Northwestern Signing Day Creepy Post
by Rodger Sherman on Feb 2, 2011 1:35 PM CST
in Northwestern Wildcats Football
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Class canceled! But we stay hustlin' the snow, and furthermore, we still hustle in the snow.
Quite frankly, I don't pay attention to recruiting, because its creepy and they'll be at NU eventually, but for one day, I'll write a post about the 17 guys who said they'll be playing at NU next year. RUSH NORTHWESTERN FOOTBALL.
Signing day at NU is never that fascinating - we never have any guys we don't sign if they've committed and are rarely up for guys who hold out this late. Errbody who said they'd go NU did, so, that's great.
NU got 15 3-star recruits and two 2-star recruits - not a great class, by anybody's standards, even NU, but it's on par with what NU has been doing.
Jump it.
Let's go position by position:
Offensive line (4): Jack Konopka, Matt Frazier, Shane Mertz, Jeff Mogus
Graduated: Keegan Grant
Need: The o-line was spotty this year, but it was also very young. All five starters - Grant was a semi-starter, semi-backup at right guard - will be back.
Playability: None of these guys will play as freshman. The only o-lineman I can recall playing off the bat was Patrick Ward, also NU's only four-star recruit in recent years.
Jack Konopka (Inverness, Ill., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Oregon, Illinois, Purdue, Duke, Cincinnati
About him: Konopka was recruited by a lot of schools for his tight end talents - he had three touchdowns his senior year and played in the "USA vs. the World" game as a tight end - but eventually decided on NU over Purdue to play offensive line.
Shane Mertz (Hazlet, N.J., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Illinois, BC, West Virginia, Virginia, Rutgers, UConn, Duke
About him: He's a big boy, 6-foot-8. Which is awesome - he'll join Neal Deiters as the team's tallest player. As such, he's an offensive tackle, and was considered the 19th best player in New Jersey by Rivals. Unsurprisingly, he threw stuff for the track and field team because he's 6-foot-8 and that's terrifying.
Matt Frazier (Bourbonnais, Ill., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Memphis, Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, a bunch of I-AA schools
About him: The guard was considered the nation's 32nd best but didn't draw any major conference offers. He played o-line and d-line in high school, which is pretty customary, and made Tom Lemming's all-area team.
Geoff Mogus (Lorain, Ohio, 3 stars)
Notable offers: Illinois, West Virginia, Vanderbilt, pretty much the whole MAC
About him: Mogus was an all-Midwest offensive guard per Rivals and played in the Ohio vs. Pennsylvania game. P.S., Rivals has access to kids' GPA's? That's overwhelmingly creepy. Mogus: 3.88.
Wide receiver (3): Cameron Dickerson, Christian Jones, Pierre Youngblood-Ary
Graduated: Sidney Stewart, Lee Coleman
Need: NU seems to not care whether or not its wide receivers should be good, they just end up having spectacular seasons. This year, it was pretty much the Jeremy Ebert show, but the Cats have young talent in Rashad Lawrence, Venric Mark, and Tony Jones who should improve over the next few years.
Playability: Last year, NU burned three wide receiver redshirts because they were all good athletes and NU needed players. Stewart's loss isn't as big as I might have imagined coming into the year - he didn't have the senior campaign we might have hoped - so I'd be surprised if NU's wide receiver rotation isn't very, very similar to the one we saw last year. All three of these guys are 6-foot-3, so, that's size that NU seems to always be kind of lacking at the wide receiver spot.
Christian Jones (Houston, Texas, 3 stars)
Notable offers: Stanford, Arkansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas, Kentucky, Iowa State, Harvard
About him: The only one of these three Rivals considers to be among the top 100 in the nation, a lot of schools were probably scared off after he tore his ACL in practice, essentially ruining his senior campaign. He came back but was only able to play three games and record ten catches. However, he came back, which is a good sign. He is the second Christian and fourth Jones on NU's roster.
Pierre Youngblood-Ary (Orlando, Fla., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Rice, Navy, Colorado State, Memphis
About him: By far the most intriguing name on NU's signing day list, mainly because his last name is "Youngblood-Ary" Pierre went by "Xavier Youngblood-Ary" for most of the recruiting process, but in a surprise twist, appears to have asked NU to go with "Pierre", his middle name. You'll be disappointed at first seeing he only had nine catches his senior year, but it's aight: his team ran the option, so it wasn't a passing-based offense, and when they did pass, he had 296 yards and four touchdowns. He captained basketball and track teams in high school
Cameron Dickerson (New Milford, N.J., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Indiana, Vanderbilt, Duke, Akron, Harvard
About him: Damn, we stole Harvard's wide receiving corps. Dickerson was Rivals all-Atlantic (whatever that means) and lit up opponents for eight TD's his senior year.
Defensive end (3): Max Chapman, Deonte Gibson, C.J. robbins
Graduated: Nobody
Need: Sometimes it doesn't seem like NU has anything going up front. Sometimes, they actually don't. NU was very weak against the rush all season long and outside of Vince Browne, didn't get much pressure on the quarterback. Browne is now a senior, so the line is definitely a place that needs work. NU didn't sign any defensive tackles to replace Corbin Bryant, so the onus for stopping the struggles up there is on Jack DiNardo, Niko Mafuli, and now-sophomore Will Hampton.
Playability: NU is pretty open at the defensive end position on the other side of Browne - I feel like there will be competition for those spots these guys could factor into.
Max Chapman (Ponta Vedra, Fla., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Stanford, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Syracuse, Duke
About him: Chapman was considered the 54th best defensive end in the country by ESPN. He played on the weak side in addition to playing tight end and long snapper. He was on the track team in the 100-yard dash, which is a good sign for a defensive end, and apparently was on the HIspanic Honor Society in high school, continuing Aroldis' trend of being Hispanic and named Chapman as well as my grandfather's trend of being Hispanic and named Max. (p.s. NUsports, if you put things in their player bios, I will comment on them.)
Deonte Gibson (Lakewood, Ohio, 3 stars)
Notable offers: Pittsburgh (decommitted), Stanford, West Virginia, Kansas, Louisville, Cincinnati
About him: After Wannstache got eliminated from his job at Pitt, Gibson reopened his recruiting, deciding on NU last week. The defensive end is No. 44 in the nation at that spot and second-team all-state in Ohio. He was a teammate of Magus and played in the same Ohio-Pennsylvania thing as him. 22 sacks his senior season, yikes.
C.J. Robbins (LaSalle Ill., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Indiana (decommitted), Minnesota, Northern Illinois, Central Michigan
About him: Keep changing coaches, other teams! It lets us take your players. Robbins isn't nationally ranked or anything but was honorable mention all-state in Illinois.
Running back (2): Jordan Perkins, Treyvon Green
Graduating/leaving: Stephen Simmons, Scott Concannon, Arby Fields
Need: One of NU's biggest on the roster: NU went by committee last year, and it was scary and confusing as NU never decided on who their best running back was ever. Mike Trumpy defaulted into being the ballcarrier a lot of the time. And there's nobody there that has shown any signs of emerging as NU's best running back.
Playability: If you're good, we'll play you at running back. Or even if you're not. NU has played true freshmen at running back each of the last two years, and that will likely continue as nobody is guaranteed carries at all.
Jordan Perkins (Lodi, Calif., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Stanford (decommitted), UTEP, Fresno State
About him: Keep changing coaches, everybody! After Harbaugh left Stanford, NU had a shot at the nation's No. 31 running back, according to Tom Lemming. It's a pretty big get for NU since it happened so late in the recruiting game - he'll probably get carries next year. In seven games his senior season, he rushed for over 1,000 yards including a 266-yard, 3-touchdown player performance. He was a rare four-sport athlete, which just seems like it takes too much time. 5-foot-11, 177 actually isn't a bad build for an NU running back, nor is a 4.53 40 time.
Treyvon Green (Mesquite, Texas, 2 stars)
Notable offers: Wake Forest, Memphis, North Dakota, Louisiana-Monroe
About him: NU was one of only three I-A schools to offer the 5-foot-9 back. He was actually three stars according to ESPN, but Rivals had him at two. He was an all-district selection after running for nearly 1,500 yards his senior year in addition to 19 touchdowns. The list of schools offering him is the least similar group of colleges of all time.
Cornerback (2): Jarrell Williams, Nick VanHoose
Graduating: Justan Vaughn
Need: I know I said NU looked weak against the rush, but they also looked weak against the pass. Things went questionably, although Jordan Mabin had a very good year on one side.
Playability: NU will probably look to who they already have in-house to replace Vaughn at one starter spot, even though the players they have on roster - Demetrius Dugar, Jeravin Matthews - haven't had much time there. I just get the sense it's a spot that you need to put in your time to earn time at, and would be surprised if NU went way out of its way to play Williams or VanHoose, neither of whom is the star of the recruiting class.
Jarell Williams (Robbins, Ill., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Minnesota, BC.
About him: The No. 22 player in the state and 53rd best cornerback in the country, Williams had two pick-sixes his senior year - in addition to six as a running back. His government name is Jason Williams but he'll go by his middle name, Jarell, to avoid the legacy of motorcycle crashes, murder, and bad white man tattoos associated with that name.
Nick VanHoose (Urbana, Ohio, 2 stars)
Notable offers: Indiana (decommitted), Ball State
About him: The second of two 2-star athletes, VanHoose - one word, get used to it - continues in the tradition of FIRE YOUR COACHES EVERYBODY so NU can recruit them. His main talent in high school, like Williams, was running back. Not surprising, considering with a 4.4 40 time, he's the fastest player NU signed. He gained 1,495 yards with 15 touchdowns, but at 6-foot-nothing, apparently most schools saw him as a DB.
Quarterback (1): Zach Oliver
Graduated: Nobody
Need: Persa.
Playability: Persa, Watkins, Colter, Siemien ahead of him - it would take three injuries to burn his shirt.
Zach Oliver (Baton Rouge, La., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Tulane, Tulsa, Western Kentucky, Arkansas State
About him: He's 6-foot-4, which means I want him to play quarterback right away. He's the No. 26 pro-style quarterback in the country, according to Rivals, and won the MVP of two all-star games after graduating. No other real offers is always scary, but he has the high school stats and NU tends to pick em well at the quarterback spot.
Linebacker (1): Drew Smith
Graduated: Quentin Davie, Nate Williams
Need: Welp, Davie and Williams are gone. They'd held things down at linebacker, well, ever since I got to NU, so, three years now, and NU will have to find people to replace them. They've got a lot already in-house though - Bryce McNaul, Ben Johnson, David Nwabuisi, Roderick Goodlow, Damien Proby - they'll find people.
Playability: Despite the graduation, there's a lot of depth at linebacker. Smith might see some depth chart action, depending on how good NU's second-stringers are, but probably not as a freshman.
Drew Smith (Cincinnati, Ohio, 3 stars)
Notable offers: Cincinnati (decommitted) Stanford, Minnesota, Marshall
About him: Keep decommitting, bros. Smith isn't nationally ranked in his spot at OLB, but was all-conference and played in the stupid Ohio Pennsylvania thing I'm tired of writing about.
Superback (1): Mark Szott
Graduated: Josh Rooks
Need: Not really. Drake Dunsmore still can't be tackled. Without Rooks, they will be looking for a tight end-esque guy, though, which Szott is.
Playability: Probably not as a freshman - superbacks don't get on the field enough to necessitate a burnt shirt.
Mark Szott (Naperville, Ill., 3 stars)
Notable offers: Northern Illinois, Air Force, Ball State, Central Michigan, Marshall, Illinois State
About him: He's 6-foot-4 and played tight end in high school, so he might be Josh Rooks 2.0. In three years, he had 47 catches and no touchdowns (apparently, either that or they just forgot to put it in) so I'll just go out on a limb and pretend he's the best blocker of all time. He also played basketball and was captain of the baseball team, so there's that.
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Your honesty is 100% accurate.
It is creepy, it is a bit odd to talk about high schoolers so much, etc. But overall, my big issue is with ESPN saying that all these high school athletes are ‘divas’ and ‘primadonnas’ for doing these hat ceremonies, yet, they are the people who are taping it, encouraging it, and profiting off these things. It’s just bizarre.
In terms of NU, yup, we are who we are, no worse than 3-5 and no better than 5-3 in the Big Ten. Let’s hope for the great events to put is into the Outback Bowl, which is still ehh. Call me when we make a BCS bowl (1st or 2nd place in the Big Ten) or at least Citrus/Capital One bowl (3rd place in the Big Ten).
by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Feb 2, 2011 2:14 PM CST reply actions
Quote from Fitz
I went from a zero-star prospect to a 2-time All-America. Put that in your pipe & smoke it.
Dude, take it easy. He’s done a lot of good things at NU, but he still has a losing Big Ten record as a coach and hasn’t won a bowl game. Until he starts turning 3 star or lower guys into All-Americans, which he’s yet to come anywhere close to doing, then I’ll continue to be disappointed by recruiting classes that rank at the bottom of the conference every year. I’m amazed at the free pass he gets from many fans for his poor recruiting.
not all-americans...
but persa/ebert/etc. were not 4-star recruits and they became all-big ten at nu.
by Rodger Sherman on Feb 2, 2011 4:25 PM CST up reply actions
Poor Recruiting?
Just because Fitz does not pick up a lot of 4 or 5 star prospects does not mean he is a poor recruiter. He is a genius at picking up under-the-radar, underrated prospects that are a good fit for the system. Sherrick McManis, for example, was a 2 star recruit coming out of high school
his classes are consistently ranked in the bottom third of the big ten
2007: 9th
2008: 11th
2009: 9th
2010:10th
2011: 11th
now there are certainly recruiting limitations at Northwestern, given the lack of fan support and high admissions standards, and yes, he has found some diamonds in the rough that have exceeded expectations. however, his stated goal at today’s press conference is to win a big ten championship. he is going to have a very very tough time doing that without getting better recruits.
He is going to have a very very tough time getting better recruits without winning the Big Ten. It’s a vicious circle. HOWEVER. Despite our classes being ranked near the bottom of the conference, we’ve ALWAYS finished better than 9th. If that’s not a sign that recruiting ratings are hit or miss then I don’t know what is. Why so pessimistic?
mostly just annoyed by the quote
he comes off as a blowhard
Look on Rivals.com
at the level of talent in the Pre-Fitz vs. Fitz era. You’ll notice that since Fitz has been the coach, we are now getting almost all 3-star recruits vs. the 60-75% 2-star classes from 2002-2006.
Since his 2 best classes, 2010 and 2011, haven’t made much of an impact on the field yet (and what we have seen from the likes of Mark, Smith, Jones, Lawrence, etc. has been very impressive), I think that we can only wait and see.
I also think that you left a few years off of your statement above.
1975-1993: 10th
1994-2006: 11th
2006: 11th
2007: 9th
2008: 11th
2009: 9th
2010:10th
2011: 11th
by Craig from the Southside on Feb 3, 2011 9:24 AM CST up reply actions
that "11th" is dubious
Rivals has us 9th/12. And those rankings are based on a formula that encourages signing 25 players, which is something that “5 to play 4” NU just doesn’t do. If we’d signed 8 more 2-star guys (which we probably could’ve), we might be able to jump another spot or two.
So, anyway, this recruiting class is better on paper than those that won our Big Ten championships.
by calmer than you are on Feb 3, 2011 1:09 PM CST up reply actions
true
per rivals, nu has the eighth. illinois, minnesota, and indiana nabbed more guys, which nu couldn’t have done because they’re at the 85-scholarship limit after only graduating 13 guys last year, of which even less were scholarship players.
by Rodger Sherman on Feb 3, 2011 1:20 PM CST up reply actions
eighth
… in terms of average player rating. sorry. that was important.
by Rodger Sherman on Feb 3, 2011 1:21 PM CST up reply actions
Agreed with PFoley
Don’t understand why people bother with the Rivals/Scout ratings. Maybe you can identify the Top 100 players at a specific position, but given that they’re playing in different contexts and leagues, I can’t see how you’d realistically rate them in order accurately.
Furthermore, there’s no context for these ratings in terms of what systems these guys get recruited into. Where does TCU rate on these things? Last time I checked they weren’t Top 25 this year, and that was after winning the G-damned Rose Bowl. I’m gonna assume that those kids that pulled that off this year weren’t on everybody’s magazine covers coming outta high school.
Given our academic standards, and other challenges, I wouldn’t expect that NU would be the #1 Rivals rated class. Ultimately, its do we have the right guys for our system?
To me, the comparison would be Wisconsin basketball. Bo Ryan always brings in these guys who are never ranked top 100, but they can play in the swing system. His bigs take a while, but when they become seniors — man, look out. (Krabbehoft, Butch, et al) All he does is keep getting #5 seeds in the Tourney.
Anyway, like Pfoley sez — why so pessimistic? I do like the trend that a few of these guys who were offered accepted right away because they had great memories of Northwestern as junior high students, and wanted to be a part of NU. Nice.
www.massivecreativity.com
Loretta makes a good point
I’m not unhappy with the class. It seems like we’ve got some guys who can make a difference in the years to come. However, it seems as though we should at least be in the middle of the conference, not 11th (as we are according to Rivals). Fitz has done a great job turning low ranked recruiting classes into middle of the pack Big Ten teams. What could he do with the fourth or fifth best class in the conference?
I realize I’m probably being too idealistic. I understand the recruiting blocks NU faces every year with academics among other things (I still stand by my unattractive females statement made in an earlier post. If there are a bevy of good looking girls here, I’m missing them in which case I blame Rodger for scaring them all away from our fraternity. But I digress). We’ve been able to put competitive teams on the field for the last four years. I know nothing about coaching a college football team, but it seems to me that we should be able to recruit better.
In the end, though, we’ll be competitive again next year. We’re just not going to win the Big Ten or anything.
I'll split the difference on this argument.
I agree with some that Pat Fitzgerald’s recruiting classes have been subpar and seem below even Northwestern’s standards. However, his finishes in the Big Ten have reflected that either a) he coaches the players up well, b) recruiting class ranking are very difficult to predict, and c) the natural improvement of a player is very difficult to predict.
But, I do think it is bizarre for Pat Fitzgerald to be so brazen about telling people how the rankings mean nothing and that his desire to win Big Ten Championships can be attained with the 10th or 11th ranked recruiting class is laughable. Until we do better than tied for 4th in the Big Ten, it is hard to imagine a Big Ten Championship, which are very high and lofty standards.
Pat Fitzgerald to me is the anti-Jay Cutler. Regardless of his performance on the field, people love him, b/c he is a Northwestern Alum, the most successful NU football player in recent history, a very rah-rah guy, says ‘Northwestern’ football so many times to the point where it means nothing, wears 3-4 USA flags on his headset/sweatshirt/hat, and is such a proud alumni of NU that if he goes 0-8 for 3 years, people will not want someone else. That is to Pat’s credit. Personally, I think for NU to be 3-5 to 5-3 in any given year reaches the barometer of success for NU very well, so I think it’s not a problem. However, if he is holding Big Ten titles as his goal, then I will evaluate him a little bit differently.
by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Feb 3, 2011 10:41 AM CST reply actions
Which of his classes have been below NU's standards?
by calmer than you are on Feb 3, 2011 1:10 PM CST up reply actions
I like your login name, that is a good one for sure.
I think having your last couple of years being 9th – 11th in recruiting is not really that impressive. I’m not saying NU’s standards are to be top 4 every year, but to be that poor I would think it’s not a great job of recruiting. Especially when you consider that he is getting an 8 year extension and his goal is Big Ten Championships. If NU wins a Big Ten Championship with 9th – 11th ranked recruiting classes, he will be coach of the year by far. Just let me know when that happens.
by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Feb 3, 2011 1:56 PM CST up reply actions
I'm looking at those rankings posted above
and it seems to me that NU’s “standards” are pretty much bottom of the barrel in terms of the big ten. Almost 20 years at 10th, followed by more than 10 at 11th? That’s 3 decades of bottom of the league. In that time span we’ve done everything from going to the Rose Bowl and winning the league to going 0-12. Fact is our admissions standards hinder recruiting significantly, and we always (as of late) play above our supposed level. It’s not out of the question to win the Big Ten next year, or at least win the division. A stretch, sure, but stranger things have happened
That being said
speculating on recruits is stupid. Let’s just see what we’ve got and form expectations accordingly. I’m much more excited about getting Persa back and having an experience laden team than the potential of a few recruits who haven’t done sh*t yet.
Agree w/one exception...
I don’t want to hear about academics. Stanford, a better academic school that Northwestern, has an elite athletic department and just won a BCS bowl game. Academics wasn’t the excuse with Gary Barnett, NU won games. If we are cashing Big Ten checks, please try to compete in the Big Ten.
by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Feb 3, 2011 8:36 PM CST reply actions
Stanford has had 2 winning seasons since you graduated
Their last season was good, but to look at them as a beacon of success is a mistake.
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