Miami legacy commits to Florida

Urban Meyer does it again. And he is not making friends.

Luckily for him he does not get paid to make friends, he gets paid to win football games. He is doing what he needs to do to accomplish those goals despite receiving some criticism for his recruiting tactics.

Big time offensive line prospect Matt Patchan, son of a former Miami Hurricane player, chose the Florida Gators over the favored Canes.

Maybe the most important point of evaluation for offensive lineman is the mental attitude. Or more importantly, how does the mental makeup translate into the trenches. Killer instincts or mean streaks are needed to be top flight players along the offensive line. Coaches want a player that never stops beating defenders into the ground. Patchan has that edge to his game.

The 6'7" 280 lb Seffner-Armwood product is arguably the best o-line prospect in the nation and is an excellent pick-up for the Gators.

Big time defensive tackle prospect, Omar Hunter, has recently decommitted from Notre Dame and has Florida at the top of his short list. He has really played well in Orlando at the Under Armor AA game. At 5'11" 315 lbs, Hunter would be another monster pick-up...literally.

Photo by Athlon Sports

US Army AA Game Notebook:

Heading into this game I really felt that the offensive skill position players were better on the West team and that the defensive front seven was better on the East team. That was pretty much how the game played out with one exception. No one can stop Terrelle Pryor.

There is no substitute for supreme talent. It was a clean sweep from the top prospect in the nation. He took home not only the win today but also the games' Most Valuable Player and the US Army National Player of the Year award too. It is very easy to see that he is clearly the best player in the nation.

Some random thoughts....

The athleticism was very apparent at the quarterback position for the East team with Pryor, Star Jackson and MarQuies Gray. The West had no answer for the speed at the QB position.

Miami defensive tackle prospect Marcus Fortson was dominate as the East shut down the West ground game. The linebackers were all over the field led by another Miami defender Arthur Brown. There is no way Brown plays in the middle. He was noticeably smaller than guys like Steven Filer and Etiene Sabino. Brown will be a fabulous weakside backer.

The wide receivers for the West were phenomenal. D.J. Shoemate, Dan Buckner, Jameel Owens and particularly Michael Floyd played well. I would have liked to see Shoemate used more out of the back field. I am very high on all four of these kids.

Gerell Robinson is very raw and very good. He is a smart, well-spoken kid that has freakish size and athleticism. He may want to redshirt at Arizona St to learn the subtleties of the wide receiver position. He is gifted enough to play right away though.

Speaking of the Pac-10. The west coast had a great day landing three of the kids announcing on Saturday. Robinson is headed to ASU; Solomon Koehler leaves Hawaii for the desert and Arizona; Covaughn Deboskie chose Cal.

Alabama and Georgia are in a heavyweight bout for the SEC recruiting race. After stealing A.J. Harmon from Clemson, the Bulldogs are making a strong push for not only the SEC crown but maybe the top class in the nation.

With Gray's commitment to Minnesota, Tim Brewster has found a piece to build a future around. The Gophers' class is very strong as the Big Ten doormat has dipped into Texas, Chicago and now Indianapolis to snag a lot of solid prospects.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
AJ Harmon - Georgia
Patrick Johnson - LSU
Shayne Hale - Pitt
MarQuies Gray - Minnesota
Ryan Williams - Va. Tech
Solomon Koehler - Arizona
Gerell Robinson - Arizona St
Covaughn Deboskie - Cal
Brandon Smith - Michigan

Photo by Rivals.com

US Army All-American Announcements:

Every year the US Army AA game affords plenty of action for recruiting fans. It pits top flight talent versus top flight talent allowing evaluators to really get a look at prospects with the lights on. It gives football fans a taste of the future. And then there are the announcements.

This year there are plenty of big names making their picks on Saturday...

Predictions:

Shayne Hale - Ohio State
Young Hollywood Johnson - Florida (LSU is major player)
Solomon Koehler - Arizona
Ryan Williams - Va. Tech
MarQueis Gray - Minnesota
Brandon Smith - Michigan

Covaughn Deboskie was supposed to announce as well but it has leaked out that he chose the Cal Golden Bears. He is a nice pick-up for Jeff Tedford and Co.

The US Army All-American Game airs Saturday, Jan 5th at 2pm EST on NBC

Athlon Sports National Recruiting Blitz

Athlon Sports Sr. Ed. Mitch Light sits down to grill me about the Athlon Consensus 100. We break down the first twenty names to roll of the press.

We touch on some other topics as well...Iowa, Cincy, Kansas and Missouri all came up.

You can listen to the Athlon Sports National Recruiting Blitz at Athlon Sports Podcasts.

Here is my Deeper Look at 81-90.

Athlon Consensus 100: 81-90

The latest ten names of the Athlon Consensus 100 have been released.

81. Lamaar Thomas - ATH - Friendly, MD (OSU)
82. Garrett Goebel - DT - Lombard, IL (OSU)
83. DeSean Hales - ATH - Klein, TX (Texas)
84. D.J. Monroe - CB - Angleton, TX (Texas)
85. E.J. Woods - S - Culver City, CA (UCLA)
86. Brandon Thompson - DT - Thomasville, GA (und.)
87. Jerrell Harris - LB - Gadsden, AL (und.)
88. Nick Perry - DE - Detroit, MI (und.)
89. Josh Jarboe - WR - Ellenwood, GA (und.)
90. Joe Adams - ATH - Little Rock, AR (USC)

This is a very athletic group. Thomas, Hales and Adams will all find themselves on offense although Adams could be used in both defensive and offensive capacities. Woods and Harris play like missiles and can really hit.

The state of Georgia is off to a great start with five players in the first 20 names. Cali and Texas both have three.

Corner and the mysterious 'athlete' position each have four prospects. However, this might be a bit misleading as at least Thomas and Hales will be playing WR, which has two players. WR might be the deepest position in the AC100.

Ohio State and UCLA each have three prospects committed. Texas and UGA have two.

The Big Ten and Pac-10 each have four commits. The SEC and Big XII have three each.

MOST UNDERRATED: Lamaar Thomas, this kids is a bigger version of Percy Harvin. Expect him to get the ball out of the backfield (maybe in a few sets as QB), as a wide receiver and especially a return man. He is a game-changer.

MOST OVERRATED: Goebel/Thompson. Now, they both could end being good. Goebel needs what Thompson has and Thompson needs what Goebel has. Goebel is very technically sound and plays very smart football but lacks burst and raw athleticism. Thompson has great explosion and athletic ability but lacks fundamentals and technique. Both could be good though. I actually like all ten of these kids but these two seem to have the most work to do.

Stay tuned to AthlonSports.com every Monday and Thursday as we release ten more names each day until Signing Day on Feb. 6th.

New Year's Decommitments: Hunter/Johnson

Two major names celebrated their New Year's with two not-so-surprising resolutions. Both of these kids have had rumors swirling around their recruitment for some time now. They both just made it official this week.

Buford, GA defensive tackle prospect Omar Hunter has decommitted from Notre Dame and Ely High (Fla.) standout Patrick Johnson broke off his ties with Miami. Neither is a shock. Johnson has been rumored to have been decommitted for a long time and stories about Hunter had surfaced a few weeks ago.

Both of these players are considered top-100 type players. Both will be featured soon on the Athlon Consensus 100.

The Hunter loss hurts Notre Dame just a bit more however. Notre Dame's top priority this season in recruiting was defensive and offensive line play. Charlie Weis has done a great job of addressing those issues with names like Trevor Robinson, Ethan Johnson and many others. Hunter was a linchpin of the D-Line class though. With the new 3-4 scheme, it is imperitive that a big, versitile tackle can play head-up on the center. It is just a tough task to find guys like that and Hunter is one of them.

Miami is still loaded on the defensive side of the ball in this class. The-U has the best linebacking class in the nation and recently added top-flight safety and former FSU commit C.J. Holton. Plus, I think Patrick Johnson was a bit overrated. When a kid brings this much turmoil upon himself so early in his career, I back off.

Hunter's finalists: Auburn, Florida, USC (my guess is Auburn)
Johnson's finalists: Florida, Florida St, LSU (my guess is Florida)