2013 Master List

[GBdomer]

I just hope the staff is right in regards to their confidence in Folston. They seem to be turning some talent away because they are waiting for Folston.

Do you know when Folston may announce a decision?

Nope I think his recruitment is just starting to heat up

 

[TheChosen1]

On the market: Top college punter looking for new school in 2013 - CBSSports.com

Is ND in play at here at all? Could he walk on?

On the market: Top college punter looking for new school in 2013


Last year, Russell Wilson left North Carolina State and promptly led his new team, Wisconsin, to the Rose Bowl. Before Wilson's move, there was Duke point guard Greg Paulus resurfacing in the Big East to provide the Syracuse football team some much-needed leadership, DB Ryan Smith leaving Utah to help spark a BCS title run at Florida and several other de-facto free agents using the graduate transfer rule to give a major-college football program an immediate boost.

A grad student transferring to a big-time program is hardly rare these days, but meet Paul Layton, an all-conference punter at the FCS level who is hoping to make the jump up to an FBS program for the 2013 season. What's even more fascinating about the Albany punter's story is that he has already asked for -- and been granted -- his release by the Great Dane staff. In fact, the Albany staff is making calls to try and help its star punter find his new college home for next season.

Layton told CBSSports.com on Tuesday that he had been contemplating the graduate transfer move for months and that he was apprehensive about having that conversation in early August with long-time Albany head coach Bob Ford, who has been the Great Danes' head coach since 1970.

"I put it off for a few days," said Layton, who averaged almost 43 yards per punt in 2011. "I was scared to talk him about it because I had no idea how he'd react, but he was great about it."

Two weeks ago, Albany granted Layton a permission-to-contact release.

"Obviously, you're disappointed -- I mean the guy is one of the best kickers in the country -- but at the same time, I've been in this long enough to say, 'You need to do what's right for the kids,'" Ford told CBSSports.com on Wednesday morning.

"We constantly talk about family here. We call ourselves 'The Purple Family,' and if you truly believe that stuff, you have to do what's right for them."

Layton is a local product. The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder quarterbacked his upstate New York high school, Burnt Hills, to the state title game. He came close to accepting a walk-on opportunity at Syracuse or Pitt, he says, but that was before Albany offered him essentially a full scholarship.

After redshirting his freshman year, his plan was to pursue his MBA at Albany, but he started considering other options, looking for a program that offered something different.

"I'd like to specialize in finance and supply-chain management," he said, "and I think if I can add another big school to my résumé, it opens up a whole new network of job opportunities."

Layton has spent months researching MBA programs as well as depth charts, looking for FBS teams that have senior punters in 2012. He realizes that many schools will be reluctant to offer a scholarship to a punter for one year, especially knowing that he'd count as one of the school's initial signees in the 2013 signing class. Unlike a Wilson or a Danny O'Brien, Layton also is looking to make a step up in competition, although the position he plays isn't as dependent on the talent he's on the field with.

"When the pro scouts come in here, we have a couple of guys they're looking at," said Ford. "One is [Layton] and another is our linebacker Jon Morgan. The scouts know that [Morgan] plays well on this level, but they have to think, 'How would he play at an LSU or a Michigan?' With a punter, though, it's more, 'Can he get it away quickly? Can he get enough height on his kicks so they can cover it? Can he get enough distance?' It's a measurable skill, and Paul does all of that."

One other plus Layton has in his favor is that by punting for Albany, he has had to kick in some rough conditions in terms of swirling winds, chilly temperatures and even punting in a blizzard at Wagner College.

Layton's average through four games this fall is down from 43 yards to 41 yards per punt. He has had "a ton of pooch punts," he said, adding that he has had almost as many fair catches on the end of his punts already as he did in all of 2011. By lifting up his drop about an inch and exploding off his plant leg more, he says he's getting more hang time on his kicks while speeding up his get-off time.

A punter's get-off time is crucial, said one college special teams coordinator, who told CBSSports.com that finding punters is even harder than finding kickers. The coach described recruiting specialists among the kicking scene as a "freaky subculture," which he said was akin to "kiddie soccer."

"A kid can do drills and his mechanics can look great, but you really can't tell what you have until you see him in a game situation with real pressure," the veteran coach said. "We have a stat where a team that gets a punt blocked loses 70 percent of the time."

Layton has also posted his game film from college on Youtube.

After meeting with Ford, Layton provided the Albany coaching staff with a list of eight schools he's interested in. Among them were programs from the ACC, Big Ten, Big East and Pac-12. Layton also included Notre Dame. The Great Danes coaching staff made the first round of calls Tuesday. Ford said they just left voice mails with those recruiting coordinators, but added that there is interest from one additional Big Ten school that wasn't on Layton's initial list.

Ford predicts once these schools find out more about Layton at least one will offer.

Layton, a 3.7 student in business administration, said he is grateful to Ford for the support. "If I had to wait till after the season to get my release, I'd have had no chance to talk to coaches to get there by January," he said. "This hopefully gives me enough time to get somewhere where I can get a head start on my academics and get acclimated to my new team."

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

On the market: Top college punter looking for new school in 2013 - CBSSports.com

Is ND in play at here at all? Could he walk on?

Third time is a charm. haha

 

[beryirish]

Third time is a charm. haha

I didn't want to say anything...I knew you would take it

 

[koonja]

.

 

[GBdomer]

What up

 

[koonja]

What up

Posted my QU about who's visiting for Stanford on here, but cut and pasted it into the '2013 visitor' thread instead.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

A name to possibly keep an eye on is Delano Hill out of Cass Tech who is currently committed to Iowa. The staff watched his tape after he visited for the Michigan game and came away impressed and Hill is now very interested in ND. He ran an electronic 4.4 at The Opening and UF and FSU have been in contact recently. Obviously we have other corners higher on the list right now but if those options fall through he may get an offer. If he does, Wiltfong thinks it could get very interesting. May be visiting with Jayru Campbell this weekend.

 

[GBdomer]

I was going to post this update after class. Good looking out Golden

 

[DCIrish]

Is ND recruiting anymore true 3-4 DE's?

Still think they need one more in this class. I know they are still recruiting the kid from Don Bosco, but he would probably be more of a DE/OLB type player.

 

[GBdomer]

Is ND recruiting anymore true 3-4 DE's?

Still think they need one more in this class. I know they are still recruiting the kid from Don Bosco, but he would probably be more of a DE/OLB type player.

Check the front page. Alquain Muhammad, maybe Austin Hooper.

 

[Walter White]

Check the front page. Alquain Muhammad, maybe Austin Hooper.

What ever happened with Ebenezer Ogundeko? Are we not recruiting him still? I though it was between us and Rutgers.

EDIT: I searched his page and it looks like we may have slowed down his recruitment.

 

[Luckylucci]

As emcee posted in his profile, the staff has moved on from recruiting Ogundeko.

 

[GBdomer]

We moved on from him.

 

[tadman95]

Someone on DD copied this list over to that site. That's cool. Get a load of this comment though:

"Irish Illustrated has an offensive master list and defensive master list. It's my favorite thing to look at. Similar to this but much more detail and speculation. Still, thanks for putting this out there NDHoosier. It just shows you don't need a primo subscription if you go to Domer Domain."

LOL

 

[deise mike]

Excellent synopsis on front page. With this all dying down a bit would love to see some activity with the 2014 class to keep me entertained over the winter months.

 

[yankeeND]

Someone on DD copied this list over to that site. That's cool. Get a load of this comment though:

"Irish Illustrated has an offensive master list and defensive master list. It's my favorite thing to look at. Similar to this but much more detail and speculation. Still, thanks for putting this out there NDHoosier. It just shows you don't need a primo subscription if you go to Domer Domain."

LOL

Damn it they can't even get the rep right

 

[GBdomer]

bro code violation.

 

[yankeeND]

Excellent synopsis on front page. With this all dying down a bit would love to see some activity with the 2014 class to keep me entertained over the winter months.

I believe SLU has a 2014 master list. Look for names like Enoch Smith, Tommy Mister, Andrew Trumbetti and my most wanted for next year Jabrill Peppers(though I believe the favorite is Michigan at the moment).

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Why would Hoosier bring that to our little sisters site?

I don't know, but I hope he gave credit where credit is due.

 

[GBdomer]

I don't know, but I hope he gave credit where credit is due.

No he did, it's just there are some people on this site who worked hard on that list. I guess its free information anyways.

 

[tadman95]

He gave credit to IE to start with. I think its good I just thought the comment about coming to DD was funny.

DD is a good site too.

 

[GBdomer]

I LOL'd at them thinking we got this from Irish Illustrated premium info.

 

[tadman95]

bro code violation.

seems like.

 

[greyhammer90]

No he did, it's just there are some people on this site who worked hard on that list. I guess its free information anyways.

 

[yankeeND]

It probably is good publicity for this site. People will see that it came from here and will in turn bring more Domers to the site. Seriously though this site is an addiction! Good info, true fans, great people!

 

[NDhoosier]

Someone on DD copied this list over to that site. That's cool. Get a load of this comment though:

"Irish Illustrated has an offensive master list and defensive master list. It's my favorite thing to look at. Similar to this but much more detail and speculation. Still, thanks for putting this out there NDHoosier. It just shows you don't need a primo subscription if you go to Domer Domain."

LOL

I was the one who copied the list over to DD and I gave credit here from the get-go (credit is even given in the title of the thread). Post all the info from the start before people start making accusations. Some people have some big internet egos...

 

[tadman95]

I was the one who copied the list over to DD and I gave credit here from the get-go (credit is even given in the title of the thread). Post all the info from the start before people start making accusations. Some people have some big internet egos...

The point was not that you didn't give credit where it was due, you clearly did and GBdomer and I both clearly state that above.

The poster bragging on DD as the place to be when IE was the source of the info was what was funny. No accusations, just facts.

 

[Fbolt]

Was looking at some of the uncommitted on the ESPN 300 list today. I look at this class and wonder who is out there the staff is pushing for that we don't know about yet...?

I'm of the belief we need a DT and see that Josh Augusta (DT) has an offer, yet I don't see him on the master list up front. Any word on him? Further, I thought ND liked Foster for his size, but ESPN (#1-does not show an offer for him by ND) has him at 5-9".

Anyway-wanted to give this a bump-great thread, great front page by OP, and great to see so much green by those names.

 

[GBdomer]

As far as Josh Augusta goes we are not pursuing him. Grades were an issue here and staff just liked prospects like Rochell and AQM more. Also I am not sure which Foster you are talking about? If your talking about Robert Foster is drive way doesn't go all the way to the garage.