Recruiting on fire!!!

[Mama_Bull]

1 hour ago, bullsmeanbusiness said:

As expected, after the barrage of commits over the last 4 days USF now moves to 2nd place in the AAC standings for the 2018 class.

http://247sports.com/Season/2018-Football/CompositeTeamRankings?Conference=AAC

They still haven't rated two of our commits. If they do so shortly, we will then be #1 at least for the time being.

Once HS football gets underway, I expect that many of them will start to get more offers from P5 programs which should improve their rating. If that happens, we may lose a few. 

 

[Mama_Bull]

3 hours ago, Publix Substitution said:

I agree with usfbull_08. Most of these guys have very few or no P5 offers. I understand that the coaches can find a few diamonds in the rough, but that seems like most of the class. I feel like we could've held out longer and gotten bigger recruits than some of these guys, especially if we meet expectations this season.

One thing to bear in mind is that the recruiting services are well behind the curve this year in rating players because of the early signing period. They were not prepared for the tremendous uptick in commits at this time. As a result, they are having to catch up on grading  players much earlier than in the past.

Meanwhile, CCS had the benefit of having most of our commits competing at various USF camps and, as such, he is in a much better position to properly evaluate them.

So, there are many more "diamonds in the rough" this year.

For the same reason, most schools are also playing catch up as well.

I am not be too concerned with the limited interest from P5 schools, at this point in the process.

Here is an article about the players who committed yesterday and some of the P5 schools who offered them. I didn't compare it to offers shown by the various recruiting sites. Aside from P5 offers, you should also look at offers from AAC members, since that is who we really are competing against.

https://www.thedailystampede.com/2017/7/30/16066718/keyon-helton-adonis-boone-ethan-watson-jordan-domineck-vincent-davis-jr-eugene-bowman-iv-commit-usf

 

Edited July 31, 2017 by Mama_Bull

[Paisa el Toro]

11 hours ago, smazza said:

one of my rutgers pals  texted me last night about our recruits

he was impressed

Your Rutgers pal is adorable. 

[usfbullrider]

Im also a little weary of some.  I dont mind if recruiting services are late to the game but the video isnt all that eyepopping on most of these guys.  Taggart had a knack for finding players with excellent highlight tapes.  Marlon Mack, DJ, Khalid Mcgee, Nico Sawtelle, Eric Mayes, some of the ones who really stuck out.  I havent really been able to keep up but Im not seeing the excitement as much.  The O line recruiting and size overall is impressive so far.

[The Great 8]

Diamonds in the rough are very obviously a thing. This class is almost "half-rough" though (2-star). I'm not impressed with us feasting on kids with limited other P5 offers that'll still be available to us in a few months.

[zarnozdabull]

Wow, I stand corrected about Coach Strong.

With this kind of recruiting alone we would definitely be good enough to win for a while.

Can we lock him up for some kind of lifetime contract?

#BullStrong

[WWMJD]

13 minutes ago, zarnozdabull said:

Wow, I stand corrected about Coach Strong.

With this kind of recruiting alone we would definitely be good enough to win for a while.

Can we lock him up for some kind of lifetime contract?

#BullStrong

He hasn't even coached a game, let's pump the brakes just a bit.

[JTrue]

11 hours ago, The Great 8 said:

Diamonds in the rough are very obviously a thing. This class is almost "half-rough" though (2-star). I'm not impressed with us feasting on kids with limited other P5 offers that'll still be available to us in a few months.

I was thinking the same thing. Finding a kid that can play who's off the radar is great, but thinking you're going to uncover a half dozen diamonds in one class is a pretty big gamble.

[BullyPulpit]

11 hours ago, The Great 8 said:

Diamonds in the rough are very obviously a thing. This class is almost "half-rough" though (2-star). I'm not impressed with us feasting on kids with limited other P5 offers that'll still be available to us in a few months.

 

14 minutes ago, JTrue said:

I was thinking the same thing. Finding a kid that can play who's off the radar is great, but thinking you're going to uncover a half dozen diamonds in one class is a pretty big gamble.

Let's be clear as to what is actually the reality. 247 has us with three 2 star commits and 2 commits that have not been reviewed. Of the 2 star commits, Jontray Hunter lists offers from Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Grier and Boyles could be reaches or potential diamonds in the rough, but they play at an absolute position of need, linebacker. We have to build LB depth this class, as we had exactly 1 LB commit in the 2017 class and only 2 in the 2016 class, and one of those 2 has been converted to a DT (Stanley). We couldn't risk sitting around and waiting for top level LB talent to fall to us. 

Of the two players that have yet to be rated, Copeland is a linebacker, which is obviously a position of need, and will continue to be in the next recruiting cycle as well. Vincent Davis is a safety that hasn't been rated, but does have 13 total offers with a total of 4 AAC offers, including Memphis. 

While we may have reached on a few of these players, it was likely out of the need for depth. If you are going to have a class of 25 to 30 players, not all of them can be starters. You need depth, backups, and capable bodies, and it seems CCS has done a good job of meeting our areas of need. 

[JTrue]

33 minutes ago, BullyPulpit said:

 

Let's be clear as to what is actually the reality. 247 has us with three 2 star commits and 2 commits that have not been reviewed. Of the 2 star commits, Jontray Hunter lists offers from Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Grier and Boyles could be reaches or potential diamonds in the rough, but they play at an absolute position of need, linebacker. We have to build LB depth this class, as we had exactly 1 LB commit in the 2017 class and only 2 in the 2016 class, and one of those 2 has been converted to a DT (Stanley). We couldn't risk sitting around and waiting for top level LB talent to fall to us. 

Of the two players that have yet to be rated, Copeland is a linebacker, which is obviously a position of need, and will continue to be in the next recruiting cycle as well. Vincent Davis is a safety that hasn't been rated, but does have 13 total offers with a total of 4 AAC offers, including Memphis. 

While we may have reached on a few of these players, it was likely out of the need for depth. If you are going to have a class of 25 to 30 players, not all of them can be starters. You need depth, backups, and capable bodies, and it seems CCS has done a good job of meeting our areas of need. 

I should have done a better job separating those two thoughts/sentences in my post. 

1) I love what we're doing so far, but feasting on 3 stars and filling up our class doesn't leave many (any?) openings for bigger targets down the road. If we have the season we're all hoping for, I'd like to think that brings us some better recruits as the season progresses.

2) I don't think its a great recruiting strategy to believe you're going to find a half dozen kids who can play at a high level that no one else knows about. The recruiting services are better at scouting guys than people like to give them credit for and in today's day and age of information, its REALLY hard to fly under the radar if you can play.