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Rank the Recruits- 2015 edition

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I think you have - for the most part - 4 distinct groups.

Ballers you take in any year:
TSL, Walton, Quan, Perry, McIntosh, Patchan

2nd tier guys you're glad to have but aren't slam dunks:
Cager, Norton, Milo, Redwine, Knowles

Then a tier of guys who it's really difficult to rank due to level of comp but they're obvious takes due to need/age/position/ceiling:
Jones, Washington

Then the tier of guys that are projects - with varying degrees of tools:
Shirreffs, Gordinier, Gauthier, Jackson, King, Fines, Maloney, Loftus

I feel pretty good about those groupings with the exception of Knowles, Shirreffs, and Redwine, I'm not quite certain which group they end up in.
 
1. St. Louis - Potential multiple year starter at LT. Next level physical tools.

2. Cager - It's a massive indictment of this staff that we only landed 1 WR after Kaaya was named a True Freshman All-American. Top receivers would be flocking here to play with such a promising young QB if our program was in a different state. But Cager is a potential blue-chip talent who brings a different skill set to our WR corps.

3. Walton - Talented back who should have a nice career here. That being said, the staff royally botched RB recruiting by pushing Williams out to try to lock up Scarlett, losing Scarlett to UF, and then unsuccessfully crawling back to Williams. Impossible to overlook how much home run ability this staff has missed out on at RB these past couple years with Michel, Cook, and Scarlett. Our backfield clearly lacks speed and it's a glaring issue, IMO.

4. Perry - Next staff will love this kid if they install a traditional Miami defense as opposed to Golden's wildly ineffective horse s***.

5. Jaquan

6. Milo

7. McIntosh - We'll never know what we have until the next staff gets here. A 4-3 with Willis and McIntosh in the middle would have a chance to be something else.

8. Patchan

9. Knowles

10. Redwine

11. Norton

12. Jones - Ohio State offering and Malzahn supposedly showing interest at Auburn around the time when he committed make me a bit optimistic.

That's where I'd place my cut-off line in terms of players we should be pursuing. Happy to land the players listed above. But looking at the class in its entirety, it's one that sets this program back because it lacks blue-chip talent, explosiveness, and Miami speed.

The staff's failures in our own backyard deserve even more criticism, not just for constantly failing to land elite players but also highly questionable evals (i.e. heading to Jersey to get Gordinier and never offering Shawn Curtis, who ended up at a top SEC program in Ole Miss). And their stubborn size bias kept us out of the running for far too many players who may have had interest at one point (Javarius Davis, Jalen Julius, Rashad Fenton, etc).
 
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Johnson, Walton, Perry, St. Louis, and McIntosh are the top of the class with potential to develop into professionals. Patchan could develop if he stays healthy into that All-Conference type.

Outside of that, I'm struggling to see much. I like Knowles, Redwine, and King, but until we get real coaching at Miami, I can not expect much of anything out of them because they are developmental types. I think at minimum, untouched, they are nice special teamers. Good coaching will unlock the potential in each.

Underrated rotation guy is probably Fines, but again, development is going to be key.

Lots of players in this mix that look like roster fodder that will matriculate out of the program over the years. Bar Milo being the one prospect out-of-state that could stick, but I don't see a high ceiling. Maybe Cager scores some touchdowns for us, but I don't see a stud or anything. Screams of a player that we will always say "has potential" but we never really get much out of him.

I guess that would be the top 11 with the rest being non-two deep types and roster fodder.

Johnson
Walton
St. Louis
Perry
McIntosh

Patchan

Knowles
Redwine
King
Fines
Milo
 
Not many guys on here giving Milo the credit he deserves. He a huge kid who can play guard or tackle, plays basketball so he is athletic, and Kaaya is one of his best friends so he is going to play hard to protect his friend. I think him and St. Louis is one of the best combo of OL pulls this cycle for any one team.

I think St. Louis has a higher ceiling no doubt, but Milo should be a good rotation guy in 2015 then most likely a 3 year starter
 
At the top I think that many of the guys are interchangable, as I like several of the lists on here that I've seen. I actually like our QB pick up. I think he has serious upside if we coach him up right and he fills out. Any word on how Rozier is looking?

I also think too many Canes under appreciate Joe Yearby's upside. As he puts on weight - just like Duke and other backs have done - I think more Canes will begin to see how valuable he is as a back that consistently moves the chains. Not a high-explosive homerun hitter, per se, but Joe is death to defender's ankles, stonger than his slight build suggests, and faster than many give him credit for being. #2 all time in Dade County in rushing if memory serves. The open secret for him is adding good weight and strength and staying healthy.

And while we're on it, I have been critical of Gus because he runs too upright in traffic (see Denzel Perryman) and rarely played his size, but he has gotten better at being more physical. He still doesn't play his size though. I like what I've seen in Walton's highlights. I looks like a back who could stay on the field because he will be able to help us in so many different ways - he has size to block, explosiveness and vision to run, good hands for receiving, and plays the game from the neck up well.

I think we got potentially some really good defensive linemen. I've only seen film on Patchan and McIntosh. I really like both of their films. Not trying to de-rail the thread, but at some point we've got to coach up our pass rushers/penetrators and turn them loose.

More question marks with this class than in previous classes, but there are always kids that I think are sure things that don't pan out and kids I thought would be role players who show more than I expected.
 
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