If you were reading practice reports for the last week, you might draw one conclusion from the punter competition as to who the leader was ...

• From what I could tell, Grossnickle and O'Neill punted better this morning. So good chance Brundage will be cut from the competition.

• Sophomore Zach Grossnickle and freshman walk-on Darragh O'Neill appeared to out-punt Mark Brundage, a walk-on transfer from Rice, during the competition. If the competition for punter was based solely on today, he would win the job easily.
• grossnickel then boomed all of his punts. Distance, height, spiral, turning the punt over. He was by far the best. He has a freakin leg.
• I have been paying careful attention to the punting competition throughout camp, and it seemed clear to me that Grossnickle was consistently better than the other two. He averaged a better hang time4.5 to 4.6 seconds compared with 4.1 to 4.3 and he was usually longer.
• Grossnickle's punts were averaging about 4.6 seconds of hang time, versus 4.1 for O'Neill and Brundage.

But if you depended on first-hand practice reports to predict a final two punters, you'd be wrong.

According to the official CUBuffs.com website, Embree decided to "go with a gut feeling" and named newcomers Darragh O'Neill and Mark Brundage the finalists for the starting position. Brundage played a half-season at Rice with pretty decent stats; O'Neill has never played football.

The last time a head coach said something similar about kicking, it was "he who shall not be named" stating that he just had a "gut feelling" that Goodman would have a good day.

Punting Newcomers Named

Enjoy -- highlights of our QB commit Shane Dillon at the Ellite 11. Nice. (non premium content)

LINK to video:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/video/recruiting-football/elite-11-shane-dillon-1096543

(There is a short commercial, but they get right to the good stuff after that.)

  


  via photos.teamzonesports.com

From 247 sports: Link to full article

The official Elite 11

Following Friday’s workout, the Elite 11 staff, led by head coach Trent Dilfer, selected the final official Elite 11. Their selection was based on a number of factors including some off the field variables such as film study, chalk talk and grasp of the playbook as well as their on the field performance.

The list had some familiar names at the top as well as some surprises.

As decided by the staff, there were three co-MVPs of the camp: Jameis Winston, Tanner Mangum and unheralded Neal Burcham out of Greenbrier, Ark. who has yet to land his first FBS offer.

The remainder of the list in order went as follows:

4.) Jeff Lindquist, 5.) Chad Voytik, 6.) Zach Kline, 7.) Shane Dillon, 8.) Chad Kelly, 9.) Zeke Pike, 10.) Bart Houston, 11.) Austin Appleby

At El Cajon (Calif.) Christian high school,
Dillon recorded 2,982 yards and completed 19 touchdowns during his junior year. 

Good news keeps coming. Several sites report another commit: Davien Payne.

"The 5-foot-11, 215-pound running back from Perris (Calif.) Citrus Hill does a lot of things well. His high school coach said this:

"Davien is a big, strong, downhill runner with real good agility and real good vision," said Citrus Hill head coach Eric Zomalt. "He can hit it inside and outside. We knew early on when he joined our team that physically he can do some things."

Payne earned first-team all-CIF, all-league and team MVP honors last season after he rushed for 1,928 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Scout profile here

Rivals has him ranked as #48 RB in the country.

Welcome to the Buffs, Mr. Payne.

Hey, I didn't write that headline, KU fans did.

Disclaimer: if anyone reading has knowledge that Brock is in Lawrence and doing just fine, you might want to share that info and let the KU fans know before they start printing milk cartons.

Seems Brock is having a hard time staying put, or adjusting to college life.

He enrolled early, left school, showed back up-  a little in the spring and then promised he'd be there in the summer. So far, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Haven't seen this posted anywhere, but nice update on one of our commits.

Bakhtriari Honored

Senior offensive lineman David Bakhtiari has been honored by the Bay Area News Group as a member of their 2008 Cream Of The Crop senior football players.  The Cream Of The Crop is compiled from a survey of college coaches who recruit the Bay Area.  The twenty players picked are based on their college potential, not on how they performed in high school.  In the past the Cream Of The Crop was only selected from the East Bay football seniors but was expanded this year to include San Mateo County which is also served by the Bay Area News Group.

Bakhtiari is a 6'4" 240 pound offensive lineman who has great potential with his size and frame to be an outstanding lineman in college.  Bakhtiari has committed to play at the University of Colorado next year.  Offensive line coach Dean Ayoob comments "David is a great pass protector.  He will be 6'6" before he is done growing and his frame will has the potential to put on a lot of weight that he will need at the next level."

Bakhtiari also had offers from Utah, UTEP, Washington before choosing Colorado.

http://www.serrahs.com/page.cfm?p=81

Scout article.

How to keep a prospect committed

By Bill Conley

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/columns/story?columnist=conley_bill&id=3775158

Interesting. Seen this said many times, but good advice to read again. I like the part about treating an athlete like he is not committed. Dead period ends this week, hope our guys are at it with gusto. While chasing down the fence-sitters is important, we can't lose any ground with those who have already committed, either.

Just 9 guys verballed so far...

Preventing player contact is very difficult no matter what methods opposing universities might attempt, as the recruiting wars continue until signing day. In my opinion, it's better to take an offensive strategy than a defensive one when trying to hold on to a recruit. The school that has obtained the verbal commitment must stay aggressive and treat the athlete like he is not committed. In other words, keep giving him the same or even more attention even though he's supposedly in the fold. A recruiter can absolutely not take anything for granted.

Caught East High vs. Sand Creek soccer in the first round of the playoffs tonight (Tues).

Despite a second half of driving sleet and icy rain, CU recruit Zach Grossnickle scored a hat-trick against Sand Creek, and also had three assists. In addition to soccer, he kicks and punts for East's football team. 

East won the match 9-1 and goes to second round of state soccer playoffs Thursday night. Following that, Grossnickle will next play in East's football grudge match Friday night against cross-town rival Thomas Jefferson. TJ soundly beat  East in last year's football playoffs, with a score something like 9 million to 3. The only reason the 3 was memorable is Grossnickle kicked a 52-yard field goal - the offensive (and only) highlight of the night for East, and the new school FG record.

When I see him out on a slippery, icy wet turf field I wonder if his football coach must hold his breath every time the kid goes out to play "futbol", since the risk of injury is somewhat higher for a soccer striker than for a football kicker.