MCCAIN ACQUIRES COMMUNITY 101 MEN’S BASKETBALL AN ARMY OF FOR FIRST SEMESTER, CLS EARN ROUGHS UP RAIDERS DELEGATES PAGE 5 CREDIT FOR TRAINING PAGE 5 PAGE 6 ROUNDING UP CAMPUS NEWS SINCE 1900 THE BAYLOR LARIAT THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2008 Ruined Briles announces recruits village Baylor signs Bright prospects recovered new players to Kirby Freeman • QB — University of Miami-Florida Professors work to preserve • From 2005-2007, Freeman played for the football team Miami Hurricanes, passing for 12 touch- Sandtown demolished in 1960s downs and 16 interceptions in 22 games as a backup. • In 2006, Freeman passed for 272 yards, By Shannon Daily By Brian Bateman two touchdowns and an interception in Staff writer Sports writer a 21-20 victory over the University of Nevada at the MPC Computers Bowl in To the casual observer, Baylor’s Law School Head coach Art Briles cemented his first Baylor Boise, Idaho. and the surrounding buildings look like noth- recruiting class Wednesday, adding 22 players to ing more than shiny new buildings on top of Baylor’s roster in front of fans, alumni and media a well-manicured lawn. in the Galloway Suite at Floyd Casey Stadium. Dig down a few feet, however, and the sto- “The thing that we look for as a staff is people Morgan Cantrell/The Miami Hurricane ry’s a little different. who have a vision. We find guys who have confi- Remnants of the streets, homes and stores dence, but also guys who have vision, faith and of Sandtown, a village bulldozed to make hope,” Briles said. “What we have to do is put prod- Gary Mason, Jr. room for development, still exist two to three uct out there on the football field.” feet beneath the surface. • DE — Waxahachie High School The Bears stocked their reserves, adding four • Played defensive end in high school, but In the 1960s Waco chose to take part in quarterbacks, a kicker and three offensive line- also scored three touchdown in a limited a federally financed urban renewal program, men. That leaves Baylor with eight quarterbacks, role as tight end. and the Waco Urban Renewal Agency was cre- three kickers and thirteen offensive linemen, of • Tore his ACL his junior year, but made a ated, said Carol Macaulay, a full-time lecturer which five redshirted the previous year, on schol- full recovery. in the department of anthropology, forensic arship. • Also played basketball in high school. science and archaeology. The top recruit of the class is Robert Griffin, the Part of this agency’s job was choosing areas nation’s No. 3 dual threat quarterback. He signed around Waco to be demolished. Sandtown, an with the Bears in the fall and is already enrolled at area extending along the Brazos River from Baylor, expecting to contribute in the fall. where Baylor’s campus currently sits to Inter- “Many people underestimated his love for foot- Neal White/Waxahachie Daily Light state 35, was one of the areas chosen. ball and he surprised them when he took his team Today, Dr. Shane Prochnow, a research to the state championship,” father Robert Griffin associate and lecturer in the geology depart- said of his son. Jarred Salubi ment, is working with Macaulay to create digi- Rated a four-star recruit on Rivals.com, a promi- tal images of the layout of Sandtown before its nent recruiting Web site, he is just the third four- • RB — Waco High School destruction. star to enroll since 2002, following running back • Earned Associated Press honorable Using Geographic Information Systems Paul Mosley and linebacker Earl Patin. mention Class 4A all-state honors. technology, Prochnow is able to locate within “He is the one that really puts that class over • His senior year, Salubi ran for 1306 half a meter where buildings once stood, he the top as far as quarterbacks. The skill set he pos- yards and 15 touchdowns. said. sesses is up there with any of the quarterbacks,” • Also anchored Waco High’s 4x100 state “What we did is we geo-referenced the said Jason Howell, publisher of recruiting Web site championship relay team, which clocked map,” Prochnow said. “We took these old Sicemsports.com. the No. 5 time in the nation. 1920s maps and we made them overlay with Nick Florence, a quarterback from South Gar- modern street maps of this area. So we’re land High School; defensive end Gary Mason of able to see where people’s individual houses Waxahachie High School; and Jarred Salubi, a run- Courtesy of Waco High Yearbook were at before they were bulldozed down and ning back from Waco High School, rounded out rebuilt upon.” the top February recruits. With this map Macaulay is then able to Florence, the salutatorian of his senior class, From top: Kirby Freeman practices Oct. 2, 2007, at the Univer- For a complete list of the locate homes of particular families, Prochnow will likely redshirt, he said. His 6-foot-2-inch frame sity of Miami-Florida. said. currently supports just 167 pounds. Gary Mason, Jr. in action against the Highland Park Scots on 2008 recruiting class, “She has all their ethnographic informa- Sept. 1, 2007, at Texas Stadium. please see page 7. “Right now we’re kind of playing it all by ear,” Jarred Salubi runs against Wylie High in the 2007 H-E-B Heart tion; she’s interviewed their descendents,” he Florence said. “It’s just more incentive to work O’ Texas Kickoff Classic at WISD Stadium in Waco. said. “Now she’s able to go back and excavate harder.” and verify whatever claims they’re making Florence ran the spread – in high school, adding and their life history based on the artifacts to his worth as a future Baylor signal-caller. she’s finding.” “He’s just an incredible player for us, not just tal- 4-star QB brought to BU The houses were in pretty bad condition, ent alone, but his leadership skills, his character, Macaulay said, and were thought to be eye- his intelligence,” South Garland head coach Mikey sores and dilapidated. Moss said. “With Nick we’ve always had big games, Rivals.com ranks Bears’ head coach Art Briles hopes to change the “For instance, in a part of the neighbor- whether it’s against rival Garland, Longview, or quarterback class as trend. hood, a lot of the houses didn’t have indoor when we went three rounds deep.” If the recruiting experts are prophetic at plumbing and some of them didn’t have elec- He will have to compete with the University fourth in nation all, the 2008 recruiting class could be the tricity. They couldn’t afford to have these ser- of Miami-Florida’s senior quarterback Kirby Free- foundation of a Baylor revitalization. The vices provided,” Macaulay said. man, who found a home with the Bears. By Justin Baer Bears’ quarterback class: Copperas Cove’s The agency brought in three appraisers to Baylor’s kickers struggled on both field goals Sports writer Robert Griffin, Garland’s Nick Florence, go around and determine the land values for and kickoffs, hitting just six of 14 field goal Brownwood’s Kirby Freeman and Marlin’s the areas they wanted to renovate. They then attempts, but the inclusion of Argyle native Ben With four quarterbacks in this year’s Jeremy Sanders is ranked fourth in the nation went back and made offers to the residents to Parks might change that. recruiting class, it’s likely Baylor will have by Rivals.com. But the ranking does not even buy their land. Parks hit 11 of 17 field goals last fall, his longest eight quarterbacks on its 2008 roster. incorporate Freeman and Sanders because “They came in and said, ‘This is how much being a 46-yarder. He was also the kickoff special- But no matter who is taking snaps under they are transfers. your house is worth; this is how much we’ll ist, knocking 40 of his 90 kickoffs through the center when the Bears take the field this fall “The quarterback is definitely the strength give you,’” Macaulay said. “Waco had immi- end zone. for the first time against Wake Forest Univer- of the class,” said Jason Howell, publisher of nent domain over the land. They had no “Ben’s an awesome character kid. He has been sity, the pressure of turning around Baylor’s recruiting Web site Sicemsports.com. “In the choice. They basically had to settle.” an all-state kicker for the past two years. He’s a football program will be pinpointed on him. past you couldn’t have said that with what While a large portion of the residents did good hard worker,” Argyle coach Todd Rodgers Former Baylor head coach Guy Morriss Coach Morriss was bringing in.” settle, there were others who chose to fight. was unable to recruit a quarterback who A group of business people within the meat Please see RECRUITS, page 7 could lead the Bears to a Big 12 victory. New Please see QB, page 7 Please see VILLAGE, page 9 Waco weather normal, Tornadoes rip through the South, kill 54 and hundreds injured Tuesday meteorologist says By Ryan Lenz and Wednesday by dozens of tor- The Associated Press nadoes that plowed across Mis- By Lee Ann Marcel the recent windy weather has sissippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Reporter been due to the movement of LAFAYETTE, Tenn. — One man Kentucky and Alabama. It was the a series of storms in the north pulled a couch over his head. Bank nation’s deadliest barrage of twist- Texas weather can’t seem to bringing a drier windy air from employees rushed into the vault.