Wednesday, February 07, 2007

CLASS OF 2007 - BACKS

Brock Mansion (Quarterback - The Episcopal School of Dallas)
6'5"/221/4.75
Reported offers: Baylor, Mississippi State

- Played at a relatively small school - ESD has 400 kids from grades 9 through 12, and competes in the private school classification in Texas. Transferred there from Plano HS.
- Didn't hit it off with Mike Leach, according to a Rivals site, so he's not very piratey. His father, who has been quite involved in Brock's career, fell in love with Tedford early.
- Can run pretty well; covered 900 yards and nine TDs his senior year.
- Volunteers with Ronald McDonald House and the Dallas Food Pantry. Nice touch.

Jahvid Best (Running Back - Salesian HS, Richmond CA)
5'10"/185/4.4
Reported offers: Notre Dame, USC, Oregon

- Gained 3,325 yards and scored 48 touchdowns at Salesian. This year.
- Won the 100m and 200m at the NCS Meet of Champions. Placed third and fifth in those races, respectively, at the CIF state meet in 2006 with a broken bone in his foot. May be faster than DJax.
- Named Player of the Year by the Chronicle.
- Quote from his HS coach: "He's never late. Never cuts class. He does his homework; never misses practice. He practices hard, follows instruction and is respectful to others."

Shane Vereen (Running Back - Valencia HS)
5'10"/180/4.4
Reported offers: USC, UCLA, Oregon, Stanford, UNLV, Duke

- His father played football for UNLV (and in the CFL), which is why the Rebs were invited into the process.
- Good student, carries a 3.8 GPA
- Recruited primarily as a DB by SC and UCLA. Vereen is super quick and some think he might challenge Best for the fastest back in the class.
- Rushed for 359 yards and 6 touchdowns on fourteen carries against Golden Valley his senior year. His coach took him out midway through the second quarter.

John Tyndall (Fullback - Pacific Grove HS)
6'3"/215/4.88
Reported offers: Army, BYU, Utah, SJSU

- Will likely grey shirt and count against the '08 class.
- Monterey Athletic League Defensive POY at linebacker; Monterey County Offensive POY; Small Schools All-State team.
- High school team won three consecutive league titles.
- Shares same name as 19th century Irish physicist who is thought to be the first to link CO2 with global warming.