I've been thinking for several weeks about what is so frustrating for me when I look at this class. There are a few obvious things like players going elsewhere, ranks, in-state talent leaving, etc....
But I think I've got it narrowed down to the one thing that is really unique that we saw last year that I loved.
Last year, we signed 2 JC players, who played a combined 30 snaps I'd imagine all season long. I read that Olomua (sp) is RS'ing and we'll see him soon, but I LOVED that we weren't trying to plug holes with a two year player in a "must have" situation.
Imagine if we had a JC corner in last year's class, we may not have even seen Shelley, who quickly showed he was the best CB on our roster.
I was incredibly happy last year to see the way the class was put together, and that we were building with 4-5+ year players.
When we fill roster spots with Freshman, RS Freshmen, or Soph, IMHO it makes the team much much better than trying to fill with a JC transfer and hoping to get 1 solid and 1 meh year out of them.
Lets take a look at some of the roster spots filled with each type lately, while completely ignoring those spots which were or may be filled by someone like Tanner Wood, who has contributed on his way to becoming a starter, because we can probably all agree those players are ideal.
Latest JC players meant to fill a need:
Clink
A. Davis
D. Derricott
Allen
Laird
T. Johnson (started some this season due to injury and will likely start next season)
Hayes (solid RG, but a LT was needed)
Mack
McDaniel
Riddle
Green
D. Johnson (started on and off for one season)
Nash
Waters
N. Jackson
Clement
Clark
Akinola
Finau
Gainous
Hollingshed
Reed
Rooks
Latest Freshman/RS Freshmen starters:
Risner
Willis
Prewett
Newlan
Adams
Heath
Dimel
Valentine
McCrane
Britz
Starks
Small
I don't think we need to go back much farther than that to see that we just haven't had nearly as much luck with the JC guys in general, so why do we keep recruiting them? What we saw last year was encouraging, as we loaded up on HS players and were able to RS a majority of them, many of whom we expect to see in an important role this year, and those are the players most here are excited about.
I think that until we can pinpoint where we went wrong with JC players and how they went from being guys who could impact the game in their first year, to guys who never even see the field more often than not, we need to return to what we were doing last year and stop trying to plug holes.
Last year was so promising, now this year it's back to the potential for failure we'd seen for several years prior.
But I think I've got it narrowed down to the one thing that is really unique that we saw last year that I loved.
Last year, we signed 2 JC players, who played a combined 30 snaps I'd imagine all season long. I read that Olomua (sp) is RS'ing and we'll see him soon, but I LOVED that we weren't trying to plug holes with a two year player in a "must have" situation.
Imagine if we had a JC corner in last year's class, we may not have even seen Shelley, who quickly showed he was the best CB on our roster.
I was incredibly happy last year to see the way the class was put together, and that we were building with 4-5+ year players.
When we fill roster spots with Freshman, RS Freshmen, or Soph, IMHO it makes the team much much better than trying to fill with a JC transfer and hoping to get 1 solid and 1 meh year out of them.
Lets take a look at some of the roster spots filled with each type lately, while completely ignoring those spots which were or may be filled by someone like Tanner Wood, who has contributed on his way to becoming a starter, because we can probably all agree those players are ideal.
Latest JC players meant to fill a need:
Clink
A. Davis
D. Derricott
Allen
Laird
T. Johnson (started some this season due to injury and will likely start next season)
Hayes (solid RG, but a LT was needed)
Mack
McDaniel
Riddle
Green
D. Johnson (started on and off for one season)
Nash
Waters
N. Jackson
Clement
Clark
Akinola
Finau
Gainous
Hollingshed
Reed
Rooks
Latest Freshman/RS Freshmen starters:
Risner
Willis
Prewett
Newlan
Adams
Heath
Dimel
Valentine
McCrane
Britz
Starks
Small
I don't think we need to go back much farther than that to see that we just haven't had nearly as much luck with the JC guys in general, so why do we keep recruiting them? What we saw last year was encouraging, as we loaded up on HS players and were able to RS a majority of them, many of whom we expect to see in an important role this year, and those are the players most here are excited about.
I think that until we can pinpoint where we went wrong with JC players and how they went from being guys who could impact the game in their first year, to guys who never even see the field more often than not, we need to return to what we were doing last year and stop trying to plug holes.
Last year was so promising, now this year it's back to the potential for failure we'd seen for several years prior.
