Homer Ferguson from the site I referenced earlier today about Jelani Jenkins sent me an e-mail explaining what I didn’t get the first time around:
Jelani Jenkins was a UVa lean, but his teammate Caleb Porzel decommitted about a week ago. Porzel’s parents got very nervous about the number of kids who Al Groh has brought in who get busted for weed. Also, Mike London was the lead recruiter for that high school, and London left last January to take the head job at Richmond. His first move was to bring in 3 kids from the Peninsula District, which is the hotbed of HS football in the area. UVA never had much luck there because Al Groh doesn’t get along well with the local coaches.
Homer was also kind enough to give his take on Kevin Newsome:
You also referenced Kevin Newsome. Forget it. He’s going to Vah-tech. Michigan doesn’t have a shot in the world. If he commits to Michigan, that means they bought his mama a new house. To get a player out of the 757, you need to get someone with ties to the area or deep, deep pockets (a la Percy Harvin, Chris Bell, Jerod Mayo). WVU hired Chris Beattie who coached Tahj Boyd one year at Landsdown (alma mater of Percy Harvin) and knew Logan Heastie from trying to recruit him to move into Landsdown district. Coach Cav and Coach Newsome from Vah-tech are going to lock Newsome up ASAFP. They thought they could sleep on Boyd because they have his HS coach in their back pocket, but Boyd and Heastie were a combo deal. Heastie wanted to go out of state, and Boyd got mad because Vah-tech wasn’t pushing that hard. But, Coach Cav won’t let that happen with Newsome.
I’m not necessarily sure he is going to be right in the long haul, though I do see VT as one of Newsome’s favorites. However, it’s a bit too impersonal to say Player is from X area, therefore he will attend X State University. Newsome seems to be genuinely interested in Michigan, and they have a real void at his position. We’ll have to see how this one shakes out. Note – I have also heard (secondhand) that VT people think they are fighting an uphill battle for Newsome.
Anyway, thanks a ton to Homer, and make sure you check out his site.
Posted under Recruiting
Tags: jelani jenkins, kevin newsome, Recruiting
i will laugh so hard if newsome ends up coming here. like you said he has a genuine interest in Michigan and “vah-tech” has no offense to speak of. not to mention tyrod taylor would be in front of him for 2 years whereas he could step in here and play from day one (theoretically, who knows how well threet or feagin will end up playing, or what other QBs we will get)
i certainly hope we get him but what he said is very true, I think it will be tough to get him away from VT. he seemed very impressed with UM on his visit but there is still a long way to go.
Hey Obes… it is Homer L Ferguson. You got served, bee-atch!