Rating Bobcat 2010 Basketball Class (Part 2)

Rating the Talent

High School Recruits

This class is the best freshman class that Montana State has recruited in recent memory going back at least 10 years. The three player (McCall, Salley, and Johnson) at the top of my (and most others) list are considered to be as good or better prospects as Bobby Howard was coming out of high school. While Reid and Trujeque are considered to be about a 1/2 step below those three it is only because they have a question associated with them. For Trujeque it is his height and Reid it is his aggressiveness. It would not be two out of the question that if in the end one or both these players turned out to out shined one of those top three.

Brumwell is the biggest question mark I have not seen him play. It is important for Huse to recruit Montana. If you listen to fans and boosters on Bobcatnation and else where it seems to be they also want to see a Montana Presence on the team. There plain has not been a lot of Montana prospects the last few years, but in Brumwell the coaches have found a lot of attributes that they feel can make a solid D-1 prospect. They were willing to take a chance with their 6th scholarship.

Freshman Player Grade: A-minus

Rating Bobcat 2010 Basketball Class (Part 1)

This blog has is mainly a basketball recruiting blog so I really wanted to try to do an in-depth look at the Montana State men’s basketball 2010 recruiting class. I also wanted to try not to cover ground that has already been covered a half dozen times here and else where. I wanted to be able to rate this class in my own way but also give anyone else who may be reading this post the ability to rate it themselves. You may not have your own blog but in your own mind you can hopefully read this and come up with your own mental grade. The first part of this post will be the looking at the individual player who make up the 2010 class. Part two will putting it all together and grading out the different aspects of the class and an over all grade.

You do not have to agree with me, I would prefer you make up your own mind.

Talent:

This clearly is the best recruiting class Brad Huse has put together since coming to Montana State. I am not going to rate the athletes 1-7, but instead talk about them in tiers. If you want an excellent article on ranking the prospects check out Will Holden’s great article here. I helped Will with this article and would have to agree with how he ranked the athletes. I would, though, like to point out that in my opinion there are very little difference between #1-3. I also think come next September and the recruits have had a chance to work on their game and body’s over the summer, this ranking could have significant changes. I have seen recruits shoot up the depth chart significantly by working their butts off over the summer and others who dropped because they did not.

My Favorite Bobcat Recruiting Class

Back in the spring of 1981 Bobcat head coach Bruce Haroldson put together a knock out recruiting class. Rumors at the time was that Haroldson – who typically recruited JC’s pretty hard – was told by the administration no more JC’s. The class of high schoolers he put together was out standing it include 6-10 Tryg Johnson, 6-9 (at the time he was signed) Greg Walters, 6-7 Phil Layer, 6-5 Craig Kilborn, and 6-4 Jeff Epperly. Now we did not have Scout or Rivals at the time but any it is still considered to be one of the best all freshman class ever.

During this classes freshman year under Haroldson this class really looked like it was going to live up to it’s hype. Epperly and Johnson found themselves in the starting line up at times. Walters and Johnson at times would form a very early version of the twin towers which was exciting and Layer was putting in some spot duty as Hashley’s back up. also. On the JV team (which MSU had back then) a Kilborn and Layer lead a team that was man handling other Big Sky conference JV teams as well as the local Junior College teams. If a freshman of the year was awarded back then Epperly would have been the leading candidate. The future of MSU basketball looked very promising.

Then by season end Haroldson got in all sorts of trouble, and was fired at the end of the season. Stu Starner was hired and in the transition this group found themselves stuck between the past and the coming future. To their credit all of these guys stayed true to the program and sacrificed some of their game to make the transition better. Much of the success that Starner had in later years with the likes of the Ferchs, Domako, Willis and Hampton can be tied back to what these guy’s gave to make the program better.

Where are they now: Craig Kilborn

Last night before going to bed I ran across the following article on former Bobcat basketball player Craig Kilborn. Of course he is known by most people as the former ESPN personality, former Daily Show star (now held by John Stewart) and former Late Late show host ( now held Craig Ferguson). He also has made a career out of cameo appearances in a handful of comedies. There seems to be one pattern to Kilborn and his jobs. Once he leaves them the next guy in line really walk into a great deal.

It is nice to see Kilborn back on the national scene for no other reason is that maybe he might mention the Bobcat’s once or twice. As an ESPN anchor he would go out of his way to find a reason to make sure the Bobcats got a shout out., When the men’s basketball team made any type splash on the national scene he made sure if he was anchoring to get a high light in. Even once while he was doing the Late Late Show he dedicated a whole show devoted to Montana State. The guy was loyal.

Back in his days as a basketball player at MSU his main attribute was his deep shooting range. His sophomore year he the NCAA was experimenting with difference three point shooting distances. The Big Sky had the longest distance in college 23-0 (9″ shorter than the NBA). Kilborn if left open could hit a three point shot from 2-4 feet beyond that regularly. During his freshman year on the MSU JV team he scored close to 30 against the Griz JV (and remember there we no 3 point shots back then). The problem Kilborn had was that he could not create his own shot and needed to be wide open, still he was a great zone breaker.

By the way the above article mentions that Kilborn lead the Big Sky in turn overs while he played for MSU. This is something Kilborn has quipped many times. While it would not surprise me if he led the league in turn overs per minute played (if they kept that stat) I saw in person every home game (and quite a few away games) for the season he played and I can tell you he never played enough minutes to come close to that mark.

How do you Rate a Recruiting class

I am asked often to rate a given recruiting class. The thing that I have learned, is that not everyone views a recruiting class the same. There is the obvious bias’s we all have in looking at our own favorite team versus someone else’s team that comes into play. We all tend to look at our team with rose colored glasses which we should all recognize. The less obvious bias we take with us is that we know our players better. We Google them on the internet, follow them through the year, and we talk to coaches (or at least listen/read their comments) once they are signed. Lets face it though we really do not care that much about the other team(s) players.

Once we become invested in our players, they immediately get bump in our mind, sometimes justified and sometimes not. Players who play out of the media spot light, like Montana and Montana State often recruit, never look as good to those simply reading the ESPN/Rivals/Scout reports, as they may look to people who know them and follow them. A player like Griz recruit Michael Wiesner from Walla Walla or Bobcat recruit Shawn Reid from Idaho may look pretty impressive to those of us in Montana but to Big Sky fans at Sac State maybe not so much. Then again, though the same could be said about some of their recruits.

When I look at Montana State and Montana recruits I bring a wealth of knowledge to judging these teams and some bias, but not so much to other Big Sky teams.

The other thing that always seems to get me into trouble when rating or comparing recruiting classes is basically how do you rate a class. There are multiple ways to rate a class and it all depends on your point of view of what you want from a class. When I look at a class the two main things I look at is #1 how much raw talent is in the class and #2 how much will this class impact (make better) next years team. These two ways of looking at a recruiting class could lead two educated evaluator to rate a class very differently. Here is how I look at each method (you may look at differently).

(BTW: I have to call these methods something so I am making up these fancy names)

Bobcat & Griz FB recruit: Jack Bonner

I have heard that both the Montana State Bobcats and Montana Grizzly coaching staffs are recruiting Jack Bonner of Glacier Peak high school in Snohomish, Washington. Bonner is a 6-3 (he grows to 6-4 when playing basketball ) and 200 pound wide receiver prospect. He also plays the defensive back position for Glacier Peak.

This past season he accumulated 774 total yards on 50 receptions and 5 touch downs. This was an improvement over his sophomore year statistics when he racked up 464 total yards on 39 receptions and 5 touch downs,

Bobcats FB recruit: Romon Bridges

I have heard that Rob Ash and the Montana State football coaches are recruiting Romon (and yes I did spell that right) Bridges from Edison High School in Stockton California. Bridges is listed as a 5-9 175 pound wide receiver prospect, but I think is getting allot of attention as an athletes whose ultimate college positions is not yet written in stone.

While none of his stats from Last year are overly impressive, what is that he played on defense, offence and special teams on a very talented team and did it all well. As a running back he had a total 248 yards on 39 carries 1 touch down. From the receiver spot he totaled 239 yards on 14 receptions and 2 touch downs. On the defensive side of the ball he had 21 total tackles and 2 interceptions. Finally on special teams he averaged 19 yards a per punt returns on 8 returns and 17 yards average per kick return.

Bobcat & Griz FB Recruit: Zach Keiser

I have heard that both the Montana State Bobcat and Montana Grizzly football staffs are recruiting Zach Keiser of Coeur D’Alene high school in Idaho. Keiser is 5–9, 185 pound athlete who primarily being recruited as a running back prospect, but is also getting some looks at the line backer spot.

As a junior for Coeur d’Alene high school he put up 1131 yard rushing on 179 carries and 16 touch downs. He also accounted for 236 yards receiving on 20 receptions and one touch downs. On the defensive side of the ball he had 6 solo tackles, 15 assisted tackles, 1 quarterback sack, and 1 interception.

For his efforts Keiser was named 5A IEL offensive most valuable player, MVP all League, MVP All North Idaho Team, and 2nd team All State Idaho Running Back.

Griz FB recruiting: Cody McCarthy

I have heard that the Montana Grizzly football staff is recruiting Cody McCarthy from Bishop Kelly high school near Boise Idaho. McCarthy is a 6′-1″ 220 pound middle line backer prospect, and is considered by many to be the top Football recruit from the State of Idaho. While McCarthy is primarily known for his performance as a line backer, as is often the case he has played just about every position on the field for Bishop Kelly.

As a junior last season Kelly racked up 165 tackles (115 solo) to go along with 2 interceptions, 8.5 sacks, a blocked punt, 12 forced fumbles, and 4 fumble recoveries. He currently holds Bishop Kelly’s records in single game tackles (24), season tackles (159) and all-time tackles (359) and will be looking to improve on those numbers this fall. For his efforts was he was named First Team All-State Linebacker, and Southern Idaho Conference Defensive Player of the Year. During last summer’s camping season he was named 2009 Nike Football Training Camp-Eugene LB MVP and 2009 All-Poly Football Camp LB MVP.

Oh yea he has started every game for Bishop Kelly since his freshman year.

Bobcat FB recruit: DeAndre Jones

Another Texan that the Montana state Football coaching staff is looking at is DeAndre Jones. Jones is a 6-0 185 pound running back from Harker Heights high school in Harker Heights Texas. While primarily being looked at as a running back right now some feel he may end up as a wide receiver or defensive back in college.

Jones backed up All Conference running back Kerry Sloan last year. Sloan compiled 1307 yards and 16 touch downs last season. Jones is expected to fill the void in 2010 for Sloan’s departure, and for his part managed 350 yards and 2 touch downs as Sloan’s primary back up. Jones also saw time at the wide receiver, defensive back and special teams spots for Harker.

Jones runs a 4.5 in the 40 yard dash, 4.4 in the shuttle, and has a 35 inch vertical jump.