Breakdown Of Early 2014 U.S. Army All-American Bowl Rosters

(h/t usarmyallamericanbowl.com)

A chunk of the upcoming (well, January) U.S. Army All-American Bowl roster spots are already filled.  Below is a very quick breakdown of the prospects that are already on the roster and have ties to Big 12 programs.

Committed:
QB Jerrod Heard (Denton, TX):  The best quarterback in the state of Texas and one of the best dual-threat QBs in the nation.  Texas commit.

WR Allen Lazard (Urbandale, IA):  One of the premier receivers in the nation (#1 by Rivals) and probably Iowa State's best recruit in program history.

OL Demetrius Knox (Fort Worth, TX):  One of the best guards in the nation and just had a strong day at the Dallas NFTC over the weekend.

OL Terrell Cuney (Jasper, TX):  The top-ranked center in the country committed to Texas a day before their spring game.

Uncommitted:
QB Kyle Allen (Scottsdale, AZ):  Allen is a top 100 player overall and one of the premier QBs this year.  Has moderate interest in Oklahoma State

RB Joe Mixon (Oakley, CA):  The top back in the state of California has "warm" interest in Oklahoma along with a couple other Pac-12 schools and A&M.

WR KD Cannon (Mount Pleasant, TX):  If you know anything about Big 12 recruiting, you known Cannon.  He is being recruited by just about every Big 12 school, but Baylor seems to be in the lead with Texas Tech in the shadows.

DE Solomon Thomas (Coppell, TX):  Elite DE that just won the DL MVP award at the Dallas NFTC last Sunday.  Thomas has Texas as the leader and still has "warm" interest in Oklahoma.

OLB Dwight Williams (Gardena, CA):  Like Joe Mixon, Williams is another top player in California with "warm" interest in the Sooners.

S Brandon Simmons (Arlington, TX):  One of the best safety prospects still available in the midlands.  Both Baylor and West Virginia have decent chances of landing Simmons.

S Jamal Adams (Carrollton, TX):  I just mentioned Brandon Simmons being one of the best safeties available in Big 12 land, well Jamal Adams is the best.  There has been some debate between him and Tony Brown as the best DB in Texas.  Oklahoma and Texas are in the lead and also has "warm" interest in TCU.

2014 West Virginia Football Preview

2013 Recap:  West Virginia's 2013 class, made up of 28 prospects, ranked 4th in the Big 12.  The 'Eers got commitments from a wide variety of regions including California (1), Pennsylvania (5), Florida (4), Texas (1), and others.  With WVU losing a majority of their playmakers from last year, they signed 9 JUCO players.  One of those was ex-Arizona commit Mario Alford, the top athlete in the JUCO ranks (will play WR in Morgantown) from last year according to 247.

Needs:  The top need for the Mountaineers is a QB.  Although they did sign one last year, Geno Smith is gone making the position the most important one for Holgerson.  However, the Mountaineers are in very good position to land 4-star MD QB William Crest.  Crest is in both the Top247 (#151) and Rivals250 (#205).  The battle for Crest's services seem to be down between West Virginia and Ohio State with Maryland looming in the background.  Crest may be the biggest individual target for Holgerson and his staff this year.

Early 2014 Commits:  3-star PA WR Ricky Rogers is West Virginia's only commitment so far.  Rogers chose WVU over the likes of Pitt and Rutgers.  Rogers was initially ruled ineligible in 2012, but that decision was later overturned  

Preview:  So how many offers has West Virginia sent out so far for 2014, you ask?  Almost 140 according to 247.  With it being impossible to go through most of those, here are just a few to keep an eye out on.  Williams Crest was already discussed above and the 'Eers are in the running for another elite player.  I doubt it happens but 5-star DT Andrew Brown has moderate interest in Holgerson's program.  Besides the players above, here is a short list of others: 4-star MD OG Sam Mustipher, 4-star TX S Brandon Simmons, 4-star AZ QB Kyle Allen, 4-star IN WR Dominique Booth, 4-star MD S Kobie Walker, and others.

2014 Baylor Recruiting Preview

2013 Recap:  Baylor's momentum from all their success in the past two years continued to their 2013 recruiting class.  Baylor signed a total of 24 players and the class finished third in the Big 12.  The star of the class was without a doubt 5-star receiver Robbie Rhodes.  Rhodes has elite speed which is the biggest reason why he was one of the top WRs in the nation.  4-stars DT Andrew Billings and dual-threat QB Chris Johnson are other notable names from last year's class.

Needs:  With Baylor's record-setting defense (in a bad way), the Bears loaded up on defense last year to give d-coordinator Phil Bennett some help.  They took 15 defensive players compared to 8 offensive last year and are targeting that side of the ball again this year; 32 defensive players offered this year compared to 18 offensive.  Baylor added some much needed offensive linemen in the 11th hour last February.  OG Maruice Porter was one of them and signed with the Bears after being a Tech commit.  However, there was some rumors of his academic uncertainty and I'm not sure how it is currently, but adding o-line depth is never a bad idea.  Briles has already offered 8 offensive linemen so far this cycle.

Early 2014 Commits:  So far Art Briles has picked up three verbal commitments, all from the state of Texas.  The group is led by 4-star Texarkana safety Davion Hall who is the top safety in the state according to the Lone Star Rankings.  Also with early commitments are 4-star RB Terence Williams and 3-star WR Chris Platt.  It has been a great start to the 2014 recruiting cycle for the Bears who are really starting to compete with the top two programs in the state (Texas and A&M).

Preview:  Can Baylor keep up the momentum and have another top 3 class in the Big 12?  As I discussed above, they're off to a great start.  Baylor is closing in on some other very solid recruits right now.  4-star TX OG Josh Pelzel currently has Baylor as his favorite, 4-star TX S Brandon Simmons has Baylor in his top three (along with West Virginia and LSU), JUCO DT Ajay Fanene lists Baylor as his favorite, and I'd put my money on TX OLB Somari Wright signing with the Bears.