John Blake recruiting lights out
A glance at the national team recruiting rankings, and the top five are no surprise. LSU, Ohio, USC, Texas, Alabama.
But check out who’s knocking on the door at No. 6.
North Carolina.
A big reason for that is former Oklahoma head coach and current UNC defensive line coach John Blake, who’s recruiting like a man on fire for Butch Davis and the up-and-coming Tar Heels.
According to Rivals.com, Blake had a hand in landing at least eight commitments for UNC, including five-star defensive end Donte Moss, the No. 16-ranked overall prospect nationally.
He also helped UNC reel in Jheranie Boyd, the nation’s No. 3 wide receiver, who at one point was being pursued heavily by OU.
Blake, who’s been at UNC since 2007, hasn’t just been a big-time recruiter, either.
Last April, he turned two perennial underachieving defensive linemen into NFL Draft picks, including first-round selection Kentwan Balmer.
Say what you want about Blake’s tenure as OU’s head coach.
But there’s no dispute, he’s one of the top performing position coaches in all of college football.
By Jake Trotter
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Comments
Blake has always been a great position coach (even in the NFL with Dallas). I think he was just way too young and inexperienced for the OU head coaching position. I hope he gets another head coaching shot at a school where he can succeed.
Lack of experience definitely hurt Blake.He should never have been OU’s coach with his resume at the time. I saw almost every train wreck…. I mean game he coached in Norman. “The horror. The horror!” Really I don’t give a
sh!t what he does. So why am I responding? Too much time on my hands and also I don’t want anyone to forget how much he sucked.
Let’s face it. We were out recruited bad this year. Not one five star recruit. Not one premier receiver or running back. Manny is gone and so is Iglesias. So we have a heisman trophy winner with no primary target except for Gresham who is a tight end. Somebody is gonna have to step up next year big time.
Heisman winner with no primary target except for Gresham????? Did you not see how well Broyles played last year? That kid is gonna be better than Iglesias, Manny, or Malcolm Kelly for that matter. Murray will be back, and I expect he will be catching more balls and sharing backfield duties with Calhoun. We’re not without weapons on offense. What does worry me is an inexperienced offensive line and our defence, which, as the article mentioned, hasn’t been the same since Mike Stoops left.
Yes, Jake, I will be a contrarian. All the recruited talent in the world means nothing if you cannot do anything with it. Count UNC in this list. They faded like a limp noodle late in the season. John Blake would not know good football if he was hit in the face with it. Moreover, he possesses the ethics of a slime bag, destroying all recruiting records on his way out of the office at OU. May his name never be used again. He almost destroyed through ineptitude and dissension the best thing going in the state.
Blake can recruit, no doubt. Stoops will have to admit that.
Bob, Mike, & Mark fielded some really good teams the first
few years Bob was coach with Blakes recruits. Back then, OU
had a defense to compliment the offense, and he didn’t have
to outscore people to win. Blake came from the Switzer
school of Football thought. Defense win Championships,
offense fills the stadium and thats exactly whats happened
since ‘02. Th first 4 seasond Stoops was coach, they played
defense. When Mike left, stats. don’t lie, now you know the
rest of the story, and believe me it is goung to get worse
unless he brings in a big-time defensive guy