BYU sure does a good job complicating my recruit tracker. Mid-year walk-ons, late signings, and the newest addition a walk-on with a promised scholarship in January.
There has been a lot of worry about the Cougar faithful over Mitch Payne's ability to handle the punting and place kicking this season. Despite his good pedigree, some worry about his accuracy and trying to take care of all the kicking duties. Worry no longer.
BYU is bringing in C.J. Santiago from Orange Coast. Santiago is originally from Hawaii and is not a member of the LDS church. He will only be a sophomore this year and should compete this fall for punting duties. At Orange Coast as a freshman he averaged 42.36 yard per punt, with 9 punts going over 50 yards. He only had 2 touch-backs to 6 inside the 20. If he can maintain that, he would be ranked in the top 26 punters in the country (from last years stats) where McLaughlin was not in the top 100.
A analyst for Rival's saw Santiago at a Nike kicking event in Las Vegas and said, ""Punting-wise, C.J. Santiago from Orange Coast did a phenomenal job."
This very good news for the team and should help the defense get good field position. It is nearly impossible to sustain a long drive against Bronco's defense, and it just got a little harder. Good get for BYU!
My 3 Cents: Someone asked on the last post why BYU didn't keep Cameron as a TE instead of letting him slip to USC? The response was probably correct: If he doesn't want to be at BYU, BYU doesn't want him. I have been impressed that all the recruits this year so far have a strong desire to be at BYU.
Why doesn't BYU want him? BYU has 3 great TE's on the roster currently: So'oto was a 4 star recruit, George (not rated), and Pitta (also not rated.) Who is on tap? Devin Mahina (2007) and Austin Holt (2008.) BYU is really loaded at TE and just did not need another.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Great news about the kicker. That can definitely make the difference in a tight game.
By the way...you show good character by leaving out the sensitive team information as Coach Bronco requested. There's plenty of good information without getting into sensitive areas.
NFL guru's always say when it's your turn to pick to take the best athlete available no matter what your needs are. Cameron is 6'3", 230 lbs, runs a 4.6 and has a 39" vertical leap. Those types of athletes don't come along that often so I still say we missed it with him. He could have been a TE or an LB! If USC wants him then he is a 4-5 star athlete!
That works in the first round of the draft, but I don't think it applies to College or even late round picks. You have needs and can only take those that fit those niches. All schools retract offers once they get recruits to fill their needs at the position, scholarships are too precious. I am sure he was offered preferred walk-on, but who is going to turn down a full-ride scholarship?
Professional teams can cut and pick up teams at will. I'd be surprised if Cameron sees the field in the next couple years, he has already taken his redshirt and now has to sit out a year.
That being said, best of luck to Cameron.
Post a Comment