Game 7 of the Regional: do the basic stuff, please
Really, this series should be over, one way or the other. A&M should have won by taking out Cal Saturday night, and Cal should have won last night but couldn't shut the door in the ninth. So now, both pitching staffs are depleted (A&M's looks like it's in slightly better shape), so there's probably going to be more hitting tonight than the past two games. So it's a pretty simple formula for the Aggies: all that stuff you've been doing? Knock it off.
They've been impatient at the place, and that's led to strikeouts and a lot of double plays. Their fielding, which has never been great, has been less than great. The baserunning, as we saw last night, was potentially disastrous. When this team has been on, especially at the plate, they've been patient, worked counts and then creamed pitches when up in the count. They've got to calm down and let the game come to them.
Oh, and stop bunting, for the love of God! (Yes, I know that's not the players doing that on their own.)
A look at the new Rivals 100, or why 2016's class may not be a disaster after all
A lot of you are impatient about how recruiting is going, and that's understandable. They're a little bit behind last year's pace, but this is when they really started to heat up. It's certainly well behind 2013's, though (which may not be such a bad thing). Obviously, you'd like to see more than one commit in the 100 -- and have that guy be solid -- but I did a quick count and came up with a half-dozen guys where A&M is either the leader or in second place with a good chance of winning out. Here's who they are, and their positions would indicate they're doing a decent job at recruiting need positions:
OLB Keion Joyner: A&M's probably second to LSU right now.
S Brandon Jones: A&M's the leader and has been for a long time.
S Deontay Anderson: A&M's top two and may lead. Not sure how the list goes.
S/CB Eric Monroe: Top two, LSU probably leads.
CB Byron Murphy: A&M may well lead for the best player in Arizona (again).
OLB Michael Divinity: A&M leads.
That list is...stout. If you wind up getting Jones, Anderson, Murphy and Divinity (and Little sticks), that's an outstanding haul that hits some serious need positions. Unfortunately, we're probably a long way from any of these guys committing. That's what happens in this day and age when you've got national talents who can commit on TV at all-star games.
Nick Harvey decides to say. That's very good news.
For those of you who didn't know, CB Nick Harvey seriously considered transferring after spring practice when he didn't come out as a clear-cut starter and Brandon Williams got switched to corner to compete for the same job. It came out this weekend, however, that Harvey is sticking around, and I think that's nothing but positive for both sides, for a bunch of obvious reasons.
First, John Chavis has done a very good job of putting defensive backs in the NFL, as is evident from his time at LSU. Not all of them were big guys, either. Chavis knows how to coach a defense and, this year, Terry Joseph gets to coach using a scheme he's much more comfortable with. Harvey's issues aren't with coverage, by and large; he's the best of the competitors in that category. It's coming up and making hits that appears to be the issue, which is kind of a surprise given that he was a ballhawk in high school. If anyone can fix that, though, Chavis and Joseph are the guys.
As for A&M, it's pretty obvious why it's a plus: Harvey's an outstanding athlete with a huge upside. You don't want to see guys, even those who haven't realized their potential, like that walk away. And, by the way: he can still be the starting corner game one, and I'll take my chances and say he will be.
In any event, the fact that he's staying means he had a chance to talk to Chavis and Joseph and iron things out. That, certainly, is nothing but a positive. Hopefully, having chance to discuss things will help him improve moving forward.
Everyone's in
That includes Kingsley Keke, from all indications. That may be why they hit the breaks on Howard Houston so quickly.
Visiting today
In case you didn't see the other, separate threads: 2017 RB Eno Benjamin, 2017 DT Juan Harris (6'4", 390), 2016 Trophy Club Byron Nelson OL Kellen Diesch.
Now that I have been sufficiently chastened over the Duvonta Lampkin situation, I'll do a 180 and address it here too.
If you missed it earlier, and I hope you did, someone asked about Lampkin's situation and I came off as a jerk when discussing it. So, I will attempt to un-jerk myself and talk about it some here, because (admittedly) it is one of the screwiest deals in recent memory.
First, though, he's not coming to A&M. He would if he could, but they've never offered and won't now (for the same reasons he's having qualification issues with Texas) even if they did.
So here's the deal: Lampkin, who was a long shot to qualify, did. Sort of. The big DT made the GPA and SAT scores to go D1, but he did not complete the foreign language requirement needed to get into a Texas state school. And, he's decided he's not going to take it, he doesn't want to go to Texas and wants him to drop his LOI. He was never really happy with them to begin with, and when the D-line coach left right after signing day, that appeared to clinch it for him. He just never bothered to tell anyone in Austin -- for four months.
Where does he want to go? OU, which is where he was committed originally. And guess who doesn't have a foreign language requirement blocking his admission?
OU.
Funny how that works, isn't it?
Texas, for their part, currently has no intention of releasing him from his LOI. Either they're going to fight it out or he's going to go JUCO this year.
As some of you pointed out, this is important to A&M for a reason I initially overlooked: Texas is now desperate to get defensive tackles. They've had two enroll in the past three years, and Lampkin was the only one they took in 2015. They're in trouble. And they're going to be throwing offers at everyone under the sun. To date, they have two wideouts, a lineman, a linebacker and a quarterback committed in 2016. They thought Kendell Jones was theirs, and it's turned out that he's committed to Alabama and A&M has a better shot at flipping him.
One thing I'll go out on a limb and say: if Duvonta Lampkin ends up at OU, he'd better watch his knees when he plays in the Red River whatever you call it.
Old school Monday
Point:
Counterpoint?
Really, this series should be over, one way or the other. A&M should have won by taking out Cal Saturday night, and Cal should have won last night but couldn't shut the door in the ninth. So now, both pitching staffs are depleted (A&M's looks like it's in slightly better shape), so there's probably going to be more hitting tonight than the past two games. So it's a pretty simple formula for the Aggies: all that stuff you've been doing? Knock it off.
They've been impatient at the place, and that's led to strikeouts and a lot of double plays. Their fielding, which has never been great, has been less than great. The baserunning, as we saw last night, was potentially disastrous. When this team has been on, especially at the plate, they've been patient, worked counts and then creamed pitches when up in the count. They've got to calm down and let the game come to them.
Oh, and stop bunting, for the love of God! (Yes, I know that's not the players doing that on their own.)
A look at the new Rivals 100, or why 2016's class may not be a disaster after all
A lot of you are impatient about how recruiting is going, and that's understandable. They're a little bit behind last year's pace, but this is when they really started to heat up. It's certainly well behind 2013's, though (which may not be such a bad thing). Obviously, you'd like to see more than one commit in the 100 -- and have that guy be solid -- but I did a quick count and came up with a half-dozen guys where A&M is either the leader or in second place with a good chance of winning out. Here's who they are, and their positions would indicate they're doing a decent job at recruiting need positions:
OLB Keion Joyner: A&M's probably second to LSU right now.
S Brandon Jones: A&M's the leader and has been for a long time.
S Deontay Anderson: A&M's top two and may lead. Not sure how the list goes.
S/CB Eric Monroe: Top two, LSU probably leads.
CB Byron Murphy: A&M may well lead for the best player in Arizona (again).
OLB Michael Divinity: A&M leads.
That list is...stout. If you wind up getting Jones, Anderson, Murphy and Divinity (and Little sticks), that's an outstanding haul that hits some serious need positions. Unfortunately, we're probably a long way from any of these guys committing. That's what happens in this day and age when you've got national talents who can commit on TV at all-star games.
Nick Harvey decides to say. That's very good news.
For those of you who didn't know, CB Nick Harvey seriously considered transferring after spring practice when he didn't come out as a clear-cut starter and Brandon Williams got switched to corner to compete for the same job. It came out this weekend, however, that Harvey is sticking around, and I think that's nothing but positive for both sides, for a bunch of obvious reasons.
First, John Chavis has done a very good job of putting defensive backs in the NFL, as is evident from his time at LSU. Not all of them were big guys, either. Chavis knows how to coach a defense and, this year, Terry Joseph gets to coach using a scheme he's much more comfortable with. Harvey's issues aren't with coverage, by and large; he's the best of the competitors in that category. It's coming up and making hits that appears to be the issue, which is kind of a surprise given that he was a ballhawk in high school. If anyone can fix that, though, Chavis and Joseph are the guys.
As for A&M, it's pretty obvious why it's a plus: Harvey's an outstanding athlete with a huge upside. You don't want to see guys, even those who haven't realized their potential, like that walk away. And, by the way: he can still be the starting corner game one, and I'll take my chances and say he will be.
In any event, the fact that he's staying means he had a chance to talk to Chavis and Joseph and iron things out. That, certainly, is nothing but a positive. Hopefully, having chance to discuss things will help him improve moving forward.
Everyone's in
That includes Kingsley Keke, from all indications. That may be why they hit the breaks on Howard Houston so quickly.
Visiting today
In case you didn't see the other, separate threads: 2017 RB Eno Benjamin, 2017 DT Juan Harris (6'4", 390), 2016 Trophy Club Byron Nelson OL Kellen Diesch.
Now that I have been sufficiently chastened over the Duvonta Lampkin situation, I'll do a 180 and address it here too.
If you missed it earlier, and I hope you did, someone asked about Lampkin's situation and I came off as a jerk when discussing it. So, I will attempt to un-jerk myself and talk about it some here, because (admittedly) it is one of the screwiest deals in recent memory.
First, though, he's not coming to A&M. He would if he could, but they've never offered and won't now (for the same reasons he's having qualification issues with Texas) even if they did.
So here's the deal: Lampkin, who was a long shot to qualify, did. Sort of. The big DT made the GPA and SAT scores to go D1, but he did not complete the foreign language requirement needed to get into a Texas state school. And, he's decided he's not going to take it, he doesn't want to go to Texas and wants him to drop his LOI. He was never really happy with them to begin with, and when the D-line coach left right after signing day, that appeared to clinch it for him. He just never bothered to tell anyone in Austin -- for four months.
Where does he want to go? OU, which is where he was committed originally. And guess who doesn't have a foreign language requirement blocking his admission?
OU.
Funny how that works, isn't it?
Texas, for their part, currently has no intention of releasing him from his LOI. Either they're going to fight it out or he's going to go JUCO this year.
As some of you pointed out, this is important to A&M for a reason I initially overlooked: Texas is now desperate to get defensive tackles. They've had two enroll in the past three years, and Lampkin was the only one they took in 2015. They're in trouble. And they're going to be throwing offers at everyone under the sun. To date, they have two wideouts, a lineman, a linebacker and a quarterback committed in 2016. They thought Kendell Jones was theirs, and it's turned out that he's committed to Alabama and A&M has a better shot at flipping him.
One thing I'll go out on a limb and say: if Duvonta Lampkin ends up at OU, he'd better watch his knees when he plays in the Red River whatever you call it.
Old school Monday
Point:
Counterpoint?
