And There He Goes

Shortly after impressing @ the Nike Camp and rumors of a visit to MSU superprep.com is reporting that Boisture has flipped. I rely on ESPN because I find it to be the most reliable but they also tend to be a day or two behind Rivals or Scout but it sounds like the love affairs over here. I understand why he flipped so I don't have hard feelings but this seems to be just another in a long string of bad luck.

Resume the Griffin Murphy campaign.

*Update: Rivals is backing up the Scout story

Are you Feeling Lucky?

A. Simmz over @ Couplebeers caught whiffs of Boisture visiting with Michigan State. Now, for me, two reactions come to mind. First, there is that gnawing, uncomfortable feeling I've had since he comitted and the gutcheck pityparty "I told you so" moment. Then theres the logical calculated reaction. The bad: he's visiting a school closer to home, that gets much more respect nationally (see HD, EA, Steele, etc) and certainly more attention locally (darkhorse for Heisman? pfft the Sawx might sign a Japanese phenom pitcher who will throw out his arm pitching in the World Baseball Classic next year) and Mich State has a family connection with his grandfather or uncle or something coaching there for a number of years. The Good: he committed with us from the get-go, He has reiterated his committment to BC. He says thats its a Solid Verbal and that he will enroll early @ BC, even the Globe has run a story on the kid. So my feeling is the same as it was back when he committed, I'll believe it when I see it, or when he tattoos an Eagle on his Chest. Either way we just have to sit, wait and hopefully get a little much-deserved luck. (God knows we need it)

And now for Week 5 of the dream schedule:
Who we play:FSU
Who we should play: FSU
For BC the road to Tampa goes through Tallahasee (it might literally go through as well). This year their coming here and the powerhouse that is Bobby Bowden and his band of class-skipping, test-cheating felons aren't the favorites to win the Atlantic, which means they probably will, and since the FSU-BC game has always been won by the away team hopefully the odd both teams aren't really that good, you-should-beat-us-but-maybe-you-won't-but-we're-rebuilding-so-maybe-you-will-but-the-team-that's-supposed-to-win-never-wins-so-maybe-we'll-win reverse reverse logic will come into effect.

Kudos to anyone that just read that, but really whether they've been replaced by Va Tech and Clemson (and maybe now Ga Tech) Miami and FSU have always been though of as the class of the ACC because of their titles and their powerhouse recruiting. Since we rock the Atlantic an FSU game is a must. Perhaps even a rivalry trophy should be made, my suggestion: a guilded luggage bag since the away team always wins.

'09: Unless the rest of the team gets arrested (a possibility) I would have to say this ones gonna be a loss for our boys. It's not a lost cause, just a difficult game against a good team that has history on it's side (0-5 for the home team)

A QB contender and our Future @ QB

As most have realized already BC received another 2009 commit in David Shinksie, the 25 yr old former pro baseball player hung up the baseball cleats for some football cleats. In terms of experience within the last 6 years Shinskie is at the back of the class but in terms of potential Shinskie is at the front. He should be in shape from playing baseball and even if he hasn't been lifting like a football player he is still supposed to have a real cannon of an arm. We'll see what happens with this experiment but if Shinskie were to get a redshirt (and I understand his eligibility) he would be 30 when hes a redshirt senior. The man is actually a year older than Matt Ryan.(but for camparison's sake BYU standout and current NFL backup John Beck was 27 when he graduated).
Future of the program Joe Boisture was in the news this weekend as he went to the Nike Football Combine in Illinois. He stood out and warmed up throughout the day and there were no negative knocks on him. QB MVP went to some 6-1 Whitmer character. I really want to embrace Boisture as the next Matt Ryan but I keep getting the feeling that Boisture is going to prove to be an average prospect as the year goes on. I'll wait until the Elite 11 camp to really delve into this though because that has a tendency to deliver more info on QBs.
Although it is important to keep in mind that BC seems to have some of the best player development in the history of football. (Silva was a 2* prospect, Dunbar a 3* Running back prospect, Raji a 2*, Ryan doesn't count because he was hurt his Junior year) and we also seem to fail with some of the "elite prospects" (Toal 5* was always hurt, Callendar 4* never really took off, McMichael 4* was always hurt, Robinson 4* never proved to be an elite player)

Not much News

There has not been a whole lot going on, just some more articles on Herzlich and the generic filler that you find in this limbo period between practices.

I walked by the practice field on campus the other day and saw what looked to be a player-run scrimmage. It was interesting because it looked to be about 30 of the major players just running plays without pads. Every play I saw was a running play with Josh Haden as the halfback and I'm fairly sure it was DD handing off the ball.

Heather Dinich has made remarks about needed McLaughlin back and has projected a 5-7 finish for Spaz's first year coaching. The one good comment she seemed to make was the recognition of Bowman and Davis in the defensive backfield as they project to be the starting safeties in a talented secondary.

I can't figure out where I found the info but I'm fairly sure that Joe Boisture will be going to the Elite 11 camp @ the University of Oregon on June 13 so stay tuned for that.

The Recruiting Situation

So I'll take a break from whining about Brian Toal's lack of news and talk about our recruiting situation.

First I'll start with my take on recruiting in the pass couple years. I'm a member of the class of '10 so I came in with the TOB's last class (HS '06) which was a decent class and produced some greats but wasn't up to snuff with TOB's other classes. I think TOB might have known he was on his way out and didn't put his heart into it. The class of '07 was weak due to the coaching change and then '08 showed us that Jags wasn't a recruiter. I honestly believe that Jags made a phenomenal coach from the X's and O's but he never got the recruiting thing. The '09 class suffered even worse from coach change syndrome but now we're coming into the '10 class

So heres the deal it looks like we might see the first real class that BC is capable of putting together. Spaz is going early after some of the big names, something we haven't seen in quite some time.

The first pick-up was Joe Boisture, a pick that excited and terrified me at the same time. Here's my take on Boisture, he could be ridiculously good, or he might have been playing against a weak competition. He's switching to Prep this year and he'll also be at the Elite 11 camp and Army All-American Game so we should find out if hes the real deal which is the exciting/terrifying part. Boisture got some interest from the big schools, but not overwhelming, we were one of the first offers. I am a little concerned that if he really takes off as a recruit he might de-commit, he has voiced his opinion that BC is now his place but unless he follows Haden and tattoos an Eagle on his chest I'll be worried until he signs his LOI.

Kevin Pierre-Louis originally committed under Jags and decommitted when he was dismissed, Spaz and company showed that this was still the place he wanted so he re-committed. He should help out with the LB core and looking at the Depth Chart he could be an immediate contributor.

Seth Betancourt- rumor has him committing during a press conference that occurred about half hour ago. This could be a sign of things to come as Spaz plays up the o-line U to bring in some really elite guys, Betancourt should be at least a 3-star a 4 and looks to be great. This could also suggest that we might have a strong case for the current #1 recruit in the country Seantrel Henderson.

And now we move into the "Recruit this guy section"
This will be reserved for those non-blue chip players which have interest in BC but BC might not be sold on.

First up is NJ LB Ryan Cobb, physically he's not a real specimen, but if theres ever a "BC guy" this is him, hard working, football knowledge guy, and get this HE WANTS TO COME HERE. We've had a great relationship with Don Bosco Prep and they turn out some elite prospects in NJ, why not make DBP a pipeline school for BC. This guy could be the Jamie Silva of Linebackers, speaking of which...

Ryan Silva RI S. So we've signed a lot of near-blue chip DBs in the past couple classes, we have plenty of extra scholarships and Jamie got the last scholarship of his class when HE came in. Why wait, the oldest Silva holds the rushing record @ Holy Cross, Jamie was a force for BC, theres good bloodlines here, the kid is smart (interest from Stanford and Dartmouth) and HES JAMIE SILVA'S BROTHER

Last up is QB Griffin Murphy, We've got the Blue-Chip in Boisture, now time to take a flyer on a guy that could be great. I'm familiar with Murphy because he goes to my alma mater (which also makes me biased in this situation) His numbers are pretty solid for 5 games in 08, after which he was out with injury. His injury and lack of competition have really only grabbed looks from UConn but Murphy could be great and it would be frustrating to have what little in-state talent MA has taken out from under our noses.