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Let's review Hawk's 2007 recruiting class.

JimmyBuff

Well-Known Member
Its now been 3 years and its a perfect time to go back and see exactly what the 32nd ranked (according to Rivals) recruiting class looks like today.. 28 commits, 3 were JC's



Ethan Atkins........ OL...... Still on the team. Started some
Tyler Ahles......... LB.......Still on the team.. Backup LB
Matt Bahr............ OL.......Still on the team.. Started a few games this yr.
Matt Ballenger.... QB...... Transfered out
Kendrick Celestine..WR.. Transfered out, might be coming back.
Shawn Daniels..... OL.. .. Still on the team. Has started on the OL
P.T. Gates.......... RB..... Never qualified
Eugene Goree...... DT..... Still on the team. In the rotation at DT
Josh Hartigan..... LB...... Still on the team.. Backup
Drew Hudgins... ... DE...... JC- Gone
Mike Iltis...............OL....... Still on the team.. Center/Guard
Devan Johnson.... FB/LB....Never qualified.
Brian Lockridge.. RB...... Still on the team... RB backup
Kealaki Maivea..... OL....... Transfered to UCLA after being FROSH AA
Ryan Miller.......... OL........Still on the team.. RG starter.
Nick Nelson........ QB....... JC QB- Gone Never played
Conrad Obi.......... DE........Still on the team.. In the DE rotation
Anthony Perkins... DB........Still on the team. Starter at safety
Chris Perri.......... DE.........Kicked out of school
Lagrone Shields.... DE..... Quit team during this year
Markques Simas.... WR...... Still on the team. WR starter
Josh Smith........... WR....... Transfered to UCLA
Lamont Smith....... DB........ Academic casualty
Sione Tau............ OL..........Still on the team. suspension
Nate Vaiomounga. LB......... Kicked out of school last year
Anthony Wright... DB.........Still on the team.. WR now.


15 players are still on the team, with Tau on suspension(plus Celestine)
1 JC never qualified, the other 2 eligibility have already expired.
2 Transfers to UCLA
1 QB transfer
1 player who has left and might be coming back this year.
1 frosh never qualifed
1 was lost by academics
2 were kicked out of school.
1 quit this year.

So throwing out the 3 JC's 15 out of the 25 are still playing (counting Celestine).

I count two impact players from the class so far. Miller and Simas.. Perkins seems like he's going to be a nice player also.. Maivea and Smith are two other impact players that have left the program.

Other than that, nothing much from this class in terms of impact yet.

More tidbits from the class:

Out of the 5 DL we recruited in this class only two remain in the rotation (Obi) (Goree) and neither is a starter.

Strongest position of the class is the OL where 6 out of the 7 still remain.. 6 of them have started although one of them has left for UCLA (Kai).

Class will include Michigan transfer Toney Clemons next year so WR position could be the 2nd strongest from this class and could cancel out the Josh Smith transfer(time will tell)

No corners on this class and a very weak (so far) contribution from the LB position (although it should be noted the LBs above those players were Seniors this year). Impact might happen next year for them.

No QB remaining and one backup RB..


Thoughts?
 
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My thought is that this was a very special class and there are some decent contributors here, but far too much attrition, especially among those who proved they could make a difference here at CU.

Shouldn't Katoa be on this list?
 
JimmyBuff said:
Its now been 3 years and its a perfect time to go back and see exactly what the 32nd ranked (according to Rivals) recruiting class looks like today.. 28 commits, 3 were JC's



Ethan Atkins........ OL...... Still on the team. Started some
Tyler Ahles......... LB.......Still on the team.. Backup LB
Matt Bahr............ OL.......Still on the team.. Started a few games this yr.
Matt Ballenger.... QB...... Transfered out
Kendrick Celestine..WR.. Transfered out, might be coming back.
Shawn Daniels..... OL.. .. Still on the team. Has started on the OL
P.T. Gates.......... RB..... Never qualified
Eugene Goree...... DT..... Still on the team. In the rotation at DT
Josh Hartigan..... LB...... Still on the team.. Backup
Drew Hudgins... ... DE...... JC- Gone
Mike Iltis...............OL....... Still on the team.. Center/Guard
Devan Johnson.... FB/LB....Never qualified.
Brian Lockridge.. RB...... Still on the team... RB backup
Kealaki Maivea..... OL....... Transfered to UCLA after being FROSH AA
Ryan Miller.......... OL........Still on the team.. RG starter.
Nick Nelson........ QB....... JC QB- Gone Never played
Conrad Obi.......... DE........Still on the team.. In the DE rotation
Anthony Perkins... DB........Still on the team. Starter at safety
Chris Perri.......... DE.........Kicked out of school
Lagrone Shields.... DE..... Quit team during this year
Markques Simas.... WR...... Still on the team. WR starter
Josh Smith........... WR....... Transfered to UCLA
Lamont Smith....... DB........ Academic casualty
Sione Tau............ OL..........Still on the team. suspension
Nate Vaiomounga. LB......... Kicked out of school last year
Anthony Wright... DB.........Still on the team.. WR now.


15 players are still on the team, with Tau on suspension(plus Celestine)
1 JC never qualified, the other 2 eligibility have already expired.
2 Transfers to UCLA
1 QB transfer
1 player who has left and might be coming back this year.
1 frosh never qualifed
1 was lost by academics
2 were kicked out of school.
1 quit this year.

So throwing out the 3 JC's 15 out of the 25 are still playing (counting Celestine).

I count two impact players from the class so far. Miller and Simas.. Perkins seems like he's going to be a nice player also.. Maivea and Smith are two other impact players that have left the program.

Other than that, nothing much from this class in terms of impact yet.

More tidbits from the class:

Out of the 5 DL we recruited in this class only two remain in the rotation (Obi) (Goree) and neither is a starter.

Strongest position of the class is the OL where 6 out of the 7 still remain.. 6 of them have started although one of them has left for UCLA (Kai).

Class will include Michigan transfer Toney Clemons next year so WR position could be the 2nd strongest from this class and could cancel out the Josh Smith transfer(time will tell)

No corners on this class and a very weak (so far) contribution from the LB position (although it should be noted the LBs above those players were Seniors this year). Impact might happen next year for them.

No QB remaining and one backup RB..


Thoughts?
Click to expand...

For as much as Hawk gets knocked, these #s pretty much meet the average expected contributors from a class. A little light on the top end contributors considering Simas only got to be a big part of things in the last few games.
 
I believe Perri was a JC guy and even though he got kicked out, he would be out of eligibility by now anyways. Hudgins may have had a big impact but ended up tearing his Achilles Tendon and never played here.

I think this is a fair analysis and what it really points to (for me) is this class wasn't too good.

The o-line (although big in numbers) hasn't really panned out too well. Why else would CU be adding a JC transfer to this class? They clearly want another guy to compete at LG/C. Miller could end up the only starter here.

The D-line guys also were a disappointment. Shields, Goree and Obi were on the pine watching Freshmen like Pericek, West, and Bonsu painfully learning how to play while they watched. Given the freshmen development, it's hard to question Bandison on who he played. Goree got some time late in the season, but I would have expected a guy in his 3rd year to be ahead of Pericek and Bonsu....

I think the LB class is still out there. Ahles played some and generally pretty well. Hartigan got time at DE in the 2nd half of the season so should be part of a rotation. Rippy may take his time though?

Could easily end up that Miller and Simas are the only starters next year.... Most of these guys just completed their Sophomore years, so it's a little early to close the book, but in many cases, they are playing behind guys with less time on campus.
 
I think this class is pretty decent. I think it did a good job of addressing needs at the time. Yeah, we probably brought in some OL that haven't become huge impact players, but at that point we didn't even have enough OL on the roster to have a full scrimmage in spring practice.

In hind sight, two things kind of hurt us. One, it's too bad the DL guys, especially OBI (in all caps for you Syko), haven't panned out like we might have hoped. But, they brought in enough guys to address the need, they just haven't panned out like we would have liked. Second, in hind sight, an awesome QB would have been awesome. But, we've been saying that since Koy Detmer came here.

Seems like all other positions were dealt with pretty well. CB, as you mention, is light right now, but I think Wright will be back on the defensive side of the ball next year, we'll have Jalil, and hopefully Jimmy back, and we've got a few guys, including Perkins, that seem to be in the mix at safety.

All in all, not a bad class. Next year is the time for the rubber to meet the road for these guys, then we'll really see how it looks. We've seen a few show up in their third year in the program (Simas), but we need more of these guys to really show up on the field in their fourth year (i.e. BLock would be a great example).

As is always, unfortunately, the case...we'll see.
 
TheEvilBeak said:
For as much as Hawk gets knocked, these #s pretty much meet the average expected contributors from a class. A little light on the top end contributors considering Simas only got to be a big part of things in the last few games.
Click to expand...

Urgh, not really.. This class has not given the impact that we thought it would at the time.. You need to have about 5-6 impact players in a recruiting class this big along with some other starters.. We have maybe one or two impact players and a handful of starters.. Not good enough Hawk.. :sad2:


Maybe tonight I will go over the Barnett/Hawk 2006 recruiting class and see how its performed.
 
Didn't he bring both Jameson Davis and Goodman in 2007? I know Goodman had to sit out a year, and Davis delayed entrance, but seems like they would be part of that class?
 
Most of them are career back ups. There are only 2 true starters so far in Miller and Simas:huh: Lots of attrition tho
 
sliderNcider said:
Most of them are career back ups. There are only 2 true starters so far in Miller and Simas:huh: Lots of attrition tho
Click to expand...

Jury's still out on the o/linemen; some of them may still end up starting (some already have). Celestine played as a frosh, then left to take care of his personal life (I hope he gets a chance to play again) adn is trying to make the team again. Perkins has played (started) and Lockridge has too. If I'm not mistaken, there are 10 from this group who've started and/or played on offense or defense.

This would have been a very good class if not for attrition.
 
So far not a big impact class. Attrition is normal at any school and truthfully with hopefully an 85+ man roster that Hawk still hasn't been able to reach a good portion of your recruits who stay will end up as career back-ups, normal so far.

Also, normally most kids don't really make an impact until their Jr. or Sr. seasons. It takes a couple of years to physically mature and learn and get comfortable with playing at this level. I would not be surprised to see a couple of these guys step forward this year or next and become really good players.

At most schools this would not be an issue because they would have had a bunch of upperclassmen getting the majority of the playing time and the fans would be speculating on who would be the ones to step forward. With the combination of what Barnett left and what Hawk has done with it we still have not had the benefit of an experience laden team on the field so far. As a result we have been counting on a lot of underclassmen who probably are not really ready to play at this level.

Unfortunately with what I have seen so far in the Hawk era with how he and his assistants handle players I am not sure that under him we will ever get to some semblance of a normal player development process.

I have no problem with how he has recruited in the past, my issue has been what he has done with the players once they are here. This years class looks to be something entirely different since outside of a few top notch kids it is looking more and more like what you would expect from a class when recruits can see that the coach is not likely to be around more than another year or two.
 
Hawkins failures at actually dressing a full football team have got to be pretty unique in the NCAA. Most teams have 85 players.

I guess that's why he loves giving so many walk-ons scholarships. Perhaps he feels it makes it look like he is actually fielding a full football team.
 
The attrition numbers don't seem unusual or even unpleasant, but Hawks & Co's demonstrated ability at skill-development remains at such a low level. Are their recruits living down to poor teaching? Is the student living up to their best capabilities? Are the recruiters such a poor judge of talent, skills, willingness to work and coachability?

With Coach Hawkins given one more season, I'm sure we'll see a whole new level of recruiting class signed this year, and if Darrell Scott returns, I'm sure we'll see just as great a contribution from him, too. Maybe twice as much.
 
RedDirtBuff said:
Jury's still out on the o/linemen; some of them may still end up starting (some already have). Celestine played as a frosh, then left to take care of his personal life (I hope he gets a chance to play again) adn is trying to make the team again. Perkins has played (started) and Lockridge has too. If I'm not mistaken, there are 10 from this group who've started and/or played on offense or defense.

This would have been a very good class if not for attrition.
Click to expand...

I agree. With Maivea and Smith still in the fold, this class would look much better.. Weak in a few spots but at least we would have some more impact players from the class.


I agree reddirt, jury is still out on the OL potential..
 
It will be interesting to see if Tau can get eligible and make an impact on this class.. We need a DL class in terms of numbers like this 2007 OL class.
 
Let's bump this since this class has now graduated. As we can see the 32 ranked class was a huge flop. Miller about the only impact player. Add in Clemons for Smith and that's basically it in terms of positive production.


This class will also be interesting to compare with embree's first full recruiting class. Looks like we will be heavy on the DL with Embree like Hawk was heavy on OL that year. Let's hope there is more than one quality player on the DL


I think I'll break down the 2008 class in a bit.
 
You don't think Josh Hartigan made an impact? I do.

Interestingly, most of the guys I expected to make an impact, didn't. A lot of wasted talent.

2008 was a bigger miss in terms of expectations.
 
I think that it's very telling that of 28 recruits on Hawk's 07 class - similar in numbers to Embree's class this year - that only 1 or 2 players really did anything to merit acknowledgment in Perkins and Miller. Most of the O-Line recruits were ok, but nothing more than that. In fact, I would say that most of them regressed under Hawk. Could this be because of his coaching style, the fact that they never were in the same position from year to year, lack of competition from incoming frosh, injuries, outside factors? I guess we will never really know. I can't say that I remember my feelings in regards to the 07 class, however I know that I was pumped about PT Gates. Other than that, I didn't really have goosebumps about any of the recruits that we got that year. I feel as though Embree will do a much better job with balancing out classes, addressing team needs directly, and improving the players that are on the roster each and every year tha they are in Boulder! Can't wait for the LOI to come in in a month or so!
 
As others have mentioned, the class did not produce enough impact players or even starters. You would like to have at least 12-15 guys to play in the 2 deep by the time they end their careers with 6 to 8 of them being starters.
 
JimmyBuff said:
Let's bump this since this class has now graduated. As we can see the 32 ranked class was a huge flop. Miller about the only impact player. Add in Clemons for Smith and that's basically it in terms of positive production.


This class will also be interesting to compare with embree's first full recruiting class. Looks like we will be heavy on the DL with Embree like Hawk was heavy on OL that year. Let's hope there is more than one quality player on the DL


I think I'll break down the 2008 class in a bit.
Click to expand...
Jimmy, I think you have already made your point.
 
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by JimmyBuff

Markques Simas.... WR...... Still on the team. WR starter
:huh:

NW Buff said:
:huh:
Click to expand...

Noticed the same thing, Simas left town leaving a wake of problems behind him.

Also list Josh Hartigan as a backup. Seems that he started most of his senior season when not injured. In the end he was one of the more productive players in the class.
 
MtnBuff said:
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by JimmyBuff

Markques Simas.... WR...... Still on the team. WR starter
:huh:



Noticed the same thing, Simas left town leaving a wake of problems behind him.

Also list Josh Hartigan as a backup. Seems that he started most of his senior season when not injured. In the end he was one of the more productive players in the class.
Click to expand...
What's the date of the post?
 
SuperiorBuff said:
What's the date of the post?
Click to expand...

Missed that.

Interesting to look at that list. All the crap Hawkins spewed about chararacter and the "right kids" blah, blah, blah. The number of those guys who were kicked out of school, had academic probations, etc. is appalling.
 
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