Are true frosh DEs (like Nick Kasa) ever dominating when they are true freshmen? I think Kasa's body is freaking huge, and his ability looks to be limitless, so does that mean he can start becoming an elite big 12 talent as a true frosh?
The majority of top DE recruits go to schools like USC, Ohio St, LSU where they don't need these guys to play as true freshman.
Here are 4 recruits in the top 250 from 2008 that played last year and their stats:
Quinton Coples - North Carolina - DE - #101 recruit - 2008
6 solo tackles, 8 total
3.5 tackles for loss
1.5 sacks
1 QB hurry
1 Fumble Recovery
Datone Jones - UCLA - DE - #125 recruit - 2008
10 solo tackles, 15 total
If you remember, we were recruiting Datone Jones pretty hard.
Everette Thompson - Washington - DE - #176 - 2008
11 solo tackles, 18 total
5 tackles for loss
2 sacks
Tony Jerod - Texas A&M - DE - #177 - 2008
11 solo tackles, 20 total
3 tackles for loss
1 sack
*started 7 games
I also checked the top 104 players in sacks during the 2008 and there was not one true freshman in the group. There was also one redshirt freshman that made the list (Tom Keiser - 2 star - Stanford). Unfortunately, I don't think it's fair to expect Kasa to be dominant as a true freshman.
The success of the DE will depend on the development of players like Shields, Obi, Goree and Cunningham.