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Bryce Brown Commits to Tennessee

Apart from all the Brian Butler baggage, this is a great pick-up for Tennessee.  I don't believe all the "headcase" labels they put on Bryce.  He should be an immediate impact player at the next level.

Miami Pulls Out of Bryce Brown Race

 

From ESPN.com:

Since Miami begins spring practice today, let's start in Coral Gables. In regards to this story about the possibility of Bryce Brown not visiting Miami, let's get something clear: Miami is no longer interested in Brown. It's over, done. A source at Miami has confirmed this for me, which is why it's no surprise LSU is suddenly in the picture for that last visit.

Welcome to the club.  The Canes reportedly exited the race over concern of the inevitable media backlash that will follow Bryce and also the fact that he has kept the U in his backpocket for some time now without any firm commitments.

It looks like it will come down to LSU, Tennessee, and Oregon.

USC No Longer In Running for Bryce Brown?

Bryce announced his final visit over at PotentialPlayers.com (Brian Butler's site):

"I will be going to LSU on an unofficial visit and my final official visit will be to the University of Miami."

His Miami visit announcement comes at a strange time as today a UM source claimed Miami will no longer renew Bryce's LOI which expired today:

A UM source said Tuesday night that the Hurricanes will not reissue a scholarship offer to Brown, a running back from Wichita, Kan., ranked as the nation's No. 1 prospect by Rivals.com. The national letter of intent UM faxed to Brown on Feb. 4 expires today. UM can send Brown another letter of intent, but will not.

Brian Butler, an advisor to Brown, disputed that the Hurricanes were no longer interested. Butler said Brown talked by phone with UM coach Randy Shannon on Tuesday afternoon to discuss an official visit the player plans on making to the UM campus starting March 3.

"Whoever is telling you that about Bryce, they might want them to check with coach Shannon," Butler said.

Hard to say whether the source or Butler is right in this situation, but I would find it hard to believe that Bryce would take an official visit to Miami knowing he wouldn't have a LOI to sign at the end of the day, unless he decided to use the trip to visit his brother.

The exclusion of SC in the visit list and the fact that there has been little to no word about SC going after Bryce pretty much tells me that we're no longer in the running for BB.  This follows the rumors that SC pulled out of the race, which isn't far-fetched considering it was initially Bryce who called showing his interest in coming out to LA. With all the baggage in this situation, it would be no surprise to hear that Pete took a pass in this race especially with the heat we've received in recent years.

I've mentioned before that I believe Bryce is the #1 player in the 2009 class and so far in 2010 there doesn't seem to be a RB of his caliber, but sometimes the risks are too great to take a gamble on the gains.  Bryce is far from being a headcase like Fred Rouse or Willie Williams (two bullets we dodged), but even still, we're the last team that needs this negative attention.

Photos: Tennessee Welcomes Bryce Brown for Official Visit

Bryce wearing a Tennessee jersey:

Bryce is expected to announce tomorrow where he plans to take his last official visit.  It will come down to USC or LSU.

Rivals Video: Bryce Brown Breaking Down His Recruitment; Leaning Towards Oregon and USC?

Doesn't look too promising for Miami fans.  I'm a bit shocked that Bryce was so forward with his thoughts on Mark Whipple's, the Canes new offensive coordinator, philosophy:

"We basically talked Xs and Os," Brown said. "It's kind of hard for me to say what the offense is going to be like. Some of the stuff he was talking about – putting me out in space, and allowing me to get matched up with linebackers and cornerbacks one-on-one – sounds good, but inside something just tells me that his philosophy or the way he does things isn't what I really like.

Bryce talks about wanting to find a program that will be with him for life and not just his 3-4 year career; no better program than SC in this regard.  You can catch Marcus Allen, Ronnie Lott, etc. on any given Saturday at games and past players still hanging out outside of the NFL.    

Oregon appears to be in the lead at the moment with Bryce being so effusive about Chip Kelly:

"Oregon is just a place I see myself at," Brown said. "At night when I go to sleep, I try to imagine myself at each school. When I think about Oregon, I go to sleep and I feel like that's the place for me. But I know I'm not in tune with my spirit, and my spirit is heavily involved in this. I'm praying, and I have people praying for me.

"I really like Coach Kelly, and he wants the best for me. It's not even really about football anymore. If I don't choose to go to Oregon, Coach Kelly and I are still going to have the relationship. Anything I need, any questions I have, I know that I can call him. He truly and genuinely wants the best for me."

Also in the video, Bryce admits that he hardly knows anything about LSU, but the latest rumors are that Les Miles and LSU have made up a LOT of ground recently.

Lot of questions to be answered, but one undeniable truth from the video is Bryce's exceptional talent. Some of the runs he breaks off in the video are jaw-dropping.  Should be interesting how this plays out.

Josh Pinkard Gets His 6th Year, Jawanza Starling Signs, and Other Recruiting Updates...

A handful of updates since my last post:

• Jawanza Starling faxed over his letter-of-intent on Thursday morning.  This is the 2nd year in a row USC will pick up a recruit from Lincoln HS in Tallahassee, FL (FSU pipline).  There were thoughts last year, after we picked up T.J. Bryant, that Starling would be a prospect that the coaches keep an eye on; nice to see that fulfill over a course of a year.  I love seeing the inroads being made into the state of Florida.

Starling is a big-time get for SC since we will have a mass exodus in the secondary in 2010 similar to what we saw with the linebackers this year.  Jawanza is a nasty hitter with great closing speed and he's going to fit nicely alongside Drew McAllister, who looked very good in limited minutes this year. 

• USC also picked up LOIs from Simione Vehikite and Hebron Fangupo.  I haven't seen Simione play but from what I've read he's going to play the hybrid FB role behind Stanley Havili.

Hebron is another big-time get and candidate to get early PT.  There is a reason why he was rated the #2 player and #1 DT in the JC Top 100 - this guy is simply huge.  He should be key in clogging up the middle next season.  Last year we were a little light at NT, although Jurrell Casey stepped in and looked solid as a freshman; Hebron will split time with Jurrell and Christian Tupou. 

• Saving the best for last, Josh Pinkard received his 6th year of eligibility from the NCAA after injuring his knee two years in a row, which means he will forego entering the NFL draft.  Josh looked solid last season and more importantly stayed healthy. 

Josh will move back to his original position at FS.  This means our starting 4 next season will be Pink, Mays, Wright, and KeTo putting our secondary at the top of the list in the Pac-10.

I love how this secondary perfectly compliment each other.  KeTo will be the pure cover corner lining up against faster receivers while Shareece will make plays in the flats and blitz from the blind-side; Pink will make the natural transition back to the center field role while Taylor will essentially play a hybrid position of SS/4th LB taking away the corners.

Other Recruiting News

With Starling, Fangupo, and Vehikite signing, Chris Metcalf is the only commit left from the '09 class unsigned.  I was surprised that Chris didn't pull a Michael Bumpus from '04 and jump ship after seeing us pull in our DB class. 

He has academic issues which is the current hold-up, but I won't be surprised if Chris has a change of heart about coming to SC.  With Moore, Hall, McDonald, and Starling coming in, Chris will have a hard time getting any PT.  

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With 3 scholarships remaining, SC is still on the radar for Bryce Brown and Orson Charles.  Bryce (top-rated RB from Kansas) was by far and away the best player at the Army All-American practices/game.  (I'm still perplexed as to how Tajh Boyd earned co-MVP honors with Bryce).  Miami is still the favorite in this race with his brother Arthur currently enrolled there, although there have been rumors of Arthur looking to transfer, but SC is still definitely in the running.

Bryce has gone on record saying he wants to be used like Reggie Bush, so it's no surprise that he'll take an official visit to Tennessee next week and then likely SC afterwards.  I've seen a lot of Bryce and he reminds me of a cross between Reggie and Jonathan Stewart; he's compact and physically imposing like Jonathan but has great explosion out of his cuts like Reggie.  After the Army AA game, he was without question the #1 player in the nation in my mind; if he came to SC, he would overtake Matty B. as the gem of the class IMO. 

As for Orson Charles, TE hasn't been a big priority in this class with Blake Ayles looking like a future 1st round pick.  Orson showed nice catching ability at the Army All-American practices/game, but with SC being the early favorite for Christian Thomas next year, and again TE being a non-priority, I'm a little ambivalent in this situation.