Tuesday Tidbits
Not that you’re likely to forget, but the signing period for football starts Wednesday. Per usual, I’ll be in Brookings to provide live updates as letters of intent roll in to South Dakota State:
SDSU is already well into football recruiting for 2014, having hosted roughly 60 high school juniors Saturday.
But first things first: The Jacks expect to sign roughly 18 high school seniors today. However, they’ll likely hang on to 2-3 spots for late additions or junior college kids with safety being the top priority, according to recruiting coordinator Clint Brown.
The pairings for the 11th and final installment of BracketBusters were announced Monday. (I’ve already got a plane ticket booked for SDSU at Murray State, by the way.) In terms of RPI, Ohio at Belmont is the biggest mismatch at No. 90 vs. No. 18. But the Jacks (66th) vs. the Racers (116th) is next. Meanwhile, three other pairings are within 10 or less: No. 109 Canisius at No. 111 Vermont, No. 118 Montana at No. 115 Davidson and No. 83 Eastern Kentucky at No. 93 Valparaiso.
As for the teams with the biggest gripe for being left out of the TV games: No. 97 Tennessee State, No. 100 Loyola (Md.) and No. 101 Oral Roberts.
In other men’s basketball news, coach Scott Nagy will be taking 13 players to Haiti for a week in May to distribute shoes through Samaritan’s Feet. They might also put on basketball clinics, but that will depend on the availability of equipment.
Not only did San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke spent five years as an assistant with the Jacks, that’s where his made his first in roads to the pro game. Ex-SDSU coach Mike Daly said that Baalke was in charge of taking care of NFL scouts when they came to Brookings – and they were there plenty with guys like Adam Timmerman, Doug Miller and Adam Vinatieri rolling through in a relatively short period of time.
“He helped promote those guys,” Daly said. “He’d stay until midnight if he had to to take care of them.”
Baalke was cordial and knowledgeable enough that one of those scouts eventually offered him a job.
Terry Vandrovec also posts regular updates on his Twitter page.
