Unconquered

The State of Florida loses another one as highly ranked Pitcher Bennett Sousa (2013) selects UVA. Here is the blurb from Perfect Game:

The University of Virginia is having a nice summer on the recruiting trail, left-handed pitcher Bennett Sousa the latest addition to its already-talented 2014 recruiting class.

Sousa is a 6-foot-3, 175-pounder, from North Palm Beach, Fla. (The Benjamin HS). He's ranked No. 17 nationally by PG, No. 6 in Florida and No. 2 at his position on the national stage.

Stuff-wise, he was up to 91 at the PG National Junior Showcase. Meanwhile, he competed in the 17U PG BCS Finals for the Palm Beach Rockets organization.

UNC is up there in the top 5 as well. They have some really good guys committed and alot seem to be guys that will make it to campus.

Jamal Martin to sign with Bo Sox? Corey's gut says so. OUCH.

Marcus Davis has signed with FSU. Huge get for the staff to take one away from sully.

Assuming gonzo doesn't sign, then an offense with gonzo, nogowski, Davis, and Stewart in the middle of the lineup is pretty good.

Well, looks like this hope was shot...I posted this elsewhere, but teams like GT, Clemson, AU, UNC, Virginia, UCLA, etc are sure not having any problems with getting kids to bypass MLB for college and actually choosing to go there instead of JUCO. We are freaking snake-bit right now man!

Hate to speculate, but I have to wonder if the reason we were able to land guys like Hurst, Food, Nido, Pike etc. is because other schools felt they would be tough prospects to convince to enroll and passed on them. If that's the case, our coaches need to do their HW.

Case of bad luck. Nearly all of our commits and players were offered over their slot. Nothing anybody at FSU can do about that.

They've signed a ton of guys who are highly thought of by MLB teams. The more you sign, the more are likely to drop to you.

UF is VERY good at over selling how good their academics are. If a kid decides to go to college for 3 years vs. straight to the pros that can pretty much only occur for these reasons or a combination of them; well off family, interested in academics, wants the "college experience", thinks they can improve their stock with some growth/improvement, has bright futures and other academic scholarships, is a die hard fan of the school, gets $100 handshakes.

It is likely easier for UF to recruit kids that are from well off familes and are interested in academics (advantage UF). At minimum we can match the "college experience", if not best it (Push or Advantage FSU). Right now UF has had a better recent track record of getting players drafted(Advantage UF). We can match Bright Futures obviously, but they may get craftier with "other scholarships"(Likely a UF advantage). UF also has a bigger fan base in state and is located closer to the baseball hotbeds of Tampa, Orlando, South Florida, and Jax (Advantage UF). Their football success in the mid 00's also probably helped them get more kids to come to school, for the "college experience", but maybe not so much anymore. Our big advantage over them is better tradition, better stadium, and better fans. However, those aren't really factors that would prevent someone from going to college over MLB.

So while we do have some recruiting advantages over them, they may not be the type that lead to signees bypassing MLB for college. Theirs on the other hand (academics, scholarships, etc) may lead to more of their elite recruits bypassing MLB.

Sullivan has a ton of pressure to win and Foley desperately wants a baseball title before he retires. He wants one in all the Big 3 sports and UF wants to beat FSU to the punch in a sport we are traditionally better at. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if some Bull Gators were hooking up UF players here and there. Its also easy for new coaches to come into a program and talk a big game. This often times leads to excitement and good recruiting (see Fisher, John James), but when the results on the field don't match the talk, it fades. If Sully keeps blowing it in Omaha and continues to be a dickhead to his players, the love affair will wear off. Heck it may already be. UF's recent freshmen class seems to be so-so and the class they will be enrolling isn't anywhere as good as their recent classes.

UF will have 2 very, very good frontline starters next year, but other than that, they shouldn't be anything exceptional. Lets see how Sully can rebuild after the initial wave of excitement he brought to UF.

Bout damn time! We finally got a top notch pitching commit! Kid is going to be a stud if we get him in school...

Eric Luallen ‏@EricLuallen

RT @cdowlar: RHP Taylor Blatch out of Jensen Beach (Fla.) just committed to Florida State. He will hit 93 MPH on the gun. Top100 type.

Modifying the list now!