Here are some thoughts on Florida State's new commit Alec Eberle, an offensive guard/center recruit.
-Eberle is at least a decent player. You can (and perhaps should) question Florida State's offensive line recruiting under Rick Trickett, however, the staff does act rationally. They would not accept a commitment from an out-of-state scrub this early in the process. Some sites have a two-star rating on Eberle. Disregard that. Again, FSU is simply not taking a two-star quality player from out of state with 39 weeks left until NSD. The staff is not in desperation mode. They clearly like what they saw in Eberle.
-Recruits all progress and physically develop at different rates. Remember, the No. 1 overall pick was a nobody entering his senior year of high school. Eberle appears to have physically developed a good bit since November. Nobody knew who Ira Denson was before last April, either.
-He was impressive at the Washington D.C. Nike Camp. Here's a writeup from Rivals ($):
The 6-foot-4, 270-pounder entered the event holding offers from UConn, Maryland and Old Dominion so he wasn't an unknown commodity, by any means, bu word spread quickly about how well he had competed at the camp and, soon enough, the Florida State Seminoles extended him an invite to their program. Expect his scholarship offer sheet to explode in the coming months as it should take no time for him to see his four offers expand into double digits given the power, leverage and balanced that he exhibited at the camp.
-I cover many of the Nike Camps & Elite 11s but missed the D.C. stop. Sort of kicking myself now as I'd have liked to see Eberle in person. Here are some clips.
-Two separate Virginia Tech recruiting guys like the pickup. Here's a tweet.
@tomahawknation Good pickup. Good long-term development guy. I think VT wanted him to camp, which is why he didn't have an offer.
— VirginiaTechFan (@VTechFanBlog) May 2, 2013
-Eberle's film is here. He is quick out of his stance, can block in space, and is aggressive. He'll need to red-shirt and perhaps have a sit year, but that's pretty normal for 90% of offensive linemen. He needs bulk. If he is a piece of Florida State's six or seven-piece offensive line 2014 recruiting puzzle, that's good. If he is the star of it, that's not good news.