Okay,
the football commitments aren’t rolling in at a machine gun pace, but coach
Kevin Wilson is building some momentum as we approach the halfway point of
July.
Illinois
tight end Danny Friend has pledged to the Hoosiers. That gives them four
commitments, two at tight end. The other is Evan Jansen from Cincinnati.
Friend
figures to be more of a blocker,while Jansen is more of a receiver. This should
provide some much needed offensive balance, while providing a boost at a
position that historically thrives under Wilson.
He
wasn’t shy about using the tight ends while at Oklahoma. Neither was offensive
coordinator Seth Littrell when he was at Arizona.
The
6-5, 240-pound Friend is rated as the nation’s No. 30 tight end by Rivals.com,
the No. 17 player overall in the state of Illinois. He had scholarship offers
from Purdue, Oregon, Iowa State, Boston College, Central Michigan, Northern
Illinois, and more. He also was drawing interest from Notre Dame, Michigan
State and Northwestern.
In
other words, Friend isn’t a stiff. He has the kind of potential the Hoosiers
will need if they are to make a move in the Big Ten.
Friend
is IU’s highest rated player in the Class of 2013 so far. The others are
Jansen, receiver Isaac Griffith and defensive end Patrick Dougherty.
*****
Is
Trevon Bluiett playing his way into elite status?
It
sure seems that way. The Park Tudor forward is going on a scoring frenzy during
the Adidas Invitational. In one game the 6-5 Bluiett had 32 points for Spiece
Blue. In another, he had 31.
*****
When
we last saw Jeff Rabjohns of peegs.com, he was stopping by the Adidas
Invitational at Indianapolis North Central before driving to Washington D.C.
for the Nike Global Challenge. He didn’t have to stop by. He had a 10-hour
drive ahead of him. But he did because that’s his nature, because he doesn’t
want to miss anything. Finally, he hit the road.
That
road paid off when super recruit Beejay Anya told Rabjohns IU is one of his
five finalists. Coach Tom Crean flew out to the Global Challenge to evaluate
Anya and make sure the nation’s No. 32 player in the Class of 2013 understands
how much Crean wants him to join the Cream ‘n Crimson.
Bet
the house that when Anya finally makes a college decision, it goes the Hoosiers
way.
*****
Remember
all the hoopla surrounding the announcement that the Big Ten and the Pac-12
would form a sports scheduling partnership that would involve football and a
bunch of other sports?
Well,
it’s dead. Apparently the Pac-12 got cold feet and squelched the whole thing.
Why did it happen? Here are the comments from Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott
via a release:
“After extensive deliberation and consultation with member institutions, television partners and others, the Pac-12 and Big Ten have decided not to pursue the previously announced plans for enhanced scheduling collaboration across all sports at this time. While we continue to value our close relationship, particularly our partnership in the Rose Bowl, the Pac-12 came to the conclusion that it’s in our best interests to maintain our nine-game conference schedule and maximum flexibility in out-of-conference scheduling. Thus, the Pac-12 decided not to lock into the proposed mandatory 12-game schedule in football.”
Here is Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany’s response via the same release:
“We are disappointed to announce today that the Big Ten Pac-12 strategic collaboration announced jointly in December 2011 unfortunately will not be consummated. We recently learned from Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott that the complications associated with coordinating a non-conference football schedule for 24 teams across two conferences proved to be too difficult. Those complications, among other things, included the Pac-12’s nine-game conference schedule and previous non-conference commitments.
“A great effort was made by both conference staffs to create football schedules that would address the variety of complexities, but in the end, we were just not able to do so.
“While everyone at the Big Ten is disappointed by the news, we look forward to continuing the historic partnership that we have with the Pac-12 and to working together on other matters in the future.”
No comments:
Post a Comment