Daily Recap: Class of '28 Recruiting Day 2

The Daily Report

Breakdown of Recruiting 

The Class of 2028

Day 1

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The Skinny:

Day 2, was more of Day 1.  Fast and Furious.  Outside hitters start to evolve into the mix and still way too many liberos going for this early in the open period.  Great for liberos and odd for college coaches.  

Hearing of 4-5 programs, that had previously fallen on our Program Prestige Board, who loaded to make large financial shots at a couple of star prospects and still were told no so athletes could go play for rivals offering less $ and a better chance to win early and get paid later.  That doesn't sit well for those programs future with top recruits if you are offering more $ and still being told no.

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Headlines:

TEXAS DOESN'T LOSE:

We told you that Texas hasn't lost a recruiting battle for an athlete that they "really wanted" in our five years and that streak continues.  Taimane Ainu'u, Cala Haffner and Sara Floyd. #HookEm.  Before all the B1G fans start typing "well they just have more $ than everyone."  You are wrong and it's an old and incorrect argument so just give it up.  If we truly want to have that honest debate the warm fuzzy program directors at BTN wouldn't know what to do having to explain to their hypnotized fan bases that have been programmed to think "Texas devil, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn State angels". Texas is simply very good at recruiting and don't kid yourself EVERYONE WANTED Taimane and Cala and they are fibbing like BTN employees often do on social media if they tell you they didn't want them.

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Colorado's Coach PRIME coaches VB!

Jesse Mahoney might not get a ton of national accolades, but we think he is out-recruiting another much better paid Fall coach at Colorado for sure.  Mahoney made a great move last June when he took a chance on Aspen Brown Elite Red OPP from TX who was a Silver Level prospect until a knee injury sidelined her.  Most coaches backed off, but Colorado took a chance and signed the top prospect.

Now this season Mahoney has already landed three prospects with higher PPV scores than the Buffs' previous class average, if the class score sticks it would move Colorado up an entire score grid on the Prestige Pod (to the top of Orange Elite pod.

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Make Up the TShirts Chris Tamms:

Love the day Illinois had on Tuesday and big day talent wise and marketing wise for the Fighting Illini as far as I'm concerned.  Signing a Setter from 1st Alliance and an OH from Alliance VB is a big day for Illinois who hadn't had great recent luck in the Chicago Metro area lately.  That has to be a key recruiting ground and a spot that Illinois has some sort of street cred and can somehow hold their own (at least vs. Northwestern, Purdue, Marquette, ND, etc) and it would be nice to earn the reputation that they have some kind of fighting chance if they ever go up against Wisconsin in Chicago, though that seems unlikely right now.

But, Kelly and Ross are both recognizeable and talented players that should be promoted bigtime so they should be promoted as such.  "Reclaiming Illinois' B1G City". "Our House" "Make a skyscraper in the shape of Illinois I logo as part of the Chicago Skyline and have a Illinois vb match going on.  

Anyway love the day for Illinois and hope there are more to come because this needs to be a great rivalry in Chicago.

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Ok, here we go with the nightly awards:

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Top 3 Super Staff of the Day 

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1 Colorado Buffaloes:

Named above, but awesome job Buff Nation none the less!

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2. Georgia Bulldogs: 

Land talented players from the best club in the country and they are close to home so they will put butts in your stands.  Yeah all of those sound like smart ideas actually lol, this isn't a "sexy class" for Georgia, but its a dang solid one and cementing a pipeline with A5 in the process=GENIUS.  They need the Gigi Artillies commit to be as good as advertised for them next year and this class come in and help them early as she is  year 3 player and Georgia could have a nice young nucleus to build something around.

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3 Illinois Fighting Illini:

Again talked about above, but Coach Tamms and staff deserve it!!

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4 North Carolina Tar Heels:

No one is keeping a Jordan Brand school off of this list!  Awesome job coach!  I think you guys deserve to be invited to NTDP, with the Top half of the ACC 

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Biggest IMPACT Commits of the Day:

**Based on Program PPV and Potential Impact, the Differential Recruit Could Make.

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#1. Julia Clarke - MB - A5 - Georgia - PPV 261 - North Carolina Commit

Great combo verbal here.  Clarke comes in to a program where she can make an impact early and North Carolina gets a solid middle that can gel with a growing program that continues to improve talent in their gym.  Clarke was being sought after by some really solid schools so this is very big W for the Tar Heels.

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#2. Tatum Kelly - Setter - 1st Alliance - PPV 227 - Illinois Commit

This is what we brought up before.  Kelly will be key if the Illini are to make a charge back to the upper realm of the B1G.  The Chicago area setter has played a lot of high-level volleyball and will need to continue to get stronger to play in that tough conference, but she has the mentality to be a winner and Illinois would love a local kid to lead them back.

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#3. Saylor Halvorson - OH - SG Elite - California - PPV - BYU Commt

Love Halvorson in this class and her growth and potential and I love her going into the BYU program and a great opportunity for her.  This was a big get for the Cougars and honestly unexpected, sadly the rest of the class went unexpected also or Halvorson would have been part of the 2nd best front row in America.  But, she can hopefully be the starting point to bring another big commit later in this class.

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#4. Blake Buljan - MB - TAV - Texas - PPV 209 - Colorado Commit

First off when your nickname is "Big Block Blake" Buljan your going to be expected to make a two things first is a Poster Night for the media department at the new college you are heading to because, let's be serious is that not the absolute most perfect nick name for a college middle!!! The second is a Big Impact Blake Buljan and coming from TAV and all of her high-level matches she can bring that block technique to Boulder she get that in the lineup early, she could make an immediate and large impact for the Buffs program.

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#5. Trinity Johnson - OH - TAV - Texas - PPV 272 - TCU Commit

TCU might not have made quite as big of a splash early as I thought they would, but both them and their conference rivals Kansas needed an impact OH and so this is huge for TCU.  They go out and get one of the 5 best in the country.  Enough said recruiting W.

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Best of the “Program Fits” from Day 1:

1 Alex Knox: Setter - 3DGE - Pennsylvania - PPV 284 - Pitt Commit

**Last summer I interviewed Alex somewhere "on the tour" and asked her "so are you for sure going to Pitt or are you looking other places?  No, no, no don't answer that I'm kidding of course" but, before I could finish she said "well they are my favorite team" with this look in her eye that said to me "I'm 100% serious and if they offer me I want to be a Panther". Knox is calculated, she is mentally tough and a player of few words, but hard work.  She is East Coast tough I've said this before I couldn't make it on the East Coast those people would eat me for breakfast.  Boston, MA is my favorite city in the world, for four days.  Knox will fit Fish's culture great and has something extra to play for "The City of Pittsburgh" and ask any girl that's ever played in their hometown it matters.  She doesn't get the media or style points, but most Pro Scouts should tell you she is the most accurate setter in the class moving to the next level will actually help Alex get more attention than club ball.  Pitt is IT for Knox.

2. Sarah Floyd: Opposite - TAV - Texas - PPV 286 - Texas Commit

I haven't been able to get to know Sarah yet in club ball so I am excited to finally get to talk with her and interview her soon now that she is a Longhorn commit.  I have watched her compete in club and at NTDP training and talking with peers from NTDP reports are excellent and watching her from the sidelines at NTDP, in the old days, her energy is excellent and talent level, well she wouldn't be here if it wasn't high.  This is a great fit not for on-court reasons or playing time or any of that Texas is fine and will be if Floyd ever plays a point (and trust me she is going to play many and be VERY VERY good).  This is a great fit because of the athlete and locker room culture at Texas and how it will help her adapt and grow into the college experience in a POSITIVE WAY.  This is going to make sure that the best version of that baller of an All-American VB player comes out in Floyd on the court. 

I'm excited to see her after a Spring semester with the leaders on that team simply mentoring her and teaching her all of the off-court confidence things that will lead to her being an even bigger difference on the volleyball court for Texas.  That is going to be a really cool future star to know!

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3 Faith Gandy: Opposite - TAV Houston - Texas - PPV 243 - Purdue Commit

Hard charging, physical and aggressive with a heavy arm and wide block.  That is the report on Faith Gandy and does that sound like any type of front row pins a legendary B1G coach has made a HOF career off of recruiting?  This is a perfect match here and when Gandy came down to her final choices it's no surprise that two of them where Muncie Boys.  Gandy plays hard and likes to be coached hard and she is physical.  This is a Purdue commit if this class ever had one a perfect commit to start off their class.

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4 McKenzie Andrews: MB - Legacy - Michigan - PPV 252 - Stanford Commit

Come on now a "Legacy, Legacy" as McKenzie follows her older sister to Stanford two years later.  McKenzie is a very talented middle blocker who is efficient on both ends of the net.  She is confident in her play and wants the ball on offense and runs the slide and quick routes equally well.  She plays well in the biggest gyms and that sounds exactly like a Stanford commit right there.

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5 Maija Mortenson: MB - SCVC - Utah - PPV 275 - Texas A+M Commit

This is a Morrison type commit huge upside and will need molding, she is all about the sayings and USA VB training and speeches and drills.  Mortenson has grown up on that, she admitted in our interview how little volleyball she has played compared to the "Texas girls" and how fresh her legs are.  This is Coach Morrison's project to turn into an All-American like he did with his 25, 26 and 27 classes at A+M.  This is a definite shock in the volleyball world and a big W for the Aggies, even though we knew they would have a big year; Mortenson is still a shock.  A shock, but a perfect fit for Texas A+M none the less.  You give this great teacher a couple of years and off-seasons with this untapped talent and wow, SEC opposing coaches are already very nervous as soon as the news broke.  Maija should end up being a great one, not just on the SEC or college level, but if she stays with Morrison's instruction for 2 more NTDP years and 5 college years she could be on much higher level yet.  So yeah this is a GREAT FIT Aggie Nation congrats

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What to Watch For on Day 3/4:

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Is Nebraska done?

A+M can't be done.

Wisconsin has to have more moves left

Kentucky has to have moves to make

What about Michigan State?

Still so many very, very good players available (and great for you)

We start to get notes on how things went down from the players side and

Headlines just the Headlines......coming up stay tuned

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**Just remember I told you some shocking news no one sees coming, is coming (Thursday).