So, For Those Of Us Who Have Not Studied

[Stevenson]

"Really, the only potential trouble areas on the team are at QB and DB."

Truer words have never been spoken. That's why it would have been nice to recruit another QB. We got burned in the past when Coach P would only bring in one.

As for as next year shaping up good for recruiting the QB position, and we will be all set if a true freshman can win the job, good luck with that. Shafer will more than likely be gone the day after the BC game. Put it in the book.

Finally, how do you see us winning four conference games next year when we only won three this year?

 

[anomander]

And how about the long snapper?
Also, ESPN is only one of the recruiting rating services. The other two rarely have special teams players rated higher than two stars. Thus, we can land the #1 long snapper nationally and still have it "drag" down our overall ranking.

Hofrichter is 3 star across the board on the 3 major services.

And the LS doesn't matter since the rankings only factor in your top 20 rated commits.

 

[anomander]

Negative Nancy -- We beat out the following P5 schools in the rankings:
247 -- Purdue, Colorado, Oregon St., Iowa St. and Kansas
Rivals -- Purdue, Colorado, Oregon St., Iowa St., Kansas, Pitt
Scout -- #48: Purdue, Colorado, Oregon St., Iowa St., Kansas, Pitt, Iowa, Rutgers, Utah, UVA, Minnesota, BC, Indiana, Kansas St., Wake Forest, Duke, Vandy,

That's pretty amazing after going 3-9!

Wait is this supposed to be good?

 

[SU2NASA]

Wait is this supposed to be good?

Seemingly, a lot of this board seems to think so.

So of the three rankings, we're hanging our hat on being ranked, 14th out of 14 in the ACC, 13th out of 14, and the high watermark, 11th...

 

[jekelish]

Seemingly, a lot of this board seems to think so.

So of the three rankings, we're hanging our hat on being ranked, 14th out of 14 in the ACC, 13th out of 14, and the high watermark, 11th...

I hate optimism, too.

 

[TheCusian]

Wait is this supposed to be good?

Compared to two years ago? Yep. Remember losing out to Cincinnati and UCONN and the like?

It's not about suddenly putting together a top 25 class here. It's about trending up. And we are.

That's better than getting worse, no?

 

[anomander]

Compared to two years ago? Yep. Remember losing out to Cincinnati and UCONN and the like?

It's not about suddenly putting together a top 25 class here. It's about trending up. And we are.

That's better than getting worse, no?

I'm not comparing it against ourselves because we don't have to play ourselves. Plus, the overall rankings should be higher with new facilities, ACC affiliation, and recent bowl appearances. It would be a major problem if they weren't.

I'm not worried about top 25, i'm more interested in cracking the top 40. I'll say it again this is a solid class, but I don't think it's anything we should be pounding our chests about.

 

[IHeartSUFball]

Ouch. Bailey got beat up.

wouldn't play for me what he say

 

[NineOneSeven]

I'm not comparing it against ourselves because we don't have to play ourselves. Plus, the overall rankings should be higher with new facilities, ACC affiliation, and recent bowl appearances. It would be a major problem if they weren't.

I'm not worried about top 25, i'm more interested in cracking the top 40. I'll say it again this is a solid class, but I don't think it's anything we should be pounding our chests about.

We were 3-9. If we had the number one recruiting class in the nation, we still shouldn't be pounding our chests.

 

[jekelish]

wouldn't play for me what he say

Why, it so happens you can catch the whole thing here! http://.com/orange-seeds-february-4-2015/

But he asked about decommits who had mentioned that assistants hadn't replied to them. Shafer was not thrilled with that question.

 

[TheCusian]

Why, it so happens you can catch the whole thing here! http://.com/orange-seeds-february-4-2015/ But he asked about decommits who had mentioned that assistants hadn't replied to them. Shafer was not thrilled with that question.

And it was the first question from Bailey.

 

[jekelish]

And it was the first question from Bailey.

Yep. Literally 5 minutes into the PC, Shafer is being asked about kids who are NOT in the recruiting class. I like Bailey generally but it was the wrong place and definitely the wrong time.

 

[TheCusian]

I'm not comparing it against ourselves because we don't have to play ourselves. Plus, the overall rankings should be higher with new facilities, ACC affiliation, and recent bowl appearances. It would be a major problem if they weren't.

I'm not worried about top 25, i'm more interested in cracking the top 40. I'll say it again this is a solid class, but I don't think it's anything we should be pounding our chests about.

I get that we should care about the ACC rankings and where we fall in them. But I don't think comparing against ourselves is that useless. If our # is going up - no matter the reason - we are getting better than 20 other teams that we used to lose to. Plus the higher # of 3 & 4 star kids we get, the higher the probability of landing a game changer or two. These things matter - and should mean a better product on the field than what we're used to.

 

[javadoc]

Hofrichter is 3 star across the board on the 3 major services.

And the LS doesn't matter since the rankings only factor in your top 20 rated commits.

Scout uses the top 25. That is what their site said a few weeks ago when I checked.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

We were 3-9. If we had the number one recruiting class in the nation, we still shouldn't be pounding our chests.

If we had the number one recruiting class in the nation, we would each be emptying our pockets to pay off the recruits as highest bidder.

 

[memcorsu]

Watch out for Ty Cross and Clark. I cannot tell you how impressed I am with how Cross fires off the line. He reminds me of one Art Jones yet with lower pad level and more fluid. Clark is not as explosive yet has above average pursuit for a DL. Watch for Cross to get pressure up the middle and Clark to finish off the player as they scramble. With the length of the DE recruits in this class and how they could force players back in the middle for our DL, LB, S to finish off, we will be very hard to run against as they mature. These last two classes could be our best OL/DL haul ever.

 

[chakka3421]

Watch out for Ty Cross and Clark. I cannot tell you how impressed I am with how Cross fires off the line. He reminds me of one Art Jones yet with lower pad level and more fluid. Clark is not as explosive yet has above average pursuit for a DL. Watch for Cross to get pressure up the middle and Clark to finish off the player as they scramble. With the length of the DE recruits in this class and how they could force players back in the middle for our DL, LB, S to finish off, we will be very hard to run against as they mature. These last two classes could be our best OL/DL haul ever.

Can someone tell me but aren't our OL/DL recruits both are much taller than past recruits but also just have bigger frames? I'm not talking about last year's class but those of 7-8 years ago?

I remember vividly when Dennis Quaid was here and we played Penn State in the Dome. I had sideline passes that game and our guys looked so small on both the DL & OL compared to their guys. I also remember looking at the posted height & weights of each team and they had us beat almost man to man - either taller or bigger or both. And we got crushed by them at the line of scrimmage and for the game - something like 50 to 10.

I say this in that since Marrone and now Shafer, our big uglies now at least match up to the opposing players on both sides of the line. You can't teach height & size but now it is really up to the coaches now and train technique to turn some of these guys into either a Chandler Jones and Justin Pugh.

When I look at recruiting and I've posted as much, you have to look at the trends over both the short the long term. Every class including during the Marrone years have brought in bigger, taller and faster players. I know we are on the right path with this class as again it's building upon the foundation first set by Marrone and inherited by Shafer who is continuing the trend.

I know last year's season was a step back for many reasons (injuries, OC coaching change mid season), but I see it as only that - a step back. Changes have been made including the addition of a new IPF (players are already practicing in it way before previous years) so I'm "expecting" a different result next year. If there had been no changes, then it would be hard for me to expect a different result.

I know we had some negative nellies on this Board (I could easily call you out) but that's what negative nellies are good at - complaining. For me, I continue to see both long and short term improvements in the program and am justified in having hope for the future of the program.

So this is my analysis of this year's recruiting class as I'm very very positive about who we got - I like all the kids we got and I have no question mark about any one of them either. Nuff said - Go Cuse!

 

[SU2NASA]

I hate optimism, too.

I was optimistic that Orbital was going to be able to use 40 year-old Soviet engines on a rocket too.

 

[007]

Yep. Literally 5 minutes into the PC, Shafer is being asked about kids who are NOT in the recruiting class. I like Bailey generally but it was the wrong place and definitely the wrong time.

Was it? Bailey is a reporter and it's his job to ask questions. Matt Park gets paid to lob softballs to SS. Bailey should ask whatever Bailey feels he needs to ask as a professional. It is SS's prerogative to answer or not. A simple "i'm not going to comment on players who did not commit here; next question" would have served both SS and Bailey.

 

[Finwad32]

Was it? Bailey is a reporter and it's his job to ask questions. Matt Park gets paid to lob softballs to SS. Bailey should ask whatever Bailey feels he needs to ask as a professional. It is SS's prerogative to answer or not. A simple "i'm not going to comment on players who did not commit here; next question" would have served both SS and Bailey.

Shafer defined what the process was and how the decommits may happen in general. Gave his take on the other side of the story. He didn't need to answer the question at all. Better than nothing. Bailey's asking about Lindor, amongst others, that story is months old.

 

[jekelish]

For those noting the absence of skill position players in this year's class, I decided to whip something up looking at 10 realistic targets at QB/RB/WR for next season: http://.com/a-way-too-early-look-at-skill-position-recruits-in-2016/

 

[jekelish]

Was it? Bailey is a reporter and it's his job to ask questions. Matt Park gets paid to lob softballs to SS. Bailey should ask whatever Bailey feels he needs to ask as a professional. It is SS's prerogative to answer or not. A simple "i'm not going to comment on players who did not commit here; next question" would have served both SS and Bailey.

I agree it's his job to ask questions, but I think it was the wrong time/place because this was a PC that was meant, specifically, to talk about the kids who signed to play for SU.

If Bailey wants to ask Shafer that question today, that's fine by me. I'd like to know what happened there, too. But it's taking away from the kids who just excitedly signed on to play for SU, if you ask me. Hold off on that question for another time.

 

[Finwad32]

I agree it's his job to ask questions, but I think it was the wrong time/place because this was a PC that was meant, specifically, to talk about the kids who signed to play for SU.

If Bailey wants to ask Shafer that question today, that's fine by me. I'd like to know what happened there, too. But it's taking away from the kids who just excitedly signed on to play for SU, if you ask me. Hold off on that question for another time.

That's a part of recruiting that should be reported on, because, I don't think many people realize that part of it. Moreover, coaching staffs don't want them to. But asking about Lindor specifically amongst others was what rubbed I think. That happened months ago, there's been many opportunities to report on that and will be more in the future as well; if that's a story you really want to report.

So, I agree, I don't think it was the right platform for that.

I commend Bailey for his persistence, but, he's got to realize there is a time and place for things. If he doesn't, he's going to make his job harder in terms of getting information from sources he has to deal with.

You can be a good journalist, ask probing questions and investigate different situations. There has to be trust amongst the sources though, otherwise, you're not going to get the information you seek. Similar to almost everything in life, relationships are key. Get along before you go along.

 

[javadoc]

I agree it's his job to ask questions, but I think it was the wrong time/place because this was a PC that was meant, specifically, to talk about the kids who signed to play for SU.

If Bailey wants to ask Shafer that question today, that's fine by me. I'd like to know what happened there, too. But it's taking away from the kids who just excitedly signed on to play for SU, if you ask me. Hold off on that question for another time.

IMO, he's looking for a "gotcha" moment where he can uncover some great injustice done by the staff. Needlessly antagonistic relationship between the AD and the click-baiting journalist wannabees that the P-S hired after they canned the real sports reporters.

 

[memcorsu]

Can someone tell me but aren't our OL/DL recruits both are much taller than past recruits but also just have bigger frames? I'm not talking about last year's class but those of 7-8 years ago? !

This guy's are much larger frames and the weight they carry is good weight and not bad weight. I would consider '14 @'15 line recruits as being one unit. Many, outside maybe Duerig is 6'5" plus. Duerig is being recruited at center. As you mentioned, all have frames to fill out and they will evolve. Watch out for Ward and Roberts to make push for pt this year.

What is exciting is if Clark and Cross can fill out after a year and allow Johnson and Thompson to play their natural position at DE in their senior year. Johnson is a true junior and Thompson is redshirt senior so has one more. If we can keep them both outside and effectively at least close gaps in the middle, these two are going to bring havoc and pain. I think Thompson might be the next NFL SU DE.