Palehosefan

I'll put it this way, even though I don't want to. Mario Williams was an inch taller, 15 pounds heavier, and actually ran a faster 40 time than Julius Peppers in the combine, he also outjumped Peppers by 3 inches with a 40 1/2 inch vertical leap. Julius has gotten bigger and faster since his combine days, but Mario is still a super freak. He's also only 21 years old. On the downside, Mario got 10 1/2 of his 14 1/2 sacks in 3 games, against somewhat sub-par competition in Wake Forest, Southern Miss, and Maryland. He's not as fluid of an athlete as Julius Peppers, but then again who is. He's certainly more athletic than Courtney Brown ever was, and will have more help on the defensive side of the ball than Brown ever did with the Browns.

Nothing new that I can see, ISU still in the drivers seat, would be a very nice pick-up.

Didn't Houston run a 3-4 defense last year? Are they going to switch back to a 4-3 this year after this selection? If not, what are they thinking?

UNC has a top notch business school, top notch offensive coordinator, top notch facilities, bowl caliber team, and several top 25 recruiting classes over the past 5 years. UNC is a football giant waiting to happen, ala Florida in the 80's. UNC was a great program not even 10 years ago with back to back top 10 rankings in 1996-1997. Not to mention UNC is tied for the most 1,000 yard backs out of any team in college, USC finally tied UNC last year with the addition of Bush and White. Also, UNC has been in the top 10 in NFL players for the past 10-15 years. UNC will have a chance to have the best WR class in the nation this year as well, with one of the top 10 WR's in the nation already committed, and another, Greg Little, in great shape. Tough to turn down USC's success, but some kids want to build something special, instead of just being another 4-5 star.

Not that any others care, but I just HAD to post this. UNC got a commitment today from Mike Paulus. One of the top QB's in the nation, and USC's top QB target after Claussen chose ND. As a big bonus as well, Greg Little, one of the top 5 WR's in the nation and 100 players in the nation is very high on UNC and wanted to be a package with Paulus. "Paulus also made a phone call to Southern Cal head coach Pete Carroll to inform him of the decision. "Coach Carroll was very classy, he said 'You're unbelievable, we wish we could have had you - North Carolina is really lucky because you're going to be very good.'" In addition to finalists UNC and USC, Paulus received more than 30 scholarship offers, which included Tennessee, LSU, Miami and Alabama. And although Signing Day "

Thanks, I work with Flash alot and didn't realize I could post a signature with Flash until about a month ago.

I dunno, if you put fancy hair on his brother, he would look almost the same to me.

I've heard that OSU will be at UNC next year for the Big 10 challenge. What a matchup that would be, wonderful Thanksgiving treat.

Rick as well. Jimmy's verbal to ND has been a foregone conclusion for a while. Heck of a pick-up, and he should blossom as a likely 3 year starter under Weis.

Cutler wasn't a top flight QB in his class, and was blessed with the opportunity to start as a freshmen at a SEC school. Vandy had nobody returning in the QB department and had two unheralded freshmen QB's battling for the job Cutler's freshmen year. If Jay had attended a school like USC, he would have battled Matt Leinart instead of Benji Walker during his career. There's alot of guys out there with strong arms, but few get the opportunity to start at an SEC school and play against SEC defenses for 4 years with not much competition at your position.

I agree to an extent. However, you have to take into account playing time as well. When guys like Gerald Riggs, Brandon Jeffries, Aaron Kirkland, Jamal Edwards, Thomas Clayton, Brent Schaeffer, Jonathan Crompton, etc ended up at FSU or Tennessee in their respective cases, they were all rated as 4 stars or higher. Yet upon arrival, after promised p/t, they all sat behind other 4-5 stars on the depth chart, and either currently sit there, transferred to a smaller school for p/t, or floundered for 3-4 years ala Riggs. As for Stovall and Hagan, I still see Hagan being projected higher, even with Stovall being bigger, just as fast, and at a much bigger program. As for Chris Leak's pro potential, if Drew Brees can make it, then I see a place for Chris Leak. He has always had the cannon for an arm and is very accurate. He would have succeeded in any system, he was an all-world recruit and was talked about since he was a freshmen in high school in NC. I do agree that more scouts would be watching schools like USC and ND because of the known talent, but I would also argue that a big talent could stand out at a smaller school and get just as much hype, if not more, as he wouldn't have other top prospects all over the field in practice with him while he's producing on the field. Don't forget, with the amount of national exposure a school like ND gets, there's also a much greater chance to see a players flaws and focus on them. If a player is a true talent like Brady Quinn, he will be exemplified on TV, but if a player has questionable hands, or a temper, then everyone is going to see that and it's going to be talked about on the post-game show's on NBC or wherever to no end. Those can be hidden at a smaller school, as all you see on Sportscenter is the big plays or the statistics. Players attitudes like Randy Moss or Terrell Owens are hidden until their NFL careers begin, as Randy's was bad enough that he couldn't attend FSU where he originally attended.

Yeah, I wasn't just arguiing about Illinois, I was speaking of other programs across the nation that aren't considered "elite" right now and why prospects would go there. I admittedly don't know anything about the Illini's field, facilities, stadium size, or history. I just know its a great public university with enough funds that they probably could afford to upgrade everything at Zook's urging. My main question is how much Illini fans and students care about football right now.

Jimmy is the top quarterback and is a lock to be ND bound, but Noel Devine will be there all year challenging him for the top prospect in the nation. Come on, you really don't believe that do you? Carroll has sent some nice players to the NFL, but nothing more than other major programs, and it's not hard to send them off when you recruit as well as he has, similarly to Miami's recruiting of the late 90's/early 2000's. If you are a good player, you can make it to the league from any school in the nation. Urban Meyer has had the #1 pick in the draft in his system, a top 15 pick this year with Chad Jackson, and 3 other guys that will be drafted this year. Friedgen has a top 10 pick, top 30 pick, and a CB that will be drafted. Of course ND, USC, and even Florida have the prestige. But that's not for everyone. Some of the best players in the nation look to programs they can help build, not just be another name. USC brought in 4 of the top 26 WR's in the nation last year. Florida brought in 2 of the top 3, and 3 of the top 21 WR's in the nation last year. ND didn't bring in much receiving help according to the rankings, which can be deceiving, but will also help Weis sell p/t more. IF Maryland shows they found a QB this year and their offense comes back, I would expect it to be a 3 team race between MD, Illini, and ND for Benn. That is, assuming Benn cares about the previous year's recruits at their position, like alot of them do now.

Tyrus Thomas actually broke out very early in the season, and averaged almost a double double on the season with 3 blocks a game thrown in, all in only 26 minutes a game. He's still filling out his body. He was 6'8 175 pounds just two years ago, and still can put on 20 more pounds to sit at 6'9 235. He also has a nice outside shot, which is rare for a PF with his athletecism, especially at 19 years old. Interestingly, Rudy Gay and Tyrus Thomas are exactly the same age. Both will be very solid pro's.

Prospects are still somewhat enamored with Friedgen at Maryland. He's led MD to a 31-18 record the last 4 years, with the last two seasons at 5-6 with no QB. He's supposed to be an offensive genius, but that luster is wearing off somewhat after the past two season's dismal QB play. I wouldn't be suprised to see Benn end up at Illinois. Especially with Vontae Davis at Illinois, as well as Juice. You have a teammate, great recruiting coach, and a 5 star caliber QB recruiting you, not bad. The Illini have had as much of a claim on the DC area as any other school in the nation recently.

I usually end up typing something stupid online :-). Lucky for me I have a punching bag in my garage, her name is Tori. I'm also at the gym everyday, so that pretty much takes away any unneccessary energy.

Jeffrey Jordan is actually pretty good himself. He's an 07 PG, 6'1 160, nothing flashy, just distrubutes the ball and is pretty athletic. Before all is said and done, I could see him ending up at a mid-major, or walking on at UNC. If his game blossoms like his dad's did around senior year in high school, he could end up at a high major program. Marcus, class of 09 has shown alot of early talent, but it's still 4 years away from seeing him in college.

http://northcarolinastate.scout.com/2/519390.html lol, poor State fans...

I've been spoiled as hell this year. So my list is pretty tough to put together. 1. Texas Tech/UNC football national championship 2. UNC BBall championsihp/Steelers championship/Sox championship 3. Texas Tech basketball championship/UNC baseball championship/UNC women's basketball championship 4. Miami Heat win championship 5. Philadelphia Flyers win championship

Jeff Capel to OU. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2404508 Yikes, they could have done ALOT better.

Don't forget to keep up with this class as well. :rolly http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/cla...raders-230.html

Looks like Calipari accepted the NC State job today. Tough blow for Memphis, could be a very good hire for NC State.

18, sweet, I can be the un-geekiest web developer in the world.

I didn't forget Marcus Ginyard. He wasn't a Mickey D's AA, and he wasn't a top 30 player in his class. He wasn't even a top 50 player in his class, checking in at #52. Byron Sanders won the POY in Mississippi, but that's like being the tallest midget. He wasn't even a top 100 recruit. Danny Green was one of the Mickey D's AA's. Tennessee had everyone returning from a 14 win squad. Tennessee wasn't short on talent either, having a top 25 recruit, top 50 recruit, top 100 recruit, which isn't even including their best player Chris Lofton.