New Big East
February 05, 2004 01:08 PM | General
February 5, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The process for rebuilding the new Big East football conference began Wednesday with National Letter of Intent day.
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| Rutgers coach Greg Schiano is pleased with his 21-player recruiting class. (Big East photo) |
Besides West Virginia, of the remaining Big East schools Rutgers appears to be the most excited about a 21-player recruiting class that features 12 home-grown prospects from New Jersey. Coach Greg Schiano has made recruiting the Garden State a major priority and it appears to be paying off.
Although the Scarlet Knights failed to land the state’s top player in Don Bosco Prep linebacker Brian Toal, who followed his older brother to Boston College, Rutgers was able to land two of the state’s top 10 players in Lakewood running back Dwayne Jones and J.P. Stevens lineman Jeremy Zuttah.
Rutgers managed to fill its most glaring needs on the offensive and defensive lines, taking five o-linemen and six d-linemen. Schiano also dipped down into Florida to sign five prospects. Perhaps the best of the five is running back Dimitri Linton from Northeast High School in Oakland Park, Fla. He was ranked 60th on Orlando Sentinel’s top 100 list.
“This is the last year I’ll say this is the best class we’ve had at Rutgers,” said Schiano. “Now we’ve hit a level, now it’s going to be the norm for Rutgers.”
Pittsburgh had a disappointing finish to what Panthers supporters were hoping would be a top 20 recruiting class. Local standouts Anthony Morelli and Andrew Johnson changed their minds at the last minute, choosing instead to sign at Penn State and Miami respectively.
Pitt also received a verbal commitment from Florida wide receiver Johnny Peyton before he changed his mind and picked South Florida on signing day.
Still, the Panthers were able to harvest a pretty solid corps of players from Pennsylvania and plucked a couple of good players from Florida. Locally, Pitt was able to sign the state’s small school player of the year in Aliquippa defensive back Darrelle Revis.
Hopewell defensive end Craig Bokor turned down other offers to stay home along with Kiski Area defenders Adam Gunn and Scott McKillop. Pitt’s top Florida recruit may be Dillard High School linebacker Vernon Smith of Ft. Lauderdale. Tom Lemming rated Smith the nation’s No. 7-rated linebacker this year. Also, Plantation, Fla., quarterback Darrell Strong turned down an offer from Auburn to pick the Panthers.
“I think Pitt's class would have to go down as one of the most disappointing classes of the year, along with Notre Dame, Colorado and Auburn,” Allen Wallace of Super Prep magazine told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. “I know some college coaches who question how good Morelli is, but it's still a big blow to lose those two.”
Syracuse has lined up at least 30 signatures this year in a class that will comprise about a third of its roster when they get on campus. Coach Paul Pasqualoni’s best pickup may be Philadelphia tailback Curtis “Boonah” Brinkley, the state’s Class 4A player of the year and a Parade All-American.
But like Pitt, Syracuse failed to land some bigger targets in its own backyard. Tailback Mike Hart, who played at Onondaga Central High School just five miles from the Syracuse campus, turned down the Orangemen to sign with Michigan. In all, the Orangemen failed to land the state’s top seven prospects and the Orangemen also didn’t sign a single player on any of the top 100 lists.
In addition to Brinkley, the Orangemen did secure the signature of Troy High School tailback Kareem Jones, the state’s Class B player of the year. Morrisville linebacker Jamar Atkinson also turned down several offers to stay home. Unlike past years, Syracuse only pulled one player from Florida in Jacksonville defensive back Stacy Brown.
Big East newcomers Connecticut, Louisville, South Florida and Cincinnati are already realizing the positive impact of joining a BCS conference.
Louisville landed the plum of the new Big East in quarterback Brian Brohm, the third in a long line of Brohms to play at Louisville. Brian threw for 3,720 yards and 33 touchdowns at Trinity High School on his way to being named USA Today offensive player of the year. The 6-foot-4 quarterback is being touted as Louisville’s best-ever recruit.
The Cardinals also managed to sign a pair of Florida top 100 recruits in Lakeland, Fla., linebacker Mozell Axson and Winterhaven, Fla., linebacker Lamar Myles.
Joliet Catholic Academy defensive back Bobby Buchanan, the younger brother of Atlanta Flacons defensive back Ray Buchanan, was considered one of the top 20 prospects in the state of Illinois.
Connecticut has realized a surge in interest now that it is about to become a full-time member of the Big East football conference. The Huskies were able to protect their home turf by signing the state’s player of the year in Bristol quarterback D.J. Hernandez and top defensive back Ken Tinney.
Defensive lineman Dan Davis of Plainfield, N.J., was rated among New Jersey’s top 20 players and the Huskies also managed to snag five players from Florida.
“I’m very satisfied with this signing class,” said Connecticut coach Randy Edsall. “These are outstanding young men who will come in here, enhance our program, and allow us to continue to get better.”
Last year, Connecticut went 9-3 in its second season in Division I-A with a full compliment of 85 scholarships.
Another program recently making the jump to I-A status was South Florida. USF made significant progress on the recruiting trail after being admitted into the Big East.
The Bulls locked up signatures from seven of the Sunshine State’s top 100 players according to the Orlando Sentinel. USF’s top-rated prospect is Miami Edison linebacker Brouce Mompremier, the state’s 22nd-rated player. Rivals.com lists him as the nation’s 13th-best outside linebacker prospect.
Other top 100 players giving USF coach Jim Leavitt the nod were No. 35 Terrance Jones, No. 39 Jariette Buie, No. 50 C.J. Hunnicutt, No. 53 Johnny Peyton, No. 67 Jake Griffin and No. 68 Danny Verpaele.
South Florida was able to steal Peyton away on signing day after the wide receiver orally committed to Pitt last fall. Peyton also considered West Virginia and Penn State.
Cincinnati, a program in flux under new Coach Mark Dantonio, was able to put together a 16-player group. The former Ohio State defensive coordinator had to re-evaluate his entire class once he came aboard and several prospects from the prior regime wound up choosing other schools.
Still, Dantonio was able to land quarterbacks Dustin Grutza from Maysville, Ky., and Earnest Jackson from Southfield, Mich.
Grutza passed for more than 8,000 yards and led Mason County to a state basketball championship. Jackson was a three-sport standout at Detroit’s Country Day High School and can move to defensive back if he doesn’t win the QB job.
Dantonio was able to sign two Ohio division players of the year in Warren G. Harding High School linebacker Anthony Hoke and Ravenna safety Lamonte Nelms.
Columbus defensive back DeAngelo Smith and Copely defensive back K.L. Smith also earned first-team all-Ohio honors.
“We wanted to build a great foundation for our program to give us something to build on over the next several years, and to do this, we wanted to find the best players and the best people we could get,” said Dantonio. “I believe we have accomplished this.”
