Nolan Procter

[Captain Kangaroo]

When it was recently announced that Nolan Procter verbally committed to the Zips, it wasn't really met with too much enthusiasum on the ZipsNation board. I guess a guy 5' 10", 180lbs doesn't jump out as all that "sexy" a verbal? I do know that the Zips have only 17 scholarships to offer for the 2009 class. And we remain very selective as to whom we extend offers. So I asked myself..."Why not check into this a little bit further?" I contacted Nolan's high school Coach Brendan Flaherty and he was very helpful in explaining what makes Nolan Procter an incredibly well-rounded, talented student athlete.Below is a short Q & A with the Coach to aquiant Zips fans with Nolan Procter --What type of athlete is Nolan?“Nolan is one of the best athletes we have ever had at Groves, and we’ve had over 20 former players go on to play college football in the past seven years. He'll be a three-year starter in both football and basketball and four-year starter in track and field.”On the field, what makes him special?“He can catch anything, and I would say he is a slasher after he gets the ball in his hands. We will move him around on offense and he’ll also be our back-up QB. He started three games last year out of need. He’s a threat to take a punt or kick-off for a TD every time. Nolan will play corner or safety on defense could end up on defense in college when it's all said and done.”How does his football stat sheet fill out to-date?“Nolan has 7 career interceptions, over 50 tackles, 62 receptions for over 600 yards and 10 TDs for his career. He’s 5'10 180lbs and very strong for his size. He benches 275, squats 425, and dead lifts 475."Which schools showed interest in him?"Nolan had interest from most MAC schools and had several offers. If he were a few inches taller he would be a Big Ten prospect. It came down to Akron and Bowling Green and he chose Akron because of the personal interest of Coach Bookhart. And, he really likes Coach Chambers. Dana is very popular in the state of Michigan--very respected by the high school coaches.”Off the field, what makes him special?“Nolan is a 3.0 student, a football captain and very involved in our student government. He is the Mid West youth president of Knights of Peter Clavier. His father is our HS principal and a former college women’s basketball head coach.”If you want to check on Nolan’s progress throughout the year you can do so here.

[ZachTheZip]

Nice info Captain! One thing to mention, though. You said that we only have 17 scholarships to give for '09 and two of them are taken, assuming the two current verbals hold. It just seems like we are lagging very far behind the rest of the MAC in terms of picking up recruits. CMU, for example, has over twenty '09 verbals already. Do you think it is because more of the guys we are going after are being courted by bigger schools and want to wait to make a decision, or are they being scared away by our recent FB record? It sure isn't the facilities or the campus that are keeping us from landing more guys.

[Quickzips]

I don't think the previous posts were necessarily reflective of opinions on Nolan himself as much as they are with our general recruiting philosophy. I don't have any real problem with small "slasher" YAC type recievers, but you have to have diversity. Right now we have a pretty big surplus of WR's in the same mold. I'm concerned that we're pigeonholing ourselves into one type of reciever and that could have some negative implications down the road. I think it's particularly a problem down in the redzone where you want to have a bigger, more physical reciever that you can throw a fade route to and let him use his size to go up and get the ball. Nothing against Nolan, just a commentary on what I percieve as a problem with our recruiting.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Nice info Captain! One thing to mention, though. You said that we only have 17 scholarships to give for '09 and two of them are taken, assuming the two current verbals hold. It just seems like we are lagging very far behind the rest of the MAC in terms of picking up recruits. CMU, for example, has over twenty '09 verbals already. Do you think it is because more of the guys we are going after are being courted by bigger schools and want to wait to make a decision, or are they being scared away by our recent FB record? It sure isn't the facilities or the campus that are keeping us from landing more guys.

It is tough to get too concerned about the "verbal count" in July. Historically the Zips don't start filling out the class until the fall. I bet it will pick up in September.