Hey everyone,
Welcome to my first War Room post at DeaconsIllustrated.com. This is always a fun piece to write for me, because I get to give my insight on a few things, but the information mainly comes from sources.
Today's post has football and basketball recruiting info.
FOOTBALL
- Of course, we have to start by talking about Wake's new commitment Michael Allen. He is rated as the No. 169 player in the nation, but as Woody Wommack said in this video analysis piece, Allen struggled at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge in Atlanta, Georgia in June. This isn't a big knock on him.. Only the top offensive lineman in the country were there, but I want to warn everyone that I'm hearing there's a decent chance Allen will be bumped out of the Rivals250.
This would have nothing to do with his Wake Forest commitment. I know some people will say "he committed to Wake so Rivals dropped him," but I can assure you that this isn't the case. If it does happen, it will be something that Rivals decided to do a month ago. The new Rivals rankings come out next week for the class of 2017, so we will see how it shakes out.
- I gave my thoughts on Mike Allen's commitment, Jake Reuse gave his thoughts, and Wommack gave his thoughts as well, but I wanted to talk to as source within the Wake football program to hear the source's thoughts as well.
My source didn't say anything on Allen being the biggest recruit in Wake history since the turn of the century, but the source did say that Allen is the biggest profile recruit Wake has gotten since Clawson took over.
The staff is really, really excited about Allen. They know that he has a great deal of potential, but my source says that it's probably not likely that he'll get in the rotation his freshman year. It could happen though. He has the talent to do so and the staff is excited about to see him practice next fall, but I think that he'll end up redshirting his freshman year.
The good thing about that is Allen is a smart kid. He'll understand the benefits of redshirting, if he doesn't already. In his commitment tweet, he said that Wake is the "place he can call home for the next 4-5 years." So that tells me that Allen is okay with being redshirting and/or the staff has already talked to him about the possibility of redshirting.
My source called Clawson's redshirting strategy as "old school" and I personally love it. If Allen does redshirt, the Wake staff can coach this guy up his redshirt freshman year so that he can be ready to play for four years after that.
- Wake is at 18 commits for the 2017 class, and I continue to hear that the maximum number that they'll take is 20. Remember, decommitments happen all of the time, even with the kids who'd you least expect it with. As of right now, all of the commits do seem pretty solid. DJ Taylor, maybe as a possible decommit? But he seems to be pretty firm on that commitment. So recap: two spots left, more could open up if there's a decommitment (or if the staff decides to drop a kid)
- Grant Carrigan might end up being one of those final recruits. He's a really sleeper recruit and the source said that the Wakes staff has "fallen in love with" Carrigan. He would like to play tight end in college, but Wake really likes this guy as a potential blindside offensive tackle. When you get a former TE on the O-line, you're looking at a super athletic guy, and that's exactly Carrigan. He's looking to pick up some more offers since he only has Kent State and Wake offers right now, but if he doesn't get any new ones around October, then I could see him committing to Wake then. He visited Wake last week.
- The 2017 WF class is defensive heavy, and my source says that the Wake staff wants to take one more defensive back in the class. The Deacs have Avery Showell (safety), Coby Davis (CB), and Troy Simon (CB) committed at DB.
With Showell, what I'm hearing is that he's a real unknown commodity on the recruiting front. He does have a few Power Five offers, but my source says that Showell might be getting a lot more looks this fall. I don't know anything about Showell's HS (Cartersville), but I guess it gets overlooked.
BASKETBALL
- Wake obviously has Melo Eggleston committed in their 2017 basketball recruiting class, and it's going to be interesting to watch how things finish. If they strike out on all of their remaining targets, then they could end up with just Melo, but a source within the Wake basketball program tells me that the Wake staff feels like they can get a second player in the class, and they might even take a third. The big position of need is a slashing wing player. With the young roster that Wake has right now, they have a lot of flexibility with what they can do on the recruiting front. They have a lot of options.
(click the recruits name to view their rivals profile)
- Wake Forest had a few basketball visitors on Sunday for practice. 2018 SG Trey Wertz was one of those guys. He has a few early offers. 2018 SF John Newman visited as well. He has several offers, including Wake Forest. Long, lanky 2018 C Immanuel Bates was there, and he has some D1 offers as well.
I talked to the source about who the top targets are for the 2017 class. I'll list them and go into brief detail about them.
Mohamed Bamba -- A 6-foot-11 5-star PF from Pennsylvania. Like I said, WF is looking to take a slasher with their remaining spot (not sure whether they prefer a slashing SG or SF), but Bamba is too good to pass up. Have to image that WF is a long shot for Bamba. He took a recent visit to UCONN.
Chaundee Brown -- It's well documented that Wake is in his top four with Kansas, Florida, and Maryland. Wake is a darkhorse in the four-star SG's recruitment. Brown, who is favored to land at Kansas, is likely to officially visit all four finalists and make a decision some time after that.
Brandon Randolph -- The Rivals150 SG released a top 12 of Louisville, Alabama, Miami, Arizona, Indiana, Notre Dame, Oregon, North Carolina, Kansas, Syracuse, Xavier, and Wake Forest.
Kimani Lawrence -- Texas, USC, Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Marquette, Wake Forest and Florida are the schools Lawrence says are most involved in his recruitment. Pitt, Texas, and USC are considered the favorites.
Maxwell Evans -- Committed to Vanderbilt the other day. He was considered a backup plan to the likes of Chaundee Brown for Wake.
Jamal Johnson -- He’s still hearing regularly from Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Wake Forest, UAB and a few others.
Nate Watson -- A 6-foot-9, 250-pound PF and top100 recruit in the nation. Wake Forest is in his top schools list along with UNC, NCST, Miami, Providence, Maryland, and Kansas.
Kristors Zoriks - Couldn't find much on this guy.. I'll have to do some digging on him. I believe he's an international PG.. Click here for highlights
Howard Washington - Was committed to Butler in the spring but he decommitted. His recruitment has blown up. Wake in the mix here for the 6-foot-2 PG
Welcome to my first War Room post at DeaconsIllustrated.com. This is always a fun piece to write for me, because I get to give my insight on a few things, but the information mainly comes from sources.
Today's post has football and basketball recruiting info.
FOOTBALL
- Of course, we have to start by talking about Wake's new commitment Michael Allen. He is rated as the No. 169 player in the nation, but as Woody Wommack said in this video analysis piece, Allen struggled at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge in Atlanta, Georgia in June. This isn't a big knock on him.. Only the top offensive lineman in the country were there, but I want to warn everyone that I'm hearing there's a decent chance Allen will be bumped out of the Rivals250.
This would have nothing to do with his Wake Forest commitment. I know some people will say "he committed to Wake so Rivals dropped him," but I can assure you that this isn't the case. If it does happen, it will be something that Rivals decided to do a month ago. The new Rivals rankings come out next week for the class of 2017, so we will see how it shakes out.
- I gave my thoughts on Mike Allen's commitment, Jake Reuse gave his thoughts, and Wommack gave his thoughts as well, but I wanted to talk to as source within the Wake football program to hear the source's thoughts as well.
My source didn't say anything on Allen being the biggest recruit in Wake history since the turn of the century, but the source did say that Allen is the biggest profile recruit Wake has gotten since Clawson took over.
The staff is really, really excited about Allen. They know that he has a great deal of potential, but my source says that it's probably not likely that he'll get in the rotation his freshman year. It could happen though. He has the talent to do so and the staff is excited about to see him practice next fall, but I think that he'll end up redshirting his freshman year.
The good thing about that is Allen is a smart kid. He'll understand the benefits of redshirting, if he doesn't already. In his commitment tweet, he said that Wake is the "place he can call home for the next 4-5 years." So that tells me that Allen is okay with being redshirting and/or the staff has already talked to him about the possibility of redshirting.
My source called Clawson's redshirting strategy as "old school" and I personally love it. If Allen does redshirt, the Wake staff can coach this guy up his redshirt freshman year so that he can be ready to play for four years after that.
- Wake is at 18 commits for the 2017 class, and I continue to hear that the maximum number that they'll take is 20. Remember, decommitments happen all of the time, even with the kids who'd you least expect it with. As of right now, all of the commits do seem pretty solid. DJ Taylor, maybe as a possible decommit? But he seems to be pretty firm on that commitment. So recap: two spots left, more could open up if there's a decommitment (or if the staff decides to drop a kid)
- Grant Carrigan might end up being one of those final recruits. He's a really sleeper recruit and the source said that the Wakes staff has "fallen in love with" Carrigan. He would like to play tight end in college, but Wake really likes this guy as a potential blindside offensive tackle. When you get a former TE on the O-line, you're looking at a super athletic guy, and that's exactly Carrigan. He's looking to pick up some more offers since he only has Kent State and Wake offers right now, but if he doesn't get any new ones around October, then I could see him committing to Wake then. He visited Wake last week.
- The 2017 WF class is defensive heavy, and my source says that the Wake staff wants to take one more defensive back in the class. The Deacs have Avery Showell (safety), Coby Davis (CB), and Troy Simon (CB) committed at DB.
With Showell, what I'm hearing is that he's a real unknown commodity on the recruiting front. He does have a few Power Five offers, but my source says that Showell might be getting a lot more looks this fall. I don't know anything about Showell's HS (Cartersville), but I guess it gets overlooked.
BASKETBALL
- Wake obviously has Melo Eggleston committed in their 2017 basketball recruiting class, and it's going to be interesting to watch how things finish. If they strike out on all of their remaining targets, then they could end up with just Melo, but a source within the Wake basketball program tells me that the Wake staff feels like they can get a second player in the class, and they might even take a third. The big position of need is a slashing wing player. With the young roster that Wake has right now, they have a lot of flexibility with what they can do on the recruiting front. They have a lot of options.
(click the recruits name to view their rivals profile)
- Wake Forest had a few basketball visitors on Sunday for practice. 2018 SG Trey Wertz was one of those guys. He has a few early offers. 2018 SF John Newman visited as well. He has several offers, including Wake Forest. Long, lanky 2018 C Immanuel Bates was there, and he has some D1 offers as well.
I talked to the source about who the top targets are for the 2017 class. I'll list them and go into brief detail about them.
Mohamed Bamba -- A 6-foot-11 5-star PF from Pennsylvania. Like I said, WF is looking to take a slasher with their remaining spot (not sure whether they prefer a slashing SG or SF), but Bamba is too good to pass up. Have to image that WF is a long shot for Bamba. He took a recent visit to UCONN.
Chaundee Brown -- It's well documented that Wake is in his top four with Kansas, Florida, and Maryland. Wake is a darkhorse in the four-star SG's recruitment. Brown, who is favored to land at Kansas, is likely to officially visit all four finalists and make a decision some time after that.
Brandon Randolph -- The Rivals150 SG released a top 12 of Louisville, Alabama, Miami, Arizona, Indiana, Notre Dame, Oregon, North Carolina, Kansas, Syracuse, Xavier, and Wake Forest.
Kimani Lawrence -- Texas, USC, Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Marquette, Wake Forest and Florida are the schools Lawrence says are most involved in his recruitment. Pitt, Texas, and USC are considered the favorites.
Maxwell Evans -- Committed to Vanderbilt the other day. He was considered a backup plan to the likes of Chaundee Brown for Wake.
Jamal Johnson -- He’s still hearing regularly from Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Wake Forest, UAB and a few others.
Nate Watson -- A 6-foot-9, 250-pound PF and top100 recruit in the nation. Wake Forest is in his top schools list along with UNC, NCST, Miami, Providence, Maryland, and Kansas.
Kristors Zoriks - Couldn't find much on this guy.. I'll have to do some digging on him. I believe he's an international PG.. Click here for highlights
Howard Washington - Was committed to Butler in the spring but he decommitted. His recruitment has blown up. Wake in the mix here for the 6-foot-2 PG
