It shouldn’t bother You that Charlie Strong is Recruiting Louisville Recruits
A good portion of the Cardinal fan base was angry with Charlie Strong when he opted to continue to recruit a few of the current Louisville commits since arriving at Texas. 3-Star DT Chris Nelson recently decommitted from Louisville and an hour later picked up Charlie Strong’s first offer at Texas.
Charlie Strong told the fans that he wouldn’t do this. Charlie Strong said a lot of things. At the time, Charlie Strong probably believed it. However, circumstances change, people change and the pressure of College Football has a way of clouding the judgment of College Coaches. Strong created these connections at Louisville and is now using them somewhere else. I see no problem with that. That’s like telling a Coach he can’t use a defensive scheme from one place to another.
Secondly, in this particular instance it appears that Nelson was the one that reached out to Strong. 1. A prospect owe the school nothing, it’s their choice. 2. Schools constantly place restraints on where players can go if they decide later in their career to transfer. Schools do this, all while allowing Coaches freedom to roam freely, and the coaches are the ones who benefit financially from these young people.
Rick Pitino has a problem with officiating and He’s Right
In his Wednesday Press Conference, Rick Pitino made it known that he has some problems with the way things have been officiated recently. He’s right. Nothing about the officiating change has been consistent. The early part of the season, the officiating appeared to be uniform, but now that we’ve reached conference play, we’ve seen games officiated in a completely different manner league to league. Last night, was a perfect example of that. In the other game that featured Wisconsin and Indiana, it appeared to be no blood, no foul. The late game, however which featured Kentucky-Arkansas had fouls being called nearly every minute – in total there were 55.
“It isn’t the officials fault. It’s the rules committees fault, too much interpretation is being left up to the officials,” Pitino noted. “Certainly leagues are big ref’ed differently and it isn’t good or bad – it’s just different.”
Pitino explained that things have been so rough at times for officials, that players were getting called for fouls on fans – yes fans. He pointed to a particular instance against SMU in which Montrezl Harrell ran out of bounds, Harrell then proceeded to bump into a fan and was called for a foul. Pitino’s beef with the officials isn’t necessarily because of that call in particular, it has more to do with the charge/block call. It appears that in the 2014 Basketball Season, the ‘charge’ call doesn’t exist.
“One official said it was a flop, but my guy was standing still and a cannonball went through his chest,” Pitino explained. “It needs to be addressed. Officials have no idea on the charge/block call.”
Me personally, I don’t care how officials call games. I do desire consistency. Whether it’s tight or players are out there playing street ball, I believe players will find ways to make plays. The officials & the rules committee owe consistency to the players. Whatever is happening right now is clearly not working and the players deserve better from folks that make a living off doing this.
Recruiting Update
The new Louisville Football Coaching staff is beginning to make an impression on it’s 2014 recruiting class. The staff is slated to be in the homes of many and has made at least phone contact with all of them. A good portion of the 2014 recruiting class will be on the Louisville Campus this weekend, along with a few who are still open about their decision. I spoke with a few about the new Staff.
Henry Famurewa, a 3-star LB from Georgia and one of the most touted prospects of the class, seems to be re-energized by the new Cardinal Football Staff. He made contact with both Head Coach Bobby Petrino and Outside Linebacker Coach LD Scott. He also noted that Offensive Coordinator Garrick McGee was expected to visit him on Thursday.
“I’m really liking them right now. They seem very real and cool,” Famurewa noted. “I feel like we aren’t going to miss a beat. I feel as if were actually going shock the world- College football world at least.”
After Charlie Strong left the Cardinals, Famurewa was a bit apprehensive about the situation he was being placed in. Those feelings seemed to have disappeared with the Petrino hire.
“I feel like the Coaching Staff knows what they are doing,” He said. “The program is in great hands.”
Famurewa will be on campus this weekend.
Desean Blair, a 3-star WR from Jacksonville, Florida, has been able to build a strong bond with Wide Receiver Coach Lamar Thomas. Lamar Thomas, who has yet to officially be announced by the University of Louisville is a Miami Hurricane Alum where he starred as Wide Receiver for three years before heading to the NFL.
“He’s a really cool, down to earth to guy,” Blair noted. “I didn’t get to talk to him much but we all like him, he’s a good guy.”
247sports.com reported that Blair picked up an offer from Nebraska. He’ll visit there January 17th and will visit Louisville on January 27th. Currently the ‘Crystal Ball’ of 247sports.com has 5 predictions with all 5 predicting that Blair will flip to Nebraska. Despite this, Blair told me he was ‘very’ firm to his commitment at Louisville. It will be interesting to see how things shake up after his Nebraska.
Chris Hatfield
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