West Virginia RB Jason Gwaltney (official thread)

[goodguy]

Originally Posted by gobucks19

I can just hear the reports if JT had called anyone at 1am in the morning - "JT sees the writing on the wall about his key recruits leaving over the football scandal at tOSU. He is so desperate that he called one of his top RB recruits at 1am to talk him off the ledge towards coming to tOSU. You can only think back to the recent decommittment of Bemoll and possible waivering of XXXX recruit and see that JT is doing everything [including calling recruits in the middle of the night] to stop the bleeding at Ohio State." Don't kid yourself, its about perception not reality.

I do give PC credit, he is on top of the world right now with no end in sight. But damn, let's not annoit him ruler of the world just yet. At some point all of these young kids are going to believeing the hype being placed on them and then the rug will be pulled out from under them - losses, bad team chemistry, turmoil, whatever it is, then lets see how everyone reacts including the coach.

Anyways - Congrats to USC and PC for their great season. Hopefully we can play each other next season.

I totally agree with what you are saying (especially the bolded part). It's hard not to be jealous and resentfull of #1 Petie. But the pendulum will eventually swing the other way. Unless the #1 Petie goes to the NFL soon, the players will start to believe the hype, scandals will occur (It happen to us), team chemistry and other intangibles will be traded away for NFL dreams (see Cooper's teams), Old #1 Petie the Coach/the players best friend will be questioned about his pool diving and other fun spur of the moment exploits (remember Rick Neuheisal's white water rafting trip) and Petie the players friend won't be respected as a authoritarian because he's like one the guys and not a coach. When your hot and winning, people start to get a closer look at what your doing, it's only a matter of time before people start to complain about #1 Peties energenic recuriting tactics (the jet plane is a perfect example). Lastly, some of the current older players on this team have seen loses, while the young players and new recruits haven't. When you forget what it's like to lose, you forget what it takes to win. I predict that Petie will jump back into the NFL again, but if he stays the problems will start in the next 1-2 years for USC. Just my opinion.

[Chainsaw]

If my son got called at 1:00a.m. by anyone on a school night I would be mad, not impressed. I remember Ben Roethlisberger and family upset that Coop and staff would always call Ben after 10:00p.m.

[gobucks19]

Originally Posted by OilerBuck

(methomps, this is your cue for a pic)!.

I second that notion. All in favor, say aye.

Originally Posted by OilerBuck

I wonder how many calls Pete made after the game. I guarentee you that Gwaltney wasn't the only one. That could be a deal breaker for the top 5 recruits on their board.

I thought that as well, I am sure he called some other top-notch recruits to bask in his recent glory/success and talk about them being a part of it - it was just not printed about. Someone over on BN made a comment about the NCAA making a new regulation that a coach couldnt have contact with a recruit directly following any game. I dont know if its true or not but worth checking out. [Of course, the NCAA would probably not doing anything to their new golden boy but a slap on the wrist].

Originally Posted by Chainsaw

If my son got called at 1:00a.m. by anyone on a school night I would be mad, not impressed. I remember Ben Roethlisberger and family upset that Coop and staff would always call Ben after 10:00p.m.

If my son got a phone call at 1am, it better be Jennifer Garner asking for a date or the President congratulating him for the date with Jennifer, otherwise I would be pissed.
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[bucknut11]

Usc's plan for Gwaltney... Hope he knows...

Gwaltney is a much better RB for our system...He could see a lot of PT as a fullback next year.

link

[Clarity]

http://wvgazette.com/section/Sports/2005010653


WVU’s plum recruit visits
USC, OSU also among tailback’s suitors

By Dave Hickman
Staff writer

MORGANTOWN — The potential crown jewel of West Virginia’s 2005 recruiting class arrived in Morgantown Thursday afternoon for his official visit.

But don’t expect Jason Gwaltney to commit to the Mountaineers or anyone else right away.

“February 2nd,’’ Gwaltney said, referring to the first day of the NCAA’s signing period. “I’m going to do it live on ESPN.’’

- advertisement-

That’s how good Gwaltney is.

A 6-foot-2, 230-pound tailback from Long Island’s North Babylon High School, Gwaltney has already made his other four NCAA-permitted official visits. He went to Southern Cal, Ohio State, Michigan State and Central Florida.

Central Florida?

“Yeah,’’ Gwaltney said Friday at the Pittsburgh airport while waiting for a flight to Morgantown. “It’s hot there.’’

Gwaltney, who is ranked as the nation’s 29th best player and fifth best running back by rivals.com, actually committed to West Virginia last summer before reconsidering this fall. So, too, did his teammate and cousin, Scooter Berry.

“I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing,’’ Gwaltney said.

Now he is being flooded with recruiting contacts from some of the best programs in the country. Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll called Gwaltney at 1 a.m. Wednesday, within an hour of the Trojans’ win over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. For much of Tuesday afternoon, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was in Gwaltney’s home.

Gwaltney rushed for 2,880 yards and 45 touchdowns in 11 games this season for North Babylon. In 39 career games over four years, Gwaltney rushed for 7,800 yards and 135 touchdowns.

West Virginia has 19 other commitments for the recruiting class.

[ysubuck]

They question Central Florida?


That's one of WVU's BIG GAMES on their schedule

Along with East Carolina and Pitt of course.

[AJHawkfan]

Any word on how Tressel's in-home went on Tuesday?

[Buckeyecty4]

Dont know if I love the timing of the Tressel visit. Gwaltney usually returns from all his visits favoring the team he just visited, so I dont see the point in visiting him the day before he leaves for his final official. IMO, he should have saved the in home for sometime next week, after he gets back from West Virginia.

[DaBuckMD]

FWIW...Java's 2 cents on Gwaltney.

Jason Gwaltney-yeah, he's a verbal, yes it will stick. He verbaled WVa, yup, but you do that when you don't have a better offer. He got one from USC and then only backed off publicly because he wants free trips and was afraid to lose them. So there's another out of state kid. USC goes far and got another. Sadly, he doesn't rally live up to his press clippings and while he may be good at one point, he's not moving White or Bush to the side and may be a "normal" recruit who waits his turn and plays his third year. He's a very good player, he's just not so elite that he'll be an immediate impact guy. Just kinda slow.

http://www.wildwestsports.com/wMessa...ess=0&id=82172

[tsteele316]

He got one from USC and then only backed off publicly because he wants free trips and was afraid to lose them.

yes, he certainly wouldnt want to jeopardize his trip to east landsing or to morgantown.

[DaBuckMD]

Originally Posted by BGriffBuckeye

Who is he anyways?

By verbal, he means "silent verbal." Java runs that Board, and posts a lot of free SC recruiting information. Have not gone there enough to track his batting average, but perceive that quite a few SC fans consider him to have "good" information. Maybe Stripes or Thomps have more insight on his credibility.

[methomps]

As I was saying before I completely hijacked the thread:

The WWW board is notorious for being an inaccurate rumor mill. Over the offseason, at least 5 starters would be academic casualties by their counts, and Jarrett quit the football team right before Cal. However, Java runs the actual board so he may be more credible than the rest.

For my money, I'll take the tidbits I get from wstripes as gold and be more conservative with other sources. Even wstripes isn't certain with this kid.
I think this one has a short ways more to go.

[USCRH07]

I've heard before from a few posters that he's rather slow, and after coming across the national combine times, I noticed he ran a 4.96. That is awfully slow for a RB. Maybe he'll end up a FB in future?

[Holy Buckeye!]

He ran a 4.62 @ the Penn State nike camp, not a burner but fast enough at his size. Isn't USC recruiting him as a FB or H-back?

[jimotis4heisman]

Originally Posted by USCRH07

I've heard before from a few posters that he's rather slow, and after coming across the national combine times, I noticed he ran a 4.96. That is awfully slow for a RB. Maybe he'll end up a FB in future?

look at the other times, if it the aaa combine the times are high, a 4.6 there was incredible