Solid Class... Good, not Great... B-

[bg534]

D+ as it is right now. C+ if we get Collins.

If you really believe that, then you only would have been satisfied with a top 5 recruiting class despite it being a small class and having the NCAA issue hanging over our heads. You're either delusional or crazy.

It's not about top 5. It's about local talent and losing out in various head to head battles, which are the primary indicators of how well a team is doing at recruiting. A major program missing 4 or 5 of the top 9 prospects in their backyard has something wrong with it. No way around it. If we got Thomas, Bostwick, and Bryant I wouldn't give a **** what our class was ranked in the end. I believe Burns and Carter to be every bit as good as any of those guys at their respective positions. Even so, missing out on the top player in South Florida, combined with the losses of the DT's and maybe our top running back prospect, is unacceptable, and reminiscent of the early Shannon years where Canes message boards everywhere were filled with fans content with half-measures.

Thankfully Coley and Grace saved this class from being an absolute disaster.

 

[SBAMACANE]

Once we get the sanctions behind us, we will hit on a higher % of these kids. Coley and Grace at least brought some relief to this class. Overall, you have to keep reminding yourself that we took a very small class!

 

[bear]

The way I see it is we got a top 11 player per position at:
QB
WR
DE
OLB
DB
TE

We missed on top 10 kid(s) at DT and RB.

Considering that this is a small class that should be bookended by big 2012 and 2014 classes, then I feel like thats 6 positions we definately improved on. Certainly not the trainwreck some are claiming.

Solid B for a small class. We missed 3 guys who would have made it an A+.

THIS IS A GREAT SUMMARY

 

[k9cane]

This is not a perfect class, but considering the internal and external hurdles that Al Golden has to deal with, I think the staff did an admirable job

As for grading this class, well, that should really be done in about 4/5 years.

 

[305umking]

No DTs mean a C+. We've been crying bout the lack of dt play all season but we failed to sign any. If our young dts don't become MUCH better next season teams will continue to run up and down the field on us. Hopefully Coley and Sandland are ready to contibute right away as we may have to rely heavily on our offense once again.

 

[guppycane]

Well we did in fact sign a DT. Kamalu, who apparently played well in one of the top JUCO conferences in the country. A place were K-State gets a lot of their guys who end up being more productive then a lot of the DT drama queens from South Florida.

Not saying that will be the case, but I respect the player and Golden enough to not count him off before he even moves to town. If we were counting on any 1st year DT's to drastically improve our D, then we are in bad shape. Our best bet at DT is for Porter to be healthy and solid competiton and development among all the guys from the last two classes.

No DTs mean a C+. We've been crying bout the lack of dt play all season but we failed to sign any. If our young dts don't become MUCH better next season teams will continue to run up and down the field on us. Hopefully Coley and Sandland are ready to contibute right away as we may have to rely heavily on our offense once again.

 

[Cans4life]

This is definitely a B class all things considered.

 

[CaneSuger]

I rate it a little lower: C+.

Correct. This class was a C+.

Doing so poorly in South Florida is deeply worrisome. We missed on Thomas and Collins, as well as some lesser kids. We didn't sign a quality DT.

Deeply worrisome. I wonder if Al Golden is really the guy for this job, honestly. He seems to have a hard time connecting with the kids down here.

 

[CaneSuger]

This is definitely a B class all things considered.

LOL @ "all things considered."

We're not grading on a curve here. You get the kids you need to win. FSU did it. UF did it. Apparently we have trouble recruiting kids to play 20 minutes from where they grew up.

 

[CaneDaddy]

Said this in the chat:

Only 5-10% of these kids will not contribute or be a factor. The remainder are going to do good to great things and be productive. Really good class.

 

[sotacane22]

we got everyone we need, were ready to go for next year. we got some allstar coaches now that are gonna develop and turn any 3 or 4 stars into 5, we got ray lewis coming in to motivate these canes. were good to go. we dont keef's attitude and i think kirkland and thomas were just mislead down the wrong path. but good luck to them i hope they have success just not against THE university of miami the U. and if u have been following the canes since you were little like i have you can definetly tell this program is turning around when you have god on your side who can be against you. its definetly exciting to follow miami again. the basketball team is doing great also so the U is coming all the way back. god bless

 

[caneinpsl]

This is definitely a B class all things considered.

LOL @ "all things considered."

We're not grading on a curve here. You get the kids you need to win. FSU did it. UF did it. Apparently we have trouble recruiting kids to play 20 minutes from where they grew up.

So you think the sanctions and the fact that the head coach of two of the 5 kids we missed on wasn't retained by Golden had no effect on recruiting? And your saying FSU did it, but their class is only slightly more highly rated than ours per recruit.

 

[Mbecks22]

i'll chime in...


Going with a Solid B for the 2013 class.


I truly believe we got difference makers at:

QB!
WR!!! (can't say enough about this kid... think he's the best WR recruit we've gotten in years)
TE
OL
DE
LB
S!
CB! (love both the DBs we got especially the safety)


If you get 17 kids and you get (IMHO) "difference makers" at every position on the field except for 2 (RB where we pretty set up... and DT where we obviously are not)... than I'm not sure how anyone can be so highly disappointed in this class. And I'm not grading on a curve.



I am highly disappointed in not getting Bostwick or another DT in this class. Same goes for Thomas. The kid has a lot of work he needs to do to be college ready, but he has so many tools it's hard to think he won't be an NFL caliber LB in year 2-3.


However...

I do not care about the following kids going elsewhere:

Collins (i'd honestly rather have the 2014 kids and he may have hurt those chances), if he comes.. i'll gladly take him on the roster, but I don't believe he will be missed if he stays with Ark.

Bryant - this kid is a clown and won't finish his eligibility at FSU. I wouldn't take him even if he begged to switch back to UM.

Kirkland - bleh and a head case


QB, WR, and DB. I wouldn't trade our kids for any kids in the entire country. Load up on DL next year and our 2 year haul will be an impressive one.

 

[psk976vic]

Funny that last year Golden got STUDS from SoFl. Coaches said how great Golden was compared to the last regime (and we had 30 ships). This year, Golden can't close anyone and coaches hate him (and we had only 16 ships). Golden is the same dude, just this year he couldn't afford to "play the game" like he did last year. The numbers were not there. I think these HS coaches need to understand that and not bash Golden for trying to get an answer. Golden will be fine this year once the NCAA crap is behind us and he has Barrow, Coley, Cristobal, 10 wins and the ACC CHAMPIONSHIP Banner and a BCS Bowl to showcase. Then next year we will all once again be singing Golden's praise.

 

[NVA CANE]

Really a D or C? The biggest fail of this class was the lack of DTs followed by not getting a collins which was mitigated by edwards.

This class is a solid B. Everyone is grading it by the todays commits and not looking at the guys that have been commited for months. This class will surprise and be way more solid than anyone expects.

Not getting thomas hurts as he is a difference maker.

I just wish we pulled a stud juco DT and at least one more stud high school DT thats where the biggest problem is IMO.

 

[caneinpsl]

Really a D or C? The biggest fail of this class was the lack of DTs followed by not getting a collins which was mitigated by edwards.

This class is a solid B. Everyone is grading it by the todays commits and not looking at the guys that have been commited for months. This class will surprise and be way more solid than anyone expects.

Not getting thomas hurts as he is a difference maker.

I just wish we pulled a stud juco DT and at least one more stud high school DT thats where the biggest problem is IMO.

Good stuff. Their are failures withing the class, but the class itself, at this point, looks far from a failure. The one major shortcoming in the class simply makes DT recruiting critical next year.

 

[Phydeaux]

Never expected to lose Collins or denver
Those, with the expected loss of kerf and Thomas, bring us to a B
Bostwick was also a surprise. Home team and immediate playing time

If we got AC and DK here we'd be an A
But some still think SoFla coaching shenanigans played a big part in a few of these "misses"

Two year haul is impressive
Now time to develop

Lockley, I didn't see him listed anywhere

 

[dodaniels]

I graded each position based on the roster provided by 80s, my recruiting breakdown position is below

QB recruit - Olsen (Elite 11 and All-American)
QB situation - Morris will be preseason All-ACC 2nd team. The rest have been competing for over two years. Olsen will redshirt.
Grade - A+

RB recruit – Edwards (Top FB in the nation that can play RB)
RB situation – Duke will be preseason All-America on ST and All-ACC on ST and RB (2nd or 3rd team). Outside of Dillard, the rest have PT experience.
Grade – B-

FB recruit – Edwards (see above)
FB situation – Hagans is very reliable. However, there is no legitimate depth. Edwards can provide that.
Grade - A

WR recruit – Coley (The guy that got the best of T. Howard and D. Bush)
WR situation – I don’t see Coley getting much PT unless somebody get hurt or kick off the team. Therefore, I think he will redshirt. We have four potential All-ACC receivers. Also, remember Carter said he was going to take Tommy Streeter spot. Also, we have two potential playmakers that are recovering from season ending injuries.
Grade – A++

TE recruit – Sandland (Juco All-American) and Dobard (Top TE in LA)
TE situation – Outside of Warlord, we are in dire need of a TE. Sandland is a receiver in a TE body. I hope Dobard becomes an improved version of Warlord (receiving)/Dye (blocking) TE. Both Sandland and Dobard are early enrollees. That’s an added bonus.
Grade – Go from A to A+

OL recruit – Odogwu (Top prep OL), Knighton (Top 30 State recruit), Gall (Ohio All-State recruit)
OL situation – I prefer our OL recruits over DK due to coaching. This should be the top OL group in the ACC (4 potential All-ACC and 2 potential All-American). Our backups are solid. Therefore, our OL recruits should redshirt barring any injury. Also, our OL recruits are early enrollees.
Grade – Go from B- to B

DL recruits AQM (All-American) Kamalu (JUCO DE/DT recruit) Bond (JUCO All-American)
DL situation – We need pass rushers and we got them, AQM (future) and Bond (present). However, we missed out on the DT’s, for depth reasons. We hope our young DL’s will solidify our depth of the old days. I’m talking about going eight deep without missing a beat.
Grade – pass rushers A / run stuffers D- = C

LB recruit Grace (All-American) Figueroa (Don’t know too much about him)
LB situation – I like our 4 Horsemen (Perryman, E. Johnson, J. Gaines, R. Kirby). Our backups are experienced. Everybody expecting Blue to make some noise. Barring any injury Grace will probably redshirt.
Grade – A-

CB recruit – Burns (All-American)
CB situation – We are looking thin. We are hoping that Howard and Gunter can lock down the #1 and #2 spot. After that, we are placing a lot hope on young DB’s. Therefore, we need Burns to intensify the competition for the nickel and the 4th spot. I wish we had Rashad Robinson to solidify our CB class.
Grade – B+

S recruit – Carter (Top 50 State recruit) Lewis III (Mr. Versatility)
S situation – We have a nice safety duo in D. Bush (hard hitter) and R. Jenkins (coverage). K. Rodgers and J. Carter will probably be our top backups. Highsmith should be on every special teams package to keep the family happy. Lewis III should provide quality depth after a redshirt season.
Grade – B+