Good stuff from NJ Newsroom today with comments from an anonymous scout on Brown, D'Imperio, and McCourty. I would have liked to see comments on Haslam and George Johnson, who I think is getting on the radar with his senior season. Don't want to rehash some material, and I'll go into this all more at some point. Brown is productive, but doesn't have many NFL comparables beyond Roscoe Parrish (the Moss brothers are much heavier). D'Imperio could be limited to a Tampa-2 defense, which is going out of style. What that scout said about McCourty is off the mark a bit. Schiano's mentors started out with that Cover-2, only rush four mentality, but he's turned it on its head. Blitzing requires man coverage. He'll bring out both kinds of looks. Jason McCourty was, as expected, a workour warrior, so why are we talking 4.5s when it should be 4.4s or even lower?
It's interesting that SteBo still has a bit of a chip on his shoulder not being a bigger recruit.
"No, I was not recruited heavily in high school and everyone asks me why," Beauharnais said. "I don’t know why. You really have to ask some of the other college coaches about that.
Film doesn't lie. Anyone who followed the class closely knows that he can play. He didn't get a lot of attention because he started out at a smaller school, and only transferred to St. Joe's for a year. Should be an interestin competition between him and Glaud for a starting job next year. Speaking of the kids, how about giving Mark Harrison a shot? Yeah, he's another find that the national sites dismissed, but the locals were high on.
Ray Rice: really good, blah de blah blah.
Did you know that Blair Bines has a brother that plays receiver for Purdue? He's a JUCO receiver transfer named Keith Carlos.
In other BE news, Syracuse's Mike Williams was suspended last week, and that's worth watching at the moment. I also thought that it was interesting that USF CB Jerome Murphy's job is in jeopardy. I didn't get the preseason hype with Murphy this year. He was a pretty good safety a few years back, but just didn't look to have the deep speed to play corner. Didn't have it least year, at all, and it's still his achilles heel.
Thanks to Peter King for tweeting this interesting article about the looming battle for prospect scouting videos. The Big East is actually sitting pretty at the moment, although I'm sure that something will work out. As the article says, they're expecting a record junior turnout this year. Agents will always find another boogeyman to sell, even though a work stoppage, and the threat of a hard slot cap for picks, are as good of a threat as any.
Rutgers alum Eric Prisbell has the latest on efforts to clean up the sleaze in college basketball.
The NCAA intends to prohibit schools from hiring individuals associated with a prospect for two years before or after the prospect's anticipated enrollment. The NCAA's definition of an individual close to a prospect includes parents, guardians, handlers, athletic trainers and coaches.
The article has more on attempts to curb the Rudy Gay-style deals wherein coaches funnel cash to AAU programs in exchange for players. What's frightening is how all this stuff remains pefectly legal at the moment, with cheaters fighting tooth and nail against new restrictions, only to exploit the newer loopholes and begin anew once again.
It's probably best to err on the side of caution, but worth noting that there are concerns that the NFL's recent concussion study wasn't based off a large enough sample size.
The New Brunswick Gateway project is a go.
(H/T about a million people on Twitter) - Neil Best brings word Cablevision is putting Newsday up behind a subscriber paywall. This is the first major shoe to drop here, although there's been a lot of speculation about Murdoch papers like the NY Post. In spite of all the questions, one look at the dropping circulation numbers can give anyone pause here. Do the other big(er) media moguls jump in at some point in order to secure their soapboxes?
Middlesex County, home of Rutgers, is crucial to the victory on election day in the upcoming Governor's race.
With its farmers' markets, Rutgers is reaching out to local communities in New Brunswick.
Another credit has to go out to Steve Politi, for linking me to this article about the chances of moving the Nets to Newark in the near future. Baby steps.