With one commit in the bag and visits kicking up again after the team come back from spring break, why not take a quick look at the recruiting board as it stands today? I suspect it will just about double in size once coaches get on the road for spring evaluations.
The class of 2016 should be pretty significant, both in numbers and in importance to the program. By my count, there should be at least 18 scholarships available (King, CJones, McEvilly, Robbins, Chapman, Dickerson, Henry, Vitale, Frazier, VanHoose, Gibson, Szott, Smith, Shuler, Lowry, Youngblood-Ary, Oliver, Mogus). Mertz's may also be available, but he might get a sixth year due to his persistent injury issues and assuming he wants to come back. There could also be two or three "four year players" amongst the rising redshirt juniors.
QB and OL seem to be the biggest needs. I put secondary emphasis on the WRs because I think the last two classes have some guys with a chance to make an early impact. Same thing with LBs. We also seem to have doubled-down on the state of Texas, which I like.
With that, on to the board. I'm not going to mention every single guy with an offer or who might be close to one, but instead focus on the handful of guys at each position with whom I think we have the best chance. Tape is linked on the platers' names where readily available:
QB: Joshua Jackson, but that doesn't seem to be in the current plans.
RB: Seems like we are all-in on Matt Falcon has serious interest in NU.
WR: Quite frankly, I don't think anyone has really separated themselves amongst our reported WR offers, though AJ Taylor could probably play here as well.
SB: Pretty similar to WR right now, which is OK with Dickerson and Taylor in the fold for a couple years. The staff seems willing to wait for the right guy to come along.
OL: Though I'm not sure we are in truly great position with anyone on our OL board, at least there are a whole lot of them -- 18 of our 59 offers per Rivals. I guess you have to identify the guys who have either visited or are scheduled to visit this spring: Jesse Meyler, a tackle from Virginia who might blow up this spring; and Will Fries, a highly-recruited NJ tackle who seems a pretty clear Penn State lean. We may see a couple more guys emerge from this large group of offers and that's definitely a good thing -- we need some help at this position area and we need it pretty quickly.
DL: Not a ton of offers out there right now. I suspect the coaches have a list of guys they want to see in person come spring.
LB: Xander Gagnon shows pretty solid potential on tape and has already taken a visit. Rest of the guys on the board seem like longshots.
DB: While it hurts that Roderick Campbell has some great tape, but it will probably be hard to turn down Notre Dame (unless they run out of DB spots). Let's see who emerges, but we probably need safeties more than CBs.
While the picture is about as clear as mud, that's where we stand today. Great to have a QB commit in the fold, but we are going to have to fight for him right to the wire and there is PLENTY of work to do at other positions.
The class of 2016 should be pretty significant, both in numbers and in importance to the program. By my count, there should be at least 18 scholarships available (King, CJones, McEvilly, Robbins, Chapman, Dickerson, Henry, Vitale, Frazier, VanHoose, Gibson, Szott, Smith, Shuler, Lowry, Youngblood-Ary, Oliver, Mogus). Mertz's may also be available, but he might get a sixth year due to his persistent injury issues and assuming he wants to come back. There could also be two or three "four year players" amongst the rising redshirt juniors.
QB and OL seem to be the biggest needs. I put secondary emphasis on the WRs because I think the last two classes have some guys with a chance to make an early impact. Same thing with LBs. We also seem to have doubled-down on the state of Texas, which I like.
With that, on to the board. I'm not going to mention every single guy with an offer or who might be close to one, but instead focus on the handful of guys at each position with whom I think we have the best chance. Tape is linked on the platers' names where readily available:
QB: Joshua Jackson, but that doesn't seem to be in the current plans.
RB: Seems like we are all-in on Matt Falcon has serious interest in NU.
WR: Quite frankly, I don't think anyone has really separated themselves amongst our reported WR offers, though AJ Taylor could probably play here as well.
SB: Pretty similar to WR right now, which is OK with Dickerson and Taylor in the fold for a couple years. The staff seems willing to wait for the right guy to come along.
OL: Though I'm not sure we are in truly great position with anyone on our OL board, at least there are a whole lot of them -- 18 of our 59 offers per Rivals. I guess you have to identify the guys who have either visited or are scheduled to visit this spring: Jesse Meyler, a tackle from Virginia who might blow up this spring; and Will Fries, a highly-recruited NJ tackle who seems a pretty clear Penn State lean. We may see a couple more guys emerge from this large group of offers and that's definitely a good thing -- we need some help at this position area and we need it pretty quickly.
DL: Not a ton of offers out there right now. I suspect the coaches have a list of guys they want to see in person come spring.
LB: Xander Gagnon shows pretty solid potential on tape and has already taken a visit. Rest of the guys on the board seem like longshots.
DB: While it hurts that Roderick Campbell has some great tape, but it will probably be hard to turn down Notre Dame (unless they run out of DB spots). Let's see who emerges, but we probably need safeties more than CBs.
While the picture is about as clear as mud, that's where we stand today. Great to have a QB commit in the fold, but we are going to have to fight for him right to the wire and there is PLENTY of work to do at other positions.
