Official recruiting class announcements

(Another) naive question: why would a school delay announcing the recruiting class? Little perceived demand for the information?

 

A few more . . .

Syracuse: Aaron Bonser,Frank Bruno,Issac Collings

www.suathletics.com/index.asp?path=msoccer

Rutgers: Lubos Ancin,Ricardo Arenas, Tommy Birch,
Jason Pelletier,Warren Richards,Adam Sterburger,
Alieu Terry,Daniel Waldo,William Chiles,Jared Oomor,Larry Mark,Tamer Mohammed,Lexton Moy.


www.scarletknights.com/soccer-men/

 

To emailryoung:
A lot of schools are still recruiting...and in soccer...several good players will sign later this spring, unlike football where EVERYONE signs on signing day.

Last year, UNC didn't finish recruiting until April.

Some schools (like Wake Forest) haven't announced, because some of their recruits can't get into the school academically...so there's a lot of maneuvering going on at lots of schools right now.

 

Wonder what the over/under on C'deBaca actually ever sitting foot on New Mexico's campus is? Sounds like NEC likes him a lot.

 

Why the delay in release

Technically, schools are not allowed to release official signings until they are received back at the university.

Also, like luvdabears said, recruiting isn't done yet because a lot of transfers and non scholarship kids aren't finalized. Expect classes to be announced over the next month.

SMU has a strong class but Nunez may be the cream of that crop.

 

Blazers

Sure I'll have to wait until fall before I know UABs recruiting class.

 

It may be that his "commitment" is conditional upon him not getting an offer from NEC. Remember that the compensation rules for foreigners in Holland really raise the bar over there and probably make it really tough on unproven players.

However, as you say his starting every game is a good sign. From what I've read he is definitely there with the intent of winning a pro contract if possible -- not just to get "seasoning" for college ball.

His little brother Seth is also apparently in NEC's academy.

 

Syracuse signs 3...Rutgers signs 14? Any guesses on how many of the 14 make the final roster? Is this a new trend? VT has a bus load coming in, too.

 

Sounds like New Mexico will get a good player if he doesn't get an offer from NEC.

 

Robbie is already listed on NEC's site as a member of their A1 team, though no picture is available.

 

With these recruits Rutgers has six goalkeepers. So, you can guess where at least a couple of the cuts are coming.

 

UCLAs class is now announced. A very good one indeed. There had been speculation that U-17 Brandon Owens had committed there as well. His name is notably missing from this release. What gives?

 

Yes, but I think this is essentially an academy team. The reserve team is different -- it's called Jong NEC. I don't think this constitutes a pro contract necessarily (if at all, don't know how it works).

 

Here's some info on a few local SLU signee's. Still waiting to hear about the two U-17 MNT signees:

LOCAL STANDOUTS SIGN WITH BILLIKENS

ST. LOUIS-Saint Louis University men's soccer head Dan Donigan today
announced that Matthew "Mo" Benne (Ellisville, Mo. / Chaminade), Alex
Matteson (Chesterfield, Mo. / Chaminade) and Vedad Ibisevic (St. Louis,
Mo. / Roosevelt) have signed National Letters of Intent to attend the
University and play soccer for the Billikens. All will have four years
of eligibility beginning with the 2003-04 academic year.

Matteson was a three-year starter for a Chaminade team that shared a
2001 national championship and won Missouri Class 4A state titles in
2001 and 2002. He collected 11 goals and 14 assists as the Red Devils'
main playmaker in 2002.

"Alex is an intelligent, versatile midfielder who plays with intensity
and a certain assuredness," Donigan said. "He's a winner just like his
dad."

Matteson's father, Bob, started for the Billikens' national championship
teams in 1970, '72 and '73. The elder Matteson continued his career with
the North American Soccer League's St. Louis Stars after earning
honorable mention All-America honors in 1971 and '73.

Benne was another three-year starter at Chaminade. Blessed with size and
skill, the 6-foot-1 defender likes moving into the attack and totaled
nine points (2G, 5A) as a senior.

"Mo is strong, fast, athletic and has a tenacious defensive attitude
that is difficult to play against," Donigan said. "He has a strong left
foot and is always willing to join the attack."

A Bosnian refugee who came to the U.S. in 2001, Ibisevic played for
Bosnia's Under-16 national team before immigrating. As a senior at
Roosevelt, he scored a school-record 24 goals and earned a berth on the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro second team.

"Vedad is a gifted goal scorer," Donigan said. "He is skillful has good
vision, is courageous in front of the goal and won't back down from
anything."

 

Washington: http://gohuskies.ocsn.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/021103aaa.html

Derek Crismier (Redmond, Wash./Lake Washington HS), Matt Fischer (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS), Will Flanagan (Ridgefield, Wash./Jesuit HS-Portland, Ore.), Kevin Forrest (Edmonds, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway HS) and Ty Harden (Junction City, Ore./Junction City HS).

 

Yeah, but it looks a whole lot like a sales pitch to me. I think the A stands for amateur team.

Apparently Kazlauskas is still with the reserve team, he's scored a goal according to their site.

 

Penn State officially announced their recruits:

http://www.gopsusports.com/pressreleases/pressrelease.cfm?anncid=3949&spID=20

As expected, Omekanda and Chambers are the blue chip recruits, though some of the others are intriguing too. Omekanda is already enrolled here, he graduated early so that he can practice with the team this spring.

The PSU Daily Collegian has an article about the recruits, it seems like Earnhardt is not a shoe-in to replace Sickman between the pipes. I can't wait to see the youngsters play!

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2003/02/02-14-03tdc/02-14-03dsports-03.asp

 

Couple more SLU recruits. Spoke briefly with SLU's coach, Dan Donigan, last night and I can see why someone would want to play for him. All around good guy.

Sorry for the big post. The links to these are not up yet.


ST. LOUIS-Saint Louis University men's soccer head coach Dan Donigan
today announced that William John (Kansas City, Mo. / Rockhurst) and
David Peplinski (Milwaukee, Wis. / Marquette) have signed National
Letters of Intent to attend the University and play soccer for the
Billikens. Each will have four years of eligibility beginning with the
2003-04 academic year.

"Will has that gift of seeing the game differently than most players,
because of his anticipation of what is about to occur on the field,"
Donigan said. "He is an attack-minded, left-footed player with
outstanding skill and vision."

John is the son of former St. Louis Steamers star Emilio John. He was
the 2002 NSCAA Missouri Player of the Year after compiling 92 points
(36G, 20A) in his senior year at Rockhurst. The Hawklets were Missouri
Class 4A runners-up in 2001 and 2002, but won the 1999 state title
during John's freshman campaign.

"David is gifted goal-scorer," Donigan said. "He goes to the goal strong
and brings that confident, aggressive, attacking attitude to our team."

Peplinski collected 25 points (10G, 15A) during his senior year at
Marquette High School and was named NSCAA All-Midwest Region and an
adidas All-American. He was the Wisconsin Player of the Year and was
nominated for Gatorade's national Player of the Year award. He helped
the Hilltoppers to four consecutive state championships.

 

Penn state recruits

Like I said before, this is soooo surprising for Penn State. They just don't usually land players like this.
Last year they landed Walters and Devlin, and this year Chambers and Omekanda. I think that they may have finally gotten in the group with the big boys. Those types of players usually go ACC.

I think this group is a better group on paper than last years. They were ranked #7 by Collegesoccernews last year, but this one is even better.

#1 class in the country so far on paper is SLU. They are loaded with incoming talent. #2 is Notre Dame and #3 is Stanford. I think #4 is UCLA, #5 may be Penn State with #6 a close SMU. Look for Virginia at #7, Indiana at #8, #9 and #10 are ???

That was fun, can't wait to see Sandon's.

 

Top ACC Recruiting Class

I know how politically correct it is to bash Duke and John Rennie, but they have the top recruiting class in the ACC for this 2003 season. They inked US U-17 defender Kyle Helton from the national champion Atlanta Fire. Helton was also perhaps the most sought after member of the US 17s (ask Elmar and Trevor Adair). The also swooped in and grabbed up defender Danny Miller (Student Sports Magazine rates him as one of the top-10 recruits in the country) from New Jersey, forward Josh Swank (US U-18 national pool player from Texas that was susposed to be going to Stanford) and Chase Perfect from CASL. Perfect seems to be one of the most interesting signings in the conference, because he was the highest rated player on that CASL team that had so many members attend UNC. What was Duke able to do that UNC wasn't to nab him? He also attended the same high school that former Tar Heel Logan Pause attended. Throw in 6'5" Chris Loftus (NSCAA All-American) from Illinois and the Blue Devils have the most complete class in the conference.

Virginia's class will always be rated high because of the US U-18 tab Gelnovatch is able to attach to all of his recruits, but both Cristman and Hall are legitimate national players. Both of the goalkeepers they have coming in (Best and Burke) were not really national players until they commited to play for UVA (how convenient), and Hall's stock has dropped significantly over the last year by other recruiting coaches. Cristman is a legitimate goal scorer and seems to be the one guy that UVA got that other programs were salivating over. Drew Harrison (US U-17s) is a reserve for the national team and looks to have had his stock drop drastically as his weight continues to go up.

An underrated class will be Wake Forest, who was able to land three Region III players in Mark Ellington, David Worthen and Ryan Solle. Add to that group US U-17s Stephen Curfman (who is young and inexperienced compared to the other youth national players), and it's a pretty good class.

Like Rennie's Blue Devils or not, give him and his staff credit for bringing in the ACC's top class this year.