Bryce Brown Announcement

#1,427
#1,427
With now only two hours left until the formal announcement, the difficulty in predicting Brown's ultimate destination remains essentially unchanged, in my opinion. The fact that it is the longest recruiting process in history pales only in comparison to the array of oddities along the way. Consider the following:

Butler's website and involvement as a "mentor" throughout this process. One wonders what influence he will have on Bryce's final decision, if any at all, nor where his allegiance truly lies - be it to a particular school, Bryce, or simply to himself. While much has been written and said about Butler, ultimately, he remains very much an enigmatic mystery in this process.

After being committed to Miami for months, they became exasperated with what they believed to be an undue delay in his signing. Allegedly, they "pulled" their scholarship offer - but only after he seemed to have officially re-opened his recruitment, however, this has neither been made "official", nor final.

His brother, (a 5-star athlete himself) chose Miami only last season, and while a notably a different person than Bryce, the thought of playing together likely continues to have some appeal - that is if Arthur Jr. actually wants to be at Miami, or as some have purported, is secretly considering a transfer to another school.

As Bryce was at one point considering a visit to USC(w), many believed them to be the early favorite should Miami fall from grace. However, once Bryce decided not to visit the campus, they summarily withdrew their scholarship, thus removing themselves from consideration....or did they? Of all of the many positive attributes of each school who remains to be considered, most would agree that USC's would have been a difficult opponent to overcome in landing him. It was lost in the "wash" of chatter, but please let me gently remind, there is no prohibition in re-offering him a scholarship after having "pulled" it, just see Miami, above.

You have the late entrance and visit to LSU, and the strength of their most recent recruiting class still fresh in everyone's mind. If you think that Tennessee was late to the party, the timeline of events requires you to also believe that LSU knocked on the door after the hosts had gone to bed. The difficult thing about LSU is that despite what anyone would want to say about Miles and Co., both their recruiting prowess and the notable tradition of the Tigers program remains above serious question, at least in my mind.

Kansas State's entrance remains enigmatic, to say the least. In the span of three months, they switched coaches - and rather than bringing in someone else, handed the reigns back to Bill Snyder, the coach who had lead the program to whatever glory it had previously achieved. Perhaps most importantly, Kansas State went from having a (now former) coach who actively and publicly warned boosters to steer clear of Butler, to another who seems to embrace both him and his "process". Of course, all of this could easily be dismissed if K-State's campus was located anywhere other than 2.5 hours from Wichita....but it's not. Consider the hundreds who regularly commit to other schools - and not with the likes of a Tennessee, Oregon and LSU, simply because they go somewhere closer to home. It happens every single year, so ignore the hometown team at your own peril.

Then there's Oregon. It would be both unwise and frankly unreasonable to dismiss the Ducks chances of landing Brown - either in light of the recent head coaching change, or in his earlier comments (i.e. dreaming of being in an Oregon uniform, how they take care of former players, etc.). His affinity for the newly named head coach, Chip Kelly, is easily the single strongest relationship that has been publicly mentioned by Bryce himself. When you couple these facts with their notable affiliation to Nike and that a close friend is a current Duck (in fact, likely with him as we speak), the Ducks are being seriously considered at worst, and at best, are the front-runners.

Finally, we have Tennessee. With a new staff ostensibly built upon the dual-pillars of recruiting and preparing players for the NFL, Tennessee found itself garnering some serious consideration from Brown. This is even more impressive when considering that they were nowhere to be found on his radar just two short months ago. According to recent reports, the inclusion of one of the best RB and S&C coaches in the business may likely prove to be the deciding factor. When coupled with this weekend's most recent on-campus visit, though a late arrival to the party, Tennessee could be the one not only with the last dance, but also who turns out the lights.


Ultimately, I think that the guy picks a school for the same reasons that most do - not that one school is head-and-shoulders better than another, but because they feel more comfortable and believe that it offers them the greatest possible chance to both enjoy their college careers, and to have the greatest chance to be successful once it concludes. That's what I would do, and I think the same is true for Bryce as well. I hope he makes a choice based on that criteria - and will be the first to wish him the absolute best wherever it is that he may eventually decide to go.

Finally, believing him to be a special player, and an even better young man, I will be the first to congratulate the team which signs him, as such would not only be within the bounds of reason, but equally well-deserved.

Just my .02

I hope like heck for Tennessee, but wouldn't be surprised at his choosing any of the schools he remains to consider.
 
#1,432
#1,432
I am sure Freak is glad he added that extra bandwith....He's going to need every bit of it to keep this site online here in a few minutes lol
 
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