11-27-2012, 09:19 AM
To go back to the other issue -- assessing 2013 recruiting:
1) relative to expectations, it's under-elite-talented (as the recruiting services have it) -- I'll guess we end up with five or six four-stars in the class on Rivals, which is OK but not spectacular. Reasons probably include so-so academics and the staff being surprised by the increased tempo of recruiting (which they seem to have corrected nicely for the 2014 class.)
2) needs were mostly filled: big needs coming into the class were linebackers and tight ends. They've done that. As the year progressed it became obvious that wideouts needed addressing; fortunately we have pretty good traction there.
3) the bottom end of the class is really quite good relative to previous classes, but that's more a subjective feeling than something I can quantify.
Overall, if you want to do the compete-for-a-Rose-Bowl every year thing, you can't have too many classes like this. Barring an incredible finish, the pressure is on Shaw et. al. to produce a monster class in 2014. Fortunately, the potential is there.
1) relative to expectations, it's under-elite-talented (as the recruiting services have it) -- I'll guess we end up with five or six four-stars in the class on Rivals, which is OK but not spectacular. Reasons probably include so-so academics and the staff being surprised by the increased tempo of recruiting (which they seem to have corrected nicely for the 2014 class.)
2) needs were mostly filled: big needs coming into the class were linebackers and tight ends. They've done that. As the year progressed it became obvious that wideouts needed addressing; fortunately we have pretty good traction there.
3) the bottom end of the class is really quite good relative to previous classes, but that's more a subjective feeling than something I can quantify.
Overall, if you want to do the compete-for-a-Rose-Bowl every year thing, you can't have too many classes like this. Barring an incredible finish, the pressure is on Shaw et. al. to produce a monster class in 2014. Fortunately, the potential is there.