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Baylor Football Recruiting Notes: December 2014

The last month of 2014 is upon us and with it, one of the busiest times of the recruiting calendar.

By Mark C. Moore
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Can you believe it's December?  Read below for a new call to action.

More: November Recruiting Thread

247Sports' Crystal Ball:

Baylor's 2015 Crystal Ball Prediction List / Mark Moore's Predictions

Check back on these often; the predictions update every day.

2015 Recruiting Class -- National Rank: 31, Commits: 13

OFFENSE: QB (1/1), RB (1/1), WR (2/3), TE (1/1), OL (2/3)

QB: Jarrett Stidham
RB: JaMycal Hasty
WR: Blake Lynch -- signed FAA
WR: Devontre Stricklin
C/TE: Sam Tecklenburg
OT: Dominic Desouza (JUCO) -- signed LOI
OT: Maurice Porter (JUCO)

DEFENSE: DT (0/1), DE (0/0), LB (0/2), NB (1/1), CB (2/3), S (2/2)

LB/NB: Clay Johnston
CB: Jordan Tolbert
CB: Tony Nicholson
S: Jameson Houston

K/P: Drew Galitz
ATH: J.W. Ketchum III

2015 Wish List:

(Percentages are drawn from 247Sports' Crystal Ball, not my own imagination.)

RB (speed): None?
RB (big back): Soso Jamabo (28% A&M, 20% BU)
WR: Damarkus Lodge (39% Ole Miss, 31% Baylor)

DT: Darrion Daniels (83% Baylor), 
OLB:
CB: Holton Hill (60% UT, 30% BU, 5% A&M, 5% FSU) | Kris Boyd (45% A&M, 14% BU)
S: Kahlil Haughton (76% Baylor) 

All of the players above hold Baylor offers and have indicated at least some interest in the Bears such that their inclusion is not simply the result of wishful thinking.

Players Removed (who did not commit to us): Malik Jefferson (UT) Anthony Wheeler (interest waned), Corey Dauphine (solid to Tech), Ronald Jones, Jr. (OSU), LB Cameron Townsend (UT) OT Deya Mhiesen (Oklahoma State), OT Madison Akamnonu (Texas Tech), OT Conner Dyer(Texas Tech), S PJ Locke (Oregon), DT/OT Du'Vonta Lampkin (Texas), WR Ryan Newsome (spot gone), DE James Lockhart (A&M), LB Richard Moore (spot gone, A&M), CB Marcus Lewis (Florida), OT Keaton Sutherland (A&M), CB P.J. Mbanasor (Oklahoma), LB Ricky DeBerry (Baylor out), RB Chris Warren (Baylor backed off), S Larry Pryor (A&M).

2016 Recruiting Class -- National Rank: 6, Commits: 5

OFFENSE: QB (1/?), RB (1/?), WR (1/?), OL (1/?)

QB: Zach Smith (Film)
RB: Kameron Martin (Film)
WR: Tren'Davian Dickson (Film)
OL: Patrick Hudson (Film)

DEFENSE: CB (1/?)

CB: Grayland Arnold (Film)

2016 Wish List:

This will be basically a shot in the dark based off our 2016 offer list.  Some of them are more obvious than others based on who we've had in town and how many times we've heard their names. I think we can assume that we'll be at 85 scholarships again with the 2015 class.  We have 17 juniors (by their classification now) graduating in 2016.  I think we're safe projecting a class of around 20, maybe more, on that basis.

QB: Tristen Wallace (20% BU) 
RB: Devwah Whaley
WR: Devin Duvernay (10% BU)
WR: Courtney Lark (38% BU)
WR: Jeremy Smith (33% BU)
OL: J.P. Urquidez (46% BU)

DT: Kendell Jones
DE: Isaiah Chambers
DE: Justin Madubuike
DE/LB: Erick Fowler
CB: Jared Mayden (46% BU)
S: Deontay Anderson

This is by far the earliest I've ever tried to put together a Wish List, and before you tell me that the vast majority of these guys are 5*s we won't get, I know that.  There will be a ton of movement on this list since I'm starting so early.

UPDATES:

Baylor is bringing in a ton of recruits for the GameDay weekend vs. KSU starting tonight.  I'll try to update this as much as possible throughout the day.

2015 Recruiting:

CB Kris Boyd (12/28): I normally delete older updates when I post new ones, but I won't this time.  It sounds like Boyd will announce his remaining visits on January 1, and I'm going to guess the long-standing plan for him to visit on 1/23 will still stand.

Baylor was the only team he mentioned as a definite in that top 5.

WR Damarkus Lodge (12/28): Without being logged in to check, I'm going to guess Ole Miss, A&M, Baylor, and ... Texas?  Little help?

CB Kris Boyd (12/24): Has postponed his commitment from tomorrow (Christmas Day) until late January per this tweet. There are a couple of reasons why he might do this.  Assume for a second that he was going to commit to UT tomorrow as expected.  Postponing could mean that he is wavering in that decision (which would be good for us) and wants to take his official visits in January.  It might also mean that Texas told him to hold off because they're in on several other recruits (pure speculation on my part) and don't know how their numbers will work. Texas A&M's potential DC hire could also be playing a role, since they have been widely rumored to be involved in his commitment and he may want to see how that shakes out.  Regardless, he's not committing tomorrow, and it's hard to see how that is bad for us, even it isn't necessarily good.  We are playing a fairly huge bowl game in 8 days, after all.

QB Jarrett Stidham (12/19): Committed to Baylor!  We have a thread up about it on the main page.

S Kahlil Haughton (12/19): Is announcing his commitment today.  Most seem to think it is between Baylor and OU.

OLB Malik Jefferson (12/19): Committed to Texas this morning.  ODB wishes him the best!

OL Devonte Jones (12/17):  Baylor re-signed one of our 2012 OL commits on Wednesday in a bit of a curious move.  I don't know what to make of Jones coming back, or if that's really even happening.

2016 Recruiting:

RB Kameron Martin (12/21): RB Commit Kam Martin shuts down recruiting.

2017 Recruiting:

No updates yet.

SB Nation Recruiting Scouting Reports:

The fine gentlemen at SB Nation Recruiting have been putting together scouting reports by the dozen for major 2015 prospects. A few of those reports are germane to us as Baylor fans:

QB Chad President
RB Ronald Jones
RB Soso Jamabo
RB Tyreik Gray
RB/WR JaMycal Hasty
WR Damarkus Lodge
DT Darrion Daniels
DE James Lockhart
LB Malik Jefferson

RECRUITING THOUGHTS:

Coming soon.

Changelog:

12/5/2014: Created December Recruiting Thread
12/19/2014: Commits and potential commits!
12/22/2014 (pbp): Kam Martin shut down recruiting!
12/24/2014: 2015 CB Kris Boyd has pushed back his commitment.
12/28/2014: Updates on Boyd and Lodge.

Call to Action:

ODBers-- by this point, it's become patently obvious that the biggest victim, content-wise, in ODB's rise in other areas has been this monthly recruiting thread, one of the staples of our lineup that I know a ton of people enjoy thoroughly.

I want to make this right and get the Recruiting Threads back on track, but I can't do it alone.  If you've ever wanted to contribute to ODB but didn't think you had time, now is your chance to help.  Here's what I need:

If you see any recruiting information of any kind, whether it's on Twitter or elsewhere, link/embed it in the comments if you don't see me get to it.  That includes tweets of mine that somehow don't make the thread; the purpose here is to isolate and report everything we can find about Baylor Football recruiting. I'm talking visit rumors, offers, guys that may be opening things back up that we might want, whatever.  If it's about recruiting and you see it, post it here unless it's already been posted.

I don't intend for this to be some huge undertaking for the common man or for anyone to go out of their way.  Rather, my hope is that through crowdsourcing, we can take advantage of the numerous sets of eyes we have on social media and otherwise to get as much information into these threads as possible.

Thanks,
Mark Seymour

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