With a full year under his belt, Spaz signed and announced his first full BC class. Although I am repeating myself, let me say that I try not to get caught up in the emotion of recruiting. We won't know the impact or success of these guys for two or three years. There are some definite positives though about this class as well as a few areas of concern. This is what I like:
-- Closing on QBs. When BC's first QB commit started to hedge and eventually switched to Michigan State, Spaz and team didn't waste any time and still landed two solid prospects. As the season progressed, one of those QBs, Chase Rettig turned into a real sleeper.
-- Solid Linebackers. Two of the highlights of the class are Kevin Pierre-Louis and Steele Divitto. A position of strength just got stronger.
-- Staying strong in New Jersey. The Garden State has been and should continue to be our most important recruiting territory.
Not all was rosey. I was concerned about the following:
-- Too heavy on New England prospects. I know the quality of New England football has improved, but I still feel like this class was too reliant on the low hanging fruit in our backyard. We need to continue to hit Ohio and Florida and look high and low for great recruits.
-- Not using all of our scholarships. There are two schools of thoughts on this. One is that if you don't like your the last few prospects there is more value to holding a few scholarships for transfers or next year. My opinion is that BC should always near the maximum number of scholarships and recruits every year. My belief is that there is so much attrition, you need bodies in your program. I also believe that you never know if that last flyer will develop into a great player (see Jamie Silva).
Spaz has now put his own imprint on BC recruiting. These guys will be part of the future and are now part of the family. I wish them all the best.
What does everyone else think?
Rivals ranked the class 47th overall. Scout slotted BC at 44th overall.
The ACC had a roundup of all the conference's recruits.
The focus of this article is Pierre-Louis but it also contains a quote from Spaz regarding our open competition for the QB job.
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17 comments:
I understand the concern that we didn't hit the talent rich areas enough; however, I think that it's very important that BC sign a good number of NE recruits each year. We need to make BC the default for area recruits and that requires developing a good relationship with the area coaching staffs and possibly taking a flyer on a local kid to gain points in the area. All the best programs have done something similar. Howard Schnellenberger (sp?) famously said he was putting a fence around Miami and no recruit would get out unless he didn't want him. Albeit a little unrealistic, it sent a message and I think BC has the opportunity to do it within these 6 states.
I never want to underestimate a local kid that wants to play at BC because it's his hometown team.
(D Knight, Cloud, Silva, Hasselbecks, Giles, all our BC High kids)
Anyway, I like this class. We got a good amount of our priority targets. It's thin on defense, so that will need to be a focus next year. Probably don't need a QB for another 2-3 years.
"Probably don't need a QB for another 2-3 years."
Be careful what you wish for. I think there were many people saying this a little over a year ago. And suddenly we had a retired baseball player and a freshman vying for the spot.
If we're going to try and lock down NE, we should at least try to sign the best kids from this area - for example, how do we lose a kid from Dorchester to UM? Or Fontaine to UGA?
My biggest area of concern is that we did not come up with any DTs. We got one DE, but no DTs. That has been a huge problem for BC. NO pass rush, means QB has all day and this has forced BC into the crappy "soft cushion" pass defense. I don't know why we struck out with DTs. We made 9 offers to guys who wound up going to places like PSU, Clemson, ND, FSU etc. Maybe we shot too high? But the DT/DE situation has been a big problem. Hope the redshirted Dillon Quinn is a beast for BC next year.
As for NE, BC should dominate in recruiting in NE. And BC does dominate in Mass and RI. However, BC does not do a great job in CT. There were several stars in CT who went to places like FSU and PSU (not UCONN)
Overall, we got 5 great recruits; Steele Devitto (4* scout), Seth Betenacourt (4* scout), Kevin Pierre L (4* rival), Phillips (4* rivals) and Rettig, all star game player.
Finally, it's worth noting that we did far better in recruiting than comparable North East programs such as UConn, Syracuse and Rutgers. ACC play has helped our recuiting efforts.
Overall, a pretty solid class. DT was a need not addressed well. Hopefully, Quinn will be a beast. With the Oline pretty much set, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the current backups or these 6 new giant olineman move over to the defensive side of the ball.
I am really excited about the QB competition. Shinskie/Rettig/Marsco all have 8 months to really learn the playbook and compete to get better. Combined with Montel, hopefully a solid #2 RB, a talented crop of receivers/TEs and a veteran offensive line, and we could have a pretty capable offensive attack next year.
While I understand the idea, putting a fence around Miami is a little different than putting a fence around NE. The Miami area produced at least an NFL player per year while NE produces a couple of big time recruits (recruits that draw interest from outside of NE programs). I think it's time to keep pumping our NJ, OH, and PA pipelines while expanding our presence in Florida (we seem to have something developing in Northern Florida), Virginia, & the Carolinas.
By the way, I really like how Spaz handled the press conference (your video link). He seems to be growing in the HC role, and starting to take himself more seriously as the "man."
He really does project leadership and confidence. I hope his tendency to embrace the negative at just the wrong moment (like halftime at the Clemson game) are things of the past.
oops....
"...is a thing of the past"
Haha nice catch mod!
I like how you strive for grammatical excellence.
And all joking aside, I think you hit the nail on the head regarding Spaziani's presence. I have high hopes for him and the program next year.
As excited as I am about the QB competition and have already started printing my Rettig for Heisman T-shirts, I am very worried.
I am worried that Shinskie gets the starting job, and we don't take advantage of our offensive weapons because of our inept QB. I think Spaz was a good hire, but he has an old school mentality and won't make the change unless he's super confident in Rettig. (I think rettig has the chips stacked against him)
And as far as recruiting so many NE kids, no offense, but let's stick to NJ and Florida for real playmakers.
Raj -- why would any coach start a freshman QB unless they were super confident in the frosh? particularly when they already have a decent and expereinced QB? A good coach will only start a frosh QB as a last resort.
Old school is not bad school.
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Anyone have any insight into the freshman QB Bordner(a real bean-pole at 6-4 180!)
Mod,
Generally I would agree but the stars are pretty aligned on this one for making a case for starting a freshman:
1. Reports are he's pretty good.
2. He's enrolled early
3. Our 2010 schedule is pretty soft.
4. Veteran O-line
5. Star RB
6. Above average WRs and TEs
7. Not exactly replacing a superstar
Even with Shinskie's many mistakes this year we were still in it late in the season. If Rettig can protect the ball and be more accurate than Shinskie (which a lot of people are already saying he is) then we should be fine.
I'm ready for Spring.
last time i checked bc had no expectations for this season. dave shinskie was a solid performer who was a major part of an 8-5 record. lets not forget that dave shinskie was only a freshman. however, i am extremely excited about the rettig kid and i believe a competition would better both players.
as for recruiting, i think it is important to get mass kids but not that many. i mean if you look at the kids coming out of mass each year theres only a handful that are premiere players. i like that bc has kept its reach in nj and eastern pa. however, i have began to notice the second tier nj players we normally get alot of are going to rutgers. a bc rutgers series sure would be interesting on and off the field.
i think its a good class and i do believe dillon quinn will be a good player.
Even though this isnt the Best class we've brought in by far, I love that they were all on winning teams and they all were eligible. I think that the top talent will do very well and there will be alot of great sleepers in the WR and DL/OL category..
Rumor is Jaryd Rudolph and possibly Vadaro are moving to DL for spring to see whats going down
Love that we're competing with Standford for a lot of these recruits. Would love to see a home-and-home with the Tree or Northwestern - two schools that match our profile. Rettig's from NorCal, and there are a lot of great Catholic HS football programs in the area. Potential recruiting area?
Rettig, I believe, is from SoCal.
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