Because I have zero faith in recruiting services outside of the top 250 or so (not meant to start a debate, simply stating a premise to which I subscribe) and like to look at the film but rarely know exactly how what I'm seeing will translate, I tend to view all recruits through a pretty simple lens: Commit early and/or commit after a camp on the hill, I'm happy. Commit at any point with a few stars next to your name (I'll admit this still feels good) and some pretty good offers, I'm happy. Win a battle with other solid P5 schools and/or regional rivals, I feel good. Commit out of nowhere late in the cycle with very few offers, I get a bit concerned but still think we all have to be ok to wait it out (let's face it, few were thinking derrell smith, an unknown fullback from DE would turn out to be a really good multi-year starter at LB -- so who knows).
So obviously, not super excited by the new commit but willing to wait and see.
What I'm a little surprised about, however, is that we haven't been, as yet, bigger players in the grad transfer portal or that we didn't make a concerted effort to bring in a run-first QB that others may have been looking at for other positions. Admittedly, don't know how many of those guys remain out there, but it certainly feels like we need someone capable of playing early and/or immediately (even if you love Tommy, injuries are a reality).
My two cents is that the line we saw the last few games did a nice job opening holes in the running game and while we'll certainly miss Moe Neal (great senior season for him, by the way), the combo of Adams/Howard/Jordan should be at least very solid. I would think a QB that could run the ball could potentially learn 5-7 plays and be an asset at least in special packages at times, especially if we are conservative in letting tommy run the ball. Not saying this is what Dino wants going forward as much as we simply can't run the equivalent of 35 halfback dives every game and feel like we're really taking best advantage of our personnel.
At the end of the day a grad transfer that could compete and a running freshman who might be able to contribute in special packages feels, to me at least, like the best we could hope for at this stage. Grabbing a developmental pocket passer is OK, I guess, but doesn't really address our roster concern in any way, shape or form.
