Neal is in Montgomery today for the Alabama-Mississippi Football Classic practices. He'll mostly be working on getting reaction to the Freeze hire. Rivals.com has other analysts down there as well, so we'll get some national content and opinion as the week moves along. There's an Issac Gross video in my email, so I'll load that up for you guys here in a little bit.
I talked to Memphis (Ridgeway), Tenn., running back Jaylen Walton last night, and he hasn't heard from Freeze yet, but he was excited about the hire. He'll still take some official visits, but he told me it's mostly to see other places and use the opportunity. He seems to be really firm and looking forward to talking to Freeze.
Gunter Brewer and Justin Crouse visited Walton last Thursday. From what I hear, Crouse has done an excellent job keeping things settled in the Memphis area.
Neal had this quick quote from Nashville, Tenn., QB CJ Beathard last night.
"From what i have heard about him, he seems like a great coach and the kind of coach and offense i would love to play under."
Freeze was beginning to recruit Beathard for Arkansas State recently, so there is some familiarity.
My good friend Patrick Ochs with the Oxford Eagle talked to I'tavius Mathers last night. Mathers told him he didn't know much about Freeze other than the Blind Side, but his coach told him it was an excellent hire and he was an offensive coach. You're going to hear the Blind Side connection a good bit, and that's not a bad thing. It's a tool that'll help. Like I've said before, Freeze was misrepresented in the film. He's a sharp, articulate speaker and very knowledgable. "Burt Cotton" was mostly a bumbling moron. However, that shouldn't be a big deal. One minute of listening to Freeze, and you get it.
Mathers has an official visit set up to South Carolina in January, and Arkansas and Vanderbilt are still recruiting him pretty heavily. My guess is Freeze will be able to lock Mathers back down. The running back has been a big fan of Auburn, and that's mostly due to the Tigers' offense. What Freeze runs is very similar. Plus, Mathers and Beathard are closer than I realized. They had dinner together recently and are in contact, I was told.
Petal QB Anthony Alford has set up an official visit to LSU for December 16 and will take officials to the three in-state schools in January. Yes, he fits Freeze's offense. Extremely well. Alford is telling everybody he's for sure playing both sports in college and not going in the Draft. You know by now that I'm big on waiting until Draft time before really putting tons of stock into those things. Easy to say right now without the option of a lot of money. However, it's a good sign for whichever school signs him. He's worth the gamble. Alford seems to be mature and intelligent. That's a good start for someone hoping to find the time to be a major college quarterback and excel in another sport. MLB's new CBA could impact Alford and be the extra nudge he needs toward college. He's expected to be a high pick, but it's impossible to know just how the CBA will impact things until we go through the Draft once.
Someone asked on the board yesterday if Freeze planned to keep all current commits. Here's what he said about that.
"As far as the commitments, I want to give credit to Gunter Brewer for holding things together in this interim time. We had a brief meeting today about the status of those commitments. I think they have done a remarkable job as far as how we will proceed with honoring those. That is the state of our program right now. We have to figure out if these kids are the type of characters that fit our philosophies. Some of them I have watched and them some I am not as familiar with. We have to spend time digging into that in the next few days. That is never a comfortable feeling if you choose to go in a different direction, but it is a part of this business. The great thing is that if you do it ahead of time then they have time to reevaluate as well. I would not feel good about notifying them that late in the game. We are going to try to be respectful and do it as well as we can do it if we are going in a different direction."
Say a prayer for New Albany head football coach Ron Price. His wife walked outside their home last night to walk the dog and was shot and killed. Prince was also shot, but the Daily Journal said his wound wasn't serious. Their daughter was inside the home at the time and was uninjured. Just awful.
This post was edited on 12/6 7:24 AM by Chase Parham
This post was edited on 12/6 12:35 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 12/6 2:13 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 12/6 6:25 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 12/6 6:31 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 12/6 9:25 PM by Chase Parham
I talked to Memphis (Ridgeway), Tenn., running back Jaylen Walton last night, and he hasn't heard from Freeze yet, but he was excited about the hire. He'll still take some official visits, but he told me it's mostly to see other places and use the opportunity. He seems to be really firm and looking forward to talking to Freeze.
Gunter Brewer and Justin Crouse visited Walton last Thursday. From what I hear, Crouse has done an excellent job keeping things settled in the Memphis area.
Neal had this quick quote from Nashville, Tenn., QB CJ Beathard last night.
"From what i have heard about him, he seems like a great coach and the kind of coach and offense i would love to play under."
Freeze was beginning to recruit Beathard for Arkansas State recently, so there is some familiarity.
My good friend Patrick Ochs with the Oxford Eagle talked to I'tavius Mathers last night. Mathers told him he didn't know much about Freeze other than the Blind Side, but his coach told him it was an excellent hire and he was an offensive coach. You're going to hear the Blind Side connection a good bit, and that's not a bad thing. It's a tool that'll help. Like I've said before, Freeze was misrepresented in the film. He's a sharp, articulate speaker and very knowledgable. "Burt Cotton" was mostly a bumbling moron. However, that shouldn't be a big deal. One minute of listening to Freeze, and you get it.
Mathers has an official visit set up to South Carolina in January, and Arkansas and Vanderbilt are still recruiting him pretty heavily. My guess is Freeze will be able to lock Mathers back down. The running back has been a big fan of Auburn, and that's mostly due to the Tigers' offense. What Freeze runs is very similar. Plus, Mathers and Beathard are closer than I realized. They had dinner together recently and are in contact, I was told.
Petal QB Anthony Alford has set up an official visit to LSU for December 16 and will take officials to the three in-state schools in January. Yes, he fits Freeze's offense. Extremely well. Alford is telling everybody he's for sure playing both sports in college and not going in the Draft. You know by now that I'm big on waiting until Draft time before really putting tons of stock into those things. Easy to say right now without the option of a lot of money. However, it's a good sign for whichever school signs him. He's worth the gamble. Alford seems to be mature and intelligent. That's a good start for someone hoping to find the time to be a major college quarterback and excel in another sport. MLB's new CBA could impact Alford and be the extra nudge he needs toward college. He's expected to be a high pick, but it's impossible to know just how the CBA will impact things until we go through the Draft once.
Someone asked on the board yesterday if Freeze planned to keep all current commits. Here's what he said about that.
"As far as the commitments, I want to give credit to Gunter Brewer for holding things together in this interim time. We had a brief meeting today about the status of those commitments. I think they have done a remarkable job as far as how we will proceed with honoring those. That is the state of our program right now. We have to figure out if these kids are the type of characters that fit our philosophies. Some of them I have watched and them some I am not as familiar with. We have to spend time digging into that in the next few days. That is never a comfortable feeling if you choose to go in a different direction, but it is a part of this business. The great thing is that if you do it ahead of time then they have time to reevaluate as well. I would not feel good about notifying them that late in the game. We are going to try to be respectful and do it as well as we can do it if we are going in a different direction."
Say a prayer for New Albany head football coach Ron Price. His wife walked outside their home last night to walk the dog and was shot and killed. Prince was also shot, but the Daily Journal said his wound wasn't serious. Their daughter was inside the home at the time and was uninjured. Just awful.
This post was edited on 12/6 7:24 AM by Chase Parham
This post was edited on 12/6 12:35 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 12/6 2:13 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 12/6 6:25 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 12/6 6:31 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 12/6 9:25 PM by Chase Parham
