Good Commits to UCF
Damarius Good https://twitter.com/DamariusGood/status/1074830961219641344
Commitment Schedules
MondayOL Blake Bedier (Snow College)OL Davis DiVall (Bridgton, ME/Bridgton Academy) -- could roll into TuesdayLB Dru Mathis (Moorpark College) -- could roll into TuesdayATH Damarius Good (Altamonte Springs, FL/Lake Brantley)-- COMMITTED to UCFTuesdayWR Kennedy Lewis (Melissa)WednesdayWR Langston Anderson (Midlothian Heritage)ATH Peyton Powell (Odessa Permian)OL Isaiah Hookfin (Dulles)Not SetDE Seth Coleman (Melbourne, FL/Holy Trinity Episcopal)TE Sam Snyder (Orange Park, FL/Fleming Island)
NOT Damarius Good's Final Three
Damarius Good did not post his final three. He retweeted this tweet.We will leave it up for fun.https://twitter.com/touchmoney_uno/status/1074642345512103937?s=21
Sunday Evening
Definitely not the most ideal circumstances currently with a few prospects, specifically Yusuf Terry. At this point I do not expect Terry to sign with Baylor even in February. Paul Matavao-Poialii not signing until February is tough considering Baylor made a huge impression and basically uncovered him out of San Fran for the world to see, but it's hard to blame a California prospect who took his only official visit to Baylor to sign when he's likely to get more attention through the next two months. Junior college offensive lineman Paiton Fears was brought in low-key because of a variety of reasons, but mainly because Texas has been following closely behind the junior college and high school OL prospects Baylor has offered. Texas offered Blake Bedier the night prior to his trip to Baylor trying to get him to visit Austin instead. Texas also worked PMP to a lesser extent but didn't make any headway. I apologize for not being able to put the name out there sooner than I did. I feel like I haven't said this in awhile, but it's always appropriate to tell you that this is recruiting and anything can happen. As of tonight, things still look good for Isaiah Hookfin and Peyton Powell with Baylor. I don't have a specific update, but will keep tabs on them closely between now and signing day. If they put the pen to paper right now, I'd expect both to be Bears. Additionally:- Blake Bedier is still on his visit to Utah. Hopefully I have some more insight there soon but he's been holed up with travel. - Nothing indicates that things have changed with Damarius Good and Baylor. - It still looks like a 50/50 split between OSU and Baylor on Langston Anderson. He did visit Ole Miss this weekend so I wouldn't rule them completely out. - Oregon missed out on a top LB target and would take a commitment from Dru Mathis. He was there on an unofficial visit today. Not sure that I worry about them more than UCLA right now. I'm not as confident about Baylor as I was a week ago. Opinion on YT situationIf I'm Baylor, I'm taking Nevada transfer McLane Mannix today in place of Yusuf Terry. There is a decent chance Mannix will play in 2019 and he wants to be a Bear. While he's playing his two years in Waco, Baylor can work on adding additional WRs to the roster.
Premium Recruiting Reset (Must read to get up to speed)
I know things are getting a little foggy with all of the shuffle and new information leaking out. The running recruiting thread helps that some, but I decided to type up a reset post to get everyone up to speed. As of right now, it's hard to say how many Baylor will sign next Wednesday. There are the 18 current commits who will be Bears + the dozen or so prospects who are still on the board. I know that Jaylen Ellis will not be announcing until the All-American Game, but let's classify him as a signee right now. That would leave Baylor with the maximum of seven spots available for the class to get to 25, the NCAA cap for recruiting classes. The Steps to 25Offensive LineThe address of the junior college defensive end position and the high school safety position leaves the offensive line as the priority. Snow College OL Blake Bedier is on campus right now for his official visit. He is an absolute take. This weekend Baylor will host high school offensive linemen Davis DiVall and Paul Matavao-Poialii. A third offensive linemen, a junior college prospect, will be on campus as well, but we cannot release his name at this time. Baylor is also still strong in the mix for Isaiah Hookfin. I do not see Baylor passing up a commitment from any of these prospects at this time. Depending on the order they came on board, I would say that it would not be a stretch to see four of these end up as Bears. Ideally, Baylor lands the three of Bedier, the unnamed OL and Hookfin, taking them to 21 for the class with 3-4 spots remaining. Whatever the case, ending with a combination of these OL prospects is a priority to close the class. I feel optimistic about Baylor landing a combination of any of the five above to go along with Elijah Ellis.The Best AvailableThis is where things get foggy on my end. I can tell you that ATH Damarius Good, DE Seth Coleman and junior college LB Dru Mathis are definitely priorities in this category. Then again, I think you could still say that WR Langston Anderson and TE Sam Snyder are being treated as priorities as well. The issue is 100% space or Baylor would be shooting to land all of them. The offensive line is taking a priority in terms of space.WR Kennedy Lewis, DB Jaden Gragg and DB Jarrad Baker Jr. look to be fallback options for the best available. Baylor has moved on from DT Isaiah Howard, and communication has been non-existent to our knowledge with LB Victor Viramontes since LB Dru Mathis left his official visit after the first weekend in December.Depending on the OL situation, with 3-4 spots remaining to get to 24 or 25, I believe that a spot will go to one of Good/Anderson, a spot will go to Mathis, and a spot will go to one of Coleman/Snyder. If Baylor has the ability to take 25, and both Coleman and Snyder would like to commit, they take both. Transfers are still out thereTwo transfers, Nevada WR McLane Mannix and Arkansas CB Chevin Calloway, are waiting in the wings to see if there are room. I can tell you that Baylor is still actively looking over these two and both would end up at Baylor if given the opportunity. There are multiple possibilities for how these two could end up on the Baylor roster for 2019, but I believe the most likely is that Baylor only lands two offensive linemen of those available, specifically the two junior college prospects who provide immediate help, eliminating the need for a grad-transfer or a February JUCO signee. A second situation is if Baylor misses on a "BPA". For instance, if Baylor is unable to flip Coleman from Illinois and Snyder heads elsewhere, 1-2 spots are available immediately. Depending on the OL situation, I believe Mannix and Calloway would be the next in line for the spot over the "fallback" options. If only one spot became available, what combination was landed would depend on which received a scholarship. Ideal close to 25...1. Blake Bedier2. JUCO visitor3. One of Hookfin, PMP, Divall4. Dru Mathis5. Damarius Good/Langston Anderson6. Seth Coleman7. Sam Snyder