Nigel Warrior, a safety from Peachtree Ridge High School who is headed to the University of Tennessee, celebrates during his signing day ceremony Wednesday at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. Warrior was among four crucial late additions to the Volunteers' 2016 class, which was ranked in the top 15 by at least two national recruiting services.Signing Day
Well, if you did not get enough of signing day in today's TFP, well, that's on you.
Seriously.
Here is the landing page for all of the TFP college coverage from the star-studded, ace-filled staff of Downtown Patrick Brown, Mean Gene Henley and David PascHall (of Famer). (See what we did there? NIce, right?)
There of course is a plethora of local stuff too. Too much to mention in fact, but we would be remiss without making sure you put eyes on TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer's excellent view from the signing-day festivities at Brainerd .
It's awesome in its awesomeness.
As for the perspective, let's review the four major colleges of interest around these parts:
Tennessee - B+
The Vols' class got noticeably better in the 11th hour with monster additions of safety Nigel Warrior and five-star junior college defensive end Jonathan Kongbo. (Yes each of those cats has an awesome football name.) Each also could be the most impactful names from Wednesday in the Fall of '16, too. Kongbo especially. A smaller class because of numbers left UT in the mid-teens in most rankings, but the Vols continued to add quality bricks.
Alabama - A+
Whataver. Alabama lands three five-star defensive players on the final day of recruiting and moves to the top of the heap in the rankings for the sixth consecutive year. Here's an idea for next year that would save everyone else a lot of time and money: Nick Saban, if you would just publish a list of the 20-or-so kids you are really going to go after, that way the rest of the country could just focus elsewhere, it would be greatly appreciated. Kidding of course, but man, in recruiting Saban is the real Honey Badger. Dude takes what he wants.
Georgia - A-
Short season or not, Georgia landed a consensus top-10 class with a few signing day additions, highlighted by the expected pledge of five-star athlete Mecole Hardman. Georgia has as many five stars in its class as Ole Miss and Alabama - all of which have three of the top 25 players in the country, per Rivals - so that's a plus. The grade - and the class - would have been better if Georgia could have prevented five-star defensive tackle Derrick Brown from leaving the state and going to Auburn. (Side point: How good is Rodney Garner at this whole recruiting thing, especially in state? Well, Auburn has added four five-star defensive linemen in Garner's three recruiting cycles at Auburn in Brown, Byron Cowart, Carl Lawson and Montravious Adams. Also of note, Brown, Lawson and Adams all are from Georgia.) (Side note, II: Want to look at the lack of experienced talent Kirby Smart inherited, well, check the 2013 recruiting cycle of in-state Georgia kids. The top seven players that year from Georgia were Robert Nkemdiche (Ole Miss), Lawson and Adams (Auburn), Ridgeland's Vonn Bell (Ohio State), Tray Matthews (Georgia-now-Auburn), Alvin Kamara (Alabama-nor-Tennessee) and Demarcus Robinson (Florida). That's letting a lot of talent leave the state.)
UTC - A-
The Mocs took more transfers - four - than they normally, including two junior college kids. That comes with the caveat emptor tag, just like it would for all judos, but Russ Huesman continues to bring elite talent to town. Plus, even with the 11th-hour coaching moves by Will Healy and Marcus West, the Mocs kept almost all of the class together. A couple of signing-week defections may have stung, but the fact that an ACC team and Air Force are coming and taking players from UTC screams volumes about the level of talent Huesman and Co. are going after.
Now fax machines everywhere can take the next 365 days off.Another side of the debate
We have spoken a great deal about the dichotomies of the quarterbacks in Sunday's Super Bowl.
There's Peyton Manning, the venerable veteran who will have to use his cagey Jedi mind tricks to keep the Broncos moving and clicking.
There's Cam Newton, the boisterous, fun-loving, first-down dancing soon-to-be MVP who is trying to land Carolina's first title as he prepares to take his place as the face of the NFL.
It has been broken down by race and age and athleticism. It has been viewed through the prism of sportsmanship and legacy and enthusiasm.
Hey, it's the Super Bowl and as much attention the quarterbacks get on a daily basis throughout the regal season, it makes sense that a match-up this Super would generate a super discussion about quarterbacks.
That said, there's another turn to this coin.
FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012, Denver Broncos' executive vice president of football operations John Elway, right, talks with quarterback Peyton Manning during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders in Denver. Elway is one of the very few to say he won it all, then simply walked away. Now, Peyton Manning is trying to follow in Elway's footsteps, wearing the same Broncos uniform Elway wore when he walked off into the sunset nearly 20 years ago. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)Forget race and college hijinks (Cam's well-publicized taking of a lap-top; Peyton's much-less publicized locker room antics that was followed with multiple pay-offs) for a second, and let's remember that each of these dudes are excellent dudes by almost every measure.
Can you name a coach or a teammate that has ever uttered anything but high praise for Newton or Manning? We know a great deal about the many philanthropic avenues Manning has traveled, including one we wrote about today on A2 of the TFP after a call from Tracy Smith to Press Row earlier this week.
He is an amazing dude.
But in between dance steps and press conference fashion shows, Newton also has a softer side, especially when dealing with kids. When he arrived at Auburn, he spent one day a week reading to kids at a local elementary school and started mentoring a few of the "tougher" kids.
He started this at the beginning of 2010, back when he barely had hold of the starting job and long before he grabbed a hold of a Heisman.
With the Panthers, he has made giving footballs to kids the Carolina version of the Lambeau Leap, and it's cool.
Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton (1) scrambles against the Cleveland Browns during the second half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014. The Panthers won 17-13. (AP Photo/Bob Leverone)As for the Cam Newton Foundation - its motto is "Every 1 Matters" playing off his uniform number, and please note despite all the discussion of race around Newton, it says "Every 1 Matters" not this group or that color matters - well, know this: As deserving as Newton is for the MVP, he and Manning both should be finalists for the NFL Man of the Year Award, too.
Here is a list of the details Cam has done in the last year in Charlotte - and if go there you will be stunned, seriously - that we think it's important to share.
So as he is putting a fox tail on his hip to meet the media or pulling his imaginary shirt open to reveal a figurative Superman logo, remember this:
Cam and Peyton may be polar opposites on the field, from style to method to you name it.
But the two are more alike than most know away from the spotlight.
Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) shoots over Indiana Pacers' Monta Ellis (11) as Jordan Hill (27) watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Curry's splendor
Well, has done the borderline unthinkable. Dude made an early February Golden State-Washington NBA game highly entertaining.
Curry finished with 51 points after a devastating first quarter that included 12-of-13 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 from 3. He scored 25 in the first, and watching him shoot was like sitting at a blackjack table and getting wicked hot.
Every time he turned the ball loose was like the dealer flipping over a face card for you and every time it splashed through was like the dealer flipping a 5 or 6 in front of him.
It was thrilling and pure and magical.
And he did it from all angles and all spots and he finished 13-of-14 from the floor in the first half. (Amazingly, his lone miss was a wide-open look from the corner, which, to continue our blackjack analogy was akin to sitting on a 20 and having the dealer flip a four-card 21.)
Is there a better, must-see sporting serial right now than Curry and the Warriors?
This and that
- Here's ESPN's look at signing day winners and losers. It is worth your time.
- This is an awful example and a prime example why most of America hates National Signing Day. This is an FSU coach encouraging a high school senior to lie to Florida coaches to engineer a signing-day flip. Does it happen everywhere? Maybe. Does that make it right? Certainly not. That's a bad look for the Seminoles staff.
- Yet another cool Peyton Manning story about how he thanked a practice squad receiver for staying late and working with the veteran by buying him a tailored suit.
- NHL veteran Dennis Wideman got a 20-game suspension for bumping a referee. That's too light. By comparison, those high school kids that hit that official in Texas missed the rest of the season.
Today's question
Mailbag, people. Mailbag.
As for the question of the day, well, we've got options.
Did you know that Facebook turns 12 today? Crazy right?
We'll go here for a Rushmore: Today, Lawrence Taylor turns 57 today. In the Super Bowl era, who would be on the Rushmore of defensive players?
Go. (And mailbag.)