After a brief look at the top recruits from the non-Power 5 and Notre Dame we’re back in the Atlantic Coast Conference and their best efforts. Before we get to the proper article remember we have to laugh at the poor programs who don’t get a full feature today.
No 5-Star Loser Club
Duke
Wake Forest
Duke’s highest-ever recruit was defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase (0.9410) and they’ve only ever signed 14 players who were 4-stars since 2000. FOURTEEN. Good luck to Mike Elko! By the way, Oghobaase had a nice career at Duke (36.5 TFL) and has been the defensive line coach at Boston College since 2020 after holding the same job at UCLA.
Wake Forest is an even more depressing situation. Wide receiver Donavon Greene (0.9048) from the 2019 class is their best recruit. The 39th best receiver in his class! The best they’ve got! To be fair, Greene has been promising with 582 receiving yards in 2020 before missing last year with an injury.
The Top Recruits for the ACC
North Carolina – DT Marvin Austin 2007-10 (0.9979)
Austin was the No. 4 overall player in the 2007 class and top overall defensive tackle. Through his first 3 seasons he was productive with 106 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, and 9 sacks. However, he was part of the infamous UNC football academic scandal and was suspended for the entire 2010 season.
In the 2011 NFL Draft, Austin was picked in the 2nd round by the Giants. He was a major flop with only 22 tackles in his career and was out of the league within a few seasons.
Florida State – LB Ernie Sims 2003-05 (1.000)
Only 5 players in history have garnered a perfect 1.000 Composite score and Sims is in that elite of elite group. Obviously, he was easily the top recruit of the 2003 class. Sims was a good player in college but fell a bit short of meeting his exceedingly high hype. After 3 years, 200 tackles and 21 tackles for loss he’d declare early for the NFL Draft.
The 9th overall pick by Detroit, he’d play 8 seasons total in the NFL with 623 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks.
Clemson – QB Trevor Lawrence 2018-20 (0.9999)
Lawrence topped the 2018 class by one ten-thousandth of a point over fellow quarterback Justin Fields. In 36 starts at Clemson, he’d win 34 games with 10,098 passing yards, 943 rushing yards, 108 combined touchdowns, and just 17 interceptions. He’s considered one of the best college players to never win the Heisman, although he did win a National Championship as a true freshman in 2018.
The consensus No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, it’s been a bumpy ride for Lawrence with the Jacksonville Jaguars watching his head coach Urban Meyer being fired before the season concluded. He won only 3 out of his 17 starts last year with 3,641 passing yards, 334 rushing yards, only 14 combined touchdowns, and 17 interceptions.
Virginia Tech – RB Kevin Jones 2001-03 (0.9992)
Not only was Kevin Jones the top recruit ever for Virginia Tech, he was the top recruit of the entire 2001 class edging out Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle. He would split reps during his first 2 seasons with the Hokies and then broke out fully in 2003 with 1,647 rushing yards and 21 scores. Jones would finish his college career with 3,475 yards and 35 touchdowns, both 2nd most in school history.
The 3rd running back off the board in the 2004 NFL Draft, Jones sneaked into the 1st round with a selection from Detroit. He’d spend 4 seasons with the Lions with a brief spell with the Bears finishing his pro career with 3,176 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Boston College – LB Brian Toal 2004-08 (0.9920)
I too was surprised that Boston College made this list. Toal was a linebacker out of Don Bosco in New Jersey and was the 19th best recruit from the 2004 class. He started his career out well becoming a freshman All-American but never emerged as a nationally top-rated linebacker.
After missing the 2007 season with injury, Toal’s 5th year was cut short by a broken leg. In addition to playing linebacker he also was a short-yardage runner for the Eagles scoring 12 touchdowns in his career. On defense, he finished his career with 222 tackles and 20 tackles for loss. Toal went undrafted and never played in the NFL.
Georgia Tech – WR Calvin Johnson 2004-06 (0.9902)
Megatron. Falling 4 spots behind the aforementioned Brian Toal in the 2004 class, Johnson was the 23rd overall recruit and only the 5th best wide receiver. He’d end up being pretty good in college, I’d say. Johnson set school records as a freshman and was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 2004.
Playing in a run-heavy offense his numbers were very good again as a sophomore then in his junior year Johnson won the Biletnikoff as the country’s top wideout, while being an unanimous All-American and finishing 10th in the Heisman voting. In 3 years, he posted 178 receptions, 2,927 yards, and 28 touchdowns.
The no. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft, Johnson spent his entire 9-year career with Detroit and caught 731 passes for 11,619 yards, and 83 touchdowns. Still just a 36 year-old, he’s been in the Pro Football Hall of Fame since last year’s 2021 class.
Miami – LB D.J. Williams 2000-04 (0.9998)
The start of the modern recruiting era had one D.J. Williams out of De La Salle in California coming across the country for the Miami Hurricanes. A dominant two-way player in high school, Williams was forced to play offense in his freshman season due to a log-jam at linebacker. Over his next 3 seasons though, he became a huge force for Miami and a Butkus finalist in 2004.
The Broncos took Williams with the 17th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. He’d spend 9 of his 11 seasons in the league in Denver before playing for the Bears in 2013 and 2014. Williams retired with 899 tackles, 75 tackles for loss, and 22.5 sacks in his pro career.
NC State – DT DeMario Pressley 2004-07 (0.9946)
Pressley was the top rated defensive tackle in the nation and the No. 12 overall recruit from the 2004 class. He would go on to have a solid career for the Wolfpack with 16.5 tackles for loss but never reached elite status in college. After being invited to the NFL Combine in 2008, he became a 5th round pick of the Saints. He’d spend 4 years in the NFL mostly on practice squads totaling only 20 career tackles.
Louisville – RB Michael Bush 2003-06 (0.9942)
As weird as it seems now, Bush was actually the top-ranked athlete in the 2003 class who was slated to play quarterback for Bobby Petrino at Louisville. That never came to fruition and after being a utility player as a freshman, Bush moved full-time to running back. He’d break out as a junior in 2005 with 1,143 yards and 23 touchdowns before a broken leg cost him virtually all of his senior season.
Once believed to be a 1st-round talent, the leg injury caused Bush to fall all the way to the Raiders with the 100th pick and ultimately miss his rookie season. Once healthy, Bush had a nice career in Oakland and Chicago finishing with 3,250 rushing yards, 1,010 receiving yards, and 31 touchdowns but was released by the Bears 2 years into a $14 million deal and never played again.
Pittsburgh – WR Jonathan Baldwin 2008-10 (0.9914)
Baldwin was the No. 14 overall recruit in 2008, the 2nd best player in Pennsylvania behind Terrelle Pryor, and the 4th best wideout in the country behind Julio Jones, A.J. Green, and DeAndre Brown. While at Pitt he was good right away as a freshman and finished with 2 strong seasons in 2009 and 2010 before declaring early for the NFL. In total, he caught 128 passes for 2,337 yards and 16 touchdowns in college.
After running a 4.49 in the 40 at 228 pounds, Baldwin was selected in the 1st round and 26th overall by Kansas City following a pair of trades. He’d be a massive flop in the NFL spending 2 seasons with the Chiefs before being traded to the 49ers. He was out of the league after 3 years with 44 receptions and 2 touchdowns in his career.
Syracuse – QB Cecil Howard 2001-02 (0.9920)
The No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the country behind Georgia’s D.J. Shockley, the Pittsburgh-area native Cecil Howard committed to Syracuse to follow in the footsteps of Donovan McNabb. He would redshirt with the Orange before deciding to transfer to Youngstown State where he stayed for 7 days then moved to Northeastern.
Howard finished his career at the California University of Pennsylvania and is one of the more bizarre stories of a 5-star recruit this century.
Virginia – OT Eugene Monroe 2005-08 (0.9992)
Virginia has to be proud of this one. Monroe was the No. 1 overall recruit of the 2005 cycle and would play extensively as a true freshman backing up future No. 4 overall pick D’Brickashaw Ferguson. He’d then overcome some injuries to start most of his final 3 seasons with the Cavaliers before being picked 8th overall in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Jaguars.
Monroe had a solid NFL career playing 4.5 seasons in Jacksonville before finishing up with Baltimore after a trade. He’d retire after the 2015 season at 28 years old.
My favorite Calvin Johnson memory:
Came for this.
Probably would be a targeting/defenseless player foul these days
I know that’s part tongue-in-cheek, but it’s a beautifully located and timed hit. Right to the strike zone, right after the ball gets there, totally legal.
https://youtu.be/7aPaqjNyo4Y
Idk the location and timing of the hit seem fine, but it does seem to meet the criteria for defenseless player. Is Clearwall still around to weigh in?
When the player is defenseless, defender has to make contact to the head or neck area with any body part (eg forearm, shoulder, or helmet) for it to be targeting. When a player is non-defenseless, it’s pretty much leading with crown of helmet/launching. This play is def not targeting, and on re-watch it’s not even a particularly brutal hit. Strong hit for sure, and clean + perfect technique.
I agree. No way this is a penalty. He just laid him out.
Apparently Weis had two receivers running one route to try to simulate his skillset in practice. Seemed like a reasonable proxy.
Chinedum got to the right place on this play, but CJ was still the only person on GT who had a good game that day.
Could not agree more. We were #2 in the country, coming off of a season that left high expectations to say the least. High profile game. Cover of Sports Illustrated, Heisman talk, National Championship…That play and Brady’s dive to score before half, I remember like yesterday. Memorable season for comeback wins for the ages (MSU and UCLA) but would take the 2005 season over it.
I’m just glad that Ndukewe was mentioned, PBUH.
DJ Shockley would have had a very different career in the NIL/free-transfer era. It’s like if Justin Fields stayed behind Jake Fromm until he was a senior.
I’m thinking Brian Toal is the recruit that willingham spent an entire day in his living room even after nd was eliminated.
Turns out it was, ended up in this rabbit hole. Forgot about keith arnold, no idea what to do with this article about kelly recruiting just being different (are we charlie brown all over again with recruiting)
https://irish.nbcsports.com/2011/05/10/quick-look-at-rivals100-dispels-some-recruiting-myths/amp/
I think both can be true. BK can be orders of magnitude better than Willingham, who was a poor recruiter, and CMF can be the improvement over BK that puts ND consistently in the fight for top 5 classes.
The Arnold article ends
I think the expectation now is that we win more of those recruiting fights under CMF that we sometimes just participated in under BK.
Blake Wesley declares for the NBA draft. I’m a bit sad about it, I think he projects to be a low first rounder and D leaguer next year when there was the chance for him to come back [have a great season for the Irish] and potentially be a top-10 guy.
Hope it works out for him. Tweet with lengthy image text.
Any chance he doesn’t like what he finds well enough and comes back?
I think he has until June 1st to change his mind, but I don’t think anything is really going to change between now and then regarding the NBA. I guess a sudden NIL driven change of opinion is possible, but I don’t have the change to buy off a guy’s NBA dreams.
Well guys test the NBA waters and find out that they aren’t as high on draft boards as they thought and come back. Wasn’t sure if that might apply here.