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| Oregon ended June on a high note by getting Los Angeles-Salesian ATH Deommodore Lenior (playing cornerback) to verbally commit to the Ducks (photo by Lorenzo Reyna). |
The month of
June has come to an end, which also means NCAA Football satellite camp season
is coming to a close.
While there
are some college coaches who have openly scoffed at the idea of June satellite camps,
five Pac-12 universities made good use of this time of year, by managing to get
some big name prospects from California to verbally commit early.
The
committed prospect still has to sign, seal and deliver his name via fax machine
to his university of his choice come Feb. 2017, but these names definitely
bolstered their teams’ morale and recruiting rankings before July.
Time to sort
out the schools that had a productive June camp season.
OREGON
The Ducks
scored three major verbal commitments to close out the month, landing Los
Angeles-Salesian athlete Deommodore Lenoir, Lancaster-Antelope Valley tight end
Moses Robinson-Carr and San Diego-Madison linebacker Sampson Niu, boosting
Oregon’s 2017 commitment total to eight.
Lenior – who
turned down offers from Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, USC and UCLA for the Ducks – is
considered the top addition at Eugene considering his versatility. He’s known
to be a ball-hawking safety, a physical, speedy shutdown cornerback, a man
coverage annihilator at wide receiver and a kick return ace for Salesian. Robinson-Carr
brings size (6-foot-5, 255-pounds), smooth routes, hands and a punishing
running ability on offense. Niu is a cat-quick gap shooter whose speed should
fit nicely with the Ducks’ defense.
OREGON STATE
The Beavers
have been trying to bolster their receiving core during this recruiting period and
from June 21-22, Oregon State landed Kaleb Hayes (San Bernardino-San Gorgino)
and Arex Flemings (Los Angeles Cathedral). Both are undersized at below 6-feet
tall, with Flemings the smallest at 5-foot-6, but they provide enough speed and
elusiveness to shine as a potential slot wideout for Oregon State – the same spot
that turned Brandin Cooks into a first round draft pick with the New Orleans
Saints recently.
Oh,
Flemings’ highly-coveted teammate Jamire Calvin (33 reported offers) recently
announced that Oregon State cracked his top eight.
COLORADO
The
Buffaloes received three verbal agreements from these Cali prospects: receiver
Maurice Bell (Murrieta Valley), outside linebacker Chase Newman (La Mirada) and
the big one, quarterback Tyler Lytle (Anaheim-Servite).
Bell had
Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa offering him before choosing the Buffs. He’s known
in “The MV” for his speed and deadly return game. Newman doubles as destructive
run stuffer and reliable ball hawk at linebacker. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound Lytle
was a highly-rated pro style quarterback by different scouting outlets and had
programs like Cal, Washington State and Miami chasing after him before deciding
on Colorado’s offer on June 21.
USC
The Trojans
improved their trenches by landing not one powerful and athletic offensive
lineman (Brett Neilon of Santa Margarita Catholic), but adding another in a
6-foot-6 tower at tackle (Andrew Vorhees of Kingsburg). Neilon is a drive block
specialist in the O.C, while Vorhees specializes in picking up outside blitzes
against the Fresno County competition.
Lastly, USC
ended June by acquiring more size on the line, but this time at tight end (6-foot-5
Erik Krommenhoek of Danville-Monte Vista), who provides the muscle with
blocking and beating linebackers for the ball inside the red zone. Some of the
other teams that offered the trio include Arkansas, Auburn, Arizona, Oregon and
UCLA.
ARIZONA
The Wildcats
have been on a rampage this recruiting season with 19 hard commits already for
the 2017 cycle, including five to close out the June recruiting period.
Arizona
recently added Charter Oak-West Covina wide receiver Brian Casteel, La
Mesa-Helix safety Scott Young, Long Beach Poly inside linebacker Josh Brown,
Santa Ana-Mater Dei safety Xavier Bell and tall 6-foot-5 Mission Hills-Alemany
wideout Warren Jackson this month. Casteel and Jackson are known for dominating
against man coverage. Young and Bell provide more speed and depth to Arizona’s
exotic 3-3-5 look. Brown provides hard-hitting angle pursuits and gives the
“Desert Swarm” defense an extra takeaway ace.
