DMN's Recruiting Grade

The DMN's Recruiting Buzz Blog has this to say about SMU:

Final grade: C+

Why?: SMU did a nice job of keeping some talented local players at home. Garland's Tim Crosby, Scurry-Rosser's Phillip Burley and Denton's Anthony Sowe are all top-100 area caliber players. And Crosby and Burley in particular bring something very important -- skill players with the ability to make big plays.

Best prospect: Of all the recruits I met out of the 2006 class, none impressed me more than Phillip Burley. And I'm not talking about on the football field. His 6-5, 205-pound frame and 4.5 40-yard dash speed speak for themselves. But I'm talking about the way Burley carried himself during an interview. While it was a short amount of time, his frankness and positive demeanor were very impressive.

Sleeper: Kingwood linebacker Taylor Bon is a player the SMU coaching staff raves about. He has the size -- 6-3, 207 -- and the athletic ability to be a huge playmaker at linebacker. Put it this way, there is no player the SMU coaches are more excited about than Bon.

Pressure is on: Oklahoma City Putnam City athlete Bryan McCann is one of two 3-star recruits -- Burley is the other. McCann, who missed significant playing time because of a knee injury last fall, will be counted on to play cornerback and return punts and kicks.