Newsome Is Committing Now

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And the winner is UCLA, so family didn't win out as they favored Texas.

Leaves more space for the other recruits we are after.
 
He favored the Bruins, family wanted him closer to home. He followed his heart and not their wishes it seems.
 
Watching him on the video, I think it was clear that this was a hard choice for him. I think he went where he wanted to go. Best of luck to him.
 
El Lay isn't really a bad call. As long as its not Norman, Colleyville or Waco, then good luck, and good bye. My only concern is fi this is a barometer on other's in the breach.
 
Maybe this helps CS keep Gentry in the fold. He can tell him that it is an indicator of what Murray is going to do, or at least, what he is not going to do.
 
It's not like we need everybody in the breech. If we'd taken Newsome, somebody else wouldn't have an opportunity to join this class.
 
^^^ I am expecting a big year from Foreman for sure. Still not sure of Joe. But we had some 6 WR commits last year. And we already have 2 WRs wrapped up and 2 top-100 receivers as solid commits in the next year's class. We will have 2 more commmiting next week. We lose Daje and Marcus soon, but have a staple of minimum 12 guys next year. About 8 or 9 four-stars in that group (Colin Johnson may end up as a 5-star by the 2016 class comes in). We are not at all hurtiing for receivers to run any system.

You're right, Watson was in a "fog" this year, but he had some serious excuses of OL and QB problems. The excuses are much less next year, and he has a guy with whom to plan and execute things together (Jay Norvell). In my opinion, Watson's not having an energetic guy he knows on the field, to whom he can freely shout stuff out, who planned things right with him, was an issue for him (Koenning is very good on resume and a solid coach and great guy, but was just not the right man for that purpose).

There is also enough clear statement from recruits that Charlie and Watson are promising to "spread the ball around" next year. Charlie has had it with the crap we saw last year. The Jay Norvell hire, and the hard recruiting dual-threat QBs like Murray and Locksley prove that they are about to open up things. The main reason why Gentry wavered was also the same.

So, yeah, I expect the fog on Watson to be less next year, though I know that Watson's record shows that he probably will always have some fog, as he is not a great play-caller, though he is a great offensive mind and player developer. Just my feeling...
 
I hope we change schemes next year, too. I've never been a believer in the "OL can't block anybody and the QB can't audible or find an open receiver scheme". It just doesn't seem reliable enough for my liking. I really think these coaches need to change the offense for next year.
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I think a bigger problem this year was that Watson just could not afford to let Swoopes run. Just couldn't afford to get him hurt. Swoopes can execute a fair amount of pro style stuff but when he knows that his main fall-back option is not allowed by Watson, he was going to go into a shell at some point. And he did. Against good defenses, when he couldn't figure out what to do on passing (many of them zone-read type plays) he was handing off because he wasn't sure if Watson wanted him to run. Just look at the hand-off to Grey at the beginning of the TCU game even when he saw the guy running free towards Grey, and you can see what was going on. It is tough to run an offense when you have to take out a primary ability of your QB. Swoopes is no Vince Young, but there were at least 5 to 10 plays every game where his legs could have done a lot more. You cannot run an offense with both your hands tied behind your back (bad OL, and no QB depth). I could see Watson's plight.
 
Here's an angle that could be way out there but, why not?

Is it possible that the staff knows or believes that Lodge will commit, along with Murray and Soso? Following this line of thinking and given the fact that slots are going very fast and they need to keep one open for Mack, could someone have clued Newsome into what was going down...?

Yes, I could be dilusional but, perhaps not.
 
No, you are not delusional. There is plenty of talk from recruit gurus that the staff might indeed know that Lodge, Mack and Kyler are much much higher probabilities to commit than we think. But I am sure that would not have dissuaded Ryan, because he was entirely in a unique slot by himself (literally, as a small WR) where we were recruiting nobody else, and we certainly didn't pull a ship from him. We simply had Reed as a back up plan for a speed receiver (though he is an outside guy and not for slot or kick returns).

I forgot to mention probably the most important item that may have swayed Newsome in the end. He is a very thoughtful guy and looks at TV as a career after sports. When he visited Texas the same weekend as Malik, he had said that the highlight was visiting LHN studios and that he saw the opportunity to build contacts in the industry through LHN. Well, for that angle, there is hardly a better place than UCLA and Hollywood. I think UCLA did what it took to convince him that he would get the right things in L.A. I think UT has a good academic program on it, but I assume UCLA's is better. He truly loved UCLA and in the end went with his heart, with his parents rather heartbroken when he made the decision. I guess the signing ceremony became like a funeral. It was sad to see him choking up and saying "I feel like I betrayed my state. I loved Univ. of Texas" etc.

I have no problems with Newsome. Great kid. He did the right things. This was clean recruiting by Tennessee, Texas and UCLA, and he goes to a fine institution in the end. Best of luck to him! I hope to see him on TV at some point.
 
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