A Sea Of Red

Thanks to the heads up by Fireman, here is a rundown on this big prospect giving the Flames some strong consideration. He visited us January 19th after originally appearing to head to Blacksburg that weekend. But he received an in home visit by Frank Beamer who already has a commitment from one of his teammates. This would be another huge coup for us to land a kid with a VT offer (among many full rides from other schools like Minnesota & Kansas):


Mike Connolly
Defensive End
Sarasota (FL) Cardinal Mooney HS
6' 2" 240 lbs

Rivals Profile - 2 Star Prospect

Rivals Combine Results:

Forty: 4.67 secs
Bench max: 335 pounds
Bench reps: 35
Squat max: 480 pounds
Vertical: 28 inches
Shuttle: 4.47 secs

Scout Profile - 1 Star Prospect



Here is a Rivals story from their VT writer that was posted three weeks ago:

Connolly takes first official visit

By Brian Mohr, HokieHaven.com
Recruiting Analyst – Rivals.com

Virginia Tech's recruiting board is quickly dwindling particularly at defensive end. One player still receiving interest from the coaching staff is Sarasota (Fla.) Cardinal Mooney defensive end Michael Connolly. The 6-foot-2, 240-pounder plans to take an official to Blacksburg later this month. However, this week he took his first official visit of the season to Kansas.

"It was a good visit to Lawrence," he said. "I got to see what's out there. I've never been out to the Midwest and the coaches were really nice. They showed me around and I got to see every aspect of what the school has to offer.

"I left on Friday morning and when I arrived, we went out to dinner. I had every meal with the coaches and recruits. I also got to hang out with one of the players on the team, Jake Sharp. It was nice hanging out with him; he showed me his dorm and took me on a tour of the school. He was a freshman that I could relate to."

While on the visit, Connolly got to spend a fair amount of time with head coach Mark Mangino.

"It was good spending time with him. He answered all my parents' questions," he stated. "He was a really nice and friendly guy and talked the school up a lot."

As far as rating the trip, the two-star prospect wouldn't have any of it.

"I don't want to say anything, but I can tell you it was a good visit."

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech has a three-year offer on the table for Connolly.

"I'd have to pay my first year and then I get three years on scholarship," he said. "If they change that, it could definitely change the way I look at Virginia Tech."

Currently the Sunshine State lineman is scheduled to take an official visit to Blacksburg on January 19th. Is that still planned?

"I've got to check on that with my parents," he said. "I'm not completely sure if that's when we'll be coming. I believe coach Wiles is supposed to be in touch with me this week about my offer and the trip."

Connolly still is considering one other official to Florida International sometime in January.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug ... recruiting

If you have a TechSideline ID, then you can check out their update on Michael:

TechSideline Update on Conolly from last Thursday

Apparently he missed most of his senior season due to a summer knee injury and that's why he doesn't have the flood of offers that somebody of his skill set would normally have right now. But it obviously it hasn't scare us away:

Pursuit of perfection
Cougars are one win from undefeated regular season
DOUGLAS A. KAID
Herald Staff Writer

SARASOTA - Mike Connolly still wears a brace to support his surgically repaired left knee. After suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament this summer, Connolly went under the knife, and his senior football season was in jeopardy.

Though he was told he could be back by the end of the season, there can always be setbacks and delays. Knees are tricky.

But Connolly continued with his rehab and maintained a constant presence at Cardinal Mooney practices and games. He limped through sprints at the end of practices and celebrated victories at the end of weeks.

Behold the healing powers of success. Connolly, a senior defensive end and one of the Cougars' top college prospects, returned to the lineup last week against Clearwater Central Catholic.

Connolly, one of Cardinal Mooney's seniors, said he's about 90 percent healthy, but there was no way he wasn't going to come back to be a part of this season.

Entering tonight's game against North Port, the Cougars are 9-0 and on the verge of their first undefeated regular season since 1984. Ironically, Connolly injured his knee in North Port, playing in a 7-on-7 tournament.

"Some of the guys were telling me that inspiration-wise and emotion-wise, I was still there, and I was helping as much as I could even though I couldn't be on the field with them," Connolly said. "I picked a good time to come back. This is pretty big for us. When we were freshmen, we went undefeated, too. We were 5-0 and even then we knew we were kind of unique. It was one of our goals, not like a district title or a state championship, but it was up there for us to go undefeated." The district title is wrapped up, and Cardinal Mooney's first round opponent -The Villages - has probably already made travel arrangements to come to Sarasota next week. This week counts for nothing, but it means a lot.

An outstanding 1AA prospect considering who recruited him. Definately better than the guy who changed his mind and went to JMU.

VT is actually only offering a 3 year scholarship so that could help us.

Initially VT was only offering three years, but that could've changed with the visit this last week. I have full Rivals access on my desk at work but I'm off the next couple of days. Hopefully I'll get an update at that time.

I have Rivals also. Here is the link. http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?cid=633728

Here's the update the other day from Rivals:

Sarasota (Fla.) Cardinal Mooney defensive end Michael Connolly continues to hold a three-year scholarship from Virginia Tech. Last week the 6-foot-2, 240-pounder received an in-home visit from head coach Frank Beamer, did that improve the Hokies chances in landing the Florida standout?

"I appreciated that coach Beamer and Wiles stopped by," he said. "I never thought the head coach would come over to my house. It was good, it gave me a good feeling that they really want me as much as they say and are recruiting me like any other player.

"I enjoyed talking to Frank Beamer. He came by to make sure my knee was ok and checked to tell me about my options if I were to go to school at Virginia Tech. He told me about enrolling in January and stuff like that."

Is there still a chance Connolly will get a full offer from Tech?

"The coaches say there's a small chance," he said. "Anything can happen in the last week and they are still leaving the door open, but it looks more like the three-year scholarship is what it'll be.

"I'm still interested in Virginia Tech. I've always liked their program and if it was a full scholarship that would be huge. I understand they are still fitting the bill for a chunk of change, but I've got to see what's best for me and my parents."

As far as a visit, the two-star lineman isn't sure he'll take a trip back to Blacksburg.

"I haven't set something up and I don't know if I even have to," he said. "I went up there over the summer and got a good luck. There may be no real need to go back and see it again."

In the meantime, Connolly is weighing his options as he took an official visit last weekend to Lynchburg and Liberty.

"I had a nice visit there. They have a lot to offer and good facilities."

I understand that once Hodges verbally committed to LU, he encouraged Hart and Connelly to look a little deeper into the benefits that LU could offer them in a number of areas.

Will Rocco help highlight these three guys from one area on signing day. What a great opportunity and story about three top area prospects going to one school. (We always see the FSU and UF stories).

What you think Coach Rocco?

We absolutely love the Bradenton/Sarasota area at Liberty. It has been VERY good to us the past few years. And if Hodges can convince Connolly to come along with him to Lynchburg he would quickly become my favorite recruit of the class.

He's from my high school He has to be good.

If the local writer in Florida is accurate, we will be landing Mike:

Other area athletes scheduled to sign Wednesday are Bayshore's Latravis Washington (Nebraska); Bradenton Prep's Jermaine McKenzie (Miami); Cardinal Mooney's Hunter Ovens (Virginia Tech) and Mike Connolly (Liberty); Lakewood Ranch's Brendan Choy (Ball State); Manatee's Austin Jensen (Florida Atlantic) and Spencer Hodges (Liberty); Palmetto's Joe Hills (South Carolina); and Southeast's Chris Hart (Liberty).

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 631104.htm

There are some big named schools in that list.

There are big name schools that Mike chose us over in his recruitment. This is another big coup for the coaching staff.

Hopefully that fax will arrive tomorrow to seal the deal, sounds good so far.

It's amazing the job Rocco has done. In all aspects of this team. He's completely changed the culture, attitude and expectations. This is just another aspect of that.

I noticed that there are some good "behind the scenes" clips of the football team, Rocco and gameplay on the http://www.LibetyU.com page under the "Around Liberty in 90 Seconds" featurettes...Nice production quality on those. I especially noted the "Play Like a Champion Today"-esque sign in the team locker room: "Expect To Win."

From the footage, it looks like the guy brings a genuinely contagious energy to the program and the school...I say the more energetic & genuinely likable personalities the school can get the better. IMHO, it's good all the way around for the school from being ambassadors in the marketing of the program/school to the general public (people are generally drawn first to affable personalities ahead of personal beliefs) to building affinity among the students & alumni with the program.

Looking forward to the storied rise to prominence.

As far as a visit, the two-star lineman isn't sure he'll take a trip back to Blacksburg.

In the meantime, Connolly is weighing his options as he took an official visit last weekend to Lynchburg and Liberty.

"I had a nice visit there. They have a lot to offer and good facilities."

I am a Gator fan who is a lurker on your board because I am also a believer and believe in what Liberty is all about. I volunteer coach down here and I can tell you that you guys have the best recrutier I have ever seen down in this area recruiting. Our school has sent kids in the last several years to Wisconsin, Miami and West Virginia to name a few. Your coach Skalaski is the best of all of them that have been in our school recruiting. I have listened to him recruit at our school and he really sells Liberty in an excited and classy way. Our head coach loves him and trusts him completely, which is definitely not the case with some of the other schools. I know he talked a kid at our school into Liberty after the kid had several Big 12 offers. I looked up his bio on your web site, he's a Gator so all the more reason for me to pull for you guys. I look forward to following you guys next year. Maybe some day the Gators and Liberty can play each other in a bowl game.

Great first post! good to have you here

welcome aboard- hope we have the occasion watch our teams compete someday!

Glad to hear the praise for Skalaski. He has worked your corner of Florida bigtime for us the past few years. Thanks for posting.

I echo the praise for Charlie Skalasky. He does a great job down here in Florida - and this state is full of great talent.

Here's hoping for a great day for Liberty on Wednesday.

His letter arrived this morning.

Sly,

Thanks for the updates. Cheating here, I am supposed to be listening in this meeting with a customer, but I couldn't resist a quick look.

Great pick up.

Flameshaw, when you getting here in town for a bball game? The season is slipping away!

TDDance234 wrote:Great pick up.

Flameshaw, when you getting here in town for a bball game? The season is slipping away!

Don't know really, I am on the road M-F many weeks and don't want to be gone all day Saturday. I may try to get to a tourney game.

huge pickup! was it down to VT and LU??