New American Frontier - Houston Recruiting Blows Up

Houston head coach Tom Herman has geared up the #HtownTakeOver campaign.  Herman and his staff are selling The H similar to the Miami Hurricane's The U.  They want to build a fence around Houston and keep the top local talent at the University of Houston.  Catchy slogans like Htown Take Over and Your City Is Calling are rallying cries for the Coogs.

Add in slick videos like this:


Well as of tonight, the campaign has taken root with a few locals.

The first big get for the Cougars was Ed Oliver as he committed to Houston on Thursday. 

Following Oliver's commitment was another highly rated DT. Four star recruit Jordan Elliot cast his lot with the Cougars yesterday.

Add in three star QB Bowman Sells and the Coogs are building their Fence Around Houston.

Now the question remains....will the recruits remain with Houston? If they do, will they bring more highly ranked recruits with them?

Hopefully, not only do they stay, but other American teams can recruit at a high level and raise the status of the league overall.  What the future holds towards expansion is unknown.  The best bet for our AAC is to build up the league. 

My hope is if we can't join the P5, make enough noise to get three or four top 25 ranked teams and cut into the P5 money.  Maybe Kingmakers ESPN will at least add some money to conference coffers to put some space between the other so called G5 conferences. 

New American Frontier - Weekend Links

Changes continue to happen across the landscape of college athletics.  Of course, football money is the driver of it all.  Thus the separation from the "Power 5" and "Group of 5" conference in the top division of NCAA football.

Earlier this month, the NCAA approved paying full cost of attendance for college athletes.  In a nutshell, the P5 conferences will pay the full cost of attendance to student-athletes while the stipend is optional for G5 conferences.

The AAC has previously states they will mimic all autonomous legislation the P5 enact.  While the Conference hasn't mandated the move, so far UConn and Houston have stated they will pay full cost of attendance:

UConn Will Offer Enhanced Athletic Scholarships In Fall

 

UH Takes Giant Steps Toward "National Relevancy"

 

American Links:

Chris Gedney, UConn Women's Basketball Pioneer

USF vs Florida St Game Moved Up

Central Florida and FAU Agree to Home and Home Series

Nippert Stadium Renovations Links

Nippert Stadium Updates

New Nippert Stadium East Concourse Renderings

 

 

Recruiting

From SB Nation USF's Voodoo Five

 A USF Recruiting Update
Temple Set To Land 4-star RB
 

 

SMU Official Hype Video

Spring Games
SMU - April 18
 

 

 

 

The New American Frontier

#AmericaRising
America Rising is the battle cry of the newest athletic conference in the NCAA FBS division.  A cobbled together league from the shards of the Big East and C-USA.  The former Big East was raided into oblivion and the smaller Catholic basketball schools took the name with them and moved on.

What happened in the first year of the AAC?  Success and expectations exceeded.  Central Florida defeated Baylor in a BCS is bowl.  UConn won the NCAA Championship (and Justin Bieber is out there still looking for a Yukon hat). 

Despite the success in the first year, the effects of realignment continue to ripple through the league.  Gone this summer are Rutgers and Louisville for the Big 10 and ACC respectively.  UConn and Cincinnati have made no bones about wanting to move to a Power 5 conference.  No doubt, any team in the American will make the jump should one of the big money leagues call.  My own Houston Cougars would take say yes before the Big 12 finished the question.  No doubt about it.

For the time being though, the league is here and the current members need to make the best of it.  So far so good. While I don't see a banner year like this year for the American, I see some sustained success.  Which can only be a good thing. 

I think the main goal for the conference is to make the best of the situation.  Maybe they won't ever reach the stratosphere of the Power 5 but they can strive to be the next best thing.  They definitely need to distinguish themselves from the other 4 lower tier conferences.  Other than the Mountain West, the American has no real competition for the title of "Best of the Rest."  Right now the American, based on BCS and NCAA title win, can make that claim.  Next football season the race begins all over again.

One, I'd like to start blogging again on my sports blog.  The Houston Cougars have always been my college passion since I started attending in 1987 and receive my degree there.  Now I'd like to expand into The American Athletic Conference and watch it move forward. 

Part of my inspiration is the lack of a dedicated blog on SB Nation.  I love what they have built there and maybe in the future if I can get some help from fans of other AAC schools, I'd love to have a dedicated SB Nation blog.  But I have to start somewhere. 

For now, I'd like to subtitle this section of my blog The New American Frontier.