National Signing Day

[rhodyfan3]

Today is the day.. Lets see how the future of Rhody Football is going to be!

[rhodyfan3]

Two transfers coming in from BCS level schools. One from Ohio U and the other from Rutgers. Seems like a solid recruiting class so far. Everyone can check the gorhody website for information on all players.

[Hal Kopp]

Big Purple Fans

2,134 posts


Posted 28 January 2013 - 08:44 PM

More on NJ OLB Naiquan Thomas (Offered). Rutgers involved:

Talk is that this baller is committed:

RHODE ISLAND LIKES THOMAS: Naiquan Thomas became Dwight Morrow’s all-time leading rusher this season, and colleges are taking notice.
The University of Rhode Island offered Thomas a scholarship earlier this month, his first college offer. But the Maroon Raiders don’t expect it to be the last for the 6-foot, 205-pound senior running back and linebacker.
"He’s got an offer from Rhode Island and now several schools are coming into the picture," Dwight Morrow coach Barry Harris said. "I’m extremely happy for him, he’s worked hard."
Thomas is also drawing interest from Rutgers – the Scarlet Knights visited with the Thomas family Monday – and Albany and Wagner.

[SmartyBarrett]

Looks like NSD is over for Rhody. 20 new recruits have signed. We put together a full breakdown here, with links to bios as we write them:

http://rhodyrampage.com/2013/02/06/rhod ... en-thread/

[rhodyfan3]

Seems like a pretty solid class. My problem with a few of them is the level of competition they played against in High School. It will be a big transition to Division 1 football especially in the CAA. Luke Casey seems exciting to me. Watched a film of him, has good size, pretty good arm and good speed.

[SmartyBarrett]

I agree, Casey and Randall are the two big gets IMO. The others are TBD at this point.

[STC]

Woke up early to watch Robert Nkemdiche choose URI over Ole Miss, LSU, Bama, Florida.... Or maybe I was still dreaming.

[Hal Kopp]

RhodyFan3-which recruits played in lower level of competition in HS?
Notice,there is not one kid from RI HS football on this list.

[rhodyfan3]

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put it as a few. It's really only two. Dave Steinmetz is one. He played for Grafton High School in Massachusetts. Grafton is Division 4 football in the state of Mass, and even though they say divisions are by school size, the competition goes down significantly. Did you see the Division 4 State Championship games on CSN this year? Or even Division 3 for that matter? It is far from impressive. And also the other is Kelly Dobbins. He did do a year at Bridgeton which is good, but his high school was Division 2 Massachusetts football. Another player that I am anxious to see is McKeeman. His only other offers were Bryant and Assumption College (Division 2). I'm not saying where you went to high school always matters, I was just trying to say their transition to the CAA could be difficult.

[Hal Kopp]

Thanks for the follow up. I saw the tape on Steinmetz,thought he looked good.
Ex-teammate of mine from 84-85 YC champs @ Rhody son played with McKeeman. Said he was best player he saw all year of any team.
Understood that lower level of competition. Said played with a real chip on his shoulder. Coaches will need to harness that. Man,did I like to hear that! If one thing Rhody FB needs it is someone with an attitude! My buddy said surprised more teams did not recruit him.
My ex-teammate played HS ball @ Brockton back in the day,so believe it when he acknowledges talent.
Anyways RhodyFan3, I really appreciate the detail.
You are right,there is no direct correlation,however the fact they signed no one from RI HS speaks volumes about one level of competition. They are still talking with St. Laurent from Cranston W. though. Very highly regarded.

[Iggy1979]

20 sounds like a big class (that would translate to 80 over 4 years). I assume they're making up for last years small class now that they've decided to stay in CAA?

[Hal Kopp]

Yes,need to boost the #s.

[rambone 78]

Not just the numbers, but the quality. The next year or two, hopefully enough CAA caliber players will be there, to actually have some quality depth.

Hey, it's a start.

I'd like to see this program get better by two's, that is, start by winning 2 games next year, 4 the year after, and so on. If they can win more than two, great, but you get the idea.

It's not going to turn around overnight.

[Hal Kopp]

This looks like a good class on paper.

[EasyEdBrown]

The one I'm hearing is legitimately buzzworthy is Josh Gross, the TE.

[SmartyBarrett]

The one I'm hearing is legitimately buzzworthy is Josh Gross, the TE.

I was desperately trying to find info about him so I could do a bio, but couldn't really find much. I was only able to bio 10 of the 20 guys, but there are certainly some finds in this class.

Also of note is the three transfers and the number of guys coming from JuCos. Looks to be an attempt to accelerate the "rebuilding process", so to speak. I know Rhody football fans have been burned before, but hope springs eternal. Already looking forward to this season.

[rhodyfan3]

Smarty, do you know how some other CAA teams did in terms of recruiting this year? How does our class match up to say UNH's or Maines?

[SmartyBarrett]

UNH had a small recruiting class, only 11 I believe. They did snag Rick Holt, a lineman from Portsmouth, RI - Rhody was in on him, or tried to be in on him. Other than that, nothing jumped out as a "big get". Maine's class was about as big as ours, but I don't know much about it. I saw on Twitter that they supposedly got an awesome punter (not kidding).

[Hal Kopp]

Rick Holt is from Portsmouth NH.

[rhodyfan3]

We could use a new punter. Haha. That sounds okay. Honestly, I think we need to win some games this year. We seem to have good talent, but it seems like no one plays to their potential. I'm hoping we stay competitive this year. Last year was really an embarrassment in my opinion.

[Hal Kopp]

RhodyFan3 -spot on. A big part is confidence.
As a team they do not paly with any.

[SmartyBarrett]

Rick Holt is from Portsmouth NH.

Whoops. Still saw Rhody on his "considering" list on a few sites, but him picking UNH now makes TOTAL SENSE. Ha.

[rhodyfan3]

http://caafootball.wordpress.com/2013/0 ... land-rams/

[Ramblinrose]

URI football ... a prospect is deemed buzzworthy and now can find info on him. There ya go.