Recruiting Report Card?

[Rednilla 5,439]

Gentlemen, I'll be disagreeing with many of you I'm afraid on wideouts.  I don't see us taking less than 3.  And I definitely don't see the need for 7 d-linemen after 6 last year. 

Well, if you consider Frost a WR, then yes we'll probably be taking 3,  . But otherwise, probably just 2. Doubt that Frost would get more than a cup of coffee at WR anyway. We are stacked at WR and only have one WR graduating.

You do realize you have us listed with 4 likely DT commits and only have 3 as probable commits? We have 2, and are likely to take one JUCO along with a Wright/McReynolds type.

We will be losing Blanc, Clayton, Carter, Goggans after this year, and we only have Fairley, Lykes, Travis along with 2 true freshman at DT for 2011. We have  Equae, Dee Ford returning at DE with the 4 true freshman we signed last year, assuming they all get in, which I think Delaine was a grades risk, though not certain on that. So that's 5 DT and 6 DE optimistically, with Travis and Lykes not really having done anything or impressed so far. We need DTs badly, I don't see any way we take less than 4 unless we just whiff on everyone. And there is no way we take less than 2 DE, we will at least replace the two we lose this year, and we aren't that much better off at DE than DT, so we could very well take 3. Realistically teams shoot for 3 deep at every position, and 4 DT and 3 DE would put us at a solid 3 deep on the DL, and that's with no attrition or grade problems.

I also don't see any way we take only 2 LB, we are only going to have 7 scholarship LB coming back in 2011, we'll need at least 3 to get our numbers back up.

We have 10 WR that would be returning in 2011, and that's not including Lutz who's basically a receiver in this offense. WR is just not an area of need in the slightest. Two WR commits would put us at 12 WR, which is way more than we need for an offense that doesn't really have more than 3 pure WR on the field at any given time.  WR is the one position we could realistically not get a single recruit and be more than fine for the next couple years.

Actually, there will be three true freshman defensive ends. One of the signees was Joel Bonomolo, who comes from Junior College.

Also, 24 of the 27 players we signed in February are already on campus and enrolled in classes. Shon Coleman (cancer), Jeremy Richardson (grades), and Bonomolo (awaiting NCAA clearance) are the only ones who are not.

I do see a possibility for signing three receivers, but that's because I wouldn't be too surprised if they resigned Richardson and then signed on big receiver and one quick/fast receiver (say, Morrow and Sumler). Of the four signed last year, two are big and two are speedsters, it's just that one of the big guys didn't qualify.

You're right about the 3 deep, but as you pointed out, we will still have six defensive ends on the roster after this year, so I don't know why you are so adamant about the need for three ends. That's not to say we won't take three, because we might, but two would do us just fine.

Defensive tackle is certainly a need area, but you seem to be underestimating true freshmen far too much. Craig Sanders, for example, has done a great deal already to get coaches and players alike talking about him since he enrolled early and went through spring training. And go ahead and mark this down: Jeffrey Whitaker is a beast. He might make the biggest impact of any freshman in this class...and yes, I know how big a statement that is.

And for the record, as much as I think Frost would be better suited to linebacker, don't be too surprised if he does get a real shot at playing receiver, and don't be too surprised if he makes the most of that shot. Trooper Taylor LOVES this kid.

[aupops2 9]

Red, as usual, great thought and insight!!  OK, here we are , SEVEN MONTHS OUT, ( from signing day A4E), we have 8 outstanding commits, plus 2 even more outstanding carry-overs, totalling 10 so far, leaving 15. After a couple of "adult beverages", I'm gonna jump out there and give you my "hopes" for the other 15.  Group I (got to have):  Florence, Rose, Jones, G. Robinson, Drew, Frost, Blakeley):  Group II ( Coe, Hart, Lewter, Morrow, Dickson),  Group III (Lyons, Sumler, Waisome).  I know I'm leaving myself open for a lot of critisism, but I'm all OK with that!!!  WDE and bring it!!!

[auyushu 0]

Actually, there will be three true freshman defensive ends. One of the signees was Joel Bonomolo, who comes from Junior College.

And for the record, as much as I think Frost would be better suited to linebacker, don't be too surprised if he does get a real shot at playing receiver, and don't be too surprised if he makes the most of that shot. Trooper Taylor LOVES this kid.

I think you were misunderstanding what I was getting at Red, I was going more from a pure numbers/three deep standpoint, I consider the true freshman and Bonomolo we got at DT, DE, and LB last year to be top notch, and I am expecting big things soon. But you have to have depth, or else you wind up like we did at LB last year. And I just don't see Lykes and particularly Travis as impact players. And you were mentioning Sanders at DT, did I miss something and he gain a bunch of weight and move to DT?

And I was predicting between 6-7 DL this year in an earlier thread, I'm not particularly adamant that we get 3 DE, I was fairly adamant that we would replace the 2 we are losing this year though I guess. I can easily see us going 4 DTs and 2 DEs, but could see 4 DT and 3 DE as well. I really don't see us not replacing the players we lose at DE though.

I'm not concerned about talent on the DE though, it's there, though it will be very young. The only positions that really worry me atm are DT and OT, and we seem to have DT covered pretty well this year. Hopefully we do the same on OT so we are in decent shape come 2012.

And thanks for the update on the players who got in, good to know most everyone is in.

And fair enough on Frost, but he just seems like one of those players who will get a week or two at WR then move to defense kinda like Washington last year who was totally gonna play RB  .

[Rednilla 5,439]

Actually, there will be three true freshman defensive ends. One of the signees was Joel Bonomolo, who comes from Junior College.

And for the record, as much as I think Frost would be better suited to linebacker, don't be too surprised if he does get a real shot at playing receiver, and don't be too surprised if he makes the most of that shot. Trooper Taylor LOVES this kid.

I think you were misunderstanding what I was getting at Red, I was going more from a pure numbers/three deep standpoint, I consider the true freshman and Bonomolo we got at DT, DE, and LB last year to be top notch, and I am expecting big things soon. But you have to have depth, or else you wind up like we did at LB last year. And I just don't see Lykes and particularly Travis as impact players. And you were mentioning Sanders at DT, did I miss something and he gain a bunch of weight and move to DT?

And I was predicting between 6-7 DL this year in an earlier thread, I'm not particularly adamant that we get 3 DE, I was fairly adamant that we would replace the 2 we are losing this year though I guess. I can easily see us going 4 DTs and 2 DEs, but could see 4 DT and 3 DE as well. I really don't see us not replacing the players we lose at DE though.

I'm not concerned about talent on the DE though, it's there, though it will be very young. The only positions that really worry me atm are DT and OT, and we seem to have DT covered pretty well this year. Hopefully we do the same on OT so we are in decent shape come 2012.

And thanks for the update on the players who got in, good to know most everyone is in.

And fair enough on Frost, but he just seems like one of those players who will get a week or two at WR then move to defense kinda like Washington last year who was totally gonna play RB  .

No no, sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like Sanders would play DT, I was just giving an example of a true freshman coming in and turning heads. I agree that DT is by far the bigger need, but I do think Travis could be a good role player, providing some depth if nothing else.

I'm not as concerned with OT because both Ed Christian and Chad Slade can play there and Gayden and Moseley will likely be the starters in 2011, but I agree that we need to get at least one, preferably two, top notch tackles. I'm still more concerned with getting someone else to play guard, because as much as I love Mack and O'Reilly, past them we don't have much coming back after next season.

Linebacker is also less of a concern for me, because while we need at least one more in this class, Swain will likely play LB along with Landrum, and with four true freshmen, a sophomore, and a junior already in place, I don't think we'll be hurting the way we were last year regardless.

But yeah, I do think the class is taking excellent shape thus far, and I expect to get exactly what we need to win whether that means we're ranked 1st, 4th, or 15th by the "recruiting gurus". And I expect to start winning sooner rather than later, too. War Damn Eagle bro!

[auyushu 0]

I'm not as concerned with OT because both Ed Christian and Chad Slade can play there and Gayden and Moseley will likely be the starters in 2011, but I agree that we need to get at least one, preferably two, top notch tackles. I'm still more concerned with getting someone else to play guard, because as much as I love Mack and O'Reilly, past them we don't have much coming back after next season.

But yeah, I do think the class is taking excellent shape thus far, and I expect to get exactly what we need to win whether that means we're ranked 1st, 4th, or 15th by the "recruiting gurus". And I expect to start winning sooner rather than later, too. War Damn Eagle bro!

Yeah, I'm not worried about 2011 at all with Gayden and Moseley as starters, but after that it gets iffy without new recruits. I guess I had figured Christian (though I know he was listed as both OT and OG as a recruit) and Slade were more OG, and I was under the impression Slade was more of a coach em up player rather than an immediate impact player. But yeah, OG isn't much better off I guess. We just need OL depth all around really.

As far as LB goes, we shouldn't be anywhere close to as bad off as we were last year, but the situation we were in last year made our defense terrible, and we were actually fairly lucky last year with injuries on defense considering our lack of depth. I think we need a good 9-10 deep at LB at a minimum to be in good shape long term, which Swain, Landrum, and Frost or whoever else would give us.

And I agree with your last statement all around, expecting good things this year and recruiting ranking mean diddly compared to actually filling our needs and getting the right players. WDE

[Mikey 16,781]

"...and we were actually fairly lucky last year with injuries on defense considering our lack of depth...."

I look at it like the unprecedented number of injuries caused the lack of depth.

LB: Herring, Gaston, Pybus all eventually lost for the season.

DB: McNeil, Savage, Etheridge all lost for the season.

DL: Coleman wearing a cast for most of the year. Carter with a bad knee until mid-season. Clayton virtually useless all year due to various injuries.

No team in America could lose that many players that were expected to contribute and not have depth problems. Hopefully we'll never see a rash of injuries like that at Auburn again.