Campus Confidential

By Adam Abramson

Let me begin 2003 with a preface.

When I was graduating high school in 2002, I was extremely curious about football recruiting in the state of Virginia. Some of the feedback I heard after truly reflected this. My lists were clearly geared toward the East Coast.

However, in 2003 is when I started getting into recruiting on the national scale. So I think my assessments from here on out will be more fair.

Also, I am going stop with the class of 2003 for now. I think it's a little early to rank the '04 class. If you think I should do a quick write up, let me know and I'll see what I can come up with.

It's funny how my thoughts changed with respect to 2002. When I first looked, I was going nuts over some of the names I saw, but as I flipped through the profiles for hours, I realized that there was just a bunch of "ehh." In contrast, my thoughts about 2003 were exactly the same at first glance and after my analysis.

Honestly, I'm not sure what to do about 2003. There's that much talent in the class. Stick with me here, well get through this together.

Scout.com's 2003 Top 100 Players
Rivals.com's 2003 Top 100 Players

Abramson's Top 10 players from the 2003 Top 100:

Look at that list. Are you freakin' serious? I have to provide my library of honorable mentions:

Next of the best (in no particular order)

Chris Leak, Florida QB; Michael Bush, Louisville RB; Earl Everett, Florida LB; Prescott Burgess, Michigan LB, Jarvis Moss, Florida DE; Andre Caldwell, Florida WR (seeing a theme here?); Antonio Cromartie, FSU DB; Lawrence Jackson, USC DE; Paul Oliver, Georgia CB; Chad Jackson Florida WR; Jake Long, Michigan OL; Shawn Crable, Michgian LB; Mark Bradford, Stanford WR

One more year

Kregg Lumpkin, Georgia RB
Barrington Edwards, UNC RB (Started at LSU)
Anthony Hill, South Florida RB (Started at LSU)
Jordy Lipsey, Virginia OL
Robert Killebrew, Texas LB
Chauncey Washington, RB Southern California (I think he'll have a huuuge season next year)
Tyrone Moss, Miami RB
Dennis Dixon, Oregon QB
Tommy Zbikowski, Notre Dame S (Yes, I know he was All-American…)

Swing and a miss

Greg Olsen, Miami TE: Don't flip out on me. He was No. 20 by Scout, No. 10 by Rivals and what did he do in three years? 85 catches, 1,170 yards, 6 TDs. Sorry, that's not the production Miami was hoping for, I don't care what the school says.

Tommy Grady, Oklahoma QB: Started at Oklahoma and backed up Jason White. Transferred to Utah to back up Brett Ratliff this past year. I guess he has one more year, but does one year of production at Utah count? We'll see I guess, but I don't know considering he was such a blue chipper coming out of Huntington Beach, CA.

Moe Dampeer, Oklahoma DT: What's the lesson here? Recruit two blue chippers who turn into busts and you'll lose the Fiesta Bowl to a WAC team on some trick plays? Seriously, he played with the Sooners for a year or two then ended up at Joliet (Ill.) Junior College. If anyone knows what Moe is up to these days, post a comment.

Philip Brown, Virginia CB: I went to high school near this guy. He was an unbelievable athlete and his future was extremely bright at Virginia. But problem after problem off the field eventually led to Virginia parting ways with him.

Kyle Wright, Miami QB: He's going to have to pretty much be a Heisman finalist to right the wayward ship that is his career. I guess it's not too late, but we'll see. He was a Top 5 player in the country.

Demetris Summers, South Carolina RB: It looked like this guy could tear it up for the Gamecocks, but when Steve Spurrier came in, one of his first orders of business was to clean house. Summers apparently lived in said house.

Tripp Carroll, Virginia Tech OL: Probably the most touted offensive lineman to sign with Virginia Tech. I think he was a deep snapper one season before he quit…

Oversights:

Ko Simpson, South Carolina LB (2-star, No. 85 safety…pretty darn good get)
Jeremy Young, Southern Miss QB (2-star…I guess the jury is out on him, but he looks promising)
Drew Tate, Iowa QB (3-star)
Tony Hunt, Penn State RB (3-star Virginian)
David Clowney, Virginia Tech WR (2-star)
Wilrey Fontenot, Arizona CB (unranked 2-star)
Scott Chandler, Iowa TE (2-star…his numbers were a hair under Olsen's)
H.B. Blades, Pittsburgh LB (3-star, No. 81 LB overall)
KaMichael Hall, Georgia Tech LB (3-star, No. 82 LB overall)
Joe Anoai, Georgia Tech DL (3-star, just watch any GT game, they'll talk about him for an hour)
Danny Ware, Georgia RB (2-star LB coming out of high school)
J. Leman, Illinois LB (2-star…you should remember this name from earlier this year--scroll to bottom)
Roderick Rogers, Wisconsin DB (2-star)

Final thought:

It's no wonder that Michigan had one of the best run defenses in the history of college football (No run defense this century put up numbers even close to Michigan's 43.4 yards per game/1.87 yards per carry). Shawn Crable, Lamarr Woodley, Prescott Burgess, Leon Hall with Alan Branch coming the following year is probably why…

Anyway, It's amazing what happens when you have time to research this stuff. I really tried to bring the West Coast to this. But I think you can agree with me about the talent of 2003.

Submit your suggestions of players I left out. Do it. Seriously. Do it.

By Adam Abramson

The first stop on our stroll down memory lane is 2002.

At first glance, the class of the 21st century's first palindrome looked absolutely incredible. Names like Vince Young, Devin Hester, Darnell Bing, Haloti Ngata, Adam Abramson (yeah, it was my year too) and Quinn Pitcock were names that jumped out at me.

But the more I looked, I realized I was stretching for names such as Marcedes Lewis, Rhema McKnight, Reggie McNeal and Justin Miller to call it a GREAT class. Not that these guys are bad or were busts by any means, but names to anchor an entire recruiting class? Ayedunno.

I'll be using both Scout.com and Rivals.com for my analysis because it's my blog and I get to make the rules.

Scout.com's 2002 Top 100 Players
Rivals.com's 2002 Top 100 Players

Abramson's Top 10 players from the 2002 Top 100:

10. Justin Miller, Clemson CB
9. Buster Davis, Florida State LB
8. Devin Hester, Miami CB (right)
7. Doug Datish, Ohio State C
6. Winston Justice, Southern California OT
5. Justin Blalock, Texas OT
4. Quinn Pitcock, Ohio State DT
3. Kamerion Wimbley, Florida State LB
2. Haloti Ngata, Oregon DT
1. Vince Young, Texas QB

Some overlooked stars:

Shawne Merriman (Maryland OLB, 3-stars), Gaines Adams (Clemson DE, 2-stars), AJ Hawk (Ohio State LB, 3-stars), D'Qwell Jackson (Maryland LB, 1-star, but I feel this mighta been a mistake), Manny Lawson (North Carolina State LB, 1-star), John McCargo (North Carolina State DT, 1-star), Freeport’s D'Brickashaw Ferguson (Virginia OT, 3-star), and many, many more. Comment with your submissions.

Swing and misses:

Michael Johnson, Virginia RB. He was actually my first-ever interview. He was a trio of guys heading to Virginia (Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham being the other two) who were going to take Virginia to powerhouse status. Well, the back with lights out speed never became an impact player. The last I remember of him, he dropped a kick against Virginia Tech in 2005 (maybe two in the that game).

Chris Davis, Florida State WR. The No. 6 OVERALL player in the 2002 class. Here are his numbers after four years: 140 catches, 1,875 yards, 12 TDs. Not exactly living up to the hype.

Ryan Moore, Miami WR. If Chris Davis was a bust, then Ryan Moore is a bust + 100. Moore was considered by some to be the most dynamic high school WR in quite a while out of high school. His 2004 season was ruined by injury and he was suspended much of this past season. His career numbers were worse than Davis’: 93 catches, 1,437 yards, 11 TDs.

DiShon Platt, Florida State WR. Well, the No. 16 overall player never ended up at FSU because of academic issues. He then tried to get into South Florida but didn’t qualify there, apparently. Does this count? Let me know for future reference.

Mike D'Andrea, Ohio State LB. It looked as if this Parade All American was going to tear it up with AJ Hawk – he played in every game as a true freshman. The next three years? 17 games. Just a career riddled with injuries.

Marquis Johnson, Texas WR. Well, he ended up at Texas Tech after junior college. And I don’t think he’s done much there as well.

I almost put Marcus Vick on this list, so consider him a runner up bust. He did have an extremely good season starting for the Hokies, but the trouble outweighed the results. You be the judge.

I could go on with a bunch of names, but for time’s sake, I’ll let you submit some more names who you think didn’t pan out considering the hype.

Final thought (ala Jerry Springer, right?)

Florida State’s class was insane. That year the ‘Noles had the No. 4 class per Rivals and No. 6 on Scout. But check out these guys:

Lorenzo Booker, Broderick Bunkley, Buster Davis, Pat Watkins, Chauncey Stovall, Kamerion Wimbley, Leon Washington, Sam McGrew, Roger Williams, Darrell Burston -- little wonder FSU won the ACC Championship in 05 and played in the Orange Bowl when all of those guys were extreme studs.

Next up, 2003. Check in the Wed.-Thurs. range. You wanna talk about star power...just wait.

By Adam Abramson

You had to know that Willie Williams would make headlines again.

Name doesn’t ring a bell? Well, if you follow college football and the recruiting process behind it pretty closely, you know who Williams is.

He’s the linebacker with the troubled past who landed at the University of Miami after a very colorful recruiting experience documented by the Miami Herald in 2004. The newspaper allowed Williams to recount his official visits to Auburn, Florida, Florida State and Miami.

Well, several websites have confirmed that Williams will suit up with the University of Louisville Cardinals starting this season.

Coming out of Carol City High in Miami, Williams was about as blue chip as you could get. Projected as the country’s top outside linebacker, he checked in at 6’2, 220-230 and clocking a legit 4.5 at combines. He had 173 tackles in his junior year…from defensive end (another website had him with 215 tackles in 12 games). If I remember correctly, the first play of the state championship game of his senior year he broke the opposing quarterback’s leg.

This cat was consider as good, if not better, than the likes of classmates Adrian Peterson, Ted Ginn Jr., Dan Connor, Calvin Johnson, Chad Henne, Brian Toal, Frank Okam, etc. etc. Scout.com had him as the nation’s second-best recruit and Rivals.com had him No. 6. By the way, I just got a great idea. In the coming weeks I’ll take a look back at the last few years of blue chippers and see how far they’ve come.

Back to Williams. As he slithered closer and closer to the spotlight at the end of high school, the darker and darker his image became. Reports of a rap sheet longer than the guitar solo from Free Bird surfaced and quickly Williams became a roll of the dice.

However, he ended up at Miami and had a hard time finding the field in Coral Gables. Eventually he left Miami and spent last year at West Los Angeles (junior college) where he only played in four games. However, in four games he was able to elicit “He’s definitely going to be a first or second-round selection to play in the NFL” from his head coach.

Now he’ll play for Louisville where I’d guess they promised immediate playing time, if not a starting role. UL started two juniors and a senior at linebacker in 2006, the heaviest being 220 pounds (Williams is about 235 according to websites right now). From first glance, the depth chart appears in his favor.

However, that’s all irrelevant. The question is whether he’s worth the risk. It all comes down to whether you think people change or not. After being the sports editor of the Virginia Tech student paper during the Marcus Vick years, it’s hard for me to believe people change more often than not. But they do.

I do think that Willie is a risk UL can take more than anyone else right now. New coach…on the verge of a very uncertain future…why not take some chances.

By Adam Abramson

Jeff Samardzija clearly took Common Sense 101 at Notre Dame.

Signing a five-year, $10M deal with the Cubs on Friday is a genius move.

Three reasons:

1. Calvin Johnson, Dwayne Jarrett, Robert Meacham, Ted Ginn Jr., Sidney Rice, Anthony Gonzales, etc. etc. etc. I'm not saying that Samardzija is worse than all of these guys, but the point is that this year's WR draft board is LOADED.

2. His chances of walking pain-free at 45 are significantly higher by playing baseball.

3. Higher contracts. Longer careers. More money.
   

By Adam Abramson

Could you beat me in ping pong if I cut off your arms and one of your legs?

No. You couldn’t (because you couldn’t hold the paddle…)

Because this is fact, it’s going to be tough for Ohio State to win nine games next year.

I’ll keep this very simple:

Quarterbacks

The Past: Heisman winner Troy Smith; Justin Zwick.
The Future: Todd Boeckman; Rob Schoenhoft.
What this means: The two who will be around next year threw four total passes in 2006. Three were completed. They amounted for 24 yards through the air.

Running backs
The Past: Antonio Pittman
The Future: Chris Wells; Maurice Wells.
What this means: Chris Wells rules. If he stays healthy, he’s the one leg that wasn’t cut off.

Wide receivers
The Past: Ted Ginn, Jr., Anthony Gonzales
The Future: Brian Robiskie; Brian Hartline
What this means: Well, Ginn and Gonzales were extremely reliable. I think Robiskie can be a No. 1 receiver. He did well this year. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because his dad played in the NFL and coached the Browns for a bit. Seeing Hartline on the field makes me wish I had grown three more inches, I am better than him.

Otherwise, the offensive line should be fine. Losing Datish at center could be tough, but Ohio State brings in supreme OL talent every recruiting class. The same goes for defense. The D was a little senior-heavy this year, but this was considered to be a rebuilding year on the defense and it did just fine, sans national title game.

Here’s what OSU faces next year:

• Youngstown State (9/1)
  
• Akron (9/8)
  
• at Washington (9/15)
  
• Northwestern (9/22)
  
• at Minnesota (9/29)
  
• at Purdue (10/6)
  
• Kent State (10/13)
  
• Michigan State (10/20)
  
• at Penn State (10/27)
  
• Wisconsin (11/3)
  
• Illinois (11/10)
  
• at Michigan (11/17)
  

Stay with me this off season, I’m going to try some things. Just check in every now and again, I promise I’ll keep it fresh.

By Adam Abramson

I received an amazing email from Coach Rob. If you're not a regular reader, Coach Rob is a long-time friend who is an assistant football coach at Emory and Henry. He helps me with all of the Xs and Os stuff when I reach my threshold.

Emory & Henry beat Newport News Apprentice, who beat Brockport St,who beat Buffalo St, who beat Western Conn St, who beat Iona, who beat Duquesne, who beat Fordham, who beat Albany NY, who beat Lehigh, who beat Villanova, who beat James Madison, who beat New Hampshire, who beat Northwestern, who beat Iowa, who beat Iowa St, who beat Missouri, who beat Mississippi, who beat Vanderbilt, who beat Georgia, who beat Auburn, who beat Florida.

So, technically speaking, we beat the national champions which makes us the best team in the nation. Go Wasps

Like I said, great email. Can we get a playoff?!?!?

By Adam Abramson

It sure is great to be a Florida Gator.

So how did the University of Florida rout THE Ohio State University the way it did?

Forget that Heisman winner Troy Smith had a Shane Falco-esqe performance going 4-14 for 35 yards and an INT.

I wouldn’t even credit Ohio State’s defense being more discomforting than the strep throat I’m battling right now.

The crux of Florida’s dominating performance can be traced back to something I’ve been harping on all season: the Southeastern Conference.

Going into the game, so much was made of the speed of the SEC versus the toughness of the Big 10. But are you really going to tell me that emerging out of the SEC with one loss doesn’t make you tough?

Oh, the one loss was a 27-17 road defeat to then-No. 11Auburn in a game where the Tigers scored 15 non-offensive points. These things happen when you play Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Georgia in four weeks.

Do I think that Florida is really 3-4 touchdowns better than Ohio State? No. Both teams have supreme talent and coaching staffs. But I do think that if the two teams played 10 times that Florida would win 7-8 of them.

Here’s a few reasons why:

1. Troy Smith had no time to throw. Florida did an excellent job of disguising their blitz packages and keeping the OSU offensive line on its heels. I can’t tell you how many times Troy Smith dropped back, stepped up into the pocket and made a balanced throw, but I know it wasn’t many. There were plenty of plays where Smith had enough time to get something going, but on those plays the Florida secondary completely blanketed the Buckeye receivers.

2. Believe it or not, Jim Tressel was out coached by Urban Meyer. The usually-stone-cold Tressel showed he could be rattled when he went for it on 4th down and 1 on his own 29 trailing by 10. That’s not a good move no matter how you slice it. Even if the Buckeyes get that first down, what was going to happen? They had maybe 40 total yards to that point. If you have the No. 11 defense in the land, give them some field to work with.

3. It’s clear that Florida understands that college football is changing. Lining up to run it down your opponent’s throat will only get you so far. The Gators showed so many different looks that Ohio State couldn’t really get comfortable and find its identity.
   
   All in all, it goes back to the saying “You are where you come from,” and, these days, the SEC is the best place to be from in college football if you’re going to play in a big game.

   And Florida isn’t going anywhere. I wrote about this earlier in the year: I see Meyer as the leading candidate to be the next Bobby Bowden or Joe Paterno.

   With Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin (who is incredible, but I still strongly dislike) leading the way, the sky’s the limit for Florida. If the Gators can find a supreme running back in someone like incoming freshman Chris Rainey, we’re going to see some prolific offense in Gainesville for years to come.

   The only thing that can hold back Florida and the SEC is what almost did this year: itself. If the SEC beats itself up enough and the cards don’t fall the right way, we might have a lot of great BCS bowl winners out of the conference that aren’t winning national titles.

   And, although it worked this year, this is why I’m not sold on the BCS.

   Lastly, extreme kudos to Chris Leak for finishing on top.

By Adam Abramson

What did the Fiesta Bowl teach us?

Here are some potential answers:

1. It actually a refresher on why I love college football. Boise State didn’t do anything crazy after a first down. The wide receivers didn’t flip the ball in the face of the defender after a big catch. The defensive tackles didn’t fake an awkward jump shot after a sack. They were just excited to be there. You could see the players looking at the faithful on hand to watch, pointing to them after big plays. After watching a season of stupid personal fouls, unsportsmanlike conducts, cheap shots and a brawl, it was refreshing to see Boise State’s positive attitude from top to bottom in that game. (Actually, I thought Oklahoma showed a lot of class in the game as well, so kudos to the Sooners.)

2. Boise State’s success against Oklahoma is very reminiscent of George Mason’s success in the NCAA Tournament last year. In both cases, the coaching staffs were able to put together classes of kids and mold them over the years. Coaches don’t have to worry about who’s going pro early this year or next year.

3. You can take chances at the smaller schools and innovation works. I heard Bob Davie on the radio today talking about risky it was for Boise State to run that fourth down halfback pass to score in overtime and the trick play on the hand off. He wondered how coach Chris Petersen could face his team if those plays didn’t work because he hinged the game on a trick instead of his talent. I have to respectfully disagree. What did Boise State have to lose in that game? The Broncos came out, socked OU in the mouth and said: “We belong here.” If those plays didn’t work, would you have said “See, told you a team from the Mountain West has no place in the BCS?” No, I don’t think anyone would have forgotten the other 60 minutes played. If they lost on a trick play, Petersen would have walked in the locker room and said “We gave them hell and showed everyone we belonged in a BCS game.”
   

Adding the fifth game was a good move because it gives a team like Boise State the chance to showcase its program and its abilities against a traditional BCS school. I also think it shouldn’t end there. Who’s to say Boise couldn’t play its way into the BCS Championship game, given the chance? Be careful before you speak, because not many gave the Blue Turfers a chance going into Monday night’s affair (including me).

The unorthodox schools are starting to make their presence felt on the national scene. We had Boise this year, TCU was No. 14 in the BCS last year, in 2004 Utah finished No. 6 and stomped a very average Pittsburgh team (Boise was No. 9 in the BCS that year) and Miami of Ohio finished 11th in the BCS in 2003.

Because I don’t see a playoff coming any time soon, it’s only fair we give a mid-major team (sorry for the predominantly basketball term) a chance to line up against someone from the SEC, Big 12, Pac 10, etc. The fifth game makes this more feasible, so I can live with it...I guess.

I was in a bar on Thursday night when they showed a replay of the game. Everyone knew what was coming, yet the bar still erupted on Boise’s trickery to win the game. It was, by far, the most entertaining game of the year.