We spend so much time on recruiting, but we rarely take time to look back. This series examines every class for the past five coaches- Manny, Richt, Golden, Shannon, and Coker. As Mario’s first class enters Year 4, what are the trends he needs to avoid if he wants to break the cycle?
Of course, bad coaching and development played a massive role in our downfall. But for this exercise, I wanted to focus on pure talent acquisition. That’s why I use NFL numbers. The NFL has the most standardized and competitive talent-evaluation process in football. It’s also really hard to get there- only 2% of CFB players and only 22% of four-stars make the league. And far fewer are able to stick around. As expected, our NFL decline mirrored our decline on the field.
Next up is the Randy Shannon’s last class, the Class of 2010. Let’s start with the numbers:.
Four-year winning percentage- 58% (no change from prior year)
Total enrollees- 29
NFL players- 8
NFL games- 414
Day 1 Picks- 0
Day 2 picks- 2
Pro Bowls- 0
This class ranked 14th on the 247 Composite. I’ve listed the players in order of recruiting ranking, with NFL players in BOLD:
FIVE STARS
1. Seantrel Henderson (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Storm Johnson (Atlanta, GA)
Brandon Linder (Broward County, FL)
Kacy Rodgers (Corpus Christi, TX)
David Perry (Broward, FL)
THREE STARS AND BELOW
Travis Williams (Norfolk, VA)
Keione Payne (Broward, FL)
Kevin Nelson (Gainesville, FL)
Darion Hall (Naples, FL)
Allen Hurns (Miami, FL)
Devont’a Davis (Gainesville, FL)
Tyrone Cornelius (Atlanta, GA)
Jon Feliciano (Broward, FL)
(3 games active roster)
Malcolm Bunche (Newark, DE)
Maurice Hagens (Tampa, FL)
Jermaine Barton (Broward, FL)
Andrew Tallman (Boston, MA)
Jeffery Brown (Chicago, IL)
Kelvin Cain (Fresno, CA)
Delmar Taylor (Miami/Bahamas)
Asante Cleveland (Sacramento, CA)
Jermaine Johnson (Broward, FL)
WHAT HAPPENED: This was a weird class. The 2009 season finished with a whimper, and Shannon couldn't win the same battles he won two years before. His tenure was running on fumes. His final class ended up being massive but bottom-heavy. Of the 29 enrollees, only seven (24%) were blue-chippers.
As bloated as this class was, it had some real players. This group accounted for 414 NFL games, which was the most since 2002. Brandon Linder, Jon Feliciano, and Allen Hurns enjoyed long pro careers. Seantrel Henderson would have joined them if not for Crohn’s Disease. Three tight ends from this class made the league. Guys like Shane McDermott (first-team All ACC) and Stephen Morris (#4 all-time in passing) produced for the Canes without playing NFL snaps. There were more good three-star evaluations in this class than most.
The problem is the class lacked star power. Lamarcus Joyner signed with the Noles, Matt Elam signed with the Gators, Louis Nix signed with Notre Dame, and Corey Lemonier signed with Auburn. Two of our seven blue-chippers (Latwan Anderson and Storm Johnson) were dropped by major programs. Seantrel Henderson signed with USC but flipped to us when they got sanctioned. There just weren’t many wins in this cycle.
Shannon and his staff hit the cities heavily. We signed players from Atlanta, Cleveland, St. Paul, Buffalo, Sacramento, Fresno, Norfolk and Chicago. Even though the 2010 results were mixed, this is the right strategy. City kids are more likely to feel comfortable in a city like Miami.
BEST PLAYER: Brandon Linder was a clean evaluation. He’d been a name since his sophomore year at St. Thomas Aquinas and had the ability to play every position on the line. Other schools had been raiding STA for years, so this was an important local win. He was an outdoorsy kid who felt comfortable in South Florida's fishing culture. Linder ended up signing the biggest contract for a center in NFL history.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: I watched the Latwan Anderson highlight reel about thirty times. He had dazzling speed, ball skills, playmaking instincts and overall aggression. While Latwan was one of the biggest names in the class, he slipped as a senior due to character and size concerns. Miami took him late after missing on numerous targets. His recruiting process was similar to Jeff Thomas seven years later. Latwan continued to struggle with off-the-field issues, left before playing a snap, and is currently incarcerated in Ohio.
BEST EVALUATION: There are several options, as five of the eight NFL players in this class ranked three stars or below. But I have to go with Allen Hurns. He flew under the radar at Carol City because he played multiple positions and missed time to injury. When he showed up at the Miami camp, he was only known as “the receiver in the bright orange pants.” But he dominated every rep, earned an offer, and ultimately committed. Hurns had good size and enough twitch to separate, but what set him apart was his work ethic. He went on to break the Miami single-season receiving record as a senior and put up a 1,000-yard season for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Another candidate is Clive Walford. He was a 6’4 basketball player in the football-crazy Muck region. He switched to football the spring of his junior year, and Shannon quickly secured his commitment. Walford took a redshirt before developing into a Mackey Award finalist under the next regime.
LESSON LEARNED: Jeff Stoutland’s recruiting philsophy is a twist on the old cliche: aim big, miss small. He targeted linemen with NFL body types, even if they had other flaws. The guys who didn’t make it (Jermaine Johnson, Malcolm Bunche) looked just as imposing as the three future pros in this class. He’s done the same thing with Philadelphia Eagles, and Alex Mirabal is taking a similar approach with the Canes.
CONCLUSION: Shannon was on his last legs here, but he gave Golden some building blocks up front. This class had four good offensive linemen and three good tight ends. The big hole was at corner- this class produced zero contributors and left the cupboard bare for Golden.
In sum, Shannon improved the talent level from Coker. Over Coker's last three years, we averaged 5.333 NFL players per class. Shannon upped that number to 7. The four-year win percentage dropped like a stone under Coker, while Shannon stopped the bleeding and improved it by 3%. But overall, he missed on too many evaluations (especially locally) and struggled to win big-time battles after 2008. That, along with subpar coaching and development, sealed his fate.
Of course, bad coaching and development played a massive role in our downfall. But for this exercise, I wanted to focus on pure talent acquisition. That’s why I use NFL numbers. The NFL has the most standardized and competitive talent-evaluation process in football. It’s also really hard to get there- only 2% of CFB players and only 22% of four-stars make the league. And far fewer are able to stick around. As expected, our NFL decline mirrored our decline on the field.
Next up is the Randy Shannon’s last class, the Class of 2010. Let’s start with the numbers:.
Four-year winning percentage- 58% (no change from prior year)
Total enrollees- 29
NFL players- 8
NFL games- 414
Day 1 Picks- 0
Day 2 picks- 2
Pro Bowls- 0
This class ranked 14th on the 247 Composite. I’ve listed the players in order of recruiting ranking, with NFL players in BOLD:
FIVE STARS
1. Seantrel Henderson (St. Paul, Minnesota)
- 39 NFL games
- 7th round
Storm Johnson (Atlanta, GA)
- 6 NFL games
Brandon Linder (Broward County, FL)
- 88 NFL games
- 3rd round
Kacy Rodgers (Corpus Christi, TX)
David Perry (Broward, FL)
THREE STARS AND BELOW
Travis Williams (Norfolk, VA)
Keione Payne (Broward, FL)
Kevin Nelson (Gainesville, FL)
Darion Hall (Naples, FL)
Allen Hurns (Miami, FL)
- 82 NFL games
Devont’a Davis (Gainesville, FL)
Tyrone Cornelius (Atlanta, GA)
Jon Feliciano (Broward, FL)
- 113 NFL games
- 4th round
(3 games active roster)
Malcolm Bunche (Newark, DE)
Maurice Hagens (Tampa, FL)
Jermaine Barton (Broward, FL)
Andrew Tallman (Boston, MA)
Jeffery Brown (Chicago, IL)
Kelvin Cain (Fresno, CA)
Delmar Taylor (Miami/Bahamas)
Asante Cleveland (Sacramento, CA)
- 14 NFL games
- 52 NFL games
- 3rd Round
- 20 NFL games
Jermaine Johnson (Broward, FL)
WHAT HAPPENED: This was a weird class. The 2009 season finished with a whimper, and Shannon couldn't win the same battles he won two years before. His tenure was running on fumes. His final class ended up being massive but bottom-heavy. Of the 29 enrollees, only seven (24%) were blue-chippers.
As bloated as this class was, it had some real players. This group accounted for 414 NFL games, which was the most since 2002. Brandon Linder, Jon Feliciano, and Allen Hurns enjoyed long pro careers. Seantrel Henderson would have joined them if not for Crohn’s Disease. Three tight ends from this class made the league. Guys like Shane McDermott (first-team All ACC) and Stephen Morris (#4 all-time in passing) produced for the Canes without playing NFL snaps. There were more good three-star evaluations in this class than most.
The problem is the class lacked star power. Lamarcus Joyner signed with the Noles, Matt Elam signed with the Gators, Louis Nix signed with Notre Dame, and Corey Lemonier signed with Auburn. Two of our seven blue-chippers (Latwan Anderson and Storm Johnson) were dropped by major programs. Seantrel Henderson signed with USC but flipped to us when they got sanctioned. There just weren’t many wins in this cycle.
Shannon and his staff hit the cities heavily. We signed players from Atlanta, Cleveland, St. Paul, Buffalo, Sacramento, Fresno, Norfolk and Chicago. Even though the 2010 results were mixed, this is the right strategy. City kids are more likely to feel comfortable in a city like Miami.
BEST PLAYER: Brandon Linder was a clean evaluation. He’d been a name since his sophomore year at St. Thomas Aquinas and had the ability to play every position on the line. Other schools had been raiding STA for years, so this was an important local win. He was an outdoorsy kid who felt comfortable in South Florida's fishing culture. Linder ended up signing the biggest contract for a center in NFL history.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: I watched the Latwan Anderson highlight reel about thirty times. He had dazzling speed, ball skills, playmaking instincts and overall aggression. While Latwan was one of the biggest names in the class, he slipped as a senior due to character and size concerns. Miami took him late after missing on numerous targets. His recruiting process was similar to Jeff Thomas seven years later. Latwan continued to struggle with off-the-field issues, left before playing a snap, and is currently incarcerated in Ohio.
BEST EVALUATION: There are several options, as five of the eight NFL players in this class ranked three stars or below. But I have to go with Allen Hurns. He flew under the radar at Carol City because he played multiple positions and missed time to injury. When he showed up at the Miami camp, he was only known as “the receiver in the bright orange pants.” But he dominated every rep, earned an offer, and ultimately committed. Hurns had good size and enough twitch to separate, but what set him apart was his work ethic. He went on to break the Miami single-season receiving record as a senior and put up a 1,000-yard season for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Another candidate is Clive Walford. He was a 6’4 basketball player in the football-crazy Muck region. He switched to football the spring of his junior year, and Shannon quickly secured his commitment. Walford took a redshirt before developing into a Mackey Award finalist under the next regime.
LESSON LEARNED: Jeff Stoutland’s recruiting philsophy is a twist on the old cliche: aim big, miss small. He targeted linemen with NFL body types, even if they had other flaws. The guys who didn’t make it (Jermaine Johnson, Malcolm Bunche) looked just as imposing as the three future pros in this class. He’s done the same thing with Philadelphia Eagles, and Alex Mirabal is taking a similar approach with the Canes.
CONCLUSION: Shannon was on his last legs here, but he gave Golden some building blocks up front. This class had four good offensive linemen and three good tight ends. The big hole was at corner- this class produced zero contributors and left the cupboard bare for Golden.
In sum, Shannon improved the talent level from Coker. Over Coker's last three years, we averaged 5.333 NFL players per class. Shannon upped that number to 7. The four-year win percentage dropped like a stone under Coker, while Shannon stopped the bleeding and improved it by 3%. But overall, he missed on too many evaluations (especially locally) and struggled to win big-time battles after 2008. That, along with subpar coaching and development, sealed his fate.
