Vanderbilt University is the biggest surprise in 2012 football recruiting, according to CBS/MaxPreps analyst Tom Lemming.
Brian Kimbrow, the No. 1 player out of
Tennessee, shocked most by picking
Vanderbilt.
The Commodores, who have lost 18 of their last 20 games and have had only one winning record since 1983, have commitments from 15 players – several blue chippers – so far.
"For Vanderbilt standards, they're almost all blue chippers," Lemming said. "Brian Kimbrow, the No. 1 player in Tennessee, turned down all the SEC schools (for Vanderbilt) and I've never seen that happen."
Kimbrow, ranked No.
38 in the nation by Lemming, is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound running back/corner back from
East in Memphis, Tenn. He used his brilliant speed (4.3 seconds for 40 yards) to gain 1,651 yards on 190 carries and score 19 touchdowns as a junior. He also returned three kickoffs and two punts for touchdowns. Defensively he made 10 solo tackles and two interceptions.
The difference, this year, Lemming said, is new head coach James Franklin, who is selling recruits on a world-class education and early playing time.
Franklin came to Vanderbilt after serving as offensive coordinator at the University of Maryland where he did such a good recruiting job that he received a "Lemmy."
Lemming gives an award to the three assistant coaches each year who do the top recruiting job in his estimation. Last year he named Franklin, Bobby Kennedy (Texas) and Eric Johnson (Iowa).
Many of them, such as Franklin, soon move on to head jobs.
Franklin's secret, according to Lemming is "personality, honesty and perseverance. He has a lot of energy and kids believe in him."
Adding a punctuation mark, Lemming said, "He obviously doesn't play golf. (Recruiting) is time-consuming. Any head coach who is a fanatic about golf is not a great recruiter."
Lemming believes that the most successful head coaches are those who demand the most from their assistants.
"Alabama has a good shot at No. 1 (recruiting) as long as they have Nick Saban," he said. "He holds his assistants accountable. There are only about 20 head coaches who hold their assistants accountable - where all nine assistants are on top of things so they know what kids are thinking."
"Texas probably is No. 1, but they're always No. 1 at this time of the year, because they get done so early. But the tortoise almost always beats the hare at the end of the season."
In other areas of the country, Lemming likes the early results at Penn State and Michigan. In the West, he gives Southern California a slight edge, but also mentioned Washington and California as teams which "could cause some damage."
California had a pledge from
Shaq Thompson, a 6-1, 185-pound two-way back from
Grant (Sacramento, Calif.), but he recently he de-committed. His recruitment is still very much up in the air. Last year he ran 195 times for 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns and made 54 tackles.
Lemming just got some film on him recently, and believes he should be much higher than the No. 39 ranking he gave him this summer.
"He could be the best running back in the nation," Lemming now feels. "He's in the category of
Johnathan Gray (No. 8) and
Rushel Shell (No. 11)."
Another California star,
Tee Shepard, has been declared ineligible by the California Interscholastic Federation following his transfer in Fresno from
Central East to Washington Union. The 6-1, 190-pound cornerback moved so he could graduate in January and enroll at the University of Notre Dame.
"It's bad," Lemming said of the decision. "He's doing it for academic reasons. It's definitely not done for football reasons. I don't like it for sports reasons. He's a good kid and very respectful."
Asked about teams/coaches who need to get off to a winning start this fall to secure and add top recruits, Lemming pointed to Miami, Clemson, UCLA, North Carolina and Ohio State in particular.
Lemming will launch his weekly show on the CBS Sports Network Friday at 7 p.m., EST. His guest will be Devin Fuller, a quarterback from Northern Valley (Old Tappan, N.J.), who is No. 55 on his list and should be higher, he admits.
He also will discuss the top 10 players in the country.
