2016 Recruits

[oldrunner]

I don't know what you are so upset about. Sure he is a good player. However, we were not going to sign him unless one of our current guards was not working out. So far, I think that our coaches are happy with all of our guards. My feeling is that we will only sign another guard if he is headed out on a mission right out of HS. Otherwise, I don't think we will sign a guard this fall. The same, probably, goes for the big guys.

You can redirect your frustration. Montana is a good fit for him. Cal passed on him, St Mary's passed on him, we passed on him, Utah State passed on him, and some others. I hope he does well at Montana. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Webergrad02]

Olds are you sure we passed on him? I heard that we really wanted him but wanted to redshirt him the first year.

 

[n.ogdencat]

I think Olds is on to something here. With the number of scholarships available, which is virtually 0 (for me, I hope that Nzekwesi is a definite possibility to take the only one available, meaning that Kiko works out.), it is really hard to think we need another guard. Next year...Weber will have: Senglin, Gittens, Ricardson, Jefferson, Hunter, John, Cannon, Williams, and Baker on the roster as guards. Total logjam! I don't think signing a guard is what is needed right now. But I do like Pridgett. Tough deal to lose him to the hated Griz.

Yes, he is 6-5 but in two years he might be one of the tallest players in Missoula. Next year, as a freshman, he will have 9 players, who can play the guard, ahead of him. With 4 of them being PGs. To me it is a terrible place for him to go. He will most likely have to red shirt anyway at Montana. No way he is going to start as a freshman. I'm thinking Montana might have been his only option.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think we will see 3 guys here tomorrow, all automatic missionary kids. This weekend and the weekend of homecoming are the best two to see kids visit.

 

[sacstateman]

I don't know what you are so upset about. Sure he is a good player. However, we were not going to sign him unless one of our current guards was not working out. So far, I think that our coaches are happy with all of our guards. My feeling is that we will only sign another guard if he is headed out on a mission right out of HS. Otherwise, I don't think we will sign a guard this fall. The same, probably, goes for the big guys.

You can redirect your frustration. Montana is a good fit for him. Cal passed on him, St Mary's passed on him, we passed on him, Utah State passed on him, and some others. I hope he does well at Montana. :thumb: :thumb:

Bad pass IMO....Pridgett has the best motor I've seen in a long time....if he plays 4 years in BSC, he will be All BSC at least 2 of those years (1st, 2nd or Honorable Mention)....I think you missed out...in this league he can play the 3 and he can defend any position but the 5....Cal didn't pass on him, he didn't have the grades and if Utah State passed on him they made a huge mistake also....like I said.....bad pass....

 

[thescout]

he will probably end up playing the 3 at Montana they have a ton of smaller guards. He has no rating from rivals, ESPN just out ratings have him a 2 star 69 rating,62nd best shooting guard 43rd best senior in CA. No high major offers listed for him on verbal commits. Nice get for a Big Sky program but did not have the confirmed offers or ratings to deem him a great get.

 

[oldrunner]

I don't know what you are so upset about. Sure he is a good player. However, we were not going to sign him unless one of our current guards was not working out. So far, I think that our coaches are happy with all of our guards. My feeling is that we will only sign another guard if he is headed out on a mission right out of HS. Otherwise, I don't think we will sign a guard this fall. The same, probably, goes for the big guys.

You can redirect your frustration. Montana is a good fit for him. Cal passed on him, St Mary's passed on him, we passed on him, Utah State passed on him, and some others. I hope he does well at Montana. :thumb: :thumb:

Bad pass IMO....Pridgett has the best motor I've seen in a long time....if he plays 4 years in BSC, he will be All BSC at least 2 of those years (1st, 2nd or Honorable Mention)....I think you missed out...in this league he can play the 3 and he can defend any position but the 5....Cal didn't pass on him, he didn't have the grades and if Utah State passed on him they made a huge mistake also....like I said.....bad pass....

I do think that he will become a good player for Montana. He visited Cal, St Mary's, and I believe Nevada. If his grades were good enough for D1, they were good enough for Cal. I don't buy the argument that grades kept him out of Cal, or anywhere else for that matter. Our offer to him probably had a lot of contingencies to it. I don't think that we sign anyone but missionaries this fall, unless someone way better than anyone in our program comes along, and I don't see that happening.

 

[sacstateman]

You have proved you know nothing about Cal athletics....He never visited Cal officially (he lives less than 15 miles from campus so I'm sure he has been there but not on an official visit) and Cal does have a higher standard than the NCAA does....it wouldn't do them much good to accept a student athlete who couldn't make the grade in the classroom.....olds, you are dead wrong on this one....Pridgett wasn't even on the Cal recruiting data base....

 

[n.ogdencat]

Pridgett is a good get for the Griz. They are loaded at the 1. However, he shouldn't have any illusions...in all likelihood he will be red shirting next year. There are four PGs ahead of him who are, other than Bruenig, are the top talent on the Griz team. Also, like I said before...9 guards will be on the roster next year.

As for Cal...if they wanted him. He would be a Bear. I know they have standards and that's great but if the kid has the talent and can make a impact Cal would find a way. He just wasn't at that level. A buddy at USU in the "know" looool as if, said he never had a firm offer. It was a "wait and see" kind of deal.

 

[sacstateman]

Tal...you are correct that Cal didn't want him but you are wrong if you think Cal will take any NCAA qualifier....some very good players have not measured up to the grade requirements and have not been offered because of that problem....

 

[oldrunner]

His visits to Cal, St Mary's, and Nevada were probably unofficial visits, but he is the one that tweeted it out. I know that Cal has high academic standards, but I have also seen them bend their own rules now and again. They may use that as an excuse for some players that want to commit to them, but they are not ready to accept the commitment. He wanted Cal and they probably wanted him to go to a prep school first. Prep school can be a financial burden on a players family and it may not have been a realistic option for him. None of us really know all of the circumstances, but from the kid's own words, he wanted to go to Cal, but Cal didn't want him.

I still think that he can be a very good player for Montana. We will see, in two to three years.

If he was such a hot commodity, why wasn't Sac going after him? :roll:

 

[sacstateman]

I don't know why our coaches didn't recruit Pridgett, if I was a Sac St. coach I would have gone after him...but since you claim to have seen Cal bend their rules I would love to hear you name one of those players you claim they bent their rules for.....I know you won't be able to come up with those names so I won't waste too much time waiting...olds, admit you were wrong and go on from there...you're starting to remind me of Hillary with all the changing excuses....

 

[oldrunner]

You are right, Statesman. I don't keep a list of all the athletes Cal has signed and their academic records. All I have is anecdotal, second hand, information. It has mostly been on Utah HS football players whom we thought WSU had a chance at because they didn't seem to meet University of Utah's academic standards. When they signed with Cal or Stanford, it raised a few eyebrows. I can't quote facts because I don't, and couldn't, have the facts. You may be right, that they have never signed an athlete who didn't completely meet their standards. However, you don't have all the facts either.

Like I said before, I think he is a good player. I've watched his highlight video. He looks legit to me. We really don't have an opening for a guard, who would be on scholarship next year, to be signed this fall. If we were to take a player like that, they would need to be far superior to any of the guards in our system, or someone would have to wash out for some reason. None of those conditions are met. We couldn't take his commitment if he wanted to give it. I'm sure that some other schools were in that boat as well. He was being recruited by some good programs, but the offers were probably of the 'wait and see' variety. Some very good players slide in those conditions. We have been the recipient of some of that sliding in the past. We just don't have open scholarships right now.

 

[SWeberCat02]

You're all crazy if you think Rahe wouldn't find a scholarship for a player that's better than someone already in the program. Players lose their scholarships every year. Just this year Hunter, Golden, and Coston lost theirs. A scholarship is never safe. There's no such thing as "no scholarships available." And quit playing it off as "we didn't really want him anyway."

 

[sacstateman]

You're all crazy if you think Rahe wouldn't find a scholarship for a player that's better than someone already in the program. Players lose their scholarships every year. Just this year Hunter, Golden, and Coston lost theirs. A scholarship is never safe. There's no such thing as "no scholarships available." And quit playing it off as "we didn't really want him anyway."

+1

 

[SWeberCat02]

I may look like the idiot when it's all said and done, and I don't pretend to be a basketball expert, but I really felt like Weber should have been going hard after both Walter Wright and Pridgett. Time will tell if I was wrong or right, but this just feels like we got beat out by a school in our own conference.

 

[oldrunner]

You're all crazy if you think Rahe wouldn't find a scholarship for a player that's better than someone already in the program. Players lose their scholarships every year. Just this year Hunter, Golden, and Coston lost theirs. A scholarship is never safe. There's no such thing as "no scholarships available." And quit playing it off as "we didn't really want him anyway."

You guys are totally misreading me. Our coaches were looking at Pridgett early. They obviously thought he was talented enough to play for us. I thought the same thing. He is a very good player. At the time, they were uncertain of some of the guards we had coming into the program and wanted a backup strategy. I believe that as the summer progressed those unknowns became known and a decision was made to go in a different direction. I have said before, and we have seen it in action, they would make room for a player who is significantly better than anyone at his position within our program. Even though they have done it in the past, you don't usually swap out equals, unless there are other issues. You guys are talking about this kid like he is the next Michael Jordan. Maybe he is, and the rest of the world just missed it.

 

[n.ogdencat]

Three kids are here on official visits. One, in my opinion, might be the steal of the state. He is a total diamond in the rough and for w number of reasons is getting overlooked. I don't care why, I'm just happy we have a chance. Normally this type of kid would be an automatic at the Y. I don't think they have room and the U doesn't want to wait. USU never got on the ball thinking they could get better. He fits in perfect, actually all three do, to our future.

The big who is here has 18 offers. But we are one of the few programs fine with him going on a mission. Both can leave right away next May. Hope we get them!!

 

[oldrunner]

I haven't seen any comments from the visitors or others. However, I would expect that we would be hearing something soon if any of them were ready to commit. I would guess that at least one of them would be ready to commit soon. They all look to have solid potential. They also look like good students and citizens. You never really know how a player might return from a mission, but they usually come back with a little more focus, more mature, and more realistic about their abilities. Hopefully, they come back healthy and in good condition. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[SWeberCat02]

Dashawn McDowell commits to SMU

 

[n.ogdencat]

Dashawn McDowell commits to SMU

Good fit for McDowell. Wish him the best in his future career.

Yes...this season is seeming like an absolute bummer recruiting wise. Pridgett to Montana, McDowell to SMU, and a handful of other guys going elsewhere. Big losses? Yes...yet, call me nuts, which I'm sure plenty of you will jump at the chance to do, but I feel that Weber is in a great position. I still hope, which might be confirmed by coach not bringing in any major bigs this fall, that Nzekwesi, after his Prep season, will be able to come to Weber State. This is a kid who has grown 1 and a half inches since signing with us last Fall, and had 18 DI offers and chose Weber State. I'm hopeful, if no one other than mission kids are signed that he will, knock on wood, be coming to Weber State next Fall.

I'm hoping that Weber can land both Spencer Johnson and Wyatt Lowell. I think those were the two guys who were visiting this past weekend. I've heard from a number of individuals in the "know" that Johnson is as close to a hidden gem as you can get nowadays. He had a remarkable AAU Summer, but nobody wanted to go after him because he was an automatic mission guy. I know that UVU and SUU are both after him. I was told that BYU has over-recruited and if they didn't they would have given him a scholarship in an instant.