Boston College Football Recruiting Update: January 19

Gonna try something new this year.

As we march towards February 1's National Signing Day, we'll do our best to keep you updated on the latest developments on the 2012 football recruiting class. Things move pretty fast in the world of recruiting, but with such a small class, this may prove a bit easier this season (though keep us honest in the comments section).

At the bottom of today's Globe article on Kuechly's preparation for the draft was this note about Iowa transfer Marcus Grant and recruit Joel Zoungrana.

"Two recruits - wide receiver Marcus Grant from Carver, who graduated from Lawrence Academy and transferred from Iowa, and wide receiver/defensive back Joel Zoungrana from Montreal - are already enrolled at BC."

Here's how the current class looks. (Number of players in the 2012 class in parenthesis, early enrollees in bold, commits are in plain text, de-commits are striked out, and questions are in italics):

OL (3) - Jim Cashman, Win Homer, Frank Taylor
TE (1) - Sam Grant
WR (2) - Harrison Jackson, Joel Zoungrana
RB (0) - Akeel Lynch
ATH (1) - Dan Crimmins

DL (2) - Jaxon Hood (DT), Malachi Moore (DE)
LB (4) - Steven Daniels, Tim Joy, Mike Strizak, Bobby Wolford
DB (2) - Donovan Henry, Justin Simmons

Open items: Sam Grant and Jaxon Hood are wavering on their verbal commitments, while Steven Daniels is rumored to be having NCAA admissions issues.

Here's the breakdown of the class by Rivals.com ranking, since apparently these rankings have changed recently:

4* (2) - Steven Daniels, Win Homer
3* (7) - Jim Cashman, Dan Crimmins, Tim Joy, Justin Simmons, Mike Strizak, Frank Taylor, Bobby Wolford
2* (4) - Donovan Henry, Harrison Jackson, Malachi Moore, Joel Zoungrana

And by Scout.com ranking:

3* (9) - Jim Cashman, Dan Crimmins, Steven Daniels, Win Homer, Harrison Jackson, Mike Strizak, Frank Taylor, Bobby Wolford, Joel Zoungrana
2* (4) - Donovan Henry, Tim Joy, Malachi Moore, Justin Simmons

And by state:

New Jersey (4) - Jim Cashman, Dan Crimmins, Malachi Moore, Mike Strizak
Massachusetts (3) - Steven Daniels, Donovan Henry, Tim Joy
Florida (2) - Justin Simmons, Bobby Wolford
Virginia (2) - Win Homer, Harrison Jackson
Pennsylvania (1) - Frank Taylor
Quebec, Canada (1) - Joel Zoungrana

Removing both Grant and Hood from the picture for the time being, that's a total of just 13 commitments for the Class of 2012. But fret not, Eagles fans. I've been given personal assurances Boston College football is going to sign 18 or 19 players this year.

"Yeah we're a small class to begin with but we're going to sign 18 or 19 players. You know, every year it's the same thing, that our players aren't five star or, you know, four star, or whatever. If you look at the Virginia Techs, they're never rated high in the recruiting. And we recruit players here that are smart, that are tough, and that will work like crazy. Those are the three things that we really, really look for in players."

So if you know of any (or 5 to 6) smart, tough work-aholics that played high school football last season during their senior year, please contact Mike Siravo and the Boston College football coaching staff.