Baylor Bears football recruiting 2014 updates

Bonney’s father, Jerry, spoke with ESPN to clarify his son’s comments to a Houston television station that had drawn some attention over the weekend and added that crucial bit of information about his son’s recruitment.

The consensus four-star safety has been committed to Texas since September, but recently took visits to Auburn and Baylor before traveling to Austin last weekend, where Bonney reportedly told another Texas commit that he was planning on sticking with the Longhorns.

The Bears, however, are a different story -- they were perceived as the other finalist when he made his original pledge, even though he didn’t release any lists prior to the decision. In fact, 38% of Bonney’s predictions in the 247Sports Crystal Ball were for Baylor.

The reason, besides the recent success and the appeal of helping the Baylor defense continue to improve, is that Bonney and his family have ties to Art Briles from Briles’ time at Houston, as Bonney’s father played basketball for the Cougars.

One way to demonstrate where each school stands in recruiting is to put together an all-conference recruiting team.

The format is simple. Using the 247 Sports Composite of the four major recruiting rankings (Scout, Rivals, ESPN and 247), we’ll assemble the top QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, 5 OL, 4 DL, 4 LB, 5 DB.

The 6’0, 180-pounder had long talked about making a decision before or around the start of his senior season, but there was little warning that a commitment to Texas was nearing. And no guarantees that his pick would be the Horns either after his 247Sports predictions trended dead even with Baylor in the summer before the pendulum of industry consensus swung slightly in favor of Texas in previous days.

The Bears remained in the mix in part because of his strong relationship with Art Briles from his days at Houston, a relationship aided by the fact that Bonney’s father played basketball at Houston.

A consensus four-star prospect and national top-50 player, Cannon is one of the top deep threats in the country and comes it at No. 4 at his position according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He held offers from at least 20 programs around the country and had narrowed his list to Baylor, Florida, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and Texas Tech on the first of August.

The industry consensus had long held that Waco was the likely destination for the 6’0, 160-pounder, who told SB Nation Recruiting at The Opening in July that his mother fell in love with the school on her first visit. Cannon was also adamant throughout this recruitment that he wanted to play in a spread, up-tempo offense in college -- a precise fit for the one operated by Baylor head coach Art Briles. Oh yeah, and there was the fact that the Mount Pleasant product showed up at numerous events during the spring and summer conspicuously wearing Baylor gold and green, but was unwilling to officially name the Bears his leader.

The Arizona State Sun Devils had been looking for some time to add a linebacker to their 2014 recruiting class and were finally able to do so on Thursday with the pledge of Allen (Texas) linebacker Christian Sam, who announced his decision via Twitter:

The decision was a bit of a surprise, as all but one of the 13 Crystal Ball predictions had him joining a talented Baylor linebacker group, with the other having him pegged to Texas Tech. Oklahoma was also thought to be in the mix for Sam, who had close to 20 offers, including those from Oklahoma State and Oregon State. Of course, maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise considering that Sun Devil head coach Todd Graham was the head man at Allen from 1995-2000 before he had his first college coaching gig.

One way to demonstrate where each school stands in recruiting is to put together an all-conference recruiting team.

The format is simple. Using the 247 Sports Composite of the four major recruiting rankings (Scout, Rivals, ESPN and 247), we’ll assemble the top QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, 5 OL, 4 DL, 4 LB, 5 DB.

LEANDER, Texas -- Rockdale (Texas) linebacker James David wasn’t able to participate in the Texas 7on7 State Championship last week due to a knee injury, but he was out there supporting his teammates in their quest to take home the small-school title.

SB Nation Recruiting caught up with David to discuss his injury, his commitment to Baylor, and his academic progress.

In addition, the timetable for Dorsey’s decision hardly sounded immediate with plans to attend camps at some of the schools that had offered and to work out at safety for schools like Oklahoma and Oklahoma State that were showing heavy interest, but wanted to see him work at the position he hasn’t played since his freshman season.

A consensus three-star prospect who could add his fourth star with his transition back to safety for his senior season, Dorsey held offers from Oregon State, Texas Tech, Texas State, and Washington. At 6’2 and 190 pounds with the frame to play at 210 or 215 pounds easily in college, he could eventually end up as a hybrid safety/outside linebacker, a position that is in heavy need in the Big 12 because of all the spread offenses in the league.

Baylor had offered just prior to his winning performance at the Texas state track meet, which quickly earned him offers from Colorado, Illinois, and Texas State in the following days, in addition to the Longhorns. He had previously held offers from Colorado State, Houston, Northern Colorado, SMU, and Houston, making him one of the most underrecruited four-star prospects in the state at the start of May.

One possible reason for being underrecruited? There’s not a lot of pass-catching on Zamora’s junior film -- much of it is spent as a perimeter blocker, with one look as an in-line tight end. In that capacity, he’s willing, physical, and effective, so he should at least be an asset in the wide receiver screen game and in the perimeter run game as a player capable of setting the edge.

A consensus three-star prospect ranked among the top 20 tight ends nationally by 247Sports, Feuerbacher is a 6’5, 240-pounder who had seen his recruitment take off during the spring and held 11 offers before pledging to the Bears, including Illinois and Oregon State. His commitment comes after visiting Baylor in early April and picking up his offer two days later.

The state of Texas hasn’t been producing many top-tier tight ends in recent classes and many are converted wide receivers who have to grow into the position in college. Not so for Feuerbacher, who is experienced as an in-line blocker, where he shows good hand placement, persistence, and strength. And though he is not a superlative athlete, he is above-average for the tight end position and should have an impact in the passing game in college.

The top target expected to be in attendance is a player who may also be the top overall target in the 2014 class for the Bears. He’s certainly one of the top players in the state:

While Cannon has not revealed much publicly in terms of a list of favorites or even schools that are standing out for him, he said about a month ago that the Bears are recruiting him harder than any other suitors for his services.