I realize we don't talk a whole lot of recruiting here at Old Gold & Blog, mostly because I just don't have the resources to cover it the way Rivals and Scout can, but I think a recruiting update every now and then is always a good thing.

2009 football recruiting is currently in full swing, and the Demon Deacons are picking up commitments faster than ever before. Although I don't have the raw data to back this up, I'm relatively certain that Wake Forest has never gotten to the end of July with double digit commitments.

This year (and with a couple of days remaining), Wake already has 15 commitments for 2009. Pretty incredible, isn't it?

Yesterday Wake picked up multiple commitments, including quarterback Brendan Cross, son of former NFL player Randy Cross. Cross is a quarterback who really impressed when he attended camp at Wake earlier this month, and committed on the spot when he received the scholarship offer from Wake's coaches. Full story from the AJC here.

Dan Collins has more on one of Wake's recent pick-ups, cornerback Rishard Anderson. Anderson is a talented defensive back who will certainly make an impact at Wake.

Of the 15 commitments so far, Rivals.com rates 11 of them at three stars. Not only is this class close to full, it's also full of talent.

So, with all of these commitments, Wake is only looking to pick up around four more recruits. With several good targets left on the board, I'm looking forward to seeing who grabs the last few spots.

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I'm very happy to report that Wake Forest received a late national Letter of Intent today from running back Chris Givens out of Wylie, TX. The 6'0" 200 lb Givens has been recovering from a torn ACL but has incredible speed, currently 4th fastest in the 100 meters in Texas.

It was originally anticipated that primarily due to his injuries (Givens had torn the other ACL two years ago) he would be given extra time to regain strength/quickness etc. and would gray shirt. This would mean he wouldn't enroll until next Spring and would technically be part of the 2009 recruiting class (which is what Looney and three other guys in this year's class are doing right now).

If I had to guess, Givens signed this LOI today because expected signee Ed Imeokapara ended up shunning the Deacs for Florida State leaving Wake with an open scholarship. It can also be assumed that this was the "other recruit" Grobe mentioned as a possibility yesterday. I wouldn't expect any more of these.

Although gray-shirting can definitely be a good thing, I like the idea of Chris coming in this summer and redshirting this coming fall. Maybe that's just because its fun to see the recruits get on campus sooner rather than later, but I still like it.

Welcome to the family, Chris.

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Grobe started early, so I missed his opening remarks, other than the fact that he knows that we'll be ranked "13th out of 12" in the ACC again this year, but he's okay with that.

Recruiting in Florida has evolved, 6 of 16 from Jacksonville. ACC Championship experience helped that, but Tom Elrod's experience in Florida helps a lot. Everyone knows him.

Grobe says we really only have room for the 16 we got, so the fact that it's a "small number" doesn't bother him. Could have taken one more, but that's about it. The people who take 30 don't actually get all of those - academically ineligible, etc. The Fact that we have lots of 5th year seniors have a lot to do with this.

Grobe obviously doesn't worry about the "numbers" from the "scouting experts." Wants to find football players who can win in the ACC but can also graduate from Wake Forest.

"I'm sure there's somebody on there" who won't redshirt next fall. Most likely one (or more) of the guys who are here now grey-shirting.

Dixon is here and good, Looney is here and "looks great."

In this class Grobe was looking primarily "just for balance." Made sure each coach got someone he wanted, the only problem late was making sure they got a DE. This is what Kevin Smith is for.

Hoping Dixon can help at TE pretty quickly, Parker could be really good too. Playing early has a lot to do with positions too.

Tries to avoid "stashing" guys at prep schools, really only done it once.

Coaching staff changes "might have" had an impact on recruiting, maybe not. Tries not to keep coaching changes "hush hush" like some schools do, thinks it's better to be up front with guys.

Does not send out more LOIs than he can accept - Wellman gets mad of we do these things.

Gaines was willing to wait a semester to enroll because he really wanted to play for Wake. He's here now and is doing well, both athletically and academically.

Chris Givens can't be talked about, Grobe saying only that he's "recruiting Chris Givens."

Kenny Okoro - great cover guy, like an Alphonso Smith, 4.0 high school student, also ran a 4.49 at camp last summer. Can also play WR and Special teams. Kind of tall, which they like for corners (like Brandon Ghee).

Joe Looney - Wonderful kid, great family, ended up with over 30 offers but he came to campus 3 times and the current players were great with him and he felt really comfortable here.

Lovell Jackson - can really run, in fact he really loves track. Good academics

Class is characterized by athleticism and speed, which Grobe loves.

Team has increased credibility in Florida thanks to Skinner and Alphonso, everyone there knows about them.

Lambert has not yet decided who exactly he wants to coach. He wants to stay with the guys he's got, but may not happen.

Grobe thinks we could possibly sign another one but we'll see. Still working a little bit. Nonetheless, still very happy with the class.

Stachitas - throws the ball great but also very very fast. Dual-Threat player.

Regarding disappointments - can't really talk specifically, but sometimes in these situations you second guess some things if you'd done things differently, but all-in-all expects things to work out and feels pretty good.

There are seven to nine guys who are ready to play physically, but not mentally so they probably won't be playing much right away.

Really like Terrence Davis, but most likely Kenny's roll will be filled by people like Devon Brown.

Most players bring up the fact that they will probably be redshirted at Wake, because other schools have told them Wake will do that, but Grobe tells them that they're not going to waste a year of eligibility for 5 snaps a game, but if they're good enough they will play.

The 06 Championship season actually probably helped with recruiting this season more than it did last year.

Coach doesn't feel like they have to sell players on being able to win football here anymore, the kids already know.

Lots of juniors will be on campus this coming weekend, of course he can't mention any by name.

Team is moving towards being more of a power football team, but we've actually gotten too big and need to get weight back down for some lineman. Rather work from being too big to a little smaller rather than from too small but can't get big enough.

And that's all there is. The video should be up on the school's site later, and I think I might be able to get my own audio up but I'll see about that.

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4:00 pm: It looks like the Deacs are done for signing day. The one the Deacs were hoping for, Ed Imeokparia, decided to go another direction (FSU) and the class sits at sixteen, plus previous commits Steven Chase and Chris Givens who I expect to greyshirt and enroll a year from now.

Not a bad class, but for all the promising things heard coming down the stretch it ended in a slightly disappointing way. A half hour from now Grobe wil be having a press conference and I'll try to keep everyone updated on what's he saying. Come back in a half hour for that.

1:10 pm: It looks like most of what's coming is in now. There's been a good number of LOIs since I last posted, so here are the most recent ones:

• Garrick Williams OL 6'4" 314 Columbia, MO
• J.T. Dixon TE 6'4" 230 Chandler, AZ
• Chance Raines OL 6'2" 270 Jacksonville, FL
• Joe Looney OL 6'3" 315 Lake Worth, FL
• Kenny Okoro CB 6'0" 185 Greensboro, NC
  

Williams, Dixon, Raines, and Looney are actually already enrolled, as greyshirts from last year. Good to have them officially on board.

These five guys bring the total to 16 commits, which is almost all we can expect, although I anticipate there may be one more. We'll have to wait and see. Based on the fact that the official site says Kevin Smith will be the only commit from Texas, it does not look like Christopher Givens will be signing today. I doubt this means we lost him, probably just that he'll be coming a year for now. Since I don't think Grobe can talk about someone who doesn't sign a LOI, we probably won't have the official word on him today.

11:15 am: We can add Lovell Jackson, a 5'7" 170lb running back from Tampa, FL to the list. Nice to see them keep rolling in!

10:45 am Update: Wake's commits have been working hard already this morning, as there are already 10 letters of intent confirmed by the school:

• Andrew Parker TE 6'5" 225 Jacksonville, FL
• Terence Davis WR 6'1" 180 Lilburn, GA
• Gabe Irby OL 6'3" 315 Mt. Airy, GA
• Ted Stachitas QB 6'3" 185 Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
• Derricus Ellis DE 6'2" 225 Rome, GA
• Joey Ehrmann LB 6'4" 210 Baltimore, MD
• Ramon Booi DL 6'6" 330 Jacksonville, FL
• Scott Betros LB 6'1" 220 Jacksonville, FL
• Riley Haynes LB 6'1" 225 Jacksonville, FL
• Kevin Smith DE 6'4" 210 Plano, TX
  

This is definitely a great start to the day, and it was nice to see all the Jacksonville/Nease HS names come in as expected. I think the most exciting guys right now are the guys on the defensive side of the ball, particularly Booi, and Betros. Also, filling a hole at Tight End is great with Parker. He's going to be very solid.

The Wake website is saying Kevin Smith is the only member of the class from Texas, which surprises me because I was expecting to be getting a LOI from Christopher Givens today as well. This may mean he won't be coming until a year from now (Spring 2009), but I'm not exactly sure what to make of this right now.

For a little biographical information on all of these guys, the Official Wake Forest Website is doing a great job keeping this updated and providing information. Definitely worth checking out.

The day has finally arrived, and the signatures of promising young athletes will be pouring in. The beauty of football signing day.

I'm not going to lie; I don't have the access to recruiting info the guys at Scout do, but I'll do my best to keep you all updated with who the official signees are along with my thoughts on how they may fit in here at Wake.

I'll also have a full recap of Grobe's 4:30 press conference as soon as I possibly can afterwards, and I may even try to "live blog" it if possible. I'll see what I can do.

Check back throughout the day to find out what's been happening with recruits, and then come back at 7 pm for coverage of Wake vs. Georgia Tech in the Joel. It's a great day for Wake athletics!

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A month ago Wake Forest was in a 2-horse race with Boston College to have Running back/Receiver Terrence Robinson commit to play football starting in the fall of 2008. Shortly thereafter Michigan jumped in with an offer of their own and it was all downhill from there.

Over the weekend, on local Houston TV, Robinson verbally committed to Michigan and new coach Rich Rodriguez, the video of which can be seen below. He looks like a pretty nice guy, but based on his recruiting process I'm not very happy with him.



Here's to hoping he doesn't get to be the star for Michigan that he could have been for the Deacs.

(Can you tell I'm a little bitter?)

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From time to time I find blog posts or newspaper articles that are off the beaten path for most Wake Forest News. "Around the Interweb" is my way for sharing these with you and commenting on them myself. Enjoy!

When I returned home from church this morning I was surprised to find an article from my hometown paper, the Houston Chronicle, that my dad had left out for me (I'm flying back to school tomorrow morning). The article was a feature on Terrance Robinson and the decision he's making between Wake Forest and Boston College.

I've read a lot about Robinson, knew he was from Texas, and have been hopeful that he'll be on the Wake sidelines next fall. Somehow, though, I had failed to realize that he was from so near to my home. It would certainly be fun to have a hometown guy playing for us.

Read the story on the Chronicle website here.

Based on that it sounds like he's leaning towards Wake, but we'll see what happens when he visits Boston next weekend. Apparently part of Boston's appeal is that he has family there. Although I understand how that can be a strong draw, I somehow think Wake's weather and fan base will win out.

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The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Wylie running back Christopher Givens has verbally committed to attend Wake next fall. Although currently out with a torn ACL, (his 2nd, he tore the other one in 2006) Givens was fast enough to win the 100 meter dash in his district last spring having just finished rehab from the other torn ACL. He plans to run track again this spring and will be in Winston-Salem next fall. He is listed at 6' 200 lbs, and rushed for over 200 yards in his only game this season. Hopefully he'll be able to stay healthy down the road.

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