I was curious about how our recruiting classes pan out. GP always says it isn't the guys what you don't get, its the ones that you get and don't pan out.
Let's look at the 2014 class quick since they have a full body of work. Here are the top 9 rated recruits from that year:
Nixon
Sawyer
Porter
Barrett
Iloka
Kee
Muehlstein
McBride
Mosley
Here are the bottom 9, starting with the lowest ranked:
Kolhausen
Petties-Wilson
Summers
Elliot
O’Meally
Issahaku
White
Vai
Schlottmann
Which group fared better? We missed on those top recruits that I am sure we spent quite a bit of time recruiting.
Now let's look at the 2015 class who are seniors this year. Here are the top 8:
Raymond
Stewart
Austin
Semaj Thomas
Awolope
Mitchell
Tony James
Flowers
Here are the bottom 9, starting with the lowest ranked:
Julius Lewis
Gladney
Evans
Wilson
Freeze
Iwuagwu
Small
Galeai
Turpin
Same question, who fared better? Hell, our two lowest rated recruits that year turn out to be our lock down corners. And an invaluable starting OG, the QB of the defense in Small, and a guy named Turpin.
And then our 2016 class was headlined by Sewo, then Chambers and Bowen who havent contributed yet.
My point being that this coaching staff has shown a knack for finding diamonds in the rough, but haven't really hit on the top rated players yet. Until we get high level production from our top recruits, as well as find some diamonds in the rough (because we aren't UT where we can miss bowls and still get top 10 classes), we will struggle with depth and competing year in and year out.
Let's look at the 2014 class quick since they have a full body of work. Here are the top 9 rated recruits from that year:
Nixon
Sawyer
Porter
Barrett
Iloka
Kee
Muehlstein
McBride
Mosley
Here are the bottom 9, starting with the lowest ranked:
Kolhausen
Petties-Wilson
Summers
Elliot
O’Meally
Issahaku
White
Vai
Schlottmann
Which group fared better? We missed on those top recruits that I am sure we spent quite a bit of time recruiting.
Now let's look at the 2015 class who are seniors this year. Here are the top 8:
Raymond
Stewart
Austin
Semaj Thomas
Awolope
Mitchell
Tony James
Flowers
Here are the bottom 9, starting with the lowest ranked:
Julius Lewis
Gladney
Evans
Wilson
Freeze
Iwuagwu
Small
Galeai
Turpin
Same question, who fared better? Hell, our two lowest rated recruits that year turn out to be our lock down corners. And an invaluable starting OG, the QB of the defense in Small, and a guy named Turpin.
And then our 2016 class was headlined by Sewo, then Chambers and Bowen who havent contributed yet.
My point being that this coaching staff has shown a knack for finding diamonds in the rough, but haven't really hit on the top rated players yet. Until we get high level production from our top recruits, as well as find some diamonds in the rough (because we aren't UT where we can miss bowls and still get top 10 classes), we will struggle with depth and competing year in and year out.