Tag: junior college

Auburn in top three for top JUCO safety Marquise Gilbert

This would be a nice addition to the signing class.

Marquise Gilbert is the best junior college safety in the country and Auburn has a chance to land him. 

Gilbert released his top three schools Friday and Auburn made the cut, along with Tennessee and Florida State.

Gilbert, who plays for Hutchinson Community College, is the No. 1 safety and seventh-best JUCO player in the country according to the 247Sports Composite ranking. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Gilbert is originally from Florida and played in three games as a freshman at Bethune-Cookman before transferring to Hutchinson C.C.

He played in 10 games for the Blue Dragons this season and made 25 tackles, one tackle for loss, and broke up two passes. He has not yet announced when he will announce his college decision, but he is expected to sign on Dec. 15.

Auburn’s 2022 recruiting class currently has 13 commitments and ranks 32nd in the country and is 11th in the SEC, ahead of only Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Florida – who just fired Dan Mullen. Auburn currently has two other safeties committed in their 2022 recruiting class, 4-star Tre Donaldson and 3-star Caleb Wooden.

No. 1 JUCO scorer, Tyrone Williams, commits to Dana Altman and the Ducks

Tyrone Williams, the top scorer at the JUCO level, commits to the Ducks, joining both Dior Johnson and Kel-el Ware in 2022-23 class.

Dana Altman continues to load up on talent.

The Oregon men’s basketball coach landed Tyrone Williams, the No. 1 scorer on the junior college level. Williams previously played for Grayson College in Denison, Texas.

The 6-foot-5 guard is from Philadephia and last year he averaged an incredible 27.6 points per game, while shooting 55.1 percent from the field, while making 43.5 percent of his three-point attempts. Williams also averaged 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

Because of the pandemic eligibility rules, Williams chose to return to junior college for a third season after the NCAA allowed all athletes to not count the 2020-21 season. But when he comes to Eugene for the 2022-23 season, he’ll be a veteran as a third-year JUCO player and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Williams is the third member of the 2022-23 class, joining both 5-star guard Dior Johnson and 7-foot center Kel’el Ware.

The Changing Landscape of Football Recruiting at Junior Colleges

JUCOs in focus

College recruiting has always been a changing landscape. As technology and coverage have changed, recruiting has improved throughout its evolution, as has the way college recruiters get in contact with recruits and their parents. It’s a way for the colleges to improve their communication in an effort to land highest-ranked recruits in the nation at a time in which recruits are more essential to a program’s future than ever before. 

In our previous column on Trojans Wire, we explored the recruiting landscape at the high school level. Now it’s time to focus on the junior college recruitment process. As was mentioned in the column linked in the previous sentence above, JUCOs have expressed the desire to switch to spring football. How they are going to actually pull that off remains the biggest question of all. While it’s not exactly wise, high school kids are young enough and able enough to potentially play a fall schedule after playing in spring. At the FBS collegiate level, however, that becomes infinity more difficult.   

Kyle Murphy played on the offensive line at Arizona State from 1993-1997. In his opinion, the rigors of the game would prevent people from really being able to give their all to what would amount to two seasons in one year. It also doesn’t account for the injury recovery time window that typically accompanies a fall schedule. Someone injured badly in the spring is now going to have a completely different recovery timetable. 

“The demands required on the body to play collegiate football are extreme,” Murphy said. “Thus, athletes need time to recover from their previous season and prepare their bodies for the upcoming season. Playing in the spring and fall doesn’t afford those athletes that opportunity. They will be more prone to being hurt and/or being injured. What about athletes injured in the spring? Some won’t have the time to properly heal. Player safety is constantly and consistently touted as the most important aspect of the decision making process but I don’t understand how playing in the spring AND fall accomplishes that.”

Of course, none of this accounts for how coaches will evaluate talent at the JUCO level. Are they going to use tape from high school and their collegiate career? Are they going to rely solely on tape? Will they be going to watch these athletes during their own hectic spring schedule? What if colleges do end up playing in the fall? Will they also have to crank up the recruiting right before National Signing Day while using only film? There are so many questions left to be asked. One thing we know for certain is that nothing is certain right now. Whatever ends up happening is surely going to change the way we process the game for good. 

The Athletic is reporting that Juco football will move to the spring

The Athletic is reporting that the NJCAA is close to moving football to the spring. They would be the first league to do so.

In the ever-changing COVID-19 situation there have been reports of leagues cancelling football like the Ivy League. The Big Ten and PAC 12 conferences have decided to cancel all non-conference games. We await the announcements from the ACC, Big 12 and SEC to follow suit. At least that is the current expectation.

What about the Junior College circuit? How are they handling fall sports, specifically football? According to Max Olson of the Athletic, Juco football will be played in the spring*.

*Story requires paid subscription

The National Junior College Athletic Association is expected to announce Monday that it will move to a spring football season, two head coaches told The Athletic. Teams would play up to eight games with preseason practices beginning on March 1 and the regular season beginning at the end of March and extending through the end of May.

The NJCAA is the first college league to move their football season to the spring officially.

“We would like to play football this fall,” Parker said. “But I think from a national perspective, moving it is probably the right decision holistically.”

This is unfamiliar territory on the college recruiting front. As Max Olson mentions in his article, schools will have to make decisions on players they won’t even play this upcoming year. Almost a blind decision for major universities. The Longhorns are no strangers to Juco recruiting but this will be new for all parties involved.

Tyler Junior College head coach Thomas Rocco mentioned trying to have a few scrimmages in the fall. That would put some of these players on film and help the major colleges make decisions.

Why TE Dominick Wood-Anderson could make Seahawks roster

Dominick Wood-Anderson was the top junior college tight end when he went to Tennessee, but his numbers never matched his true skill set.

The Seattle Seahawks brought in a whopping 17 undrafted free agents from the 2020 class to compete for spots on the active roster.

Most years, teams are lucky to get one UDFA to make the squad, as they are primarily brought in to give the team extra bodies during training camp.

However, the Seahawks have had plenty of luck finding diamonds in the rough in years past, including Dave Krieg, Jermaine Kearse, Doug Baldwin and most recently, defensive tackle Poona Ford.

They have a lot who could impress enough in training camp to make the active roster, including versatile tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson.

Wood-Anderson began his college career at a junior college in Arizona, and he eventually joined Tennessee as the top JuCo tight end recruit in the country in 2018.

Wood-Anderson’s performance never matched up with his billing while with the Vols, however, as he only tallied 38 receptions for 408 yards and three touchdowns in two seasons at Tennessee.

While his performance knocked him out of the draft, Wood-Anderson is an intriguing pickup thanks to his size (six-foot-four, 261 pounds) and athleticism (his 35 inch vertical and 119 inch broad jump were top five and top 10 among tight ends at the combine, respectively).

He doesn’t possess top of the line speed however, with just a 4.92 in the 40-yard dash, and he will need to prove he can be an above average run-blocker if he wants any chance of playing in a Seahawks uniform this season.

Seattle is loaded with tight ends this season, bringing back Will Dissly, Jacob Hollister and Luke Willson while adding Greg Olsen, Colby Parkinson, Stephen Sullivan and fellow UDFA Tyler Mabry.

Wood-Anderson’s chances to make the Week 1 active roster are slim, but if he proves he can block and that his production at Tennessee did not match his actual skill level, he could be a nice diamond in the rough for coach Pete Carroll and company.

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Texas offers top JUCO player in 2021 class

UT has offered CB De’Jahn Warren from Hyattsville, MD. The four-star prospect is the top junior college player in the 2021 recruiting class.

Texas has offered cornerback De’Jahn Warren from Hyattsville, Maryland. The four-star prospect is the top junior college player in the 2021 recruiting class.

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