Gridironstuds.com Blog

What’s in a meal? Some college coaches would say everything.  In this fast moving world of college football, the championships and the glory seem to go where the money is and one of the increasing places where money is spent is in training table.

For those of you new to the game, training table is the dining service provided for the athletes at major universities.  With football being the sport on campus that contains the largest amount of participants, training table gains most of it’s exposure through it’s assistance with the football team.

Through the years, training tables have evolved into a dining experience that would put P.F. Chang’s or Ruth Chris Steakhouse to shame.  Players at the major college football programs are enjoying well cooked meals to delight the palate but it’s more than that.  Most teams employ a nutritionist to carefully plan meals for all of the members of a team.  It is typical for players on a team to be separated into three categories: gainers, maintainers and weight losers.  Player’s meals are constructed for them based on the categories they fit in and they are provided with a number of choices based on those goals.

The meals they enjoy will far surpass what most of them experienced while in high school.  It is yet another tool in player development that is being used by schools to gain a competitive advantage over their opponent on the field.  It is also a factor not to be overlooked by potential recruits as they make their college choice.  The end game for prospects is to choose an institution that will allow them to grow and improve the most four to five years from now.  Training table is a part of that equation.

Florida State’s Training Table Program:

Recruiting News college football recruiting, florida state

They say championships are won in the offseason and if that’s true then Notre Dame Dons High School (Niles, IL) running back Chris James is ready for big things.

James was already a talented performer for the Dons as a sophomore in 2011 but was not a featured player in their offense.  However, that could change. Working with rising local athletic trainer Jack Casico of Twicethespeed.com,  James has packed on close to 20 lbs. of muscle and shaved more than a tenth off of his already solid 40 time.  James can only be described as tightly compacted ball of explosion standing at 5’10″ 200 lbs and clocking a 4.40 in the forty.   If those numbers are not impressive enough,  then add to that James’ 290 lb. bench press and 505 lb. squat.

“I’ve been working twice as hard and its going to pay off come game day,”  said James

That’s good news for James and his Dons teammates and bad news for opponents.  Notre Dame featured a wide open passing attack in 2011 run by talented senior QB Nick Pieruccini who will be playing for Minnesota State this season.  This year,  they will have little choice other than to give James a ton of touches.

“The coaches have been telling me we are going to run the a lot  more, so im pretty excited for the season,” James stated.

With the strong offseason work and physical maturity that James has experienced this season, the 2014 running back has evolved into a Division-I prospect.  He was impressive at a number of summer college camps including Illinois and has recently received strong interest from West Virginia University.  Along with that, he has heard from schools like Arkansas and several other quality D-I programs.

“I grew up a Buckeye fan but I had a unofficial visit at Arkansas last summer and loved it,” said James when asked what school stands out the most at this point.

It’s still early in the process for James who,  barring injury, promises to make a huge impact on the field and garner a huge amount of college interest.  James has set his sights on rushing for 1,800 yards and 25 TDs this season but that takes a back seat to some even loftier team goals he has had on his mind.

“We want to get to states this year.  I think we have a good chance.”

A lot of that will ride on the health and performance of James and he has packed on the armor for this upcoming season.  Casico has put a lot of sweat into James as he sees a lot of determination and potential.

James says he is partial to a pro-style offense so teams that run that style will catch his eye.  With that in mind,  James has listed Arkansas, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Oklahoma as his dream schools.  He will also likely take a bigger interest in West Virginia as they have taken a liking to him.

Gridironstuds.com has added Chris James to our 2014 Recruit Watch List and we are quite anxious to see how James blossoms on the field this season for the Notre Dame Dons.

Click here to view Chris James highlight video and profile,  click here.

General, Recruiting News 2014 prospects, forty yard dash, Illinois, ohio st., oklahoma sooners, running backs, west virginia

Recruiting high school quarterbacks is never easy.  The most important position for any program always has it’s challenged when it comes to recruiting and sorting through the hype can be a difficult task for coaches.

When it comes to Boeing Brown,  there’s no hype,  just substance.  Cut the tape on and you will see Brown looking off defenders, fitting balls into tight windows,  making touch passes, commanding the offense and scrambling for first downs and more.  The 2013 QB out of Brookfield, Connecticut has been finding holes in defenses since his sophomore year and has continued to improve with each season.  The most amazing thing about Brown is not his football IQ, his arm strength or his production,  it’s that he does not yet have a division I offer.

The recruiting game is a puzzle, to say the least but this one is a real head scratcher.  A look at the tape and you think that he was walking around with 10, 15 even 20 division I offers but that’s just not the case. It’s not like he is lacking the physical attributes either.  Brown is 6’4″, weighing 215 lbs.  He also runs a 4.65 forty.  Despite all that, the offers are yet to come despite fielding interest from several top notched programs.

“I have developed very good relationships with Coach Canada at Wisconsin, Coach Bible at NC State, Coach Taaffe at UCF and Coach Werner at Ole Miss. I also communicate still with Coach Mangus at South Carolina for advice and Coach Elrod at Wake Forest to keep in touch,” Brown said.

He has also made his way around the camp circuit in an almost unheard of manner.

“I did Northwestern, Wisconsin, NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, Florida, UCF, Maryland, UMASS, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Indiana, Tennessee, UCONN, Yale, and ELON,” replied Brown when asked what camps he has attended this offseason.

He has shown that he is not afraid to lace em up and compete any time, any place.

The biggest obstacle for Brown seems to be the fact that he plays football in Connecticut which is not regarded as a hotbed for high school football. Brown still feels that Connecticut football is highly underrated.

“I feel I face great talent, underestimated talent and when reporters and coaches compare CT to FL, IL, TX, NJ, ETC, it is assumptions, but we play good football here.”

Brown does have a pedigree for college football as his dad played for Central Florida in the 80′s.  This, along with other things, makes UCF one of the teams he would like to play for.  Along with the Knights,  Brown has his sights set on a couple of other schools.

“I would say Wisconsin, UCF and NC State in that order and all dream schools for me,” said Brown when asked what are his top schools.

For now he is finishing up the summer camp circuit and getting ready for his senior year.  His Bobcat football team is looking to improve on last year’s 5-5 finish.  Brown remains patient and feels like he will end up at the right school for him in the end.

“I am confident the right school will come, they all know me and they are watching me.”

“If Wisconsin, NC State or UCF offer soon I would lock it down with them as I have visited, I am communicating with the coaches and so it would make sense, but I am open to options and looking forward to a really good season.”

Click here to view Boeing Brown’s highlight video on Gridironstuds.com

High School Football, Recruiting News

When you are a high school football player holding 21 offers from Division I schools it’s tough to say that you are in need.  However,  2013 wide receiver Dionte Taylor out of University School (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)  is looking for some attention from up North.

Specifically,  Taylor has his eyes on the Michigan Wolverines.

“They have a strong academic reputation, a huge fan base and tradition in football,”  Taylor said.  ”I made a checklist of all the things I want in a school and Michigan has them all,” he continued.

Along with reputation, fan base and tradition in football,  Taylor is drawn to the fact that Michigan is one of the top teams in their conference,  they run an offense he can excel in and the school is located not too far from a major city.

The biggest problem with Michigan for Taylor is that he does not yet have an offer from them.  Of the 21 offers that Taylor currently has,  Boston College, Wake Forest, Nebraska, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF stand out for him.  With that said,  Michigan is still a program that Taylor has his eyes on.

“I have a really strong interest in their program and school. I will be a major asset to their team and family and that If given then opportunity, I will be a committed and dedicated player to their program,”  Taylor said about Michigan.

For now,  Taylor will continue to polish the skills that have made him a highly touted recruit with offers from across the country.  His University School team kicks off their 2012 season in Ohio against state power Trotwood Madison.  Look for him to put his skills on display and hopefully catch the eye of the Wolverines in the near future.

Check out Dionte Taylor’s highlight video,  click here now

High School Football, Recruiting News 2013 WR, dionte taylor, michigan wolverines, university school

There’s a ton of excitement building around the University of Massachusetts campus and it’s about football.  The Minutemen begin their transition into to FBS football and will be competing in the Mid American Conference more commonly known as The Mac Conference.  Such a move dictates that the Minutemen will need to continue to add dynamic players to their roster and the did that today by securing a commitment from 2013 Athlete Donnice Woods out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida’s University School.

Woods has provided excitement on the field since his days as a youth football player.  He was the master of exciting long runs while at Douglas High School as a sophomore and then took his talents to University School his junior year.  It was at University School that Woods made his mark as a dynamic player that can make things happen in all three phases of the game.  Woods’ highlight video is loaded with nifty punt returns and improbable runs after the catch.  It’s this element of play that the UMass coaching staff is looking to bring by signing Woods.

“They want to use me as a speed guy,” said Woods. “Line me up in the slot, outside some times. Run jets sweeps, quick passes and also as a deep threat,”  he added.

Early playing time was a key factor in Woods decision along with a good feeling about the coaching staff for UMass.

“They are great people up there and it’s a great school.  The coaching staff is great and they said they could really use me,”  Wood said.

The Minutemen’s move to an offensive happy MAC Conference means that they will need more players like Woods sooner rather than later.  Woods relationship with current Minutemen Marken Michel and Antoine Tharp assisted in getting him to Massachusetts as both players spoke of highly of the school and the staff.

Woods plans on majoring in business at UMass and plans to visit the campus on September 1st.  His opportunity to make an early impact help Woods choose UMass over Kentucky, Indiana and a few other offers that he had on the table.  He is now focused on the upcoming 2012 season in which his University School team is poised to make a run at a Florida state championship.  Woods is one of 15 players on the roster with offers from Division-I schools.

When asked what he will bring to the table to UMass,  Woods’ answer was simple.

“Speed, swag and leadership”

Recruiting News dj woods, donnice woods, MAC conference, recruiting, umass

Miami Pace H.S. has had a reputation of putting out D-I talent over the years and that tradition continues with a number of top notched players in the class of 2013.  One player starting to receive attention is defensive back Logan Oce.  Here’s his Gridironstuds.com evaluation.

Recruiting News

While the majority focus is on the upcoming class of 2013 in recruiting circles,  it is not unusual for the bigger schools to extend offers to the next class which would be 2014 in this case.  The Miami Hurricanes have gotten a jump on the race for 2014 talent by extending 26 offers already.

Breaking down the positions that the Canes have extended 2014 offers to:

4 Running Backs
5 wide receivers
2 Tight Ends
5 Offensive Linemen
3 Defensive Tackles
2 Defensive Ends
4 Linebackers
1 Defensive Back

Notables among the offered are Sony Michel,  running back out of American Heritage High School in Plantation.  Michel has been on the recruiting radar for three years now despite moving into his junior year this coming Fall.  Michel was offered by the Canes as a freshman.  Miami Central running back Dalvin Cook also has an offer from the Canes.  Jamil Kamara,  wide receiver out of Virginia also has a Cane offer.  The 6’2″ 190 lb. prospect can count Miami as one of 23 offers he is currently holding.  6’7″ offensive tackle Orlando Brown out of Suwanee, GA has 17 offers with Miami being one of them.

On the defensive side of the ball,  Woodbridge, VA defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand has a Miami Hurricane offer among 24 others from big programs around the country.  Defensive End Andrew Brown out of Chesapeake, VA has 23 offers with Miami being one of them.  Defensive Back Quin Blanding is one of the most heavily recruiting 2014 defensive backs with 21 offers and Miami is a part of that group.

Of the 26 offers the Canes have extended to 2014 prospect at this point,  15 of them belong to players that reside outside of the state of Florida.  The Canes have only one commit out of the 2014 class thus far and that is Miami Central H.S. offensive tackle Trevor Darling who pledged to the Canes on April 5th of this year.

Recruiting News college football recruiting, Miami Hurricanes

Well I told all to watch out for Miami’s Lamar Miller as the likely first Gridiron Stud to be drafted into the NFL but lost sight of LSU’s Rueben Randle.  Low and behold Randle it was and he went to the defending Super Bowl champions,  how ironic for a Gridiron Stud.  Randle closed out the 2nd round at pick #64 to the New York Giants as they added another weapon to Eli Manning’s arsenal.  Randle joins Hakeem Nick and Victor Cruz to bolster an already solid wide receiving corps.  Gridironstuds.com was started in January 2009  and Randle was a member of the initial class entered into the Gridironstuds.com recruiting database. Congrats to Rueben on achieving this milestone in his career and we are delighted at Gridironstuds.com to have reached this milestone ourselves.  Check out Rueben Randle’s Gridironstuds.com profile,  click here.

High School Football, NFL, Recruiting News lsu tigers, nfl draft, rueben randle

Brett Goetz has always been good at putting things together.   He once put together picnics for underprivileged kids.  He brought back an optimist football program in South Beach, Florida.  He even arranged for trophies to be handed out to kids with perfect attendance in elementary schools in Miami Beach.    However,  nothing he has put together has brought him more attention than the amassing of high school football talent he has harnessed over the last four years.

Once a small gathering of local football talent to go compete in a 7-on-7 tournament,  the South Florida Express tryout has turned into a grand thoroughfare.

“When we started four years ago we invited 30 kids to tryout and 35 kids showed up,”  said Goetz.  “Now we get 200 kids to tryout.”

Kind of reminds you of the progression of Rocky Balboa drinking raw eggs in a tiny apartment in Rocky I to Rocky Balboa the sports car driving mansion owner in Rocky IV.   This year’s South Florida Express tryouts drew as Goetz said, roughly 200 of the most talented football players in South Florida and probably the country.   It also attracted approximately 40 reporters from a wide range of recruiting publications looking to get the jump on next year’s hot recruiting prospects

“I started this to get the kids some attention,  never thought it would get this much,”  Goetz explained.

Last year’s version of the South Florida Express brought home the Badger Sports  national 7-on-7 tournament championship.   This only meant that more eyes would be on the gathering of talent this year and boy has it ever.   Talent has never been an issue for Goetz’s teams,  in fact,  after falling short the two previous tournaments,  the Express was starting to feel some heat for failing to win it all.   Goetz’s teams theoretically were the most talent rich in all of the tournaments but could never seem to win it all.

Taking a look at the list of players who have come through the roster,  you can see where people were coming from: Jamal Berry (Ohio St.),  Etien Sabino (Ohio St.).  Geno Smith (West Virginia),  Ivan McCartney (West Virginia),  Steadman Bailey (West Virginia),  Jeremy Cash (Ohio St.),  Ethan Grant (TCU),  Jakhari Gore (LSU), Eduardo Clements (Miami),  Tony Grimes (Ole Miss) just to name a few.

Last year,  Goetz’s South Florida Express team was the runner up in the regional tournament in Tampa and gained a berth to the national tournament in Alabama.  As a treat for the players,  Goetz,  once again put something good together and took his players on a college tour.  On their way to Alabama,  Goetz and South Florida Express made stops at Florida St., LSU, Ole Miss, Alabama and Florida.  It was an opportunity for players,  most of which could not afford to take unofficial visits,  to see several of the schools that were recruiting them.   This year,  Goetz has preliminary plans to take the Express to Georgia Tech, Georgia, South Carolina, Clemson and Alabama.

The attention that has been received as a result of all this talent coming together has not all been positive.  Goetz has been called a “street agent” and a shill for certain colleges among other things.

“I guess it’s hard to believe that someone can do this for the kids as opposed to everyone else that’s trying to make money on these kids,”  said Goetz.  “I’ve been working with kids and giving back for a long time.”

One of the biggest attacks on Goetz has been that he is on Ohio St.’s payroll and is somehow getting compensated by the Buckeyes to steer his athletes their way.  Goetz believes that was likely started by a fan of a school that missed on one of his players.  It was spearheaded by three of his early participants,  Etiien Sabino, Travis Howard and Jaamal Berry attending Ohio St.

“What people don’t know is that their (Sabino and Howard) assistant coach at Krop was Sonny Spielman (father of Chris Spielman) and a huge Buckeye fan,”  explained Goetz.  “He was the one who told Sabino to go to their summer camp after his sophomore year and he fell in love with it.”   Goetz would further explain that Howard wanted to play with Sabino so he checked out Ohio St. and loved it too.  A year later,  Berry became a Ohio St. signee and Goetz got painted as a shill for the Buckeyes.

“I grew up a Cane fan and went to every game as a kid,”  said Goetz.  “Then I became a Gator fan when I went to school there.”   Goetz points out that five of last year’s South Florida Express players signed with  Louisville earlier this month so he’s expecting the Cardinal payroll rumors to get cranked up any minute now.

Goetz never played the game of football but if you’ve seen him at the tryouts or any of the South Florida Express practices,  he’s got everything under control.  Goetz’s mastery of bringing things together has included garnering help from some of the best local football minds at the high school level.  While they are cooking up the X’s and O’s,  Goetz is making sure that everyone has what they need; from the kids, to the coaches to the reporters that are trying to get the info they require on the prospects.

When you get 200 plus players to show up for your tryout,  it’s almost impossible not to put together one helluva talented team and that is certainly the case with this year’s edition of the Express.

“I still need more time around these guys to see if there’s chemistry like last year but we are deeper this year as far as talent,”  said Goetz.   Few would argue.  Anyone familiar with the South Florida high school football scene realizes that the roster is a who’s who of playmakers in the southern tip of perhaps the most talent rich region of the country.   One of the roster members,  Deon Bush, has pulled down 20 offers since the tryouts two weeks ago.  Another,  Tracey Howard,  has been invited to the Army All-American game.

It will be another crazy ride for Goetz and his South Florida Express team but it’s all in an offseason’s work for the mastermind Goetz and his crew.

High School Football, Hurricane Sports Nation aj leggett, akeem jones, amari cooper, avery johnson, brandon snell, daniel braverman, dashad tucker, david reed, deandre jasper, deon bush, devonte mathis, dinero moss, duke johnson, ej hillard, eric kinsey, freddie davey, gunnar holcombe, hugs tieene, isaac mcdonald, jeremiah mckinnon, joseph mcclary, keith brown, macgarrett kings, malcolm lewis, nequan phillips, ricardo lewis, sojurn shelton, sony michel, stacey coley, tracey howard, tyler cameron, willie bailey

By: Kyle Blank – www.Hurricanesportsnation.com

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Suprise commit Rashawn Scott out of Melbourne Central Catholic High. Scott didn’t play against the highest level of ompetition this season, but he obviously caught the eyes of the UM coaching staff.

Scott stands in at 6″2 198 and runs a 4.5 in the 40. Scott chose Miami over West Virginia, USF, Michigan St., Illinois as well as others. Scott is not afraid to go into coverage, or go over the middle. He is a tough minded receiver that doesn’t mind stretching out for balls. Stay tuned for more on this surprise commit.

Hurricane Sports Nation