I've been looking for something to write about on a Friday afternoon with Baylor's off-week in full swing, and I realized that we hadn't had an update in quite a while to synthesize the current state of basketball and football recruiting.
Football:
First and foremost, Baylor parted ways this week with one of our recruits for the 2013 class, probably in an attempt to free up space. Mesquite Horn OLB D.J. Green is no longer a Baylor commit after what is being characterized as a mutual decision but probably wasn't. (Here's my original post about Green's commitment in April). With Brian Nance recommitting to Baylor and Travon Blanchard, Raaquan Davis, and Xavier Phillips also coming in for this class, we apparently decided that LB was a spot where we're set for now. I'm sad to see this happen to a kid who clearly wanted to come to Baylor, but it's the reality of the situation. Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite us with future Mesquite Horn recruits.
According to Damon Sayles, Ricky Seals-Jones is down to just A&M and LSU, meaning he's eliminated the Bears. I hadn't gotten the feeling recently that we were a major player, and he didn't really mention us much at all, so this is not unexpected.
TE Christian Morgan appears to be down to two schools: Ole Miss and Baylor. Ole Miss probably has the edge right now because of their recruitment of his little sister for volleyball. Baylor has recently started recruiting her, as well, but has a lot of ground to make up in that department. Morgan is visiting Ole Miss again this weekend before supposedly coming to the Baylor-TCU game next weekend. I'll talk about it more below, but that weekend is going to be huge for recruiting in both football and basketball.
As far as needs go, with 18 or 19 commits in the class (depending on how you view Brian Nance), we're probably looking at 4-5 more spots available. Baylor graduates 23 seniors off its 2012 roster whose scholarships we'll definitely have (unless a walk-on gets a scholarship before 2013), and there's always a bit of turnover with players who aren't getting enough playing time transferring out. Kiante Griffin (of the 2012 recruiting class) was recently cleared by the NCAA, so he'll get one scholarship when he enrolls in December. That leads me to believe we'll probably take 23 or 24 in this class. This is how I'd guess our priorities rank at the moment:
1. Defensive Line-- we have 1 DT committed for 2013 and probably want two more. Waco DT Andrew Billings is the biggest fish left on the HS scene with which we probably have a shot. I'd expect a JUCO DT from somewhere to jump aboard, perhaps our old friend Quincy Russell?
2. Offensive Line-- Two OL is not going to cut it this year after taking a small OL group last year. Caleb Benenoch is our top target there, but he's getting less and less likely as time goes on, I imagine. One spot will go to a OL.
3. Christian Morgan-- He'll have a spot until he tells us finally that he doesn't want it.
4. Cornerback-- Depending on where you put Austin Jupe or Taion Sells-Warner, we might have 2 CBs in this class or none. If we miss out on Morgan, I could see us going after a CB or, perhaps less likely, another RB.
Basketball:
In case you missed it somehow yesterday, the Harrison Twins committed to Kentucky. Shocking, right? I know I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. Just an incredible turn of events! Let's move on.
Baylor is hosting at least 3 major prospects for the TCU game: SF Ish Wainwright, JUCO PF/C Yanick Moreira, and PG Stevie Clark. Getting one of the three would be great, two of the three huge, and all three fantastic. Isaac Hamilton is probably still our top target for 2013, but the winds may be pushing him to San Diego State for whatever reason.
That's what I know as of this moment.