Against Texas Tech, we started just one former juco recruit (Hayes) and only two others (T.Johnson, Kirby) played in the game at all. I'm talking about scholarship recruits, not walk-ons.
Throughout this season the contributions from juco recruits have been minimal, and lately virtually nonexistent. Two bad juco classes in 2013 and 2014, followed by a tiny class (3/4 of whom are redshirting) in 2015 have transformed the make-up of the two-deep. Voids in the roster created by recruiting misses in high school classes that have traditionally been filled with juco recruits under Snyder have gone unfilled...we've been forced to resort to a combination of talented but raw youngsters (Heath, Shelley, Prewett, Newlan, Adams) and athletically-limited but more experienced upperclassmen (Hubener, Cook, Klein, Kleinsorge), and the results have been unsatisfying to say the least. The seemingly unprecedented number of injuries have exacerbated the problem.
Here's a compilation of all the on-field contributions provided by scholarship juco recruits so far this year...
WR Andre Davis: 1 start; 5 games played; 9 catches for 103 yds; 2 punt returns for 0 yds; missed last two games
OL AJ Allen: 0 games played
OL Aaron Bennett: 0 starts; 1 game played
OL Luke Hayes: 9 starts at RG
OL Terrell Johnson: 5 starts at LG in place of injured Stiverson; 9 games played
LB/ST Jayd Kirby: 7 games played on special teams; 6 tackles; 1 fumble recovery
CB Nate Jackson: 6 starts; 23 tackles; 2 break-ups; has not played the past 3 games
CB Danzel McDaniel: 4 starts; 18 tackles; 1 break-up; 1 fumble recovery; out since game 5
CB Jesse Mack: 0 starts; 4 games played; 5 tackles; 1 break-up
That's it. 14 starts on the OL, 103 yards of offense, 52 tackles on defense and special teams, 4 pass break-ups, and 2 fumble recoveries. And the three players accumulating almost all of those stats have all been out for at least the past 2 games.
IMO our recent high school recruiting efforts have been on par with or better than our high school recruiting of the past. I believe that our disappointing 2015 season has largely been the result of two poor juco recruiting classes in 2013 and 2014 followed by the decision to move away from recruiting them in 2015 and signing just a few off the scrap heap, combined with devastating injuries concentrated in a few key positions. We may have been able to weather one or the other by itself, but the juco dry spell and the multitude of injuries together have been too much to overcome.
I think we need to find a way to get back into the juco market and return to the idea of adding talented upperclassmen to the roster each year. Cultivating relationships with juco coaching staffs, aggressively pursuing high school non-qualifiers and placing them with preferred jucos, maybe hiring someone with great juco connections to a coaching or non-coaching position...I don't know. But I do think that we need to have that stream of talent to get back to the level of success that we want to be at. 2011 is not so long ago...that was our last really good juco class, and it was no coincidence that we enjoyed a peak of success in the 2012 season.
Throughout this season the contributions from juco recruits have been minimal, and lately virtually nonexistent. Two bad juco classes in 2013 and 2014, followed by a tiny class (3/4 of whom are redshirting) in 2015 have transformed the make-up of the two-deep. Voids in the roster created by recruiting misses in high school classes that have traditionally been filled with juco recruits under Snyder have gone unfilled...we've been forced to resort to a combination of talented but raw youngsters (Heath, Shelley, Prewett, Newlan, Adams) and athletically-limited but more experienced upperclassmen (Hubener, Cook, Klein, Kleinsorge), and the results have been unsatisfying to say the least. The seemingly unprecedented number of injuries have exacerbated the problem.
Here's a compilation of all the on-field contributions provided by scholarship juco recruits so far this year...
WR Andre Davis: 1 start; 5 games played; 9 catches for 103 yds; 2 punt returns for 0 yds; missed last two games
OL AJ Allen: 0 games played
OL Aaron Bennett: 0 starts; 1 game played
OL Luke Hayes: 9 starts at RG
OL Terrell Johnson: 5 starts at LG in place of injured Stiverson; 9 games played
LB/ST Jayd Kirby: 7 games played on special teams; 6 tackles; 1 fumble recovery
CB Nate Jackson: 6 starts; 23 tackles; 2 break-ups; has not played the past 3 games
CB Danzel McDaniel: 4 starts; 18 tackles; 1 break-up; 1 fumble recovery; out since game 5
CB Jesse Mack: 0 starts; 4 games played; 5 tackles; 1 break-up
That's it. 14 starts on the OL, 103 yards of offense, 52 tackles on defense and special teams, 4 pass break-ups, and 2 fumble recoveries. And the three players accumulating almost all of those stats have all been out for at least the past 2 games.
IMO our recent high school recruiting efforts have been on par with or better than our high school recruiting of the past. I believe that our disappointing 2015 season has largely been the result of two poor juco recruiting classes in 2013 and 2014 followed by the decision to move away from recruiting them in 2015 and signing just a few off the scrap heap, combined with devastating injuries concentrated in a few key positions. We may have been able to weather one or the other by itself, but the juco dry spell and the multitude of injuries together have been too much to overcome.
I think we need to find a way to get back into the juco market and return to the idea of adding talented upperclassmen to the roster each year. Cultivating relationships with juco coaching staffs, aggressively pursuing high school non-qualifiers and placing them with preferred jucos, maybe hiring someone with great juco connections to a coaching or non-coaching position...I don't know. But I do think that we need to have that stream of talent to get back to the level of success that we want to be at. 2011 is not so long ago...that was our last really good juco class, and it was no coincidence that we enjoyed a peak of success in the 2012 season.
