The Army All-American Bowl Update

In a great move for both parties, the US Army All-American Bowl will partner with Rivals.com. Rivals becomes a national sponsor and the official selection partner.

This is great news for recruiting fans. It is the single best All-American event each year coupling themselves with the top national media outlet for recruiting coverage.

The 2008 Players:
East Roster / West Roster

The US Army All-American Bowl will be held January 5th in San Antonio.

NBC will televise the 8th annual game at 1 pm EST.

RESULTS (West leads 4-3):

* 2007 - West 24, East 7
* 2006 - East 27, West 16
* 2005 - West 35, East 3
* 2004 - East 45, West 28
* 2003 - East 47, West 3
* 2002 - West 26, East 6
* 2000 - West 18, east 15

Photo by Daren Reehl.

The Zen Master Strikes Again: Lynn Katoa

Washington and Illinois are two of the hottest programs when it comes to recruiting. Colorado must be added to the list. Dan Hawkins added stud linebacker Jon Major last month, added big California tight end Ryan Deehan just a few days ago and now have landed another outstanding linebacker prospect in Cottonwood High's (Salt Lake City, UT) Lynn Katoa.

The 6-2, 225 lb Katoa committed to the Buffs this weekend. This was a huge victory for Dan Hawkins as Katoa picked Colorado over top-flight programs such as Texas, USC, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma and Miami. How he ranks:

Rivals: #62 prospect in the nation, #2 ILB nationally
Scout: #21 overall, #2 ILB
ESPN: #148 overall, #15 OLB

Landing Jon Major was imperitive as he had built up a relationship with Lynn Katoa and this undoubtedly impacted the talented linebacker's decision.

This kid is special. To start he has only played two years of organized football so at the moment he is getting by on pure athletic ability and raw instincts. Secondly, he will graduate this month and be enrolled for the Spring semester allowing him to go through spring practice and get acclimated to the campus prior to the fall. So clearly he is an intelligent kid.

He can really run when he needs to. Trailing a kick returner by seven yards, Katoa turned on the burners and not only caught up with his teammate but passed him by almost five yards in order to lead block down the sideline. Cottonwood scored. It was very impressive.

There are, of course, issues with having such limited playing experience. He does find himself lost at times, especially on play-action fakes. His fundamentals will need a lot of work as well. Tackling, coverage, blitzing etc.

He has all the natural ability to scrape through traffic and get to the ball carrier though. Getting to campus in the spring will help him tremendously as the CU staff will be able to instill some technique into his game prior to his freshman season.

If The Hawk can just get all these new stud recruits to call Darrell Scott, this could be one of the best recruiting hauls CU has ever had.

No Shocker: Khaled Holmes to USC

Mater Dei high school in Santa Ana, CA is no stranger to talent. The football powerhouse has the Rivals #1 prospect in the nation for 2009 playing quarterback - Matt Barkley. Apparently they got some big uglies too. 6-5, 300 lb offensive guard Khaled Holmes has finally committed to USC. He picks the Trojans over the crosstown rival UCLA Bruins. How he ranks:

Rivals: #5 offensive guard in the nation
Scout: #15 offensive guard in the nation
ESPN: #5 offensive guard in the nation

Khaled Holmes' older brother Alex Holmes played at USC.

The commitment from the top flight offensive guard is the sixth O-line commit for the Trojans. This is the best offensive line class in the nation.

Matt Kalil 6-7, 281 Servite HS (Anaheim, CA)
Tyrone Smith 6-5, 270 Rancho Verde HS (Morreno Valley, CA)
Armond Armstead 6-4, 290 Pleasant Grove HS (Elk Grove, CA)
Matt Meyer 6-7, 295 Lincoln HS (Stockton, CA)
Daniel Campbell 6-5, 320 Aldine HS (Aldine, TX)
Khaled Holmes 6-5, 300 Mater Dei HS (Santa Ana, CA)

Aside from Daniel Campbell, all of these giants are from the state of California. All of them are ranked in the state's top-16. (2,3,9,11,16) This is California, not Wyoming.

It is absolutely sick what Pete Carroll has been able to accomplish.

Ryan Deehan to Colorado

Despite overtures from Eric Cartman, Dan Hawkins and the Colorado Buffs are very pleased to be practicing into the month of December.

Hawkins also seems to be doing the job off the field as well. The CU Zen-Master did a solid job last season of protecting his borders by landing kids like Ryan Miller (who was named to the Big-XII All-Freshman team). Now he is spreading his wings.

The Hawk has gone into California and landed a star tight end. Ryan Deehan, the 6-6, 230 lb Poway high (Poway, CA) product, committed to Colorado before his game Friday. He picks Colorado over Arizona St, UCLA, Washington, Cal and others. How he ranks:

Rivals: #11 tight end
Scout: #26 tight end
ESPN: #22 tight end

Deehan has a nice big frame. He uses his long arms well when catching the football as he plays comfortably in traffic. His hands are strong enough to get the job done on the next level. He is a bit of a project though.

He lacks ideal explosion off the line of scrimmage, whether it is drive blocking or stretching the defense by running down the hashes. He also lacks overall power. Both the explosion and the power issues can be addressed by getting into a strong division-1 weight program. He does have a great frame to bulk up and get stronger. Because he does not have great speed and athleticism, especially after the catch, route running will become a huge part of his game. It is already a strong part of his game but he will need to continue to develop because he will need it.

Overall, Deehan possess the necessary skills to be a very good tight end but he will need to grow up a bit before making a big impact. Overall, this is a very strong pick-up for The Hawk. Plus, it certainly helps Colorado's chances with Darrell Scott having California kids on board.

Crespi-Servite Overtime Thriller!

One California Pac-5 division semi-final could not have offered more excitement. Anaheim-Servite lost to Encino-Crespi 13-10 in overtime this weekend. The other Pac-5 final was not quite as exciting as Long Beach Poly beat Orange Lutheran 2-0. Yes, thats right. A safety to nothing.

Crespi-Servite featured five high-level stars.

Crespi sports three of them. UCLA commit EJ Woods, huge OL Joseph Fauria is committed to Notre Dame and quarterback Kevin Prince is liking headed to Washington.

Servite features two future USC Trojans: athlete D.J. Shoemate and offensive tackle Matt Kalil.

Woods, who has said he is going to look around even though he is committed to UCLA, scored a two-yard touchdown in overtime to win the game. Crespi handed him the ball on almost every play in overtime.

DJ Shoemate, a player that should be ranked in the top-5 nationally, scored Servite's only touchdown late in the game as he tied the score 7-7. Shoemate is Percy Harvin plus 3 inches and 30 pounds.

Long Beach Poly used two key defensive stands inside their own five yard line to win the shootout with Orange Lutheran.

The Jeffersons Move On Up

A little over a month ago, LSU had no quarterback commitments for the 2008 class. In the past few weeks, Les Miles and Gary Crowton dove deep into the heart of Texas for an explosive duel-threat QB named Darron Thomas. Then they added a JaMarcus Russell look-a-like D.C. Jefferson from Winter Haven, FL. To top it all off, local star Jordan Jefferson of Destrehan, LA boarded the LSU ship.

Only one problem. Mr. Darron Thomas felt a bit claustrophobic. He decommitted Friday. He will visit Oregon and the Ducks lead for his services.

Its no surprise that Oregon is where Thomas would turn. Thomas is a game-breaker at the quarterback position. The Aldine high (Aldine, TX) prospect can really run. The 6-3, 200 lb athlete has a similar style to that of current - albeit injured - quarterback Dennis Dixon.

Thomas goes from 0-60 as quick as anyone in the nation. His feet are Will Hill-esque. When he decides to take off and run, the defense better be prepared to chase because he will be going full speed in two steps.

As a passer, Thomas is underrated. He has touch. The ability Thomas has to hit the open man down the middle of the field is a refined art. He also does a great job of keeping his eyes down field looking for the open man while scrambling.

Thomas does not possess elite arm-strength though.

Look for Oregon and Florida to be the finalists here. Thomas is a superb athlete and LSU fans will be sorry that he jumped ship. LSU will settle for a pair of very talented Jeffersons. By the way, at 6-foot-6 235 lbs, D.C. Jefferson is also underrated by the recruiting services.

What is interesting about this decommitment is that it had nothing to do with with Les Miles leaving for Michigan. Texas A&M has already seen Markelle Martin jump ship for Oklahoma because of a coaching change. One positive note for LSU fans is that this class has yet to become a group that would be desirably "poachable" by other teams. Now, the coaching issues might negatively impact decisions made by players like Deion Walker, Julio Jones, Arthur Brown and Chris Tolliver, to name a few, but it doesn't look like anyone will come in and steal away players.