe that will hold.

Jason Pierre Paul turned down Nebraska for us. So did Mike Jenkins.

#1 He pimped himself out in interviews as wanting to start a dynasty and bringing Tampa players along with him. #2 He decomitted without telling the coaches first #3 He then puts the coaching staff on blast as using him and his "star power" to lure recruits to USF And people are defending him? I was 17 once but I still treated people with respect. And talk about having an ego and being high maintenance. Whoever he commits to is going to need to baby him in the recruiting process. IMO he's a transfer waiting to happen. Sometimes talent isn't worth the headache. Next....

I think it's an unfair critism to say that he hasn't been ranked well from the pay sites. They currently have him listed as follows: ESPN:3 Star Rating - 74 rating - #78 OLB in the country Scout: 3 Star Rating - #102 best OLB in the country 247: 82 rating - #87th best OLB in the country, #171 in State Rivals: 2 Star Rating - 5.4 score It's really just Rivals that has him underrated here and I think I read that Singer expects him to get a bump up once he is further evaluated this fall.

Winky was at IMG this past weekend. They got bumped out in the quarterfinals by the South Florida Express Elite.