Another Domino Falls

Source: Rivals

Jayhawkslant.com is reporting that former Oklahoma wide-receiver Justin McCay has committed to Kansas. With the help of former teammate, Tre Parmalee, and head coach, Tim Grunhard, McCay heads to Lawrence and will be eligible to play for the Hawks in 2013 and 2014. Charlie Weis and the Jayhawks have added yet another big splash transfer.

Coming out of high school in 2010, McCay was the highest rated player in the Oklahoma Sooner’s recruiting class (a class that featured sixteen 4 stars out of 29 total commitments). He also received written offers from Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Kansas State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oregon and Texas A&M.

At 6’3”, 209 pounds, McCay has excellent height, but he could still add more weight to his frame if Kansas decides to move him to the defensive side of the ball.

At wide-out, McCay is best known for his straight line speed, and will provide a much needed deep threat for the Jayhawks. It is well documented that he could improve his route running and body control to become a more dependable receiver.

On the defensive side of the ball is where his true NFL potential lies. Although he lacks the lateral quickness to play middle linebacker, McCay would bolster the line backing core with his speed and strength (he would be best served in a role like James Holt/Toben Opurum as an outside linebacker/rover).

  

I understand the hesitation, the skepticism, though. How could a player that couldn’t even see the field for Oklahoma be good enough to beat Oklahoma? Why am I so excited about a player who has yet to do anything at the collegiate level? Well, there are several things at play here.

For starters, the most obvious, McCay will be suiting up in crimson and blue as a Kansas Jayhawk and not in purple and silver as a Kansas State Wildcat. Charlie Weis and Co. effectively kept McCay out of the enemy’s grasp. Watching Oregon transfer, Chris Harper, catch passes at will against the Kansas secondary this fall made me nauseous, and I am glad that McCay won’t be able to do just that.

Secondly, McCay, whether he plays defense or not, will still help out the Kansas defense on a daily basis. Puzzling, right? What am I getting at? Listen to this: week in and week out, the Kansas defense will have to defend the likes of Jake Heaps, Brock Berglund and Justin McCay, who all have pro potential. The scout team will be stronger than ever in history, challenging and hopefully exposing the weaknesses on first team defense.

And finally, lend me your ear (or eyes for that matter) for a moment. I’m going to tell you a short story: the story of Geneo Grissom.

Source: The Shiver

On June 5^th, 2009, Kansas received a verbal commitment from Grissom, a talented defensive end from local powerhouse Hutchinson High School. At the time, Grissom had really flown under the radar, being a Kansas boy and all, so he was rated just a 3 star talent by rivals.com.

During his senior season, Grissom really tore up his competition, and scouts finally began to take notice. On October 14^th, Grissom was named to the Rivals top 250 players, bumping up his rating to 4 stars and making him the 13^th best strong-side defensive end in the nation. On November 3rd, Rivals scout, Barry Every, gave his own scouting report of Grissom, donning him a “blue-chip talent”. So, to put it lightly, early November got off to a fast start for Geneo, and it didn’t have any signs of slowing.  Grissom’s recruitment really picked up some steam with an offer from LSU, just a few days after. Kansas was in a dog-fight for what was justly their own.

The big dog would win this scrap. For Kansas, the house crumbled from within, losing its coach, Mark Mangino, to a firing. In response to his dismissal, Grissom promptly set a visit to Baton Rouge for January 23^rd. Grissom had reservations about the visit, after talking to Turner Gill and staff, but then, out of the blue, committed to the University of Oklahoma on January 19^th.

In his first year at Oklahoma, Grissom redshirted. In his second year at Oklahoma, Grissom tallied 5 mop-up tackles.

Since his signing, Oklahoma has also signed Chuka Ndulue, Nathan Hughes, Chaz Nelson and Charles Tapper to play defensive end. Not to mention Ronnell Lewis, David King, R.J. Washington and Mitch Williams all have another year left of eligibility. Mitch Tate has three.

       

So odds are not in Grissom’s favor to see the field much this next year, or even at all during his days as a Sooner. Who says that the guy isn’t talented? I’ll be the first to defend him, so let’s make use of his talents: let him ransack opponents’ backgrounds for old KU.

The same goes for Justin McCay. Although KU won’t likely beat OU on a 50 yard touchdown to transfer McCay, Kansas is still in much, much better shape after his commitment (and so is Justin). Rather than warming the Sooner’s bench, McCay will be warming our hearts that have recently grown cold. Kansas coaches have been out-recruited by Oklahoma in their own state for quite some time, but now they have a new card to play: if McCay has just an ounce of success, Kansas can say "look, he went away and sat the bench, came back and made a career out of it". This recruiting pitch cannot be overvalued. 

Still a doubting Thomas? Chew on these names and numbers for a second. Dayne Crist (2008): 5* from rivals, 5* from scout; Jake Heaps (2010): 4* from rivals, 5* from scout; Justin McCay (2010): 4* from rivals, 5* from scout.

I’ll try to put them in perspective for you. When was the last time that KU landed three 5 star recruits in basketball? Can’t remember? 2005: Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush, and Julian Wright. And what did 2 of those three players do in April of 2008? I’ll tell you what they did: they won the stinking National Championship.

Now in no way am I saying that Kansas has the guns to win the national championship in football next year, the year after, or ever, but hauling in blue chips like these, for Kansas Football, is still unprecedented... and something worth cheering about.