Recruiting, 2014

[WVAPPeer]

Well get off the damned phone Moose and do your job !!!

[firemoose]

Well get off the damned phone Moose and do your job !!!

Two of the calls were part of it...and for everyone, Barbour is the highest 24/7 composite rated player for our 2014 class. And SID just put out an official release.

http://www.appstatesports.com/ViewArtic ... =209538044

[EastHallApp]

Wow, awesome news! Barbour was ranked the #21 player in NC by Rivals. Major pickup!

Depending on position changes, that could give us up to an 8-man WR class. Think Coach Stepp is feeling good about this class?

[Cincy App]

Thanks Coach Sowell!

[firemoose]

Wow, awesome news! Barbour was ranked the #21 player in NC by Rivals. Major pickup!

Depending on position changes, that could give us up to an 8-man WR class. Think Coach Stepp is feeling good about this class?

Thanks Coach Sowell!

Both are correct. According to reports Coach Sowell was with him when he called App to tell them he was interested. I would guess there was a lot of dancing and more than a few backflips among our staff after they got off the phone with him. And he'll be here tomorrow BTW.

As far as the class goes I'm sure all the offensive coaches are happy with what we are bringing in. Gives us several options, depending on who picks up the playbook fastest, on who to shirt and who to play. Also takes a little pressure off the 2015 class. We are looking at not only taller WR's, trying to find one since we missed on the 6' 3"+ we were looking for last year (currently 13 of our offers are 6' 3" or taller), but we're looking at taking a few more. This will allow us some more flexibility in who we offer and allow us to take a different position should the ones at the top of the board not all come to us. Simply put, this helps us all the way around. Welcome to the Mountaineer Family Mr. Barbour!!!!!

[mtnjax]

I can see him being a Peacock type of WR for us, but with more speed

[MDaniels84]

I can see him being a Peacock type of WR for us, but with more speed

Peacock was such a gamer. If this young man anywhere near approaches Peacock's productivity, this will be one happy camper. With the "Together We Rise" celebration and now this commitment, I can feel the wave cresting in preparation for this season.

[asu66]

Wow, awesome news! Barbour was ranked the #21 player in NC by Rivals. Major pickup!

Depending on position changes, that could give us up to an 8-man WR class. Think Coach Stepp is feeling good about this class?

Thanks Coach Sowell!

Both are correct. According to reports Coach Sowell was with him when he called App to tell them he was interested. I would guess there was a lot of dancing and more than a few backflips among our staff after they got off the phone with him. And he'll be here tomorrow BTW.

As far as the class goes I'm sure all the offensive coaches are happy with what we are bringing in. Gives us several options, depending on who picks up the playbook fastest, on who to shirt and who to play. Also takes a little pressure off the 2015 class. We are looking at not only taller WR's, trying to find one since we missed on the 6' 3"+ we were looking for last year (currently 13 of our offers are 6' 3" or taller), but we're looking at taking a few more. This will allow us some more flexibility in who we offer and allow us to take a different position should the ones at the top of the board not all come to us. Simply put, this helps us all the way around. Welcome to the Mountaineer Family Mr. Barbour!!!!!

So what's the back-story on Barbour? It isn't at all like Wake to be handing out three-star recruits to rivals in July after fall camp is under way. What made this kid so quickly and quietly available to ASU. I'm suspicious as all heck! I don't want to read tomorrow about his bank-robbing or child-kidnapping arrest. JK, but ya do have to admit, it's highly unusual for July and for WFU.

[Appsolutley]

Chuck, based on the Rivals (Mountaineer Illustrated) story, I would doubt that there are any skeletons in the closet. I think our coaches (particularly Stepp) sealed the deal on this one.

[MDaniels84]

I was reading over at the Deacs message board and they are saying that he committed really early to them (last August) prior to the coaching change and that he might not have hit it off so well with the new coaching staff in place. No real problems according to them.

[firemoose]

I was reading over at the Deacs message board and they are saying that he committed really early to them (last August) prior to the coaching change and that he might not have hit it off so well with the new coaching staff in place. No real problems according to them.

This ^^^. He committed to Wake on Aug 9th. From all conversations I've had he just didn't like the direction of the new staff. Word was last year that he liked App when he visited (little tidbit. He signed exactly 1 year to the day of his visit, July 2nd) and having a App grad as his HS coach didn't hurt but with 6 BCS offers just too many higher level choices. But this is exactly the reason we throw out offers to kids like this. You never know when things can change. For all intents and purposes he is taking a 2015 WR scholarship by which I mean we'll probably take one less WR than planned in the 2015 class but that's not a problem since our main goal for 2015 was to push for one or two 6' 3"+ WR's if we can find them and just supplement our 2014 class. We just added one more piece with Barbour. Takes a bit of pressure off of WR for 2015 and gives us some wiggle room in who we shirt and who we take.

Slowly but surely the staff is working on building a core for each position and that's how you win at the FBS level. You can go the route others have taken and bring in a bunch of JUCO's but that will eventually catch up to you. As the old saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. Personally I like the approach we are taking. The staff has always said that the two goals were to shoot for 2015 and to build a solid foundation at each position to carry us forward. Looks to me like we are off to a good start.

[GoApps70]

Additional reason may have been that Wake Forest was going to
red shirt him from their articles. He and another receiver. But
they talked glowingly @ him. Of course is too early to really
make that determination, so was probably just speculation.

[Saint3333]

I've heard Wake's new staff is going to be a tough sale for southern guys.

[AppfaninCAALand]

This goes to my theory that Wake has the most to loose from all the new FBS schools in VA, NC, and GA.

[asutrnr81]

Thanks Coach Sowell!

This could really be cool as Johnny has a few really talented kids coming through the program right now! Hope they qualify and get recruited by APP!

[proasu89]

Additional reason may have been that Wake Forest was going to
red shirt him from their articles. He and another receiver. But
they talked glowingly @ him. Of course is too early to really
make that determination, so was probably just speculation.

Heard yesterday that he was the causality of more commits than scholarships. Coach Sowell made a call to Coach Satterfield and asked him if he "could help
out an instate kid". Glad we could lend a hand.

[GoApps70]

Additional reason may have been that Wake Forest was going to
red shirt him from their articles. He and another receiver. But
they talked glowingly @ him. Of course is too early to really
make that determination, so was probably just speculation.

Heard yesterday that he was the causality of more commits than scholarships. Coach Sowell made a call to Coach Satterfield and asked him if he "could help
out an instate kid". Glad we could lend a hand.

Wow, if that's the case we really got lucky.
Thanks Coach Sowell.

[EastHallApp]

Additional reason may have been that Wake Forest was going to
red shirt him from their articles. He and another receiver. But
they talked glowingly @ him. Of course is too early to really
make that determination, so was probably just speculation.

Heard yesterday that he was the causality of more commits than scholarships. Coach Sowell made a call to Coach Satterfield and asked him if he "could help
out an instate kid". Glad we could lend a hand.

Wow, if that's the case we really got lucky.
Thanks Coach Sowell.

Not sure I buy that explanation.

When schools find themselves in that situation, the usual solution is to ask a recruit to grayshirt, not cut him loose entirely.

And if they did need to "waiver wire" somebody to get under the 25/85 limits, they had plenty of lower-rated recruits than Barbour.

The more common explanations I've seen/heard have been either a) didn't mesh with the new staff, or b) didn't meet Wake's academic requirements. I'd guess one or both are more likely than him being a scholarship casualty.

Of course, I could be totally wrong. Whatever the case, glad he's at App.

[firemoose]

I already posted what I was told directly from the staff concerning us, Wake, and how he fits into our plans. I'm going to take their word and I'm done with it. He's here and everything is just fine.

pssst...East....letter a

[JTApps1]

Additional reason may have been that Wake Forest was going to
red shirt him from their articles. He and another receiver. But
they talked glowingly @ him. Of course is too early to really
make that determination, so was probably just speculation.

Heard yesterday that he was the causality of more commits than scholarships. Coach Sowell made a call to Coach Satterfield and asked him if he "could help
out an instate kid". Glad we could lend a hand.

Wow, if that's the case we really got lucky.
Thanks Coach Sowell.

Not sure I buy that explanation.

When schools find themselves in that situation, the usual solution is to ask a recruit to grayshirt, not cut him loose entirely.

And if they did need to "waiver wire" somebody to get under the 25/85 limits, they had plenty of lower-rated recruits than Barbour.

The more common explanations I've seen/heard have been either a) didn't mesh with the new staff, or b) didn't meet Wake's academic requirements. I'd guess one or both are more likely than him being a scholarship casualty.

Of course, I could be totally wrong. Whatever the case, glad he's at App.

The academic requirements for players at Wake aren't much higher than our if not equal. Those are easy excuses to throw out to the masses when you loose a talented player.