I thought we might get a commitment this week, following our big win on the road. Wisconsin has a little momentum now.
The biggest positive for me is this has re-established our presence in the northeast a bit, which is ultra important, IMO. This is our first commit from the region since John Moffitt out of Connecticut in October of 2005. I think we can all agree he's panned out tremendously thus far. The previous three were Jonathan Casillas (PA), PJ Hill (NY), and Matt Shaughnessy (CT) in late 2004 to early 2005. Any questions? There is a lot of talent in that region, in states, the majority of which, have no flagship school. Pennsylvania is an exception because Penn State has a pretty strong program, however relative to the amount of talent the state produces, there should be plenty of UW caliber leftovers.
A dearth of flagship schools give us two major advantage over recruiting other areas. #1. We don't have to battle a school who in state players have developed an affinity for growing up. #2. We can use our scouting skills to unearth talent that elite schools may not go after because an offer alone from UCONN, Syracuse, Delaware, even Rutgers; might not catch the attention of a USC or Ohio State. Recruiting is a bit of a copycat game, especially for the big dogs. No one program can be on the sidelines to watch every scholarship worthy recruit. So they rely on cues from other programs, usually in state, some which they respect more than others.
The biggest negative for me is we recruited another "athlete". The measureables are pretty favorable and on video they project to the field, but we recruited him as a linebacker, yet in his highlights he's always playing quarterback or running back. Linebacker is a very instinctual position and you're only as fast as your first step. If you're getting fooled and taking false steps as a result, an offensive player will blow by you no matter how quick you are. We can't see what kind of instincts or physicality Fenton has without seeing him play at the linebacker position to which he projects. So we're banking on even more unknown information than the average recruit.
Anyways, not to be Debbie Downer, here's some free video:
Brightcove- Fenton
ESPN- Fenton