10 year recruiting portrait

[willlevi]

Just for conversation purposes, here is a list of the non-Southern California signees (just too many) of the last 10 years. Still enrolled or spent four years in italics and started at least half a season in bold.
The Nevada is the second in most player with the location of out of state targets changing per year with Hauck and Sanford having different strategies during their time.


Hawaii (6) (2 starters)
RB Malosi Te’o (Never enrolled)
OL Sean Tesoro
OL Daniel Kaanana
DL Malo Taumua
DL Ramsey Feagai
DT Desmond Tautofi (Hawaii transfer to Nevada never player as senior)

Arizona (16) (2 starters)
QB Travis Dixon
QB Robert Rowe (Never enrolled)
RB Channing Trotter
RB Chris Brogden
TE Tyler Bergstein
OL Dustin Forshee
OL Nick White
OL Ray Labato
DE David Backerman
DE Antonio Zepeda
LB Kameron Kranz
LB Travis Trickey
LB David Blair
CB Dominique Fenstermacher
S Troy Hawthorne
S JT Nettleton

Washington (4) (1 starter)
QB Kevin Thomson
WR Rocky Sandusky
DT Kjelby Oiland
LB Matt Pattison

Utah (2) (1 starter)
OL Tolu Pili
DL Isaiah Tafua

Nevada (29) (13 starters)
QB O’Ryan Bradley (Never enrolled)
RB David Peeples
RB Torris Coleman
RB Niko Kapeli (Never enrolled)
FB Connor Afoa
FB Marc Phillipi
FB Omega Faga
FB William Vea
WR Phillip Payne
WR Devonte Boyd
WR Taylor Spencer
WR Davell Jackson (Never enrolled)
OT J’Ondray Sanders
OL Cameron Jefferson
OL Auturo Rodriguez (Never enrolled)
OL Perry Eppinger
DT Tyler Gaston
DT Michael Hughes
DE Robert Travers
DE Jacob Hales
DE Ian Bobak
LB Ronnie Paulo
LB Nate Carter
LB Beau Orth
LB Chris Jones
CB Sidney Hodge
CB Tim Hough
S Eric Tuiloma
K Nolan Kohorst

Florida (7) (2 starters)
WR Wislet Rouzard
WR Renan St Preux
TE Rodlin Anthony
DL Mario Hill
DL Phillip Julien (Never enrolled)
DL Cedrick Fisher
CB Quinton Pointer

Texas (23) (5 starters)
RB Tim Cornett
RB David Greene
RB Keith Whitley
RB Imari Thompson
RB C.J. Cox
WR Devante Davis
WR Mark Barefield
OL Adley Eshraghipour
OL Gavin Peterson
OL Phillip Haynes
OL Andrew Mack
TE Jacobie Russell
TE Taylor Barnhill
DT Bennielee Shelby
DE Beau Brence
DE Efrem Clark
DE Joseph Salazar
LB Perry Cooper
LB Bryce Saldi
CB EJ Whitley
CB Michael Johnson
CB Kenny Penny
CB Brandon Baker

Oregon (1)
DE Marcell Frazier (Never enrolled)

Canada (1)
OL Tom Clarkson

Samoa (4) (2 starters)
DT Aaitua Isaako
DL Daniel Mareko
DL Sonny Sanitoa
DL Malo Feula

Northern Cal (19) (6 starters)
QB Nick Sherry
WR Anthony Williams
WR Michael Thomas
WR Michael Johnson
WR Gerome Surrell
WR Brandon Babineux
TE Alex Young
OL Evan Marchal
OL Jason Heath
OL Litani Moimoi
OL Thomas Kilgore
OL Charles Howard
DE Isaac Watts
DE Antoine Howard
LB Trent Langham
LB David Moffit
LB Matt Lea
S Rico Thomas
S Alex Degiocomo

I will try to do Southern Cal a little later

 

[willlevi]

Los Angeles area (58) (15 starters)
QB Marcus Johnson
QB Mike McDonald
QB Michael Clausen
QB James Boyd
QB Jared Lebowitz
RB Chad Henley
RB Lafayette Fletcher
RB Bradley Randle
RB Dionza Bradford
RB Elijhaa Penny (Never enrolled)
WR Corey Anderson
WR Ryan Wolfe
WR Justin Marvel
WR Gordy Cooper
WR Kurt Davis
WR Irshad Stolden
WR Marquise Thompson
WR Michael Thomas
TE Alex Young
TE Jake Phillips
TE Mia Valoaga
OL Josh Smith
OL Da’Juan Clark
OL Thomas Wren
OL Joe Hawley
OL Matt Murphy
OL Brandon Martinez
OL Yusef Rodgers
OL Jason Koontz
OL Shane Watterson
OL Robert Waterman
OL Patrick Carroll
OL Brian Roth
OL Nick Gstrein
OL Bobby Alverez
OL Kyle Saxelid
DT Tim High
DE Jordan Sparkman
DE Dominique Baldwin
LB Beau Bell
LB Robert Linda
LB Jordan Barrett
LB/K Nicolai Bornand
CB Jeff Brown
CB Charles Early
CB Lamont Long
CB Nehemiah Munday
CB Will Chandler
CB J.R. Griffin
CB Tahj Hasson
CB Fred Wilson
CB Torrey McTyer
S Daryl Forte
S KC Asiodu
S Shane Horton
S Kenny Keys
S Jonavaughn Williams
S Chazz Eldridge

San Diego area (6) (2 starters)
OL Chris Lopez
DT Daniel Widders
LB Bobby Kelly
LB Jason Beauchamp
LB Starr Fuimaono
DB Chanti Bloomer

 

[DocRebel]

I have a question that you (Will) may know the answer to. I was told when Mike Sanford was here that Kerwynn Williams (out of Valley HS, I think?) wanted to stay home and come to UNLV but Sanford wouldn't recruit him. Please tell me that wasn't actually the case. Did Coach Sanford try to keep Williams home...did UNLV even offer him a scholarship? What was the deal in that situation? That kid was a beast at Utah State.

I do think Sanchez is recruiting locally much more than Sanford or Hauck did. We already have a couple of quality verbals from local kids and it's still early in the process.

 

[willlevi]

I have a question that you (Will) may know the answer to. I was told when Mike Sanford was here that Kerwynn Williams (out of Valley HS, I think?) wanted to stay home and come to UNLV but Sanford wouldn't recruit him. Please tell me that wasn't actually the case. Did Coach Sanford try to keep Williams home...did UNLV even offer him a scholarship? What was the deal in that situation? That kid was a beast at Utah State.

I do think Sanchez is recruiting locally much more than Sanford or Hauck did. We already have a couple of quality verbals from local kids and it's still early in the process.

UNLV saw him as a possible walk-on but Utah State decide to offer a full ride with South Dakota being his only other offer. He had blazing speed which made him standout to me though he totaled just 937 yards as a junior. I saw him as a running back/slot receiver type. He totaled 2709 yards with 29 touchdowns as a senior with outstanding grades and the Aggies decided to take a chance.

Last season Arizona grad WR Garic Wharton (also from Valley) was available to play immediately as a transfer and the decision was to bypass the option as well. He would have been a huge addition with Davis and Sullivan not playing much of the season.

Air Force junior to be 1000-yard rusher Jacobi Owens came out of Centennial with Air Force being his only FBS offer despite having an outstanding build and producing nearly 1500 yards and 14 tds.

Hindsight is tough and coaches tend to have tunnel vision towards tradition. If a player is from a traditional recruiting location, he must be better than the player from the area I don't traditionally recruit.

For me, I don't expect Sanchez to offer many instate kids.

 

[DocRebel]

I see. Yeah, I just remember when UNLV played Utah State, every time Kerwynn touched the ball, whether catching a pass or running it, he went for 45 yards every time it seemed. The kid ran circles around our guys. Huge miss by UNLV not to grab him out of HS.

The ironic thing was Mike Sanford ended up being Offensive Coordinator at USU and Kerwynn was his #1 prized possession in their offense. I'm sure Sanford, of all people, came to realize that he severely underestimated Kerwynn during the recruiting process.

This Vegas kid "should" have been a Rebel.

 

[DocRebel]

On a positive, UNLV did keep Devonte Boyd home, thankfully. Can you imagine if the Rebel coaches had considered him to be a "walk-on" prospect? Utah State was one of the few schools recruiting Boyd hard out of HS also.

Last year I thought UNLV should have been all over Green Valley's Albert Lake. I'm ecstatic he's joined the team as a walk-on and I hope he gets a fair opportunity to shine in practice and games, because I felt he was a local in last year's class that "should" have been awarded a UNLV schollie. I'm interested in watching his development and hope he can prove himself and impact the team. His video below illustrates the smooth player he is.

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1657315/highlights/253900379/v2

 

[willlevi]

Boyd was a huge grab. I'm hoping Brandon Presley will be a immediate impact player next to him. I can see them being more dangerous than the Devante Davis/Boyd combo.
Tyler Gaston, Mike Hughes, Phillip Payne, Ron Paulo and Cameron Jefferson were all big local grabs as well.
Gaston, Jefferson, Scoggins along with walk ons Klorman and Hasson helped to key the bowl season.
Lake has decided to try the JC route instead this season. He will be playing at Saddleback.

 

[rebelbuck]

I checked out the last 10 years just out of curiousty as well and below are some numbers just for some perspective. All of these are from Rivals Database so there might be some leeway in the numbers. The talent level in the Valley is on the rise and what I think the goal for UNLV will be keeping the players from going to other MWC / Lower Level Pac12 Programs and eventually stealing one of the upper level kids. In the years with a lot of commitments we lost too many players from Las Vegas to Reno, but that trend has slowed significantly over the last few years.

2004- (17) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (3)

2005-(16) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (4)

2006-(18) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (2)

2007- (24) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (3)

2008- (21) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (3)

2009- (26) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (3)

2010- (34) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (10)

2011- (26) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (1)

2012- (16) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (3)

2013- (19) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (2)

2014- (20) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (4)

2015- (21) Nevada Players Sign w/ Colleges (From D1- FCS)- UNLV Signed (2) (Sanchez First Class on a shortened recruiting Period)

2016- (7) Nevada (Las Vegas) Area Players hold Offers (2) Already committed and what I assume will be more to come in both offers/commitments.

 

[DocRebel]

Lake isn't at UNLV?? Crap. He's going to destroy JC teams and then land on a D1 team somewhere else.

 

[Rebel1986]

I currently see that UNLV has 18 players on the roster for next year from the Las Vegas area (not including those who join the team at the end of the summer. 14 of the players are directly from high school and 4 of the players are transfer either from D1 or CC programs. I am just wondering why so many more local players are shown on the roster than listed as signed with UNLV. Did many of them go to UNLV as a walk on?

 

[rebelbuck]

On the current roster I believe there are (8) that are walk-ons. Justin Brown WR- Brian McIntyre (K) ? , Jeremiah Taula (LB) , Billy Murphy (LB) , Jerrod Wallace (DL) , Jacob Speaks (RB) , Dalton Baker (DB) and Ammir Aziz (DL)

These are who I believe are walk-ons. This is going off of the roster from the athletics website. Interesting to see which names possibly drop off and which ones are added come fall camp.

 

[willlevi]

J'Ondray Sanders, Devonte Boyd, Mike Hughes, Tim Hough, Marc Phillippi, Ron Scoggins and Kyle Anderson are the only scholarship Nevadans on the roster signed out of high school.
Singer is a transfer from Akron
Noone is a walkon transfer from U San Diego while Fakauho being a walkon JC transfer. Not sure if they were awarded scholarship but bot are slated to start out of the spring.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Will-

In regards to Lake what would be the rationale for going to a JC instead of walking on at UNLV? You yourself have said in previous posts that walking on is sometimes the better option than going to a JUCO. I guess it is possible he did not get a good feel for his potential role at UNLV but going the Juco seems like a riskier move.

 

[willlevi]

Both options have pitfalls.
If you have the financial support, which he has, junior college is a really good option though you may still struggle to move to a major school. Many productive junior college players still land at the FCS, D2 or NAIA level as you are dependent on the needs of FBS programs which often bring in limited junior college prospect.
Former Las Vegas Wildcat Farrell Victor was the third leading rusher in California in 2013 and the most explosive JC back in the state but he still only landed at an NAIA program following his JC career despite being a qualifier out of high school while fellow former Wildcat Reggie Bullock landed with East Carolina after a stellar JC with a similar skill set.
Former Spanish Spring big man Conrad Tanyi is still looking for an offer despite being 5'11 220 with really good speed.
Production at a junior college isn't a sure fire way to land a major option.
The problem with walking on is that you have to hope the staff give you an even footing to compete. A lot of walkons leave the program after the first two years if they struggle to advance on the depth chart.
For Lake, either option is a good option. The question is will he develop as a running back or cornerback in the future.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

J'Ondray Sanders, Devonte Boyd, Mike Hughes, Tim Hough, Marc Phillippi, Ron Scoggins and Kyle Anderson are the only scholarship Nevadans on the roster signed out of high school.
Singer is a transfer from Akron
Noone is a walkon transfer from U San Diego while Fakauho being a walkon JC transfer. Not sure if they were awarded scholarship but bot are slated to start out of the spring.

Singer is a Vegas kid who went to Kent State and transferred back. Not sure if he received a scholarship offer when he returned or not.

 

[rebelbuck]

Singer was announced on Signing day so I believe he is on Scholarship.

 

[Rebel1986]

He is on scholarship, but will site out one year.

 

[willlevi]

Dwight Ross with Competitive Gaines helped to get the connection that brought Singer to Kent State. They were looking for linemen and took a chance. I kinda wish he stayed to keep the connection open though it benefits UNLV and Singer can now play in front of family and friends.. He was another player programs wouldn't touch but went on to be a starter as a freshman.
Lake is going to play running backs and return kicks. Being a full qualifier means he can sign after this season with any program. His dad says Montana came with a late offer as well but he is looking for an FBS option. So if the staff wants him, he can sign as a full scholarship player for next fall.