Signing Day Capsules - Big East: Boise State adds 24 new recruits in 2012 class
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — In each of the past two seasons, Boise State players, coaches and fans could only wince as they watched last-second field goal attempts miss the mark and ultimately spoil undefeated seasons and bigger postseason dreams.
On Wednesday, coach Chris Petersen took another step toward avoiding future heartaches from the kicking game by handing out a scholarship to a kicking specialist from California.
Sean Wale, a 6-2, 175-pound kicker/punter who was 9-of-12 on field goals, including a 52-yarder, in his senior year is one of 24 new recruits in Petersen's 2012 recruiting class.
Petersen said he expects Wale, from La Habra, Calif., to compete with freshman Jake Van Ginkel, who also is on scholarship, and walk-ons Michael Frisina and Dan Goodale, who shared kicking duties last season.
Last year, Boise State's perfect season ended against TCU in November when Goodale's last-second kick sailed wide. The previous year, the Broncos' undefeated season and BCS hopes faded at Nevada when Kyle Brotzman missed short field goals at the end of regulation and overtime.
"We're going to do what we need to do to get our situation solved," said Petersen, whose team finished 12-1 last season and demolished Arizona State 56-24 in the MAACO Bowl. "We definitely brought (Wale) in here to compete for kicking field goals."
With the rest of the new batch of recruits, Petersen and his coaching staff got nearly an even split on offense and defense.
Of the 11 recruits on offense, the offensive line got the most attention with three signees, including Mario Yakoo, a 6-4, 320-pound guard who had previously committed to UCLA but had the offer pulled by the new Bruins coaching staff.
The Broncos also landed quarterback Nick Patti, who graduated from high school early and is one of six players already enrolled on campus.
Patti, 5-11, 195 pounds, is the lone recruit from Florida and one of four quarterbacks competing to replace Kellen Moore under center. During his prep career, Patti compiled a 34-4 record, threw for 5,701 yards and 66 touchdown passes and last year was a finalist for the Mr. Football in Florida award.
"We've had Nick targeted for a long, long time," Petersen said. "We feel really good about him. We feel really good about the three other guys. And it's going to be one heck of a competition, that's really what it is."
The offense also includes two running backs, one fullback, two receivers and a pair of tight ends.
On defense, Boise State signed 12 players, focusing heavily on linebacker and defensive end. Some of those fresh faces, including linemen like junior college transfer Demarcus Lawrence, may see playing time this season as the defense looks to replace front four stalwarts like Billy Winn, Tyrone Crawford, Chase Baker and Shea McClellin.
Lawrence, 6-4, 248 pounds, transferred in December from Butler Community College, where he recorded 66 tackles, 10 sacks and helped his team to a No. 2 ranking in the national polls.
Boise State signed five linebackers and their arrival is timely. The Broncos have just J.C. Percy and Tommy Smith as players who played significantly last year, along with sophomore Blake Renaud, leaving the position a weak spot on a defense that struggled at times last year to stop the run.
Andrew Pint, 6-1, 220 pounds, was named all-state in Colorado last year after notching 85 tackles and helped lead Valor Christian High School to consecutive state titles. Ben Weaver, a 6-foot-1, 225-pound middle linebacker from Texas, committed to Boise State last summer after considering offers from more than a dozen different schools.
The class also includes two safeties and a cornerback, but only one Idaho native, wide receiver D.J. Dean from Eagle.
Petersen praised the class Wednesday, defining the players as more instinctive, smart and talented than awash in blue chips and fancy stars handed out each year by the recruiting gurus.
"Don't even talk to me about rankings and stars," Petersen said. "Those things have never meant anything to us."
He also praised the new recruits for sticking with Boise State amid the coaching changes of the last two months. Petersen lost offensive coordinator Brent Pease, who left for Florida, defensive backs coach Marcel Yates, now coaching at Texas A&M, and special teams coach Jeff Choate, who accepted a position at Washington State.
"I think you've really got to credit the kids we recruited and their decision to stick to their commitments," Petersen said.
Petersen also announced that former Bronco linebacker Andy Avalos has been hired to coach the defensive line. Avalos played for Boise State between 2000-04 and was coaching linebackers last season at Sacramento State.
Bearcats snare two top quarterbacks
CINCINNATI (AP) — Two top 100 quarterbacks from Florida — Plant City's Bennie Coney and Daytona Beach's Trenton Norvell — top the list of Cincinnati's 30-member 2012 recruiting class that has been ranked by one recruiting service as the best in school history.
Coney was ranked by ESPN as the No. 32 quarterback in this year's class, while Norvell was ranked 83rd. They are among nine members of the class who already are enrolled at Cincinnati.
Scout.com ranks the Bearcats' class 29th in the country, the program's first appearance in the top 30. Rivals.com rated Cincinnati 44th.
Cincinnati, a Big East co-champion, focused on improving its overall size, coach Butch Jones said during a press conference. The class, which includes two preferred walk-ons, features 16 defensive players, including eight defensive backs and five linebackers. The offense features four running backs, as Cincinnati tries to replace Big East Offensive Player of the Year Isaiah Pead, and four offensive linemen.
"The thing that's exciting for us is we were able to meet many of the needs of our program," Jones said. "One area in which we needed to get better was our overall size. One thing we've lacked is big-body types. The offensive line was a point of emphasis as far as increasing our size. We think we've brought in guys who are more ready in size and stature."
Among the running back recruits is Aaron Harris, a transfer from Southwestern Community College in California. He is expected to contribute immediately.
"He was high on our board," Jones said. "He's an individual who can come in and add maturity and stability at the running back position."
The Bearcats, who beat Vanderbilt in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., also landed two players from that city, which Jones said will become a "fixture" in the Bearcats' recruiting efforts.
"The Liberty Bowl cemented us there," Jones said. "When you have success on the field, it heightens awareness of your program."
Cincinnati also essentially traded recruits with Michigan. Detroit running back Dennis Norfleet would have been the highest-ranked member of the Bearcats' class before he decommitted on Tuesday to sign a letter of intent with the Wolverines. But Cincinnati's class included offensive lineman Caleb Stacy, who decommitted from Michigan two weeks earlier.
Also joining Cincinnati is defensive back Dylan Coombs, a son of Bearcats' associate head coach Kerry Coombs.
UConn signs 19 players, another five enrolled early
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut has landed 25 football players for its 2012 recruiting class, including the most highly touted in-state quarterback prospect since Dan Orlovsky.
Casey Cochran, the two time Gatorade high school player of the year, signed with UConn in December and has been enrolled in school since January, along with quarterback Chandler Whitmer, a junior college transfer from Newman, Ga.
Cochran, who won state titles while playing at New London and then Masuk High in Monroe, holds the state record for passing yards and completions.
"There's really not that much pressure on me coming to UConn," Cochran said. "It's a different kind of pressure. It's so much faster, and the complexity of the offenses and the defenses, there is pressure that way. But I don't know if I feel it just from coming from Connecticut and following in Dan's footsteps."
Cochran and Whitmer are among five quarterbacks who will be on the UConn roster for spring practice. Coach Paul Pasqualoni said there will be an open competition for the starting job, which also will include returning starter Johnny McEntee, who will be a senior, and rising sophomores Scott McCummings and Michael Nebrich, who both saw action last season.
"We're excited about that entire group, all five of them," Pasqualoni said. "We're going to grind this thing out with all five of them and it should be a lot of fun."
Nineteen players signed letters of intent on Wednesday. The recruiting class also includes five players who enrolled in school early, and a walk-on.
Pasqualoni said he would have liked to have added another cornerback and an interior defensive lineman, but feels the team addressed key needs at quarterback receiver, kicker and linebacker.
Pasqualoni said he did have to spend time on the recruiting trail explaining what he thought the future of the Big East would look like.
"It was just a matter of just reassuring people that, 'Hey this is not all doom and gloom here,'" he said. "It's not as bad as some of the stuff you've been reading. From my perspective, in the end, it's going to be pretty darn good for the University of Connecticut and our program."
Receiver Ricky Gutierrez from Hialeah, Fla., is one of several skill players who have Pasqualoni excited.
He is the son of former Major League Baseball player Ricky Gutierrez, and is 6-foot-1 with what Pasqualoni says are "enormous" hands. UConn landed him after he missed seven games in high school with a broken collar bone, and slipped under the radar of some of the major powers, the coach said. Gutierrez's dad, who won a World Series ring with the Boston Red Sox, also loves the northeast, he added.
Tailback Joe Williams from Allentown, Pa. is another player who Pasqualoni says has a chance to be special.
"You see this ten-six, ten-seven hundred-meter time, the guy weighs 205 pounds — holy mackerel," he said. "When you've got that kind of speed, and you get to the linebacker level and somebody makes a mistake, you've got a chance to put the ball in the end zone from a long way out."
Several players could play on either side of the ball, Pasqualoni said. Jazzmer Clax of Freehold, N.J., who committed to UConn late, was recruited by many schools as a linebacker, but will start out playing fullback for the Huskies.
Pasqualoni would not say how many prospects might see playing time as freshmen, but said all of them will get a chance.
"I don't want the mentality when you're coming here in August or June that you are coming here to redshirt," he said.
Many of the prospects already know each other, thanks to social media. Jason Sylva, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound linebacker from Marlon, Mass., began a Facebook group in June for all those committing to the Huskies.
"Everybody has been putting up their highlight film, telling each other when we were making our official visits, trading phone numbers talking about the coaches, talking about how we feel," he said. "We've been asking each other questions. It was just a way for me to bring the guys together and maybe show a little leadership too."
-- Pat Eaton-Robb
Louisville reels in eight players from Miami area
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville coach Charlie Strong logged so many miles on one weekend trip to Florida that he had time to critique recruiting coordinator Clint Hurtt's driving skills. Crisscrossing the Sunshine State paid off for the Cardinals.
Strong dipped into his deep Florida ties again and loaded up his third class with another group of highly touted defenders to add to a young team that will return 18 starters and started 11 different freshmen last year.
"We started down in Miami. We worked from Miami to West Palm (Beach) from West Palm to Port. St. Lucie, to Orlando up to Valdosta, (Ga.) up to Savannah back down to Lake City," Strong said Wednesday. "That was a trip. I told Hurtt, I don't know if I can drive around with him that much the way that man drives. It was a fun trip."
A worthwhile one, too. Strong signed 10 players from Florida in his 24-man class headlined by linebackers Keith Brown and Nick Dawson.
"That's a position that we do need help right now," Strong said.
The 6-foot-1, 225-pound Brown received more than 30 offers from BCS schools and had originally committed to Miami and Illinois before choosing Louisville and enrolling in January. He'll likely be an inside linebacker with the 6-foot-3, 228-pound Dawson on the outside. Strong said his two other freshman linebackers — James Burgess Jr. and Lamar Atkins — would be in the mix for playing time.
Louisville's class ranked between second and fifth in the Big East among the major recruiting websites and between 38th and 46th nationally among the 120 teams in the FBS. The new group includes six defensive linemen and five offensive linemen.
"The game is won up front so you have to go and get your offensive and defensive linemen because that's where it all starts at," Strong said. "You can go find a skill guy, they're everywhere, but it's always hard to get those offensive and defensive linemen."
In the last three years, Strong has signed 15 offensive linemen, and this group includes some of the biggest yet with Abraham Garcia weighing in at 345 pounds, DeAndre Herron at 340 and Joe Manely at 335. All three are 6-foot-5 or taller.
Strong again had his greatest success in the Miami area, the region he also recruited when he was on the staff at Florida during two national titles. Atkins, Brown, Burgess Jr., Garcia, defensive back Gerod Holliman, running back Brandon Radcliff, defensive tackle Pedro Sibiea and defensive back Brandon Snell all are from Miami or the surrounding areas.
Two more Florida natives — tight end Gerald Christian and wide receiver Robert Clark — transferred from the Gators to play at Louisville.
Louisville's big showing led one national recruiting site to say one of the best turf wars for talent ongoing right now was between Strong's coaching staff and the hometown Hurricanes.
"Probably the reason they why rated Louisville versus Miami is because we went to Miami and got some really good players," Strong said. "We're going to recruit who they recruit, so whoever wins that young man over then that's where he's going to end up going to school."
Louisville's roster already has heavy Florida ties and Strong mentioned four of last year's freshmen who grew up in Miami area, including quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who made a major impact for the Cardinals.
"When (Florida recruits) see their success, they're looking at it, 'hey, I can go there and I can play and I have a chance to go be successful myself,'" Strong said.
The Cardinals finished last season 7-6 and won a share of the Big East title, losing to North Carolina State in the Belk Bowl in December.
Strong, whose name mentioned in several other coaching jobs this offseason, signed a contract extension in October that boosts his base salary to $2.3 million a year through 2018.
-- Colin Fly
Rutgers boasts big class, even without Schiano
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — New Rutgers coach Kyle Flood trusted his beliefs, and for that, he was rewarded. In his new position for only two days, Flood lost only one early commit on National Letter of Intent day, announcing the signing of 18 players on Wednesday.
Ranked the 23rd recruiting class in the country by CBS Sports and Rivals.com, as well as No. 1 in the Big East for the first time ever, Rutgers celebrated its best recruiting class in school history.
"We're ecstatic," said Flood, who officially has 20 recruits with two players having already enrolled. "If you recruit good people and deal with them honestly, you can get through any situation. And that's what we were able to do with this recruiting class.
"We were completely open, completely honest. We didn't hide anything. This is great testament to what I've always believed."
Among the signees were eight high school All-Americans and the consensus best player in New Jersey. Eleven are from the Garden State, and six are from Pennsylvania.
What made the accomplishment unique is that former coach Greg Schiano left the program only last week for the same position with the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Flood, a longtime offensive line coach under Schiano, was given the interim title last Friday, before being officially announced on Tuesday.
"We're ecstatic," Flood said. "The vision of Rutgers football goes forward, and they bought into that. This is as exciting a day as we've ever had in Rutgers football recruiting. This is our top class. Recruiting is about relationships, but relationships take time."
Heading the class is Don Bosco Prep defensive lineman Darius Hamilton, rated by Rivals.com as the best high school player to ever sign with the Scarlet Knights. Projected to play defensive end, he is the son of former New York Giants lineman Keith Hamilton.
Hamilton is one of two players from Don Bosco, which was ranked No. 1 in the country by several publications. The other is Leonte Carroo, a wide receiver listed as the No. 11 prospect nationally at his position by Scout.com.
Running back Desmon Peoples and lineman Brandon Arcidiacono played for Pennsylvania's Class AAA state champion, Archbishop Wood. Arcidiacono is rated the No. 6 center in the nation by Rivals.com. Six offensive linemen highlighted the class, including Arcidiacono.
"From Friday, when I was named interim coach until I was named head coach, it was 24 hours a day," Flood said. "I've had no time to breathe."
From a skill position standpoint, the class includes four wide receivers, one quarterback and one running back. The defense added two linemen, two linebackers and two cornerbacks.
Rutgers dipped into Florida to find a place kicker, signing Kyle Federico, who becomes the only scholarship place kicker on the team. As a senior, he put 54 kickoffs into the end zone, and made a 50-yard field goal. ESPN.com ranks him tenth nationally.
Like his predecessor, Flood mentioned, "The State of Rutgers." The term was coined by Schiano more than 11 years ago when he defined his primary recruiting targets as the New York metropolitan area, as well as Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Still, keeping the class together proved to be a bit more difficult than usual.
"It was a little trickier," Flood said. "I had to deal with questions you don't normally deal with. But we wound up signing 19 of our 20 players from the 'State of Rutgers.'
"What this does, is more and more build that wall around the state of New Jersey. What it does, is give us more validity to what we tell people in the local area."
This year, the message was better than ever.
UCF signs recruiting class of 19 players for 2012
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — It's no secret that UCF's football program is coming off one of its most disappointing seasons during George O'Leary's tenure as coach.
A 5-7 campaign in 2011, the transfer of the Knights' starting quarterback, resignation of their top recruiter as part of an ongoing NCAA probe and shuffling of assistant coaches have all made for an undesirable early offseason for a program headed for the Big East Conference in 2013.
Still O'Leary said Wednesday he's confident the 19 new players UCF welcomed on national signing day may prove to have the biggest impact in his eight years in Orlando.
"I thought we brought in a lot of talented players, there's no question," O'Leary said. "We helped ourselves where we needed to help ourselves...I think this class will end up being one of the better UCF classes. There are no sexy names...but most of those guys don't make it anyway.
"All these four- and five-star guys, they're working at McDonald's."
Heralded or not by recruiting services, the class includes 13 players from Florida, two transfers and three January enrollees in defensive backs Jeremy Davis and Jared Henry and receiver Breshad Perriman.
The early enrollees are grayshirts, having originally signed national letters of intent as members of the 2011 class. But due to injury, all three sat out last season before officially enrolling.
UCF was challenged to match its recruiting class from 2011 when it secured its highest-rated signing class ever, earning a rank in the recruiting website Rivals.com's Top 50.
After several years of picking up highly-recruited prospects out of the Miami area, the jewel pickup in this year's group is a local guy in 6-foot-2, 200-pound receiver in Drico Johnson.
Johnson played at tiny Agape Christian Academy in Orlando, but like Perriman (6-2, 180) has the kind of athletic frame UCF's coaching staff was seeking.
Though the Knights will join the Big East in 2013, O'Leary said it didn't impact recruiting this time around.
"I think we need to put a footprint in the Big East before it's a factor," he said. "I think guys liked that we were going to be a BCS team, but I don't think it was a decider."
The Knights filled in some needs on some open positions, following the decision of junior cornerback Josh Robinson to enter the NFL draft and freshman linebacker Leilon Willingham to transfer to Northern Colorado.
In addition, UCF was looking to this class to bolster its depth at the quarterback position, with the transfer of 2011 starter Jeff Godfrey following the season.
Godfrey, a primary rushing threat who was named Conference USA Freshman of the Year and led the Knights to their first-ever bowl victory in 2010, struggled throughout last season as he tried to throw the ball more.
Godfrey was also found himself splitting time late in the season with redshirt freshman Blake Bortles, who impressed coaches with his ability to move the ball via the air.
The Knights signed Skaneateles (N.Y.) quarterback Troy Green (6-1/205), but saw Phoenix City (Ala.) prospect Jonathan Wallace switch his commitment at the last minute to home state Auburn.
Not all was lost, though, with UCF picking up Missouri transfer Tyler Gabbert — brother of NFL quarterback Blaine Gabbert — after he competes a junior college degree this summer.
Former Colorado State and Orlando former Orlando-area high school standout Nico Ranieri is also transferring to his hometown school as a walk-on after spending last season at Georgia Military College.
"We have five quarterbacks heading into spring and then we got two more coming in the fall," he said. "I think there's enough talent-base there. You gotta stay healthy there obviously."
Along with the quarterback situation, spring practice will also bring four new position coaches into the fold.
O'Leary fired defensive coordinator John Skladany, linebacker coach Al Seamonson and director of player personnel Albert Boone just days after the end of last season.
Defensive backs coach Sean Beckton moved from defensive backs to receivers coach a few days later.
He then hired Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof to lead the Knights' defense in December; Alabama's Derrick Ansley to become the new defensive backs coach and finally Jim Fleming from Kent State as linebackers coach weeks after that.
Roof's sudden departure in early January to join Bill O'Brien's staff at Penn State briefly stopped the momentum, but O'Leary acted quickly by naming Fleming as defensive coordinator and rounding out the staff hiring North Carolina's Allen Mogridge as special teams and tight ends coach and Tyson Summers as defensive assistant coach.
Now there's talk that Ansley is being courted by the University of Tennessee to join its staff.
O'Leary said that he thinks that the movement may have had roots in the shakeup of coaching jobs around the country.
Despite the busier than normal offseason so far, O'Leary said he is pleased with how the staff came together in the end and likes where the Knights are headed going into the spring.
"That comes with the drill," O'Leary said. "I think signing day is a sigh of relief for a lot of coaches. A lot of different emotions. You got a kid, didn't get a kid. I've been here long enough to know we went after the class philosophy-wise that I think we need to get. More size, more range and kids that are academically eligible. We got that accomplished."
-- Kyle Hightower
USF bolsters depth with class of 20 recruits
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — South Florida's first losing season in seven years hasn't changed Skip Holtz's vision of the Bulls someday becoming Big East champions and contending for national titles.
With players like tight end Sean Price and D'vario Montgomery joining the program Wednesday, the coach is even more confident that the Bulls are on the verge of building something special.
The high school prospects are among 20 newcomers comprising a recruiting class that may get an opportunity to contribute right away to a team coming off a 5-7 finish that stopped a string of six consecutive bowl appearances. Nine of the players have been on campus since the start of spring semester and will compete to fill some key positions.
"Being 5-7 certainly was not what anybody wished for, hoped for, nor thought was going to happen last year," said Holtz, who watched his team lose seven of eight following a 4-0 start that included a season-opening victory at Notre Dame that propelled the Bulls into the Top 25 for four weeks.
"But when you look at some of the injuries we had and all of the close football games we lost," Holtz added, "I think the program is healthier today than it was three years ago."
Price is one of the highest-ranked tight ends in the nation out of North Marion High School. Montgomery had 96 receptions and scored 21 touchdowns over the past two seasons for Winter Park High School. Oklahoma and Georgia were among the school's pursuing Price, and Montgomery was heavily recruited, too.
Snaring both as part of his third recruiting class is evidence USF is headed in the right direction, Holtz said.
"I commend Sean because there are a lot of people out there that are saying you'll never win big time, you'll never accomplish some of the things we've done. I commend him for being strong enough to say: 'I want to go someplace and build something. We have an opportunity to build something at South Florida, and I want to go there and build it rather than go someplace else and maintain it. I don't want to be the next great tight end at that school. I want to be the first Sean Price at South Florida," Holtz said.
The class includes six junior college transfers — two of them offensive linemen and two others defensive backs that Holtz thinks may be capable of providing experienced help this fall. A fifth JUCO transfer — running back Michael Pierre out of Golden West College — replaces early NFL entry Darrell Scott.
Surprisingly, Holtz did not sign any quarterbacks, saying he was happy with the three he has returning, including starter B.J. Daniels, who will be entering his senior season.
"I did not want to take one just to take one," said Holtz, who meanwhile brought in just one linebacker, Tashon Whitehurst of Gainesville, who also had been considering Syracuse.
In all, USF signed nine offensive players and 11 expected to play defense. The class features 15 players from Florida, two from Texas and one each from Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
More importantly, Holtz feels it's the most talented group he's assembled since moving from East Carolina to USF.
"It's a very diverse group and answers most of the needs we have as a football program. ... We don't have a lot of guys who are not going to play," the coach said.
-- Fred Goodall
Other News
W.Va. judge refuses to stay Big East lawsuit
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A judge has refused to stay West Virginia University's lawsuit against the Big East while the conference's countersuit plays out in Rhode Island.
Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Russell Clawges says staying the lawsuit until Rhode Island's courts decide the other case won't promote the interests of justice. In a ruling issued Tuesday, Clawges also denied the Big East's request to dismiss WVU's lawsuit. He had rejected a different dismissal motion in December.
WVU is challenging the Big East's bylaws in a bid to join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 football season. The Big East is countersuing in Rhode Island. That lawsuit argues that WVU breached its contract with the conference and should remain in the Big East for 27 months, as required by the bylaws.
