Tomorrow is the big day and there are a ton of sites out there covering who's going where and doing what, etc. so I'm not going to even fake like I have the inside track on the recruiting experts out there, so I'll leave the predictions up to them. My information is piecemeal at best surrounded by a lot of educated reasoning and guessing, which surprisingly has been good for me in the past. Instead I'll focus on the biggest potential gains and losses for the uncommitted prospects remaining plus the recruiting hits and misses of the '09 class overall:
Biggest Potential Loss
- The biggest potential loss will clearly be Vontaze Burfict, which looks almost certain. ASU is getting an excellent player. Kid is special in terms of his tackling ability; watching him viciously close in on ball carriers while maintaining control is something to behold. He has a lot of Rey with instincts to match.
Biggest Potential Gain
- The popular pick for biggest potential gain is clearly Manti Te'o and it is well-deserved considering his elite talent and ability to play all 3 LB positions; if he comes in, he will likely have the best chance to get PT early.
With that said, I'm going to go against the grain and trust my gut in choosing Frankie Telfort as the biggest potential gain. Lot of recruiting analysts criticize him for being undersized, but the movement of weakside LBs seems to be heading towards the even smaller and faster. And the discussion is likely moot considering SC will probably move him to SS.
Frankie is my favorite recruit in this class. He's smart on and off the field, comes from the same school that produced Sean Taylor, has exceptional closing speed, and hits like a MLB. I'm a proponent of the belief that the South produces the best safeties (word to Ed Reed, Brian Dawkins, etc.); I think we will have a great one out of the sunshine state.
Biggest Miss of '09
- It really wasn't a true miss since academics was the deciding factor in the situation, but I believe the biggest miss of the recruiting season was Cliff Harris who is headed to Oregon. It could have been a real recruiting coup for T.J. McDonald Jr., Cliff Harris, and Rolando Jefferson to head to SC as the big 3 out of Fresno Edison akin to 2001 with the near completion of the LB Poly 5 (Darnell Bing, Manuel Wright, Hershel Dennis, Winston Justice, and Marcedes Lewis).
Cliff is a shutdown CB in the making. He has great coverage skills, speed to stay with fast receivers, and long arms. Only thing he needs to worry about is bulking up a bit, which shouldn't be a problem with his frame. I think he'll get PT early and be a top defensive player in the Pac-10 real soon.
Biggest Hit of '09
- The prize recruit of the class was Matt Barkley, but like I said when Matty B. committed to SC a year ago, he plays flat-footed and it still concerns me. Although Matt is without question an elite QB prospect, it's hard to label him the biggest hit when line play will be a major determinant in his success. I can already hear all the rebuttals for that statement about line play dictating every QBs success or Leinart being flat-footed and the success he had at SC, and I'm not going to take time to argue against it, but I had more confidence in Mark Sanchez when he came out of HS. So who do I think is the biggest hit? I'm going with Patrick Hall. He made a big jump in the rankings and then sorta cooled out, which was to a degree justified with a less-than-expected showing at AA Army game, but I believe this kid is a baller. I think once Patrick makes the full transition back to FS from RB he will be a big-time player. He's versatile, athletic, and just has the swagger factor.
I'll have more thoughts after NSD, stay tuned.
