We struck early.
By that I mean last year the first week of August we had a big run that I know included Samuel and Khane Pass and I am reasonably certain that were a couple more (maybe that was GG Robinson's first brush with commitment). We landed big game a full two weeks earlier. What that means is anyone's guess, but I suspect seeing that the kids have been so overwhelmingly Georgian in nature speaks to the circuit power that Grantham enjoys in the Peach State. It's significant as Georgians as I see it for an important reason...we seem to be beating Ga Tech for talent in their state, not Georgia and Clemson per se and certainly not Florida State in the Panhandle. That's not a complaint, simply an important observation because in strengthening our roster it has to come at the expense of a conference peer to truly gain traction and compete with Clemson and Florida State. Georgia Tech is a necessary hurdle because they have quietly become a perennial Title Game threat in the ACC's other division. Our last two NFL Draft Classes were saturated with an important example of this...how many of the kids that were drafted were once-upon-a-time earmarked for the U? Bridgewater, Eli Rogers, Dubose, Charles Gaines...Holliman seemed to be ignored by them all along. Burgess was a one time Miami commit. They mis-evaluated obviously on John Miller. Out of one core group from South Florida, we were strengthened and by contrast Miami was weakened and we still have Keith Brown, Lamar Atkins and Brandon Radcliff from that haul. Brown skipped on them trying to leverage his step brother Atkins and Radcliff came to us as a result of the Ace Wales debacle.
We are trending nicely, but it's still going to take some time. I like the fact that we seem to have strengthened ourselves with a high profile WR out of Michigan who has hit seemingly the entire Midwestern camp circuit and seem realistically in play for a very good LB who is his HS teammate. I really like the continuous accounts of kids who cross paths with LD Scott...as Petrino's son-in-law and a UofL grad out of Auburn, AL we might be sitting on a guy who butts up against the heavies in the cutthroat world of Deep South football recruiting.
What is most encouraging to me though isn't the commitments so much as it's the direction. The day Petrino was re-hired I posted that I thought Jurich had lost his mind, because I didn't think there was any way that Petrino would have a modicum of credibility in a recruit's living room and that the foundation laid by the sheer depth of Coach Strong's first two recruiting classes was going to chip away like some Athenian ruin. What we have seen is that the sort of roster depletion we saw under Kragthorpe (and early entrants to the Draft in the last two years, I think the number is six) is that the transfers really have been and have the potential to be big time. Beyond that, I think if we're expressing relief over any one concern about Petrino it's that the last two recruiting classes also have had something in abundance and that's quality depth of defensive talent. It was an underrated strength in his first stint because it was under him that Okoye, William Gay and Peanut Whitehead, et al were recruited. It's why some of the guys that posted here ten years ago don't necessarily dismiss a Mack Wilson out of hand though I maintain that he would remain an exceptional longshot because I think Gus Malzahn is right; it's one thing for a school from up north to get a kid that Alabama and/or Auburn is recruiting like Jawon Pass (or Michael Boyer perhaps). It's a whole other matter to get a kid from Alabama that Alabama and Auburn have their full sights set on. We did it pre-Saban in Peanut's case with Joe Whitt, Jr. on staff.
The staff picked a good fight with Jawon Pass, it was a winnable one with his brother in the fold and gave us some great credibility in a way not dissimilar to getting Teddy out of Dade County in a move that was right out of the Pied Piper. We need to beat Clemson and Florida State for some people to catch them. We may do that with a talent gap at QB with FSU given that is a position that seems to be trending less NFL as Penal Colony.
By that I mean last year the first week of August we had a big run that I know included Samuel and Khane Pass and I am reasonably certain that were a couple more (maybe that was GG Robinson's first brush with commitment). We landed big game a full two weeks earlier. What that means is anyone's guess, but I suspect seeing that the kids have been so overwhelmingly Georgian in nature speaks to the circuit power that Grantham enjoys in the Peach State. It's significant as Georgians as I see it for an important reason...we seem to be beating Ga Tech for talent in their state, not Georgia and Clemson per se and certainly not Florida State in the Panhandle. That's not a complaint, simply an important observation because in strengthening our roster it has to come at the expense of a conference peer to truly gain traction and compete with Clemson and Florida State. Georgia Tech is a necessary hurdle because they have quietly become a perennial Title Game threat in the ACC's other division. Our last two NFL Draft Classes were saturated with an important example of this...how many of the kids that were drafted were once-upon-a-time earmarked for the U? Bridgewater, Eli Rogers, Dubose, Charles Gaines...Holliman seemed to be ignored by them all along. Burgess was a one time Miami commit. They mis-evaluated obviously on John Miller. Out of one core group from South Florida, we were strengthened and by contrast Miami was weakened and we still have Keith Brown, Lamar Atkins and Brandon Radcliff from that haul. Brown skipped on them trying to leverage his step brother Atkins and Radcliff came to us as a result of the Ace Wales debacle.
We are trending nicely, but it's still going to take some time. I like the fact that we seem to have strengthened ourselves with a high profile WR out of Michigan who has hit seemingly the entire Midwestern camp circuit and seem realistically in play for a very good LB who is his HS teammate. I really like the continuous accounts of kids who cross paths with LD Scott...as Petrino's son-in-law and a UofL grad out of Auburn, AL we might be sitting on a guy who butts up against the heavies in the cutthroat world of Deep South football recruiting.
What is most encouraging to me though isn't the commitments so much as it's the direction. The day Petrino was re-hired I posted that I thought Jurich had lost his mind, because I didn't think there was any way that Petrino would have a modicum of credibility in a recruit's living room and that the foundation laid by the sheer depth of Coach Strong's first two recruiting classes was going to chip away like some Athenian ruin. What we have seen is that the sort of roster depletion we saw under Kragthorpe (and early entrants to the Draft in the last two years, I think the number is six) is that the transfers really have been and have the potential to be big time. Beyond that, I think if we're expressing relief over any one concern about Petrino it's that the last two recruiting classes also have had something in abundance and that's quality depth of defensive talent. It was an underrated strength in his first stint because it was under him that Okoye, William Gay and Peanut Whitehead, et al were recruited. It's why some of the guys that posted here ten years ago don't necessarily dismiss a Mack Wilson out of hand though I maintain that he would remain an exceptional longshot because I think Gus Malzahn is right; it's one thing for a school from up north to get a kid that Alabama and/or Auburn is recruiting like Jawon Pass (or Michael Boyer perhaps). It's a whole other matter to get a kid from Alabama that Alabama and Auburn have their full sights set on. We did it pre-Saban in Peanut's case with Joe Whitt, Jr. on staff.
The staff picked a good fight with Jawon Pass, it was a winnable one with his brother in the fold and gave us some great credibility in a way not dissimilar to getting Teddy out of Dade County in a move that was right out of the Pied Piper. We need to beat Clemson and Florida State for some people to catch them. We may do that with a talent gap at QB with FSU given that is a position that seems to be trending less NFL as Penal Colony.
