Monthly Archives: October 2010

College Recruiting ultimate goal of getting in college.

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HOW THE RECRUITING SERVICE CAN HELP

Networking with college coaches is what the college recruiting process is basically all about.

Our job at Woods Recruiting will be to consistently contact college coaches on the high school student athlete’s behalf.

This process takes an incredible amount of time because this is one of the huge benefits for using a college recruiting service.

Parents must understand that the college recruiting process is not easy so having a college recruiting service in your corner can help many parents sort through the challenges they will face.

HOW THE RECRUITING SERVICE CAN HURT IF NOT USED

The number of high school student athletes looking to play in college is huge so you must have an advantage as a high school student athlete to gain exposure to college programs.

There are many high school student athletes and parents who believe that if they’re good enough then college coaches will find them. This line of thinking can turn out to be a huge mistake.

Only a small percentage of high school athletes, regardless of the sport, get to pick and choose the college they are interested in. The rest will need help in gaining exposure.

Without the help of getting exposure to college coaches, student athletes could end up without a college or end up at a college that is beneath your athletic ability.

There is a long list of high school athletes and parents who wish they had started the college recruiting process much earlier.

Many of these parents have delayed the recruiting process thinking that somehow, something would happen or that they would hear from a college coach or that the high school coach had some kind of magical connection power with college programs.

It is critical that you give yourself a minimum of two years to thoroughly investigate the college recruiting process because mistakes will happen and by giving yourself enough time to correct those mistakes can make all the difference in a high school athlete going to the appropriate college to fit their athletic ability.

The college recruiting process is something that you cannot play around with and if you make too many mistakes it could kill your chances of playing in college.

The college recruiting process is extremely complex and makes absolutely no sense to the average parent and not having the proper guidance during the process could result in critical mistakes and loss of valuable time along with the possibility of choosing the wrong college.

The worst thing in the world for a high school athlete would be not having enough college programs recruiting you by the time you reach your senior year or throughout your senior year of high school.

There are countless stories and situations where high school athletes thought they were being recruited by the letters and the phone calls they received from college coaches only to end up with nothing!!!!

I believe it is critical to have as many college programs recruiting you as possible because every coach is different and every situation is different in terms of scholarship opportunities or financial packages.

The college recruiting process is very serious. It is very import that high school athletes continue their sport into college and it is also very important to the parents who have invested a huge amount of time and money in their child’s athletic career.

The bottom line is this: you will only get one chance to go from high school athlete to college athlete and as a parent; you must do everything in your power to help your high school athlete achieve success.

WHAT COLLEGE COACHES SAY AND THINK ABOUT COLLEGE RECRUITING SERVICES

College coaches cannot be everywhere; it’s impossible for a college program to recruit every high school student athlete.

Sometimes a college coach will only focus on a certain number of high school student athletes and if you’re not on their recruiting radar you will not get recruited at all.  Our job at Woods Recruiting is to get you on that recruiting radar!

College recruiting is a full-time job with full-time responsibilities on the part of college coaches and if a recruiting service such as Woods Recruiting can make it easier for them by providing detailed information on high school student athletes, then the process for high school student athletes to get recruited is just that much easier.

College coaches need information about high school student athletes on a consistent basis.

It does not matter if that college coach has heard of you are not; the role of Woods Recruiting is to make sure that they don’t forget your name and that you are recruited by them with the ultimate goal of getting in college.

Good, Bad, & Ugly Report: William & Mary

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The ampersand in the title is in honor of the College of William & Mary, which for some reason is almost always written with an ampersand and hardly ever as William and Mary.

It is somehow fitting that UNC’s game with William & Mary took place during the Halloween weekend because the game was somewhat of an illusion. A look at the stat sheet belies what actually transpired on the field. Carolina racked up over 420 yards of total offense, but 170 of those came in the 4th quarter. UNC was a season-best 9-16 on 3rd down but needed to be 2-3 on 4th downs to keep drives alive and crawl back in the game. T.J. Yates was a very respectable 23-33 for 238 yards and a TD (plus another rushing TD), but his one interception was very costly, giving the Tribe a short field and leading to their first touchdown.

On defense, the nightmare of attrition continues as Quan Sturdivant missed his 5th straight game and defensive backs Tre Boston and Mywan Jackson did not play and freshman backup Terry Shankle was injured during the game. But the defense put the clamps on in the second half limiting W&M to only 105 yards of offense.

Keeping in mind the following analysis may be as choppy and blurry as an ESPN3.com internet feed, here is this week’s GBU report:

GOOD

Johnny White: That’s Mr. Johnny White to you, who had a career-high 164 yards on the ground and another 23 receiving. White again put the anemic UNC offense on his back in the 4th quarter and had yet another dazzling long touchdown run, this time of 67 yards, to put the Tar Heels in front to stay. Again, hard to believe if not for the early issues surrounding Shaun Draughn and Ryan Houston, White may not have seen the field this season.

Dwight Jones: Jones had 9 catches for 107 yards. Guess we know who Yates’ new favorite target is. Jones is becoming a big-time receiver, even if he did not break a big one in this game.

Ryan Taylor and Ed Barham: This pair of seniors combined for 6 catches for 57 yards and a TD, helping fill in for the injured Zack Pianalto. It was good to see Yates targeting the tight end and H-back and these guys making catches.

An actual blitz: Defensive coordinator Everett Withers actually took the chains off his linebackers in the 4th quarter with a number of called blitzes and some speed rushing by the defensive ends. The result? Three sacks in the quarter and some actual bad decisions and hurried throws by a quarterback who didn’t have all afternoon to throw the ball and check down 7 times.

BAD

Erik Highsmith and Jhey Boyd: These guys combined for two catches for one yard. Really? Do you think Mark Stoops, Bud Foster, and Mike Archer won’t figure out a way to double Jones and make these guys beat FSU, VT, and NCSU?

Linebackers: Until Withers started walking up the linebackers and putting pressure in the 4th quarter, the linebackers were again non-factors as they were against Miami. This should be one of this team’s strengths and will need to step it up down the stretch.

UGLY

Offensive line: This group continues to be a glaring weakness, which is disappointing since they were supposed to be one of the most improved units on the team. They were pushed around most of the first half and it was not until the 4th quarter when the W&M defensive front started to run out of gas that holes really started to open up.

(Side note: it was pointed out in last week’s comments section that the O-line often shows up in the bad and ugly review while the running backs often show up in the good section and how can this be when the RBs obviously need the O-line to run. My response is A) I was an offensive lineman so I often grade them harder and they have not improved over the course of the season, and B) were Johnny White’s long TD runs last week the result of O-line play or his ability? Besides, take away White’s 67-yard TD run and he only had 97 yards on 28 carries, or less than 3.5 yards per carry.)

Fireworks guy: Indicative of much of UNC’s season, the fireworks that are shot off after a UNC score were set off after Casey Barth’s missed field goal in the 3rd quarter, resulting in the first documented fireworks fail in UNC football history.

Sometimes over the course of a football season, you just have to survive and move on to the next week. Of course UNC fans would have like to have seen the team come out focused sharp and easily handle a I-AA team, but William & Mary is a very good football team and the hangover from the Miami beating lasted longer than anyone would have hoped for. Still the Tar Heels were able to pull it together, eke out a win, and move forward. Now UNC has to get ready for a brutal three-week stretch in which they play the three top teams in the ACC with a combined record of 18-6.

Tar Heel Fan

Cage of Horrors!

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From the moment Teila Tuli’s tooth went flying from Gerard Gordeau’s perfectly-placed kick at UFC 1 it was clear Mixed Martial Arts was not a sport for the feint of heart. Since then fans have been “treated” to a number of gruesome injuries and more blood than your run-of-the-mill slasher flick. In the honor of [...]
Five Ounces of Pain

Fighters trade in gloves for ghouls, trunks for treats

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Like countless other individuals across America, Mixed Martial Artists found themselves engaged in Halloween festivities on Saturday night while creatively costumed. In the spirit of the holiday, here’s a sample of some of your favorite fighters dressed for the occasion (courtesy of Twitter). Enjoy the pictures, and, from the staff at Five Ounces of Pain, [...]
Five Ounces of Pain

Roberto Mancini Heading For The Sack?

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Molineux Grounds Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City Premier League 30/10/2010 Lucky scarf discarded, Manchester City manager Robert Mancini watches City slump to defeat Photo: Roger Parker Fotosports International Photo via Newscom
Life in charge of the world’s wealthiest football club was never going to be easy for Roberto Mancini. Ever since arriving at Eastlands last December, there has always been the sense that the Italian is a couple of bad results away from the chop. Well after City’s back-to-back defeats against Arsenal and Wolves these bad results have arrived.

I’m not saying that Mancini will be getting sacked on Monday morning, but with City eight points adrift of Chelsea after just ten games; you have to feel that Mancini desperately needs to see an immediate improvement in results.

But this won’t be easy. After a tricky trip to Poland to take on Lech Poznan in the Europa League, City face the tough task of a visit to the Hawthorns and an inform West Brom side. After that comes the biggest game of all as Manchester United make the trip across to Eastlands.

By all accounts that is three very tough games for Mancini to navigate, and if City were to have fallen further away from Chelsea at the end of the Manchester derby, you have to feel that Sheikh Mansour will call the end of the Italians tenure.

Mancini though claims he does not fear the sack, but did apologise to City fans for what he called the worst performance from his side this season. He said “I do not feel the pressure, I am not worried about that [the sack]. But of course we have to win these games, because we are a very good team.

“I am very sorry for the supporters. We played very well but only for the first 15 minutes. It was not good enough but I don’t know why. I must talk to the players and find out what happened because we shouldn’t play like that. I am very disappointed but I will find out why we played so badly.”

Mancini is obviously going to put on a brave face, but his interview after the Wolves defeat really did suggest that he is feeling the pressure. I have no doubt that with his squad he can turn it around, but whether he will get given the time to improve things on the pitch is another question. Patience is a thing that is desperately lacking in football, and Mancini needs to act quickly to save his job.

What do you think? Is Mancini heading for the City exit door?

Related posts:

  1. Is Roberto Mancini Bluffing?
  2. Roberto Mancini Blames David Villa’s Woes on Spain, According to Daily Mail
  3. Roberto Mancini On The Hunt For Trophies



EPL Talk

Game 3 Recap: Blazers 100, Knicks 95

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Fresh off playing spoiler for Blake Griffin’s professional debut on Wednesday, the Trail Blazers were given the opportunity tonight to crash another highly-publicized party: Amar’e Stoudemire’s first home game at Madison Square Garden. And they just managed it, pulling out a 100-95 win over the Knicks in much the same fashion as their first two wins this season: a hot start, shaky middle quarters, and a late run. This has been the pattern so far for the Blazers, although their performance tonight had the most obvious flaws of any of the three so far.

The Blazers came out firing on all cylinders in the first quarter. They double-teamed Stoudemire early and often, leaving the Knicks to throw up bad three-pointers. Their offense was balanced, with Nicolas Batum, Brandon Roy, Andre Miller, LaMarcus Aldridge, Fabricio Oberto, and Wesley Matthews all contributing points, and the Blazers cruised to a 26-19 lead at the end of the opening quarter. The Knicks looked as bad as the Miami Heat in their season opener against the Celtics–their offense was unfocused, and the Blazers had no trouble having their way with the New York defense.

The second quarter belonged to Wilson Chandler, whose back-to-back three-pointers a little over halfway through the period lit the fuse for the Knicks, who dominated the offensive glass and hit key shots for which Portland had no answer. Aldridge in particular struggled, going 2-for-6 from the field in the quarter and missing three of his four free-throw attempts. On the night, Aldridge was 4 for 10 from the line and 8 for 20 from the field. The free throws he missed came in key spots, and he looked particularly lost in the low post, resulting in one of the least-encouraging 20-and-10 performances you’re likely to see all year. The Blazers were up by 12 at one point in the second quarter, and gave it all away to the Knicks in the form of bad shots and avoidable turnovers, and the teams entered the half tied at 44.

The third quarter was more of the same for the Blazers, who played sloppy defense and let the Knicks run amok on the offensive boards. At least they made some shots this time around–Roy and Aldridge got it going offensively and kept the Blazers in the game more or less by themselves. It helped that Stoudemire was banished to the bench about halfway through the quarter after picking up his fourth foul. Despite looking thoroughly outplayed the entire period, the Blazers somehow came out of the quarter tied with the Knicks at 74, making up for their anemic rebounding with a scoring burst from Roy.

The Knicks built their lead to nine early in the fourth quarter before the Blazers went on a 17-3 run to close out the game in what is quickly (and worryingly) becoming their normal fashion. Even this run was plagued by some crucial missed free throws on the part of Aldridge and Miller, but Miller’s stellar, unselfish play down the stretch (with five fouls, no less) allowed Roy (who led all scorers with 29 points) and Matthews (who had a strong shooting night after struggling on Wednesday against the Clippers) to get to the basket. But the real story of the fourth-quarter run was the Blazers’ improved defense, which essentially shut the Knicks down in the final six minutes of play.

The turning point–the moment when this moved from one the Blazers would have to hope for some lucky breaks to win to one that we started to feel like they would win–came with Portland up 96-95 with 25 seconds left. Raymond Felton took advantage of Matthews’ slip and used the opportunity to drive to the basket, only to be met by both Camby and Batum. The block was credited to Camby, but he told the bench after the play that it was really Batum who made what turned out to be the game-saving play. A couple of Portland buckets and an Amar’e Stoudemire turnover later, the Blazers were looking at their first 3-0 start since the 1999-2000 season and no less than an even split of this opening road trip, which will take them to Chicago on Monday before concluding in Milwaukee the following day.

While this is the kind of close road win that separates 50-win teams from 55-win ones, the Blazers simply cannot afford to win too many more games in the fashion that they did tonight. The late runs look impressive on highlight reels, but they shouldn’t be necessary. In all three of their games so far this season, the Blazers have been the better team on paper, and they’ve begun each game playing as such. But their tendency to fall back on lazy jump shots and let opponents destroy them inside in the middles of games is going to come back to bite them. They’ve proven they can turn it on late against high-lottery-to-low-playoff-caliber teams, but against the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, Heat, and Thunder, that probably won’t be enough. We can chalk up their pathetic performance on the offensive glass tonight to Camby’s foul trouble, but until Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla come back, that’s likely going to be a recurring issue for them, and it will hurt them. Enjoy this win, be happy that they are guaranteed to be above .500 the next time they take the floor at the Rose Garden, but there is work to be done.

Email me | Twitter: @ripcityproject |@shighkin

Rip City Project | A Portland Trail Blazers blog

UNC 21 W&M 17

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It looked a little like this.

Johnny White played the role of Trinity in this game and that is as far as I would take that analogy.

According to Fox Sports Andrew Jones(via Twitter) there was a discussion in the press box at halftime as to whether the attention brought to bear from the two prong NCAA investigation had finally caught up with the Heels. As of last week, certainly the attrition of suspensions plus injures had. In this game I wonder if it was not just a case of a team coming off a brutal loss on the road taking a lower division team a tad lightly. Especially when that lower division team had last season’s backup QB taking snaps behind center. I am not saying UNC players have given up on the season but obviously their heads were someone else for at least the first half, seemingly longer on the offensive side of the ball.

Former Tar Heel Mike Paulus came in at for William & Mary on the first drive of the game following a shoulder injury to starting QB Mike Callahan. Paulus made the most of his opportunity to play vs his former team and  promptly scorched the UNC defense in the first half staking the Tribe to a 17-7 lead at the break. I commented on Twitter that Paulus must have been something else in practice during his time in Chapel Hill given how well he played against the UNC defense. Now we know how he got listed ahead of Cam Sexton on the depth chart two years ago. In the second half, the UNC defense put a stop to this little revenge tale limiting Paulus and William & Mary in general. By the fourth quarter things got rough for Paulus as we was reintroduced to Bruce Carter and Donte Paige-Moss in intimate terms. After halftime The Tribe failed to score and never went past the UNC 45.

The offense was MIA at times but ultimately rode Johnny White and his 164 yards of rushing to score just enough points to win. Through three quarters it was not much to write home about with one TD and a missed FG. Then came the fourth quarter where someone flipped a switch and the Heels put together a 18 play, 90-yard drive to cut the William & Mary lead to three. The drive included two fourth down conversions. The first was a fourth and six that saw T.J. Yates scramble, roll out and find an open Todd Harrelson for the first down. The second conversion came with Butch Davis eschewing the FG after initially sending Casey Barth onto the field.

Now, has anyone noticed how Butch Davis, after incorrectly opting to not for it on fourth down late in the game vs FSU last season now throws caution to the wind and goes for it on fourth down seemingly all the time? The very next game following the loss to FSU, Davis went for it against Virginia Tech on fourth down late in the game and it paid off. Now it seems like the thing to do to the point that vs Clemson UNC had more conversions on fourth down than they did third down. Such was the case again. UNC was down ten, so going for the FG on 4th and 1 in the red zone was a perfectly conventional move. Instead Davis called timeout and opted to put the ball in the hands of Johnny White to get the needed yards. White delivered and UNC ultimately got the touchdown. On the next UNC possession, White decided he’d had enough of this crap and broke open a 67-yard touchdown run to give UNC the lead. White continues to amaze in a season where he was expected to be an afterthought on the depth chart. White now has over 700 yards rushing this season and is very much in reach of the 1000 yards mark.

Needless to say we have wandered into “a win is a win” territory. It is certainly not a win you can really feel good about. No disrespect intended towards William & Mary. Anytime you take the field vs a top five FCS school, you better be prepared to take care of business. Virginia Tech lost to James Madison earlier this season and JMU is ranked below The Tribe. This was expected to be a bear of a game in many respects and it did not disappoint. However, it is tough to get around the feeling that UNC simply did not play well but what counts is they played well enough, when it counted and got the win.

Tar Heel Fan