Georgia ATH Chris Joyce commits to Tulane.

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Mono41 started with a seven-point week in the first week and closed with three straight six-point weeks to win the 2017 pick 'em contest. As the rules stated at the start, each person got to drop his lowest weekly score, but it wouldn't have mattered. Mono41, who never had a week with fewer than three points, would have won either way.

FINAL STANDINGS

1) mono41 62

2) winwave 60

3) diverdo 56

4) bbos1025 55

5) Guerry Smith 53

6) GretnaGreen 52

7) highwave 51

7) Kettrade1 51

7) p8kpev 51

10) Golfer81 50

10) WaveON 50

12) St Amant Wave 49

13) DrBox 48

13) LSU Law Greenie 48

13) Wavetime 48

16) Harahan Wave 44

17) Charlamange8 43


Some notes:

--mono's total was two points off the high of 64 set by Jstock2005 in 2013 and matched by dew99 in 2014.

--14 of us picked every week and three more missed only one, giving 17 people a real chance to win.

--I have run this contest for the last six years, and to the best of my memory, we still never had had anyone with a perfect week or a week with zero points.

--Four people had an eight-point week: p8kpev in the first week, mono41 in week 5, Kettrade1 in week 7 and winwave in week 8.

--There were seven one-point weeks: buck2481 had a pair of them in week 3 and week 9 before abandoning the contest, MNAlum in week 8 before he stopped entering in week 10, Kettrade1 and bbos1025 in week 9 and p8kpev and Charlamange8 in week 10.

I laid an egg in the final week, missing every game but Tulane, and DrBox unfortunately had the exact same picks for all eight games.

Gretna Green won the week with his second consecutive 7-point effort.

The final results will be posted shortly.

WEEK 12 RESULTS

7

Gretna Green

6

mono41
WaveON
bbos1025

5

p8kpev
diverdo
St Amant Wave
LSU Law Greenie
Kettrade1
winwave
highwave
Wavetime
Golfer81

4

Harahan Wave

3

Charlamange8

2

Guerry Smith
DrBox

GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Tulane 15 out of 17
South Florida 10
Auburn 6
LSU 8
Michigan 3
Stanford 2
Washington 8
Clemson 14

Tulane has garnered a commitment from 3* safety Larry Brook III out of Kennedale, Texas. Flipped him from ULM. He also had offers from Arkansas State, Texas State and New Mexico State.

this year is a little different . I want to know who are the new arrivals in January not just the guys who are signing early?

He did not excel at Vanderbilt, starting three games as a redshirt freshman at right tackle and two games as a redshirt junior at right tackle, but Tulane can use another offensive lineman.

Hopefully he will make a bigger impact than Hunter Knighton did. At the very least he will provide quality depth in case of injury.

This is the final edition of pick 'em for the year. Although I may do a bowl one if Tulane beats SMU, the winner will be determined after this weekend.

I'm getting this up early because I'm including the Friday game between UCF and USF that will decide the AAC East.

As always, the Tulane game counts double, the home team is listed first and the point spreads come from VegasInsider.com consensus.

SMU (-8) Tulane
UCF (-11) South Florida
Auburn (+4.5) Alabama
LSU (-10.5) Texas A&M
Michigan (+12) Ohio State
Stanford (+2.5) Notre Dame
Washington (-9) Washington State
South Carolina (+14) Clemson

No Lindsey Scott this weekend. He's already quite familiar with Tulane, so I wouldn't necessarily read too much into that choice, but it is interesting the Wave is entertaining a 3-star QB commitment to Houston.

First, the guys already committed to Tulane:

Nik Hogan
Jason Swann
Jamiran James
Amare Jones
Jorien Vallien
Macon Clark (Tulane sees him as a DB although Rivals lists him as an LB)


And the 11 guys Tulane is recruiting.

1) Despelado Alexandre, a 6-4, 270-pound 2-star OT from Deerfield Beach in Florida.

Comment: He is committed to Georgia State. It depends on how much Tulane wants him.

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2) Ygenio Booker, a 5-10, 177-pound 2-star WR from Brooksville (Fla.) Hernando High

Comment: His only other offers are from Troy and Georgia Southern. Again, it depends on how much interest is there.

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3) Sydney Brown, a 6-0 190-pound ATH from Bradenton (Fla.) St. Stephens Episcopal who has no stars from Rivals or 247 Sports but is in the Rivals database. Tulane is recruiting him as a DB.

Comment: Don't know anything about him, and he has no listed offers, but Fritz wants DBs.

http://www.hudl.com/profile/5304133/sydney-brown

4) Damien Tate, a 5-10, 172-pound 2-star CB from Warren Easton

Comment: He is a McNeese State commitment with offers from FBS programs on a lower level than Tulane. It looks like the Wave will take at least one more DB in the class.

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5) Ja'quon Griffin, a 6-0, 268-pound 3-star DT from Rome, Ga.

Comment: Committed to LSU in April along with two other D-linemen from his school, none of which held. It appears LSU never was committed to him and the relationship was one-sided. Appalachian State appears to have recruited him the hardest. I'm of the belief that you can never have enough good interior linemen, so if he is the real deal, he is worth pursuing.

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6) Chris Joyce, a 5-11, 175-pound 3-star CB from Dutchtown High in Hampton, Ga.

Comment: No offers from P5 schools except for Tennessee, and I doubt that one still stands. All of his other offers are from schools below AAC level. He is one of four DBs Tulane is looking at this weekend.

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7) Travon King, a 6-4, 205-pound 3-star ATH from Wilson High In Camden, N.J. Committed to home-state Rutgers in August. Rated the 23rd best player in New Jersey by Rivals.

Comment: Tulane sees him as a DE/OLB. That's the side of the ball he prefers anyway. He had 38 tackles and 14 sacks as a senior. King's younger brother will graduate next year and also is a college prospect who plans to attend the same school as Travon.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2018/travon-king-82422

8) Donte Martin, a 5-8, 162-pound CB from Rio Mesa High in Oxnard, Calif. No stars from Rivals or 247 Sports.

Comment: Again, I'm not playing down the chances for any DB to end up in the class. Cleary Tulane is making it a priority. His only other reported offer is from San Jose State.

https://www.hudl.com/profile/4031704/donte-martin/videos

9) Lichon Terrell, a 6-2, 260-pound 3-star DE from Calloway High in Hoganville, Ga. Committed to Western Kentucky in July.

Comment: Chose the Hilltoppers over Tulane, Charlotte and Iowa State. Has anything changed? Well, a visit on the final recruiting weekend usually means there's a chance something has changed unless he just wants a trip to New Orleans.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2018/lichon-terrell-182536

10) Julon Williams, a 5-8, 185-pound 3-star ATH from Judson High in Converse, Texas. Tulane is recruiting him as a QB. Committed to Houston in September.

Comment: Rivals listed his as one of five commitments from the state of Texas most likely to flip in October. He visited Utah, received a lot of interest from Virginia and now is visiting Tulane on the final recruiting weekend before the early signing day. With Scott not visiting this weekend, it will be interesting how hard the Wave goes after Williams. Fritz said Tuesday the ideal breakdown at QB was having one freshman, one sophomore, one junior and one senior. If Scott goes elsewhere, Tulane will have one senior, one redshirt freshman and one true freshman on the roster next fall, leaving room for a fourth even if the class breakdown is not as ideal as if Scott, who has three years left, were there.

Here are his stats this year: http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/judson-rockets-(converse,tx)/football/stats.htm

And his highlight tape: https://www.hudl.com/profile/4137959/julon-williams

11) Brayden Willis, a 6-4, 210-pound 3-star TE from Martin High in Arlington, Texas

Comment: Teammate of Tulane WR commitment Sorrell Brown has offers from Houston, Arizona, Illinois and a bunch of lesser schools. He had 29 catches for 586 yards this year and also ran 70 times for 572 yards. If there's room for another TE, he seems worth it.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2018/brayden-willis-182487

Just thought I'd start a new thread with this one...I am working on getting the recruiting list...

via Twitter
Lichon Terrell 3* DT from Ga, a WKU commit is visiting.

Also of note Juan Monjarres 3* DE from St. Aug said he is signing on Decebmer 20th.

As always, please chime in with your opinions. Almost everyone (probably everyone) knows more about what we need and talent evaluation than I do.

From watching the games and reading what your opinions, we need a couple of LB's, a PK, OL, S, DT and DE. We need a pass rush next year.

We sure are going after a few DB's and DL, have a punter locked up, some OL's and of course Lindsey Scott.

With the LB's, in my opinion, Harris got better as the year went on and the same can be said for Edwards on the DL. The losses of Parry, Wilson, Marbley and Aruna concern me. It sure looks like we have no safety depth after Teamer (may be wrong).

How are we doing with our areas of need (quantity and quality)? On the PK side, will experience and coaching get us to where we can actually have a bit of confidence trying a 40 yd FG (I don't see us recruiting one)?

Tulane has 16 players confirmed to visit this weekend. including six who already have committed to the Green Wave. Next week is going to be the bigger weekend of the two before the early signing period begins Dec. 20.

1) Juan Monjarres
2) Stephen Lewerenz
3) Michael Remondet
4) Sorrell Brown
5) Davon Wright
6) Carlos Hatcher

Now to the 10 the Wave is pursuing:

1) Charles Coleman, a 6-3, 250-pound DE from Huntsville (Ala.) Mae Jemison who I just added to the Rivals.com database.

Comment: He's as under the radar as a recruit gets with no listing anywhere other than his Hudl page before my addition. His high school is in its second year of existence and had a huge year before getting blown out in the second round of the Alabama Class 5A playoffs in a big surprise.

2) Dorian Camel, a 6-1, 164-pound 3-star safety from Scotlandville High in Baton Rouge

Comment: He has attracted some SEC interest from Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Mississippi State and has a standing offer from Marshall. When he visited Marshall, he listed the Thundering Herd as his frontrunner, but he did not even know about the school until it offered him. He wants to play safety in college.

https://marshall.rivals.com/news/marshall-leads-for-three-star-db

3) Anthony Lewis, a 6-3, 210-pound 3-star TE from Mobile (Alab. ) Murphy High

Comment: Tulane offered him in March after he was named MVP of the WR/TE group at the Rivals 3-Star Camp in New Orleans. Kentucky was the first school to offer him and he has an offer from Mississippi State, too.

4) Maurice Robinson, a 6-1, 180-pound 3-star QB from Mobile (Alab.) Murphy High whom Tulane is recruiting as an Athlete.

Comment: Robinson, the No. 19 pro-style QB in the country according to Rivals, is just below four-star status and has had offers from Florida, LSU and Mississippi State. Robinson and the team had a rough year, going 3-7 while he completed 77 of 156 passes (49.4 percent) with 12 TDs and 4 INTs. He ran for 523 yards on 59 carries.

5) Larry Brooks, a 6-0, 185-pound 3-star CB from Kennedale High in Texas. Committed to ULM during the summer.

Comment: Tulane is his best offer and should be able to sway him if the coaches really want him. He visited Texas Tech in October but apparently did not receive an offer. He has 130 tackles and three interceptions according to MaxPreps, and his team is still alive in the Class 4A playoffs.

https://texastech.rivals.com/news/brooks-spends-his-birthday-in-lbk

6) Ryan Wright, a 6-3, 240-pound punter from San Ramos, Calif.

Comment: He is the No.4-rated punter in the country by Kohl's Kicking Camps. It appears to a be a two-way battle between Arizona and Tulane in the lead for him. A good athlete, he also plays QB for his high school.

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7) Barret PIckering, a 3-star kicker from Hoover High in Alabama rated the 4th best at his position nationally by Rivals.com.

Comment: Committed to Nebraska in October but the coaching change there has opened things up again. Kohl's ranks him the No. 5 kicker in the country. If this weekend resulted in the signing of Wright and Pickering alone, it would be a really good weekend.

https://kohlskicking.com/player-profiles/barret-pickering

8) Curry Benn, a 6-0, 170-pound 3-star CB from Landry-Walker who committed to Southern Miss in July. Rated the No. 39 player in the state of Louisiana by Rivals.

Comment: Other than Arizona, he does not have any big-time offers, and if he is visiting Tulane less than two weeks before signing day, there must be a chance he could flip from USM.

9) Preston Ellison, an unrated 6-3, 195-pound OLB from Permian High in Odessa, Texas.

Comment: Depends on the interest from Tulane at this point. He does not have any reported offers by Rivals. 247 Sports lists him as a safety with an offer from Texas Tech.

10) Jeffery Johnson, a , 6-3, 317-pound 3-star DT from Brookhaven, Miss. rated No. 32 nationally at his position and the No. 6 overall prospect in Mississippi. He is just shy of four-star status.

Comment: He probably is out of reach if offers from Alabama, LSU and Florida among others still stand, but he's visiting. He has said his top three schools were Alabama, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

it's a day later than I said it would be done, but my Johnson story is on the front page now.

It may not come across in the quotes, but he sounded very mature in our phone conversation. I had a bad vibe from Edward Williams the second I tried to interview him at Tad-Gormley Stadium when he signed with Tulane--not saying he was a bad guy, but he clearly was not enthused about his situation. I get a really good vibe from Johnson.

https://tulane.rivals.com/news/commitment-spotlight-brookhaven-miss-dt-jeffery-johnson

rumored for sometime that JJ McClesky would join the staff. I love it! Hope it’s true.

Any insight from you guys on whether there is some truth to this rumor? What capacity would he serve?

I can tell you from personal experience working with him many years ago that he is one of the most intense competitors I have ever been around and wants to dominate at everything he does, and brings a fighters mentality to work. He isn’t just going to win, he wants to dominate you. He over achieved for a guy his size. Very tenacious individual. Very vocal. Kids and players love his attitude, he is a unique guy.

Guerry, it's appearing that this now will be the major signing day. Are you going to go to Tulane and cover it like you have covered the February signing date? Do you know if Tulane is going to do their blog like they usually do?Any knowledge how other media outlets are adjusting to this new signing date? Thanks.

I did not get a chance to ask as many questions as usual because the TV people there were aggressive, with Ed Daniels and Fletcher Mackel particularly vocal.

There's not much in it you have not already heard. Maybe a few tidbits here and there.

name your top 5 players for next year Offense and defense and why?

Welp that was slightly unexpected, but understandable. Banks is going to start next season and McClain is the future...or maybe Lindsey Scott...so if he wants to play. I appreciate his efforts.

I will have Tulane's weekend recruiting visitors' list shortly.

Meanwhile, here is what the seven offensive skill position players in the current commitment class did this year. All stats are from Maxpreps.com with the exception of Simi Bakare's, which I obtained elsewhere.

1) Jorien Vallien, WR, Alexandria High

--team-high 33 catches for 568 yards and nine touchdowns for a team that went 4-7. Alexandria scored at least 20 points in all but one regular season game before losing 33-14 to Destrehan in the first round of the 3A playoffs.

2) Christian Daniels, QB, Elon Western Alamance

--After crushing everyone it played on the way to the Class 3A semifinals, top-seeded Western Alamance got clobbered by No. 2 Western seed Havelock 41-14 last weekend, ending its season at 14-1. Daniels had a rough day, throwing three interceptions while going 21 of 37 for 102 yards and rushing 19 times for 58 yards. Havelock won its 50th consecutive road game, so Western Alamance was favored by seed only.

Daniels finished the year 172 of 278 (61.9 percent) for 2,218 yards with 21 TD passes and 10 INTs. He ran 156 times for 1,112 yards (7.1 average) and six scores.

3) Sorrell Brown, WR, Arlington (Texas) Martin

--Martin finished 11-2, losing to national powerhouse program Allen 48-25 in the Class 6A round of 16 last weekend after being within 21-16 at the half. I did not find Brown's stats from that game, but he finished the year with a team-high 42 catches for 758 yards and eight scores. He also ran four times for 36 yards and a TD.

4) Simi Bakare, RB, Round Rock (Texas) Cedar Ridge

--He went down with a knee injury two plays into Cedar Ridge's dramatic 35-34 OT victory in the state playoffs. The school, which has never been this far in the playoffs before, will face a district foe it already beat 43-27 in the regular season in the next round. Bakare has rushed for 1,714 yards and 29 touchdowns. He ran on the sideline after his injury but did not return to the game, and his coach said his status was unclear for this weekend's playoff game.

5) Cameron Carroll, RB, Flowood (Miss) Northwest Rankin

--He rushed 185 times for 1,370 yards (7.4 average) and nine touchdowns, also catching 18 passes for 192 yards and two scores. Northwest Rankin finished 8-4, losing in the first round of the 6A playoffs.

6) Tyrick James, TE, China Spring, Texas

--Max Preps does not have accurate stats on James, who scored on a 20-yard touchdown in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs. China Springs went 13-2 but lost to Liberty Hill in the third round 33-28 after losing to the same team 59-58 in the regular season. James rushed for two touchdowns in the playoff loss but also fumbled twice, including one with less than two minutes to go when his team was up 1 that proved to be decisive. James had touchdown grabs of 73 and 30 yards in the earlier meeting en route to four touchdowns overall in that game.

7) Amare Jones, RB, Frisco (Texas) Heritage

--Max Preps does not have complete stats for him, but in five games as the starting QB, he had 72 carries for 763 yards (10.6 average) with four touchdowns. He also completed 40 of 71 passes for eight touchdowns, but Tulane did not recruit him as a QB. His team went 4-6 and missed the playoffs but scored 40 or more points five times.

Did anyone hear anything with regard to athletics?

Ole Miss players are apparently free to transfer without sitting out a year. Several players are from Louisiana and may have an interest in coming to Tulane if the situation permits. Several would probably benefit the Wave but two I’d think would be good are linebackers Josh Clarke (6’2”, 217#) from Riverdale and Zikerrion Baker (6’1”, 216#) from Minden. Both were very highly regarded and recruited in the 2017 class and will be redshirt freshmen this coming year. I have no idea of their possible interest in us or ours in them, but, to me, it’s a position of need.

Roll Wave!!!

Some of the recruits who are visiting this weekend have tweeted about their visit. We all know that the list can change at any time, but here are the players who have confirmed via twitter:

Dorian Camel, S from Scotlandville (3 star with Arkansas, Mizzou, Ole Miss, Miss State offers)
Maurice Robinson II, ATH from Alabama (3 star with some big offers...LSU, Florida)
Anthony Lewis, Jr., TE from Alabama (Robinson's teammate, 3 star..Miss State, Indiana, Memphis)
Charles Coleman III..D-Lineman from Alabama. 6'4 240. Under the radar kid who really flashes on film. Don't know why he doesn't even have profiles on recruiting sites.

I'm working on my Grading the Green Wave for The Advocate, which I will also post here.

I'm interesting in how you guys would grade each position. My preliminary thoughts are these:

QB: B-
RB: B (Hilliard higher)
WR: C (not enough depth, a few too many drops)
OL: C- (had them at D last year)
DL: C (Wilson higher, but this is group grade)
LB: B or B-
DB: C+ (Nickerson a true difference-maker, rest of unit lagged behind)
Special teams: D
Coaching: B (that one's non-negotiable. I like what I'm seeing from this staff. Gave them a C last year)

Guerry - When you get some free time (I'll assume like most you're super busy this time of year), I was wondering if you can do a breakdown of the 2018 schedule for football. In particular what I'm wondering is how many starters does each team have coming back. Do they lose their starting QB? Do they have their top defensive players coming back? I think it would be an interesting thing to look at now that the season is over.

Thanks!

is it time for the group of five to come up with their own playoff system. if ucf can't crack top 10 and their undefeated there is no chance of getting into the playoffs

or does Ohio State and Wisconsin look really slow and plodding compared to the Memphis / UCF skill players in their game earlier today? I'd love to see Memphis vs Wisconsin and UCF vs OSU to give the American the proper respect.