Menelik Watson, one of the top JUCO offensive line recruits in the country, has committed to the Florida State Seminoles over the Auburn Tigers. He plays for Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California.

"He committed yesterday, to coach Trickett to be exact. He can't want to get on campus and get started as he knows he has catching up to do. He played two years for me at the Canarias Basketball Academy in Spain. He was my team captain and one of the best kids I've ever been around. Coach Trickett told him the difference between his first and last game at Saddleback was amazing. Jimbo was out there to see him as well, and felt the same way (that the physical set Menelik had, very few people in All of football had!)," said Rob Orellana, Watson's basketball coach and close friend from his playing days in Spain.

[Watson's phone got shut off, and he was unavailable for comment. Orellana, who is extremely close to Watson, assured me that Watson did want the info out and was not trying to keep it a secret.]

Watson is rated three or four-stars by most recruiting services, and also holds offers from Cal, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Rutgers. He is an athletic freak. A former basketball player at Marist University, he left college basketball to pursue a career in football. Watson is 6'7", 330 pounds and has incredibly light feet for a man of his size, thanks to playing soccer growing up in England.

As you can see from his film, he does not have a lot of football experience. But oh, that athleticism. If ever there was a kid with athletic ability that a coach would want to mold into a player, this is the guy. Watson has the long arms that one would expect him to have, and does not appear to be sloppy from the photos I have seen. With Watson, Florida State will have six upperclassmen offensive linemen, and a total of 14 offensive linemen who are in their second year of eligibility or greater.

Here's some film on Watson. And inside, find more film on Watson.

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Florida State travels to Winston-Salem tonight in what the old media keeps describing as a classic let-down situation. And they'll keep saying that until FSU loses, and then they'll pat themselves on the backs for their prescient insight. Let down or not, road wins are tough to come by. Even at Wake Forest. To get a look into the state of the Wake Forest program we turned to the excellent writers over at Blogger So Dear. Head on over and check them out. And if you're a twitterer, make sure you follow Martin Rickman before tonight's game.

Put me in the mind of a Wake fan. This is Jeff Bzdelik's 2nd year. Is there a sense that he's the guy who can return Wake Forest to the upper echelon of the ACC?

Depends on which kind of a Wake fan you are, I guess. At this point there are really two types of Demon Deacons – those who never thought Jeff Bzdelik should have been coach to begin with, and those who are in the he's here, so let's wait and see camp.

There’s been no evidence in Bzdelik’s past resumé to indicate that he’ll bring Wake Forest to the upper echelon of the ACC. He has no NCAA Tournament wins, he consistently loses in the first round of his conference tournament, he has a career 130-137 record as a college coach, he has never spent longer than three years as head coach of the same team.

But, he could bring "stability" to a team that needed it. The longer he is here, the longer I believe he’s got the mold of a fixer – kind of like one of those CEOs who flips a company to get it profitable again before it is sold. I don’t love it, or the idea that Wake is being treated like a floundering, rebuilding NFL team, but it’s a reality right now.

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Update: Josh Newberg is refuting the tweet by fellow 247 colleague J.C. Shurburtt. Newberg says Duckett is not coming.

Florida State is bringing in Adam Duckett for a visit this weekend, per J.C. Shurburtt of the 247 Network. Who? He's a 6'8", 340 pound offensive lineman out of Orlando East River. As a junior, he was out of shape and scored a 13 on the ACT (ouch!). As a senior, he apparently worked hard, lost 25 pounds, and says he has an ACT score of 20. None of the recruiting services are going to bother rating a kid with an ACT score of 13. Will the NCAA flag this test score? Is the score legit? How are his grades? I don't know. But this senior film is promising. I think at the very least, a sign-and-place could happen here. A 6'8", 340-pound 18-year old is just getting used to his body. There are definitely some tools here, and you have to like his energy. Many time guys this big play soft. He doesn't. I am not saying he is a superstar, and he definitely needs a lot of polish. But if he hadn't 13'd the ACT as a junior, this would be a kid with multiple BCS offers.

ACC Signing Day Overview - CBSSports.com
This is simply laughable. I like Bryan Fischer a lot, and I bet if asked privately, he'd tell you he thinks Max Preps' rankings are a joke. 86% of Florida State's HS (non-kicker/punter) commitments are rated four-stars or better. Miami? Only 32%. Yet Miami is ranked higher because Tom Lemming loves Al Golden.

Edwards Jr. is simply dominant (FREE link)
Bloodlines and freakish size and speed make Mario Edwards Jr., the nation's No. 1 prospect, 247Sports' Defensive Player of the Year for the Class of 2012.

Lawyers Expect The Big East And West Virginia To Settle - Big East Coast Bias
It appears that West Virginia and the Big East will have to settle their lawsuits according to a set of attorneys that reviewed the cases. This could mean FSU avoids the disaster that is leaving WVU on the schedule.

The ACC Race Is Now Officially Interesting « Tar Heel Fan
Hoops!

Draft 2012: Mayock's Top Fives - NFL Draft Preview - Rotoworld.com Zebrie Sanders the #5 OL. I think he may go in the first round.

Video: No excuses for Clemson, FSU - ACC Blog - ESPN
Heather Dinich says it's time for the Seminoles and Tigers to translate the talent they have into BCS bowl victories. How about just making BCS bowls? I'd say Jimbo needs to win the division twice in the next three years, and think they will. Anything can happen once a team gets to the ACC title game. It's a one-game setting. Winning the division needs to be the consistent goal. That's an eight-game measuring stick.

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Voting for the first edition of the Tommy's ended over the weekend and as such, congratulations are in order.

Our winners, in order:

Story/Editorial of the Year - "Thanks, But I'd Prefer To Stand" - fsu44

Fanpost of the Year - "Conference Realignment (and FSU): A FAQ" - LouC (with a nod to TheJim)

DocHoliday2 MS Paint/Photoshop Award -

-ricobert1

Best New Commenter - JustLikeYouOnlyPrettier

tricknole Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Award - "Will Florida State Have A 'really good, dominant defense'?" - Bud Elliott

Commenter of the Year - Michael@TN

Comment of the Year

-onebarrelrum

Thanks to Nattylite for his help, to the community for your votes, and to the winners for their outstanding additions to the site! Start accumulating your nominations for the 2012 edition of the Tommy's.

Credit Snaer with the clutch shot which seems to send announcer Len Elmore to a higher place, but watch Luke Loucks. With less than 5 seconds left in the game he calmly pushes the dribble deep enough in to Duke's territory to draw all attention away from Snaer, then he sends a pass precisely into Snaer's shooting pocket so that he's able to take the shot in rhythm.

Thanks to my friend Chuck and FSUcyberpunk I now have the ability to create videos. (NationWideNole also kindly offered to provide videos for me). Anyway, I played around with it this morning, and here's a quick look at why Duke didn't press very often yesterday. In this first image, the ball has been inbounded to Michael Snaer.

First, you'll note that my garnet circle is supposed to indicate Snaer, but I completely whiffed him by about 5 feet. Sue me. But with Tyler Thornton and Seth Curry playing in a soft press Snaer is looking to push the ball forward to Jeff Peterson (#12) or Ian Miller (#30). Ian Miller goes to the corner which forces Austin Rivers (circled in blue) to commit to Peterson. Snaer has great size and is easily able to pass over Curry to get the ball to Ian Miller.

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There's a reason big time programs rarely go on the road during out-of-conference play. Because winning on the road is a rare thing. So it wasn't a surprise when FSU began the game at Cameron Indoor looking like a disjointed team. Turnovers. Missed shots. Players arguing. But all that was fine. What was upsetting was that the Seminoles weren't executing the game plan. FSU routinely spread Duke out (their style of defense makes it easy to put defenders on islands) but then didn't attack on the dribble even though FSU guards had the advantage. The end result was that it took a miracle Michael Snaer banked-in 3-pointer to send the Noles to the half only down six. Frankly, it should have been 10 or 12.

But the 2nd half was a different story. The Noles were poised, and they executed. Michael Snaer, Luke Loucks and Ian Miller routinely got into the lane and made positive things happen. This put Xavier Gibson and Bernard James in position to score, either through dunks when the defense left them to help on the drive, or through put backs. That's how FSUs offense needs to operate. The days of pounding the post (never mind how many times Len Elmore says otherwise) should be over.

Halfway through the 2nd half the Seminoles turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions and suddenly found themselves down 58-50. FSU called a timeout and regrouped. Going back to the lineup which began the game the Noles began cutting into the lead, finally taking it with :57 seconds left on a Michael Snaer jumper. 51 seconds and one bullshit block call later Duke tied the game 73-73. But Luke Loucks calmly pushed the ball up the court, found Michael Snaer on the wing, and for the 2nd consecutive half he buried a three at the buzzer. Noles win 76-73. Duke's 45 game home winning streak comes to an end, and the Noles are in a 4-way tie atop the ACC.

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There's been a lot of hype about FSUs 3-game win streak. But the Seminoles now go on the road and take on a Duke team which has won 45 in a row, at least at home (and 64 straight vs unranked opponents). Cameron Indoor is traditionally one of the hardest places to play in the nation. The students are loud and right on top of the players. It's how college basketball should be played.

Duke is the lone undefeated team in the ACC (16-2, 4-0). But they've played the 2nd easiest schedule (next to NC State). The only tough game was a home match with Virginia which Duke won by 3. But don't be mistaken - this is an elite team. They've beaten Michigan State, Michigan, Kansas, Virginia, Colorado State, Davidson and Belmont. Their losses are to Ohio State and Temple, both on the road.

On offense, this is a typical Duke team, ranked 3rd nationally. They are 9th in the nation in shooting 2s, 10th nationally shooting 3s and get to the line more than all but three other teams. They have five regulars who convert at least 40% of their 3s. The only weakness is their armor is that their least efficient player (Austin Rivers) takes 26.3% of their shots when he's on the floor. This is due to two things: 1) he's the only player who can consistently create his own shot, and 2) the coaches let him try and be the man. He leads the team at 14.1 ppg and is one of five players in double-figures. Duke's offense thrives on getting the defense moving side to side and going inside out for looks from beyond the arc. If Duke has a good shooting day, then tip your hat and move on.

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Ricardo Louis, one of the top athletes in Florida, has decommitted from the Auburn Tigers and committed to the Florida State Seminoles. Louis had been committed to the Tigers for almost a year.

Louis stars for Miami Beach High School. He is 6'2", 205 pounds. The four major recruiting services rate him four-stars and most have him as one of the top 200 players in the country. Louis holds offers from 15 BCS teams. Florida State had its eye on Louis for a while, and for good reason. Auburn is still without an offensive coordinator as well, which certainly did not help the Tigers' chances of keeping Louis.

Louis is an explosive athlete with an impressive vertical leap. He lacks track speed, but has excellent body control. He is very quick and hits his top speed immediately. Louis is a very aggressive player and a special athlete. He's raw as a receiver, but has all the physical tools. Louis will play receiver for Florida State, but is also capable of playing defensive back.

Louis was an Under Armour All-American and was quite impressive in Orlando.

Louis is the 16th commitment for the Florida State Seminoles, who have by far the best recruiting class in the country on a per-recruit basis.

This afternoon Tomahawk Nation brings your way too early, completely meaningless, preseason top 25 BlogPoll. Really what we have here is a discussion starter. For certain, when the championship game ends in 2013, the 2012 rankings won't look anything like this. A promising team will lose 6 heart-breakers (Texas A&M), an undeserving team that doesn't play anyone (Houston, Southern Miss, etc.) will take their place, and a juggernaut will stumble...hard (Oklahoma).

Until all of that transpires, jump in and let us know what you think. Keep in mind this poll is not like the blogpoll during the season. Season blogpolls are based on body of work. Since we are months away from not only from the football season but also spring games, we decided a simple power poll would work the best. Someone left off the list that shouldn't be? Someone should be top 10 that isn't? There are still questions to be answered about the 2012 'Noles, but when looking at the teams around them, FSU just makes it into the top 10.

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