As the newest member of The Rock, was hoping you all could fill me in on anything I've missed leading up to this big month of recruiting. As I understand it:
QB: We've got Conner Harrell coming in for an official, and right now he's the top priority and our best hope. Coral said Brandon Rose has effectively dropped off the grid so there's no sense of where he's at (though given his offer list we should be a top choice). Otherwise we will have to hope for a late-riser (Jayden Denegal?), which, while not ideal, seems OK given we have Hilinski for a few years.
RB: Saw this recruiting described as confusing/puzzling, which is surprising given Ayeni's prowess + JJ in The League + the opportunities offered to young Cam Porter last year. I thought we'd maybe secure a commitment from Gi'Bran Payne by now, given some earlier reports. Instead, we only have one official visit scheduled from a RB? Meanwhile, Himon seems super intriguing.
WR: Feels like the same old story, except for the MAJOR caveat that NU secured a commitment from Reggie Fleurima. Otherwise it sounds like we have no serious prospects lined up. The "athletes" we are recruiting seem to be looked at as DBs. That's fine, can't have enough of them... but I can't help but wonder what it'll take to boost our WR recruiting, aside from a fortunate recruit or two who is #Homegrown.
OL: THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. A bunch of official visits and at least to my novice eye it seems like NU can reasonably expect to be in contention for any/all of these guys? With Deuce already committed, it's not hard to envision the dominoes falling quickly here for Kurt Anderson. Maybe people have a different opinion, but to me these all strike me as roughly the same level of recruit -- they're not going to be Skoronski level as a true freshman, but given a year or two of strength training and learning the ropes, they have a great shot at emerging as at least above-average Big Ten O-linemen, if not better. Exciting!
DL: Another promising group of players who seem to show mutual interest. Seen a lot about Austin Firestone and hope the offer on the defensive side, along with Marty Long's fantastic track record, will seal the deal for him. Bummer not to see an OV for Joe Strickland yet, but there are a lot of other promising recruits and again it seems like the case where if one commits, we could quickly get a second.
LB: I guess Cheeks isn't happening? Too bad. This position recruiting also seems a little weird considering Fitz's pedigree and the general level of success we've had at the position. Also a bit confusing because many of the prospects aren't even classified as LBs over on the list at TOS.
CB/S: Promising, though smaller margin of error. What are the realistic odds of landing Coley, Jackson and Turner? Or even two of three? I'd like to think Newsome as a first-round draft pick would help us immediately, but guess we'll have to see.
QB: We've got Conner Harrell coming in for an official, and right now he's the top priority and our best hope. Coral said Brandon Rose has effectively dropped off the grid so there's no sense of where he's at (though given his offer list we should be a top choice). Otherwise we will have to hope for a late-riser (Jayden Denegal?), which, while not ideal, seems OK given we have Hilinski for a few years.
RB: Saw this recruiting described as confusing/puzzling, which is surprising given Ayeni's prowess + JJ in The League + the opportunities offered to young Cam Porter last year. I thought we'd maybe secure a commitment from Gi'Bran Payne by now, given some earlier reports. Instead, we only have one official visit scheduled from a RB? Meanwhile, Himon seems super intriguing.
WR: Feels like the same old story, except for the MAJOR caveat that NU secured a commitment from Reggie Fleurima. Otherwise it sounds like we have no serious prospects lined up. The "athletes" we are recruiting seem to be looked at as DBs. That's fine, can't have enough of them... but I can't help but wonder what it'll take to boost our WR recruiting, aside from a fortunate recruit or two who is #Homegrown.
OL: THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. A bunch of official visits and at least to my novice eye it seems like NU can reasonably expect to be in contention for any/all of these guys? With Deuce already committed, it's not hard to envision the dominoes falling quickly here for Kurt Anderson. Maybe people have a different opinion, but to me these all strike me as roughly the same level of recruit -- they're not going to be Skoronski level as a true freshman, but given a year or two of strength training and learning the ropes, they have a great shot at emerging as at least above-average Big Ten O-linemen, if not better. Exciting!
DL: Another promising group of players who seem to show mutual interest. Seen a lot about Austin Firestone and hope the offer on the defensive side, along with Marty Long's fantastic track record, will seal the deal for him. Bummer not to see an OV for Joe Strickland yet, but there are a lot of other promising recruits and again it seems like the case where if one commits, we could quickly get a second.
LB: I guess Cheeks isn't happening? Too bad. This position recruiting also seems a little weird considering Fitz's pedigree and the general level of success we've had at the position. Also a bit confusing because many of the prospects aren't even classified as LBs over on the list at TOS.
CB/S: Promising, though smaller margin of error. What are the realistic odds of landing Coley, Jackson and Turner? Or even two of three? I'd like to think Newsome as a first-round draft pick would help us immediately, but guess we'll have to see.
