DE Jonathan Allen to Alabama - Not Surprising
Alabama received a commitment from defensive end Jonathan Allen out of Stone Bridge High School (Ashburn, Va.) on Monday, BamaOnline.com reported.
Allen, who did not crack Sporting News' top 125, is rated the No. 10 overall player by 247Sports.com and the nation’s No. 1 weakside defensive end. Rivals.com rates him No. 100 overall and the 10th best strongside defensive end, while Scout.com lists him 120th overall. ESPN.com has Allen 82nd on its top 150 list.
It is interesting, since he was planning a trip to Columbus, after he couldn't make it out last week. Seems like Saban smartly put some pressure on him to commit before he could mull over any other interests.
What kind of pressure would that be?
Checking Account pressure.
Off the table.
Most reports had him looking primarily at SEC schools (Alabama and Florida in particular). Especially considering Ohio already has commits from Bosa, Price and Sprinkle, it seems like Urban Meyer had moved on as well. I think Buckeyes were getting a courtesy visit similar to how Sua Cravens is visiting Michigan in a couple weeks.
Cravens visiting Michigan is more than just a courtesy visit,he has us,usc and neb as his final 3! So we have a shot, no chance for ohio, slim to medium chance for MICHIGAN with Sua.
But pretty much every recruiting service has him penciled in for USC. He has already set his announcement date for 1st week of June without visiting any schools outside of southern Cali. I think the chances are closer to slim to none.
He came out today and said the Final 3 was an erroneous report, and he still has not set up a specific date for a visit yet.
Do you have a source/link for that information? Because if true, he made his coach look like a fool on Rivals... or his coach made a fool of himself saying who his final 3 were and the exact dates he and his family will be visiting Michigan and Nebraska.
No offense, but you may be misinterpreting "I never gave out dates or a top 3..."
It's impossible to know what that means, but to imply the reported top 3 is wrong and that he has not set up dates attributes a lot more to that tweet than is obvious. It seems equally likely that he's just pissed that his coach gave up the information, and that it may, in fact, still be accurate. It would seem odd for his caoch to give out such specific information about exaclty what dates he would be visiting where and with whom (dates which fit within his reported timline for announcing) if they weren't true at some point.
Yes, I understand that I also maybe misinterpreting the tweet, and that even if that information was true, things change... especially for 17 yr olds being pulled in 30 directions at once...
The reported top 3 and visit schedule came from a Nebraska Rivals conversation with his coach. I don't think there is any other way to interpret this but kid feels the story is inaccurate. Maybe what the coach told the Nebraska Rivals site is correct, and Cravens is just pissed that he shared it. But that is making entirely more assumptions. It's just as likely that the coach was going off old information and the kid changed his mind. Maybe his parents couldn't make it or nixed the trip because it was too costly. All I know if he is planning on announcing the first week of June, it is getting very late to put together a visit from California.
I am going to go with the most recent report and the one closest to the primary source which is the tweet in question. And that doesn't sound like a kid who has a visit plan in stone.
Without a visit, I don't see how OSU could've been. But without a track record, Urban has shown prowess at luring one position, and that's DE. Also, he was most likely being recruited to play the same kind of position as Bama has him now.
Secondly, I don't believe in "courtesy" unofficials. If a kid knows where he wants to go, he (and his family) most likely won't be willing to spend money to go long distances for visits. Maybe there wasn't a great chance, but I see it more of a guy like Allen or Cravens going on a visit and saying, "here I am, win me over."
Allen has ties in Ohio, so his situation almost mirrors Bosa's, who was also a "Bama lock"
I think some kids do take visits just for fun or see a couple schools before confirming their choice and making it official.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the Allen ties are anywhere near the Bosa ties. Bosa's uncle (Mom's brother and one of Dad's best friends on Dolphins) was Eric Kumerow who played football at Ohio under Earle Bruce. It was also rumored that his mom may have even attended as well. I don't think Allen had a family member who played football at Ohio or even alumni for that matter. Not to mention Cris Carter (one of Kumerow's teammates at Ohio) is an assistant coach at Aquinas (Bosa's school).
I mean, I think they take trips for fun, but not on their own dime. I think a lot of recruits use officials for that
This report strikes me as a bit slanted.
Seriously? Of course the report is slanted it’s bamaonline fergodsake. /s
Somewhat OT- Does one have to have a certain number of points to edit the 2013 offer list? I know there are up to date lists on other blogs, but I prefer the one stop shopping experience that is MGoBlog.
I don't believe you'll be trusted until you hit 500.
Also of relevance, Mitch Tribuisky committed to UNC. He's a consensus 4 star QB out of Ohio who most thought, if OSU were to take a 2nd QB, they would try and get him.
I did a scouting report on this guy several months ago, and I didn't come away very impressed. I know a lot of people think I'm hard to impress, anyway, but most of these elite guys that I've been scouting have come off pretty well. Of the guys I've scouted, though, I was least impressed with Allen:
http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2012/02/scouting-report-jonathan-allen.html
Of course, Nick Saban will probably turn him into a first round draft pick because that's just what happens at Alabama, but oh well...