#4 Washington Husky Recruit - Allen Carroll

Allen Carroll - Offensive linemen (McClymonds HS - Oakland, CA)

• Bio from GoHuskies.com featuring basic info and highlight video. Carroll pretty pretty much mauls his guy to the ground in every clip.
  
• Scout ranks Carroll the #27 OG and gives him 3-stars. Listed as having offers from both WSU and Oregon, as well as both Arizona schools and Nebraska.
  
• Rivals is higher on Carroll, giving him 4-stars and #16 position ranking. Also has video from a OL/DL camp, which features Carroll and some other Husky recurits. Carroll is at the very start of the video and at 1:38.
  
• Here is the Seattle Times article about his commitment.

This guy is simply a beast. Well ranked by recruiting services and also well recruited by big time programs. Although the offensive line should be one of the strengths next year, Willingham has done a nice job adding depth with this class, as well as adding guys like Carroll who will be starters in the near future.

Bedard Press Conference

The deal for Erik Bedard has finally been completed and is official. It also went down pretty much exactly as reported very early on, with the M's giving up Adam Jones, George Sherill and the three pitching prospects. Below is video from the press conference that took place today. One important tidbit for me was Bill Bavasi saying that this trade now puts Brandon Morrow back in the bullpen. While that may seem obvious, for some reason I had this instinct that the M's might put him in AAA to continue working on being a starter. It wouldn't have made any sense, so I'm glad to know that won't be the case.



Overall I couldn't be more excited about adding Bedard to the rotation. The buzz around the trade just hasn't been nearly what I expected. I get the feeling maybe a lot of M's fans simply don't know all that much about Bedard. Maybe because he has been pitching for a Baltimore team that hasn't been competitive in this decade. The guy is the real deal and if Felix continues to progress we may have the top 1-2 combo in the league. No doubt Bavasi gave up a lot of talent and it's possible that three or four years down the road this could look like a horrible deal. There is just no way to know. But for right now the M's got exactly what they needed and that was a top of the rotation starter.

#3 Washington Husky Recruit - Cody Bruns

Cody Bruns - Wide receiver (Prosser HS - Prosser, WA)

• Bio from GoHuskies.com - make sure to check this out for the highlight video, I promise you will be impressed.
  
• Scout gives Bruns 4-stars and ranks him the #38 receiver.
  
• Rivals is quite as high on Bruns, giving him just 3-stars and doesn't rank him nationally.
• A Seattle Times piece from when Bruns was a junior.

Statistically Bruns is one the best receivers in the history of the state. He isn't big and isn't fast, but he catches everything that comes his way. Did have other Pac-10 offers from WSU and OSU, but not too highly recuited. This was most likely due to his lack of size and speed, plus the fact that Prosser plays at the 2A level. Jake Locker could use a dependable receiver who simply doesn't drop passes and moves the chains and Bruns has the potential to be that guy. Will probably red shirt his first season.

#2 Washington Husky Recruit - Demitirus Bronson

Demitrius Bronson - Running back (Kentwood HS - Kent, WA)

• Bio on GoHuskies.com with basic info and highlight video.
• A 3-star recruit according to Rivals and the #60 running back. No other offers listed, but committed to UW early.
• Also given 3-stars by Scout and ranked #39 for running backs.
• An interesting article from the Seattle Times that talks a little about Bronson off the field. (From October)
• A Seattle Times game article from September and another from the PI written in October

Overall not a highly recruited guy, but definitely extremely productive throughout his high school career. Has decent speed and seems like a load to bring down. Strong character and strong academics, plus he comes from a winning high school program. Could be one of the bigger sleepers in this class.

Below is a highlight video of Kentwood taking on Kentridge this past season. Bronson clips at: 33 seconds, 2:02 (sweet TD run) and 4:21

Washington Husky Football Signing Day Links

Here are just some general links about the Huskies' incoming recruiting class.

• Bob Condotta provides player bios in his blog for the Seattle Times
• Also, Condotta's article for the paper
• An article from the PI talking about the impact of Tyrone Willingham and Jake Locker on recruiting
  
• ESPN.com provides an overview of the class
• John Berkowitz over at Washington Husky Sports gives his thoughts as well as a grade for each position
• Don Ruiz ranks the Huskies' class #4 in the Pac-10 over at the New Tribune
  

#1 Washington Husky Recruit - Dominique Blackman

Now that recruits have made their commitments official, I'll have a look at each of the players signed to play for UW in the fall. Look for articles, links, videos and anything else I can dig up.

Dominique Blackman- Quarterback (Carson Senior HS - Carson, CA)
Blackman is huge - 6'5" 250 lbs. - so he draws the obvious comparisons to guys like Daunte Culpepper, Byron Leftwich and JaMarcus Russell. Also had offers from the likes of Oregon, ASU and Nebraska.

• Bio on GoHuskies.com includes vitals, accolades and a nice highlight video.
  
• Scout.com's take: 3-stars, #58 QB"A strong arm that can make the deep throw and tough pass. Release is a little slow and he's not very athletic, but he's got tremendous size and is a leader."
• Rivals.com also gives Blackman 3-stars, ranked #27 QB for pro-style offense. Click on the highlight video listed on the right hand side to see clips of Blackman at a camp.
  
• Seattle Times article detailing Blackman's commitment in August

Value of Recruiting Rankings

Tomorrow is signing day for NCAA football and Tyrone Willingham appears to have put together a great recruiting class. I'm just as excited about it as anyone, but does it really mean anything? Just like scouting college talent for the pros, judging how teenagers make the jump to the D-1 level can be a total crap shoot. Sure, there will be those five-star recruits that turn our to be stars and go on to the NFL as first round picks. But there will be plenty of those same big time recruits who are total busts, for a whole slew of different reasons. There are also plenty of stories of kids who didn't get recruited much and went on to become stars. Steve Entman being the name that most refer to as an example.

Let's play a game. I'll give the description of a recent Husky recruit and try to guess who it might be.

This 4-star recruit was the 2003 player of the year for the state of Washington. He was ranked the #10 safety in the nation by Scout.com and was name to the Parade All-America team.

Answer: Keauntea Bankhead. Bankhead never qualified academically for UW and went on to play at Dixie State College in Utah. He signed to play at Central Washington for the 2007, but wasn't on the roster and I couldn't find anything else about what he is currently doing.

This QB was Scout.com's #23 QB in tha nation coming out of high school. "Very accurate passer and can scramble for yardage when needed," as described by Scout.com and won two Washington state championships.

Answer: None other than Carl Bonnell. Bonnell just graduated from UW after serving last season as Jake Locker's back up. Bonnell had a career completion percentage below 50% and threw 10 touchdowns to 15 interceptions in his time at UW.

This should be an easy one. This current Husky was a 4-star recruit and rated the #21 running back in the nation by Scout.com. He won four state championships and set a state record with 50 touchdowns in one season.

Answer: J.R. Hasty. What's to even say? Red shirted his first season at UW, then became academically ineligible his second. Played sparingly last season before quitting the team and the returning days later. Still has two years of eligibility and a chance to turn himself into the player most thought he would be.

Just a few examples of how meaningless rankings can be this time of year. Sometimes players just don't live up to expectations or sometimes there are other factors like academics. Not to mention bad luck, such as star QB's Matt Tuiasosopo and Grady Sizemore signing LOI's only to take their money and run to the MLB after being drafted.