Monday Mailbag | June 7th

By Charles Drake | 6/7/10 | Email

What is the latest with Quinta Funderburk, Ishaq Williams and Savon Huggins?
-CSpantheGatorFan


It's still fairly early with each of these prospects and their anticipated timelines for a decision, but some things seem to be coming into focus.

For Huggins, he looks to have a top set of schools sometime in the next 6 weeks and will probably narrow that down to a top 5 in August or September. Florida is making a big push for Savon, and have told him he's their #1 running back target. The spread offense is a sticking point, but if UF shows a more pro-set style this fall the Gators should have a great shot. Rutgers is on him and has been for quite awhile. If the Scarlet Knights aren't in his final five I'd be shocked. Penn State , Notre Dame, Alabama, and Miami all still have a shot as well. Although the Huggins/Miami talk has died down quite a bit for now.

Funderburk, the 6'3" wide receiver prospect out of Oscar Smith High School in Virginia, looks to be favoring Alabama and Virginia Tech at the moment. Florida, North Carolina, Clemson, and Penn State all seem to be in it as well.

Williams is a kid I could see going a number of different places with Alabama, Rutgers, USC, Penn State, Pitt, and Miami being some of the main possibilities.


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What are your biggest disagreements with the recently released Rivals100 and ESPN150?
-NoleThruandThru


Rivals100: Link

Too High

Brent Calloway (#9) - Freak of an athlete, but not sure if he's a 5-star prospect and the #9 player in the nation at this stage of his development.

Kenny Hilliard (#16) - Does not have any elite aspects to his game to be this high. He's a very sound player whom I feel will be very productive in college, but not the 16th best player in the nation. Most Louisiana people I speak with feel Jeremy Hill is the better prospect.

Greg Robinson (#19) - A major projection here. Has all the tools to be a top 5 OT, but still a bit raw to be this high.

Trey Metoyer (#24) - He's very solid, polished, and steady; but solid and steady don't equal a 6.0 grade for me.

Dee Hart (#34)

Karlos Williams (#37)

Marlin Lane (#42) & Brendon Bigelow (#26) - Both could end up being well worthy of these high rankings; I just don't know how you can put them that high coming off major injuries and not knowing how they will come back.

Eric Maclain (#54)

Cody Kessler (#64) - A very safe pick to be solid in college and a 5.9 grade isn't that bad, but he's listed above some guys that have more reasons to be graded higher than Kessler.


Too Low

Anthony Johnson (#33) - If there are 32 better prep prospects in America than Johnson, I haven't seen them. Having him #5 in Louisiana is pretty shocking too.

Jay Rome (#40) - The #3 rated TE on Rivals behind Nick O'Leary and Austin Seferian-Jenkins. Not a huge problem having him at #40, but as anything less than #1 at TE doesn't make sense to me. Highest ceiling with the least amount of question marks.

Tim Jernigan (#45) - Questions about his motor and some off-field rumors seem to have hampered his ranking, but he and Anthony Johnson are easily the top two DT's this cycle and having him down at #45 overall is just too low.

Erique Florence (#68) - Florence at #68 isn't my issue here. We have him at a 6.0 grade and they have him at 5.9, but to put him behind Jonathan Rose is a stretch for me.

Teddy Bridgewater (#140) - Not sure if somebody knows something I don't... To not have him in your top 100 is an amazing omission for me. We had Ronald Powell #1 the entire year last cycle and it took Rivals until February to catch on. Maybe this is the same type situation or vice versa?

Tobias Singleton (#126) - Easily one of the two best players in Mississippi with Brassell. Having him behind Danny Woodson is another stretch.

Curt Maggit (NR) - Being dominant at times against some of the best talent in the country doesn't deserve a mention as one of the top 250 players? Enormous ceiling too.

Denzel Perryman (NR) - His size must have come into question here. Sideline to sideline backer that has the speed, aggressiveness, and physicality to make most people overlook his height.


ESPN150: Link

Too High

Quan Bray (#11) - Labeled as an athlete on ESPN. I think he's a running back or a RB/slot type. He has very nice skills, and while he has some areas that grade very high, none of those skills are elite and at #11 I think you need something elite. He's a mid to high 4-star guy for me.

Jeff Driskel (#14) - Too many questions to have him anywhere near the #1 QB spot. Ultra-talented player that wows people with his skills, but has yet to show 5-star focus, leadership, and consistency on the field.

K. Williams (#21) - Great athlete. Rated the #1 safety prospect by ESPN. Not sure if he even ends up at safety, and if he does he's not even top 10 at the position.

Xzavier Dickson (#23)

Todd Barr (#30) - Ranked ahead of Jernigan, Tiny Moala, Antwaun Woods?

Bradley Sylve (#37) - Way too many questions and also durability concerns to be this high.

Ja'Juan Story (#41) - The WR rankings on ESPN are pretty bad. Story is a freak of an athlete, but this projection tells me they think there is no question he hits his ceiling and I disagree.

Gerrod Holliman (#46) - This one opened my eyes. Figured if someone was going to throw a new DB name in the top 50 out of South Florida it would have been Marcus Roberson out of Saint Thomas Aquinas. ESPN has Holliman as their #3 safety. He's a solid, solid player but not #3 and definitely not grading out higher than Florence, Swann, Hunter, Martin, Jones, etc.

Tacoi Sumler (#47)

Keelin Smith (#48)

Aaron Lynch (#49)

Danzel Williams (#60)

Malcolm Faciane (#76)

Eli Rogers (#118) - To have him rated above guys like Tobias Singleton, Kelvin Benjamin, Chris Conley, Javares McRoy, Antoine Arnold, and Danny Woodson is questionable to say the least.


Too Low

T. Jernigan (#32)

DeAnthony Thomas (#65) - One of the elite talents in America regardless of size or position. Being at #65 is telling me you think he can't transition to corner or make enough of a impact at running back to warrant a 5-star grade.

Doran Grant (#67) - He's the best corner I've seen. Their #3 corner behind Quandre Diggs and Nick Waisome.

Greg Townsend (#109) - He's their #11 rated DE behind guys like Anthony Rabassa, Aaron Lynch, and Nathan Hughes.. Don't understand that at all. He's better, more college ready, and has a higher ceiling than all of those guys.

T. Singleton (#127)

Lawrence Thomas (#135) - I'm guessing ESPN thinks Thomas is a tweener that is too stiff to be a linebacker. In my opinion, he's a classic hybrid prospect that will most likely be best served as a DE with great burst, strength, and instincts. All that 5-star talent doesn't go by the wayside just because you pigeon hole him as a LB.

Kelvin Benjamin (#144) - For a list that seems to overrate some Floridians; they really got this one wrong in my opinion. Their #24 WR in the nation. Either they think off-field issues are a factor or just plain got this evaluation wrong.

T. Bridgewater (#112)

Kevin McReynolds (NR) - He's rated #26 on their DT list.

Denzel Perryman (NR) - To have a list made up of 30% Floridians and not have him on there is questionable.

Rodney Coe (NR) - The #29 ranked athlete on ESPN. He's better than that, especially as a LB.

Jermauria Rasco and Colt Lyerla.. I can see why they would have each of these players so low on their services for different reasons (and both will drop a little bit on TR in our August update due to some of the same reasons), but both were worth a mention.



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Thanks to everybody that submitted questions. If you would like to submit a question for next Monday's mailbag do so HERE .