Toal back in the Pros and Round 3 of Fantasy scheduler

Good news on the Toal watch, he's been picked up by another team! The bad news is that just like I predicted its in the UFL. Brian Toal will be joining the UFL Las Vegas team which has me slightly confused. My impression was that there would be a geographical base to the draft where teams get first crack at local players, either from their home town/college or from what NFL team they were released from. Toal is from NJ and tried out with the Jets and theres a UFL NY team... yet he's in Vegas. This either means the local team didn't want him or I don't understand the draft philosophy. Joining Toal in the UFL is 2007 standout CB Dejuan Tribble who was selected by San Diego in last years 6th round but spent the year on the practice squad before being released this year. I think Tribbble would honestly be a very exciting player in the AFL (where his risk-reward rout jumping would be more exciting) but I hope he does well regardless. You can check out the UFL draft here. There will be two more stages to the draft to fill out the roster and I have a strong feeling that you are going to see Akins, Robinson, and perhaps even Crane make some teams later. I'm up in the air on Purvis, I still find it weird that he's wearing a FB number but with Smith in New England there should be an extra spot for a TE. In FB news former TE/FB Jon Loyte is cracking into the lower level of the AFL.

And now for week 3
Who we play: @ Clemson
Who we should play: @ Clemson
A budding rivalry that actually has a name and trophy (not that I know it) there's no reason this game shouldn't be played. Sure, it will likely be one of the tougher games this year but these are two pretty storied teams and its an ACC Atlantic matchup to be proud of. This one stays on the books.

I'm also going to start adding what I think this years squad would do in the dream schedule as well as the 2007 squad (the best team I know of in recent memory)
Holy Cross: win in 09 and 07
Pitt: Close win in 09, blowout in 07
Clemson: While there always seems to be the potential for an upset in this game I'm going to give the 09 team a loss here. If there is any "good" ACC team we have a chance against this year its going to be Clemson though. The 07 team would stomp.

Time to whine, again

So most of the rookie mini-camps have wrapped up so I can finally figure out who ended up where.
Francois is definitely in Minnesota, I haven't found any news but he signed right away and could make some waves there.

B-Rob is probably in Philly, I'm getting this news from couplebeers with some back-up but have heard minimal news about how hes doing and if he might crack the depth chart.

Purvis is definitely in TAMPA, again I jumped on the couplebeers bandwagon and thought Purvis was in Philly with B-Rob but ESPN broke the story of a Purvis-Jags reunion over the weekend, likely after the Bucs sent Alex Smith to the Pats.

Chris Crane got a contract with the Colts, yes Crane signed a contract. (to a team with Painter, Sorgi and Manning)

No news on Akins but Toal impressed at the Jets mini-camp so much in fact that people other than me were surprised when he didn't get signed. Tell me HOW do you impress in a mini-camp and then not get a chance to showcase your talents over Summer Practices. I mean come on the Jets signed guys that haven't played football in five years and they're not going to sign Toal? Maybe he'll get a shot with a team that hasn't had their camp yet, but my bet is Brian Toal UFL inaugural Defensive MVP.

Toal, Betancourt and a look at Pro Eagles

First up, Toal finally got invited to a camp, the Jets camp to be precise where he will compete with former teammate Kevin Akins for a spot on the roster. Even better news is that Toal seems to have left an impression on First Year Head Coach Rex Ryan.

Moving along the pro road both Raji and Brace have started to settle into their surroundings and devouring the massive pro-play books. One year removed the class of 08 (07 season) is headline by Ryan but Jamie Silva has gotten some notice for his Special Team prowess and as of right now looks to have a future with the Colts. Jolonn Dunbar surprised the Saints working as an effective reserve in the two-deep. Cherilus has pretty much cemented a place at Right Tackle for the league-worst Lions while there has been little news on Tribble since he was sent to the Charger's practice squad.

And moving from past eagles to future eagles Seth Betancourt has officially committed to BC, the four star-ish recruit seems to have given us a "solid" verbal, suggesting that overtures from Notre Dame and Florida mean nothing to this BC-guy.

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.