Football: Oregon close to offering Logan's Manning?
I've gone on record saying that I think Logan High's Jeff Manning will be the best prep quarterback in the state this year. I also think that BYU and Utah are going to regret not offering a scholarship sooner to the 6-foot-4, 185-pound all-stater who led the Grizzlies to the 3A state title last year.
Manning has yet to receive his first offer, but his family thinks Oregon might be close to offering.
Reading between the lines of an email I recently received from Manning's father, I would say that BYU is probably never going to offer Manning, who would seemingly fit the Cougars' offensive system as well as anyone not named Jake Heaps or Taysom Hill.
The thing is, Manning won't begin helping a team until 2012 because he has unequivocably said he plans on going on an LDS Church mission on the fall of 2009. He would be a nice little insurance policy for the Cougars down the road.
Utah continues to show as much interest as Oregon, and Washington coaches have told Manning they want to talk to him after their vacations on July 23.
Manning said Colorado State has also been communicating weekly with him, and has invited him to their Junior/Senior Day camp on July 26. New CSU quarterbacks coach Daren Wilkinson is a former Ricks College quarterback.
Utah State is also still in the picture, but shouldn't the Aggies be rolling out the red carpet for the hometown kid?
Makes you wonder.
Manning's father, Paul, said his son has turned down numerous invites to Nike Combines, Elite 11 Camps and the like, opting instead to pick schools he is interested in and attending their camps.
--------------------------
Jeff Manning sent the following letter to Chris Fetters of Scout.com a few weeks ago, and to me on Thursday as an update of what his summer has been like.
I'm going to print it in its entirety, because I think it is a fascinating look into the recruitment of a prep athlete. It also reflects well on the English Department at Logan High, for what that's worth....
I have attended camps at BYU, U of Oregon, Utah, Utah State and Washington.
At BYU Jr. Day, "It was good to see the caliber of QB's that attended. I walked away feeling confident that I can compete with them even though they have the offers and more exposure. BYU is a great place but you could see that they are pretty set on who they want. The camp was good, I was reminded of the little things that I need to keep working on. It was nice talking to the coaches but their attention was really focused on the players that they offered. As I was leaving, one sports writer said that they would be crazy not to offer me. Well, we'll see.
"Oregon was a great visit. I only had one day to stop in because of our high school camp. I got there on the last day of the Oregon HS camp where I was met by O/C and QB Coach Chip Kelly. He wanted to work with me for about an hour, one on one. It was a great experience. He put me through one of the most difficult evaluation drills that I have ever gone through. I threw around 100 balls to a designated receiver covering various locations/routes on the indoor practice field. It was a thorough test of QB speed, accuracy and response, happy to say, I only had one bad pass through it all. I finished with him asking me to stand back in the middle of the end zone and throw two balls as far as I could. The first calculated out to be a 64 yarder and the second was a little shorter at 61. (I guess my arm was a little tired) Coach Kelly is a very impressive and amazing teacher of the game. His detailed workout was great. At the end he took me and my dad up to meet with Coach Mike Bellotti in his office. Dad and I waited for Coach Kelly to finish talking to Coach Bellotti and then we were invited in. The first thing that Coach Bellotti said was, "Well young man, it looks like Coach Kelly sure would love to have you here at Oregon". We spent the next 45 minutes talking about everything from my LDS mission plans to playing at Oregon. Coach Bellotti gave me his cell number and wanted me to call him every week or two, even while they are on vacation. As I was leaving he said, "We want you here at Oregon, I just need some time to work through our scheduling and reviewing an offer around your mission plans". I had another 45 minute visit on the phone with Coach Bellotti last Monday night. He was in Bend Oregon with his family. It was fun to see the more casual side of him as we talked about a lot of things other than football. At the end he reminded me that they want me as much, or even more than anyone else that is recruiting me. He talked about the importance of a commitment and asked me to think if I could be happy with Oregon to make a long term commitment. I'll be talking to both Coach Kelly and Coach Bellotti over the next few weeks and plan on taking them up on their offer to attend some Ducks games this year.
I spent a day at the Washington camp. It was another good visit. Coach Willingham met me and my dad at the check-in table and pulled us aside to visit for about a half an hour. It was great to get to know him. Coach Lapano's wife took us on a mini tour of UW. It was a good camp day with a lot of good drills. I felt that I had a strong showing through all of the routes and throwing to new receivers. There were a couple of "highly exposed" QB's that attended but once again I felt that my performance was as good and even better at times as the blue-chip players. Coach Lapano did say that I was in their top finalists for consideration. However, I know they need a QB soon. I'm not sure how the LDS mission thing would work with UW.
Utah State had a team camp and they invited me to come for a day and work out with their renegade team. Coach Guy and Coach Dickey spent some time with me and I was told in front of my HS coach that they would have a home for me if I were to chose USU.
I spent a couple hours each day at the two day U of Utah HS Camp mixed between the "two-a-days" of our own HS camp. It was good to spend time with Coach Ludwig and get to know him better. He worked with a few of us on the side. At the end of the camp he said my mission plans would work out well with their future plans and was excited that I was interested in Utah. They are looking at getting their 2009 slot filled and consider me as their 2012. Coach Ludwig asked me to continue calling and emailing him throughout their vacation break. I look forward to exploring the possibilities of Utah and going to some of their games this fall as well.
Colorado State has been showing increased interest as I have been getting emails from Coach Wilkinson. He invited me to spend a day at their Jr/Sr day in July so they can evaluate me as well. I liked my unofficial visit back in the spring. Coach Wilkinson understands where I'm at with my future plans and seems like a great person to work with. It will be great to get to know Coach Fairchild a little better as well.
I feel that it will all work out how it's supposed too in the end. For now I'm focusing on doing what I can to help my teammates and myself prepare for another state championship.
Jeff Manning
Manning has yet to receive his first offer, but his family thinks Oregon might be close to offering.
Reading between the lines of an email I recently received from Manning's father, I would say that BYU is probably never going to offer Manning, who would seemingly fit the Cougars' offensive system as well as anyone not named Jake Heaps or Taysom Hill.
The thing is, Manning won't begin helping a team until 2012 because he has unequivocably said he plans on going on an LDS Church mission on the fall of 2009. He would be a nice little insurance policy for the Cougars down the road.
Utah continues to show as much interest as Oregon, and Washington coaches have told Manning they want to talk to him after their vacations on July 23.
Manning said Colorado State has also been communicating weekly with him, and has invited him to their Junior/Senior Day camp on July 26. New CSU quarterbacks coach Daren Wilkinson is a former Ricks College quarterback.
Utah State is also still in the picture, but shouldn't the Aggies be rolling out the red carpet for the hometown kid?
Makes you wonder.
Manning's father, Paul, said his son has turned down numerous invites to Nike Combines, Elite 11 Camps and the like, opting instead to pick schools he is interested in and attending their camps.
--------------------------
Jeff Manning sent the following letter to Chris Fetters of Scout.com a few weeks ago, and to me on Thursday as an update of what his summer has been like.
I'm going to print it in its entirety, because I think it is a fascinating look into the recruitment of a prep athlete. It also reflects well on the English Department at Logan High, for what that's worth....
I have attended camps at BYU, U of Oregon, Utah, Utah State and Washington.
At BYU Jr. Day, "It was good to see the caliber of QB's that attended. I walked away feeling confident that I can compete with them even though they have the offers and more exposure. BYU is a great place but you could see that they are pretty set on who they want. The camp was good, I was reminded of the little things that I need to keep working on. It was nice talking to the coaches but their attention was really focused on the players that they offered. As I was leaving, one sports writer said that they would be crazy not to offer me. Well, we'll see.
"Oregon was a great visit. I only had one day to stop in because of our high school camp. I got there on the last day of the Oregon HS camp where I was met by O/C and QB Coach Chip Kelly. He wanted to work with me for about an hour, one on one. It was a great experience. He put me through one of the most difficult evaluation drills that I have ever gone through. I threw around 100 balls to a designated receiver covering various locations/routes on the indoor practice field. It was a thorough test of QB speed, accuracy and response, happy to say, I only had one bad pass through it all. I finished with him asking me to stand back in the middle of the end zone and throw two balls as far as I could. The first calculated out to be a 64 yarder and the second was a little shorter at 61. (I guess my arm was a little tired) Coach Kelly is a very impressive and amazing teacher of the game. His detailed workout was great. At the end he took me and my dad up to meet with Coach Mike Bellotti in his office. Dad and I waited for Coach Kelly to finish talking to Coach Bellotti and then we were invited in. The first thing that Coach Bellotti said was, "Well young man, it looks like Coach Kelly sure would love to have you here at Oregon". We spent the next 45 minutes talking about everything from my LDS mission plans to playing at Oregon. Coach Bellotti gave me his cell number and wanted me to call him every week or two, even while they are on vacation. As I was leaving he said, "We want you here at Oregon, I just need some time to work through our scheduling and reviewing an offer around your mission plans". I had another 45 minute visit on the phone with Coach Bellotti last Monday night. He was in Bend Oregon with his family. It was fun to see the more casual side of him as we talked about a lot of things other than football. At the end he reminded me that they want me as much, or even more than anyone else that is recruiting me. He talked about the importance of a commitment and asked me to think if I could be happy with Oregon to make a long term commitment. I'll be talking to both Coach Kelly and Coach Bellotti over the next few weeks and plan on taking them up on their offer to attend some Ducks games this year.
I spent a day at the Washington camp. It was another good visit. Coach Willingham met me and my dad at the check-in table and pulled us aside to visit for about a half an hour. It was great to get to know him. Coach Lapano's wife took us on a mini tour of UW. It was a good camp day with a lot of good drills. I felt that I had a strong showing through all of the routes and throwing to new receivers. There were a couple of "highly exposed" QB's that attended but once again I felt that my performance was as good and even better at times as the blue-chip players. Coach Lapano did say that I was in their top finalists for consideration. However, I know they need a QB soon. I'm not sure how the LDS mission thing would work with UW.
Utah State had a team camp and they invited me to come for a day and work out with their renegade team. Coach Guy and Coach Dickey spent some time with me and I was told in front of my HS coach that they would have a home for me if I were to chose USU.
I spent a couple hours each day at the two day U of Utah HS Camp mixed between the "two-a-days" of our own HS camp. It was good to spend time with Coach Ludwig and get to know him better. He worked with a few of us on the side. At the end of the camp he said my mission plans would work out well with their future plans and was excited that I was interested in Utah. They are looking at getting their 2009 slot filled and consider me as their 2012. Coach Ludwig asked me to continue calling and emailing him throughout their vacation break. I look forward to exploring the possibilities of Utah and going to some of their games this fall as well.
Colorado State has been showing increased interest as I have been getting emails from Coach Wilkinson. He invited me to spend a day at their Jr/Sr day in July so they can evaluate me as well. I liked my unofficial visit back in the spring. Coach Wilkinson understands where I'm at with my future plans and seems like a great person to work with. It will be great to get to know Coach Fairchild a little better as well.
I feel that it will all work out how it's supposed too in the end. For now I'm focusing on doing what I can to help my teammates and myself prepare for another state championship.
Jeff Manning
4 Comments:
Didn't Taysom Hill already give a verbal to Stanford? At least that's what the Pocatello newspaper reported.
I want this kid on our team. You can tell from this article and others that I have read that he and his family hate BYU. Too bad we don't run this type of QB in our system. We can never have enough of these kids up here. He is an in-stater too!!!
Yeah a two star recuit.
You can have him utah.
BYU will take the gatorade all american who set national records from the same high school Rily Nelson!
BYU can have Riley, he couldn't even survive at the weakest school in a weak football conference. He won't be able to see around a BYU linemen. He was all hype proved that he has no loyalty to commitment. He had incredible linemen and receivers in high school and took all the credit forgetting that it was his team that made it happen. Manning has more potential than Nelson could ever dream of and respects his teammates, and they return the same.
Post a Comment
<< Home