Odds and ends on the class of 2008

Posted on February 26, 2008
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we all know by now the accolades many of the class of 2008 received on the field, but here are a few tidbits you may not have known: 

The coaches added Justin Moreaux, WR out of Lake Charles to the class of 2008.  Justin led the State of Louisiana in receiving yards in 2007-the first year he played high school football.

Sam Schutt, the wide receiver from Tennessee is the son of Savanah pharmicist and mayor, Bob Schutt.  The elder Shutt also challenged the long-time Tennessee Lt Governor John Wilders for that position in year 2000.

Sam is also the cousin of Corey Robinson of Paducah, KY who set national record by throwing 91 TDs passes this year.

Yogi Gallegos is nicknamed after Yogi Berra and has a brother nicknamed “Pudge”.   Gallegos won a State title as a starting QB his sophmore year at Arlington Grace Prep.

Blaize Foltz became the first player to sign with a Div 1 team out of high school.   Previously Rose Hill High was noted primarily for being the first school to give all incoming students a laptop.

Marques Parker was raised by his uncle Yano Jones who is a former arena football player and all-time Iowa Blackhawk receiver.  Jones also trained Nebraska running back Collins Okafor at his Red Zone Academy.

Ross Evans, a kicker from Burnet is nicknamed “The Leg”.  We gotta get him a better one…

The class of 2008:

 

TCU Junior Days hold promise for coaches & players

Posted on February 19, 2008
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Saturday the 23rd day of February the TCU staff will hold its initial Junior Days for recruits being considered as part of the signing class of 2009.  Players will be in Fort Worth hoping to make an impression on the staff and the staff in turn is hoping they also show well for the recruits.  With around 20 slots available for this coming class, the openings are not quite as tight as they were in the previuos class, but still plenty of needs to be filled and again not a full slate available.  As mentioned previously the staff has been aggressive in making offers and hopefully this weekend they will get the first official commits for the coming class.

Some names to watch for this weekend:

Ty Horn OL from Waco Midland.  Ty has great feet and good size and is considered one of the top prospects in the CenTex region. Getting a commit from Ty would be a great start to this class.

Shavodrick Beaver QB Wichita Falls Rider.  Frog fans are quickly learning this name and the skilled QB would bring a new level of energy and overall athleticism to the Horned Frogs.

Knile Davis RB Fort Bend Marshall.  Teammate last season with Jeremy Coleman and one of the primary targets at RB early for the Frogs despite being injured for much of last season.

Current offer list:

The complete list:

http://www.killerfrogs.com/blog/recruiting-pages/2009-recruit-list/

Early offers show a shift in strategy

Posted on February 15, 2008
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2008 recruiting is barelyy over and already 2009 has hit full-tilt.  TCU coaches are definitely taking a more aggressive approach to recruiting by making more offers early and to some very highly regarded recruits.  A concern of many Frog fans has been the limited numbers of recruits at the quarterback & running back positions and that is something that is being addressed early.

The class of 2009 in Texas has an abundance of talent in the skill position and the depth of very good quarterbacks rivals the best in years and TCU going after some of the better ones in the class with at least very positive feedback from the players.  Offers out to Casey Pachall out of Brownwood and Tyrick Rollison from Sulphur Springs shows the coaches are not afraid to mix it up with the bigger schools.  Pachall at least has declined an offer to attend UT junior days in favor of TCU.  Other QBs such as Witchita Falls Rider’s Shavodrick Beaver, San Angelo’s John David Baker, Midlothian’s Bryce Petty and Glen Rose’s Derek Thompson have all expressed a sincere interest in TCU as have many others.

As far as running backs, TCU chasing two of the best in Ft Bend’s Knile Davis and Navasota’s Dexter Pratt.  Both of these players are at programs that have good connections to TCU and here is to hoping that will pay-off soon.  Other noted RBs looking at TCU include Joe Benefield of Elysian Fields, Josh Dorsey from Waller and Tyler Tabor of Crockett. 

This is a new strategy for the coaches at TCU and appears to be a very positive step.  The quarterback’s are receptive to the both the lack of depth at that position current for the Horned Frogs as well as the continued movement of the offense to a more aggressive passing attack combined with a strong running game.

Offers:

The complete lis of 2009 recruits so far is found at:

http://www.killerfrogs.com/blog/recruiting-pages/2009-recruit-list/

 

Its a wrap, well almost….

Posted on February 6, 2008
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The class of 2008 is in, we think.

Signing day came and went with little fanfare for frog fans.  Blaize Foltz fills in the final missing piece, but we kinda knew that one was going to happen.

So what did TCU get from this group and what were the misses?  Obviously we will not really know the answers to those questions for years to come, but heck I gotta write something about this class…

Hits:

QB-we needed one and we got a good one.  Chase (Yogi) Gallegos fills the position that there seemed to be a lot of misses at lately.  TCU certainly has several good QBs on the roster, but depth was getting to be worrisome, especially with the transfer out of Zachary Eskridge.

Big & fast-The individual stars of the class are DE/DT Jeremy Coleman, OL, Trevius Jones and TEs Walker Dille and Corey Fuller.  All big and with speed.

Athletes-again an extremely athletic group.  Gallegos is probably the most athletic QB signed at TCU since Patrick Batteaux, as mentioned the big men are big and fast and Coleman has some ups to his game, Sam Shutt is extremely quick, Greg Burks is projected at LB but was an all-district RB/WR, Marques Parker is an all-american JUCO that practically played everywhere except on the lines, and Bud Patterson averged over 40 per KO return and over 40 per catch as a WR and will play CB.  Obviously we can go on but take it from me, these are some great athletes.

Frog factor-probably above all else, this is a hard working group of athletes who want to play for TCU.  Speed, athleticism, size for the position, etc all play into getting an offer to most schools, but a desire to work and improve makes you a Horned Frog.  Zack Roth came out of HS under-weight and a lot slower than he is now, Walker Dille and Blaize Foltz both worked hard this past season not only adding weight, but working with velocity training, agility, etc., Shutt as we speak is working with a former NFL receiver learning the TCU play book and improving his skills, Gallegos decided to concentrate on football after his commit so that he would come to TCU in the best condition possible, Coleman since committing has added weight to his frame and stressed maintining his speed in preparation for the summer.  All of these kids are working hard today to be better athletes at TCU.

Who plays out of the box?

Of this group who has the best chance of seeing action next season.  Certainly the JUCOs, Roth & Parker, but of the freshmen there are several who have a great chance of hitting the playing field early.  Jeremy Coleman normally would be my best bet, but simply because of the depth on the DL this coming season and the losses expected for 2009 I assume he will get a red shirt, the same for Tevius Jones though he may be good enough to play next season.

Bud Patterson-simply a playmaker, especially on special teams.  Bud will get lots of looks the summer and look for him to the ball in his hands early as well as add depth to the DBs.

Mr Scott-already hits as hard as most of the safeties (Hodge excluded) Chris will sneak in a show some of his skills early.

Ross Evans-OK, with the loss of Manfredini this looks to be an easy pick, but several really good walk-ons ahead of him and Ross will definitely need to work hard to play early, but I think he will get there.

Edward Wesley-if Wesley qualifies and works hard over the summer, he may end up number 2 or 3 on the depth chart depending upon how well Aaron Brown and Joseph Turner recover.  Caveness will get the nod over him, but the push will be on.

The misses:

Always a sore subject to bring up, but you have to look at this objectively, even Notre Dame fans feel the had some misses this year.

RBs-Depth at RB was a huge reason for the problems on the offense in 2007, yet coaches only signed one.  Not only did they only sign one, they told kids such as Devin Thomas and Lester Ward they were full at the position?  OK, I am shaking my head and thinking, what the ever loving holy smuck stinking fart stench were they thinking!  They must have a plan and the plan may be that someone will transfer in that they feel a little more certainty about than I do.  So lets wait and see.

QBs-RBs and QBs, you can never have too many good ones, or so we thought.  Guess we were wrong.

DL-one more big guy would have been nice.

So, this wraps up 2008 at least for a few weeks.  Coaches say more is coming and while we know who isn’t coming lets hope that who is will fill some of these gaps.

Overall just a solid, hard-working TCU kind of class and really proud of this group and the efforts by this staff.  We can complain about the misses and gaps, but few can complain about the efforts being put forth to promote the program by this staff.  Lets hope the rest of the AD catches up to them soon.

The class of 2008: