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Thoughts on recruiting thus far... and what is to come?

rynobuff

rynobuff

Club Member
Club Member
I gotta admit I don't pay too much attention to recruiting except when we get a commit I'll check out their bio, etc. But just want to hear some thoughts from the recruitniks (no pun :lol:). It seems to me that while we may not have any big time 5 and 4 star recruits every guy we have committed thus far is a solid guy with solid offers, though Hawkins pulled off some studs a lot of the guys he recruited seemed to be so called 'sleepers' with only offers from small time and non-bcs schools. So I have a few questions:

1. Am I correct in saying that overall despite the lack of 4 and 5 stars, so far we have a class of guys who are solid bcs players?
2. Do we have any shot at pulling off any 4 or 5 star guys before LOI day?
3. Are all the commits we have so far solid, or do some appear to be shaky?
4. What positions do we need to finish strong on and who are our most important (and realistic) targets left?
5. Does it seem that this class is a solid base/foundation for a team that can compete and win games in the Pac 12?
6. How does it compare so far to talkins classes?

Obviously these are tough questions to answer now and a lot can change but just curious to see what some think as of now. I hear a lot of people saying this is an underwhelming recruiting class so far, but I think if Embree gets a bunch of 'his guys' that are solid players with bcs offers (high 2 stars, and 3 star guys) that will be enough to start turning things around.
 
You guys up for a recruiting chat Thursday night?

I'll pull stuff together if you want to do another one. Seemed to be pretty good last time.

*************

Without going into detail, rynobuff:

1. Much like last year's class so far. Solid players with high football character.
2. Yes on 4*. Probably not on 5*.
3. The only ones that might be shaky are some guys the board is least enthusiastic about.
4. Tight End, Defensive End, Linebacker, Cornerback and Offensive Line are the priorities. I'll do specific guys in chat.
5. Yes. If our quarterbacks develop, we'll have a solid foundation around them with some playmakers at WR.
6. Better than '06, '09 and '10. Not as good (on paper) as '08. Probably equal to '07. Not as much star power, but better top to bottom.
 
6. Nik, you mean the pre-implosion 2008 class. A number of guys didn't make the grade for one reason or another, in fact the lowest rated non-kicker in the class is our best player. This all speaks directly to the high football character guys Embree recruits (as well as the previous regime's inability to develop/use talent).
 
Is it true that 247 Sports, whoever the hell they are, have us fourth in the Pac so far? Really?
 
DBT said:
Is it true that 247 Sports, whoever the hell they are, have us fourth in the Pac so far? Really?
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Yes. I have pictures of the guy who runs the place doing some interesting things with a live turkey, a pot of mac & cheese, and his midget, one-armed mistress.
 
My impression right now is that we are building a solid but not spectacular class. The guys we have seem to be good enough athletes to compete in an AQ conference like the PAC so we will be replacing a lot of our WAC/MWC level athletes over time.

My concern is that we seem to be making major steps at certain positions and are dangerously weak at others, the talent is not distributed evenly over the team.

The positives
Start with QB, Dillon looks to be the best QB prospect we have had in a number of years and since everything starts at QB this is key. Even though he is a transfer I consider Wood to a part of this years class so between the two we make a major step up at the position for the future.

The 3 Texas WRs are intriging. They could give us some serious playmaking ability and provide weapons to make the QBs more effective, all look to be solid pick-ups.

I am also pumped about the DTs. When was the last time that we had commits from 2 (with another contingent) legit DTs coming out of HS. Controlling the LOS is critical and this could help.

The RBs look interesting but not wow, could use some more help there. I think we have a good shot as Wes Brown and if we get him then this group goes to the top of the list, major impact guy.

That said we have some areas that need major attention.

The OL needs a major infusion. I think Irwin is going to be a stud, Keogh has potential but is not a wow guy. We need some more help here and this looks like our weakest area in terms of meeting needs.

We also are going to be in trouble if we don't step up and pick up more quality at DB and especially LB. I like the guys we have committed but they are simply not enough, these have to be priorities from here on out.

TE is also an area of interest. I like Sean Irwin but we need another quality prospect here as well. It is not as critical as some other areas but if we could get a guy like McNamara it could change the entire offense to the better.

DE is also not a critical area but we could use the right guys who would enable us to do some things we can't with the guys we have right now.

It's good to be in competition with other AQ level schools for guys this year instead of taking scraps like Hawk went to the last few years but we have to close some of them if we are going to close the talent gap with the teams we have to beat on the field.
 
MtnBuff said:
TE is also an area of interest. I like Sean Irwin but we need another quality prospect here as well. It is not as critical as some other areas but if we could get a guy like McNamara it could change the entire offense to the better.

DE is also not a critical area but we could use the right guys who would enable us to do some things we can't with the guys we have right now.
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Really? I completely disagree. TE and DE are where we are at our weakest imo. TE next year so far has Devaughn Thornton (can't block) Kyle Slavin (who knows, isn't playing in favor of former OL Bahr and current OL Lewis), and Sean Irwin. We need at least 1 more solid player here.

DE is also woefully thin after this year. Parker has hardly looked good enough for me to anoint him the next rush linebacker/DE. CUD would probably be a better fit at that spot. The other DE spot (speaking in terms of 4-3) is literally unknown. Sounds like Kasa is headed towards the other side of the ball, so we're literally without players here. DT is even pretty thin next year, Solis and maybe Hengington will probably have to play. We need 4 more DL and 1 more TE at least. LB could use another commit or two, but I definitely don't see it as being as big of a need as DL or TE.
 
White_Rabbit said:
Really? I completely disagree. TE and DE are where we are at our weakest imo. TE next year so far has Devaughn Thornton (can't block) Kyle Slavin (who knows, isn't playing in favor of former OL Bahr and current OL Lewis), and Sean Irwin. We need at least 1 more solid player here.

DE is also woefully thin after this year. Parker has hardly looked good enough for me to anoint him the next rush linebacker/DE. CUD would probably be a better fit at that spot. The other DE spot (speaking in terms of 4-3) is literally unknown. Sounds like Kasa is headed towards the other side of the ball, so we're literally without players here. DT is even pretty thin next year, Solis and maybe Hengington will probably have to play. We need 4 more DL and 1 more TE at least. LB could use another commit or two, but I definitely don't see it as being as big of a need as DL or TE.
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I look at all positions relatively, you can argue that outside of kickers there isn't a position on the team that we don't need a major upgrade in talent and couldn't use more guys, DE and TE included.

At DE I like Uzo-Diribe when he is healthy, I also like Parker. Poston is another option at the position as well. After those guys numbers are lacking with a group of Walk-ons making up most of what we have. I'm not happy with the DE position but I do think some other places are more critical. We do lack the big, powerful DE types and if we can get one or two it would help. As you mention we may have no choice but to play the freshman at DT where we will be tissue thin at a position that usually requires a rotation of a number of players and is almost impossible to cover up.

TE has some bodies who can play adequetely but certainly not the level we need eventually. Why Slavin isn't playing I don't know. He had a pretty decent spring. Thornton is much better athlete than football player and has I think been a universal disapointment. That said the position needs improving but isn't critical like the OL is. Sean Irwin should give us a good prospect for the future there but I would love to get a guy like McNamara who could be a multi-talented difference maker.

Don't take my post to say that we don't need to upgrade and add depth at DE and TE, only in my opinion we have some other areas that are more critical at the moment, others may see it differently.
 
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Hey man everyone's entitled to their opinion, I just don't agree with you at all. OL play has been pretty weak this year, but at least we aren't going to be relying on walk-ons or something next year. You're rationalizing a lot of what you just said imo, 3 DEs? 2 of which aren't really big enough to play the strongside DE. Poston hasn't shown anything and most think he's a DT, which kind of works I guess since we're sort of running the 3-4.

TE is equally frightening. Thornton apparently has a bad attitude and can't block to the point that we have moved him to "big" WR. Slavin may have looked good in spring, but there's a reason he's not playing right now. Irwin looks solid to me, but could use some added bulk, not sure we can rely on too much from his as a true freshman.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I think we need a massive talent upgrade across the board on this team, but DE and TE are pretty much at the top of the list for me. DB needs some talent upgrades too, but apparently Bell and Harrington were playing better than Henderson was before they went down with injuries, so hopefully they can impress next year. Safety scares me, not sure we have anyone worth playing safety behind Polk and Washington.
 
White_Rabbit said:
Hey man everyone's entitled to their opinion, I just don't agree with you at all. OL play has been pretty weak this year, but at least we aren't going to be relying on walk-ons or something next year. You're rationalizing a lot of what you just said imo, 3 DEs? 2 of which aren't really big enough to play the strongside DE. Poston hasn't shown anything and most think he's a DT, which kind of works I guess since we're sort of running the 3-4.

TE is equally frightening. Thornton apparently has a bad attitude and can't block to the point that we have moved him to "big" WR. Slavin may have looked good in spring, but there's a reason he's not playing right now. Irwin looks solid to me, but could use some added bulk, not sure we can rely on too much from his as a true freshman.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I think we need a massive talent upgrade across the board on this team, but DE and TE are pretty much at the top of the list for me. DB needs some talent upgrades too, but apparently Bell and Harrington were playing better than Henderson was before they went down with injuries, so hopefully they can impress next year. Safety scares me, not sure we have anyone worth playing safety behind Polk and Washington.
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DB is interesting but as you state we have a number of young players who are out this season due to injury who should help. Bring back some corners and you are able to move Terror back to safety behind the two you mention. Also if Orms comes back he gives a good option at nickel/FS.

Not disagreeing with you about our depth at TE. Thornton has been a huge disapointment (or maybe he isn't since we were the only ones who recruited him, usually a reason for that.) Who knows why Slavin hasn't been playing, he does have some credentials and did play well in spring. TE however is not as critical since it is a position you can play around. O-linemen and fullbacks can be used as blockers from the position, in recieving situations you can go 3 wides. That said a good solid TE does open a lot of options.

At DE Poston was thought to be ticketed as a DT and still may end up there but he also could be the big DE. Along with the other two I mentioned we can survive there until more help arrives.

For next year the OL is in decent shape as you state but O-linemen usually take more time to integrate and develop in a system. Longer term we are hurting in the OL and need to bring in some additional quality guys to get into the pipeline now.

As you say we just don't agree on relative priorities. That doesn't mean your response isn't interesting to read and have a lot of validity. When a team is 1-7 and has been getting blown out repeatedly comparing weaknesses provides a lot of ammunition for various arguments.
 
I think we got a pretty solid class of OL last year. Cotner, Kelley, and Asiata should yield us one star and possibly another starter. Mustoe and Nembot are exactly what we need at tackle, now whether or not they're going to develop is another story. I have faith that Marshall can take a couple of big bodies and turn them into solid linemen.

OL this year is decent. I really liked what I saw out of Irwin in that video posted a couple of weeks ago, he looks like the kind of guard we need. I'm really not high on Kough, but he seems to be pretty athletic, so hopefully he develops into something.

Either way, that's why I'm not seeing OL as a massive need this cycle. I certainly hope we can add a couple of highly regarded guys (Cyburt, Davidson, Weinrich, etc), but if we don't it's not really the end of the world.

Last year we only took 2 DL, one of which is now on the OL. That's just not going to cut it. We have to get a lot of players in there on the DL just like we need a lot on the OL. I wonder if Greer doesn't maybe end up at the rush linebacker spot eventually, the kid looks pretty big. I suppose that would lessen the need some, but I still feel like that's the most important position going forward this cycle.

TE I suppose we can play around as you say, but considering what we're trying to do on offense, that really shouldn't be an acceptable option. I can't even begin to imagine what Wisconsin would look like if they just put some blockers out there at TE and went 3 wide to hide their lack of a real TE. We need to get someone that is a threat down the seam and on rollouts.
 
You all are forgetting a potentially huge pick up in talent on the D-Line with Nembot. I am hoping this redshirt year is doing him well and he can come in next year and put that size of his to good use. If he is quick enough for DE, he could be a monster.
 
Shldr2Shldr said:
You all are forgetting a potentially huge pick up in talent on the D-Line with Nembot. I am hoping this redshirt year is doing him well and he can come in next year and put that size of his to good use. If he is quick enough for DE, he could be a monster.
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Wasn't he moved to OL?
 
We need a monster class in every sense, at every position. For every guy we consider moving around to fill a need, it only creates a need elsewhere. Can we sign more than 25 is the question.
 
BuffNut99 said:
We need a monster class in every sense, at every position. For every guy we consider moving around to fill a need, it only creates a need elsewhere. Can we sign more than 25 is the question.
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I am not sure we want to go past 25 by more than a couple players (which could be done with a couple early enrollees). We need some class balance with a junior class that is really small right now. That number will rise with off-season attrition, but I would like to avoid a repeat of 2007/2008 if possible. A big 2007 class followed by a relatively small 2008 class with a really bad attrition rate is one of the reasons we find ourselves struggling so badly.
 
10 scholly OL after graduation. 2 commits. On the other site, there was an article qouting Marshall saying CU wanted one or two more OL this cycle. Don't D 1 teams (insert Coach Care Bear joke here) carry 15-18 schollie OL?
 
leftybuff said:
10 scholly OL after graduation. 2 commits. On the other site, there was an article qouting Marshall saying CU wanted one or two more OL this cycle. Don't D 1 teams (insert Coach Care Bear joke here) carry 15-18 schollie OL?
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Add Alex Kelley. So that's 3 so far. We still need a couple tackles tho
 
leftybuff said:
10 scholly OL after graduation. 2 commits. On the other site, there was an article qouting Marshall saying CU wanted one or two more OL this cycle. Don't D 1 teams (insert Coach Care Bear joke here) carry 15-18 schollie OL?
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The numbers are a little screwy, but we have 11 OL returning next season after Nembot's move to OT, although Alex Lewis is included in that number and I think he might be at TE for a while. Regardless, as Slider mentioned, Alex Kelley will enroll in January and we will probably end up signing 4-5 OL in this class. The numbers on the OL will be fine. Other places, not so much.
 
After watching todays game, our staff got to hit the ground running recruiting players. Allow some players to transfer if they chose to. We need to improve the overall speed of the team. We need guys that have a high football IQ.
 
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We are not fine on OL. This might be the MOST naive thinking I've ever seen. We will only have as previously said 11 scholarship lineman. That means that we barely have enough lineman for a 2 deep next year that is VERY VERY dangerous. Of those 11 probabely 6 or 7 of them can really play at a level that allows us to compete in the PAC 12.

Recruiting wise it doesn't seem like a lot of OL have a legitimate intrest in us this year.

If we could've gotten all 4 of the instate guys (Callahan, Thurston, Kozan, O'Connor) I honestly believe at least 3 if not all 4 of those guys would be starters within 2 years. Unfortunately now we are taking a lot of Project type kids which isn't good for our short term
 
BigCate said:
We are not fine on OL. This might be the MOST naive thinking I've ever seen. We will only have as previously said 11 scholarship lineman. That means that we barely have enough lineman for a 2 deep next year that is VERY VERY dangerous. Of those 11 probabely 6 or 7 of them can really play at a level that allows us to compete in the PAC 12.

Recruiting wise it doesn't seem like a lot of OL have a legitimate intrest in us this year.

If we could've gotten all 4 of the instate guys (Callahan, Thurston, Kozan, O'Connor) I honestly believe at least 3 if not all 4 of those guys would be starters within 2 years. Unfortunately now we are taking a lot of Project type kids which isn't good for our short term
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I've hit the panic button on OL long ago. How exactly are we going to become the smashmouth team that Embree envisions when we literally have a severe shortage of linemen? Hope they've got a few surprises up their sleeve to close out this class
 
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