07-01-2022, 01:31 PM
Three dimensional analysis on Irvin:
Services: 247 composite #400 (#28 RB), On3 composite #385 (#27 RB), 247 #16 RB, On3 #61 RB, Rivals #13 RB (5.8 grade, same grade as Barry J Sanders, Kelsey Young, Remound Wright, Anthony Wilkerson, Ricky Seale, Stepfan Taylor, Tyler Gaffney), ESPN #22 RB
Offers: Stanford, Notre Dame (offer pulled), Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Duke, Florida International, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Syracuse, Tennessee, Tulane, UCF, UNLV, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
Production: As a junior, Irvin had 137 carries for 739 yards (5.4 yards per carry) and 13 touchdowns to go with 12 catches for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns (all fourth on the team). In the pandemic-shortened sophomore season, he had 81 carries for 552 yards (6.8 yards per carry) and 6 touchdowns (all team lead) along with 9 catches for 104 yards (fourth). As a freshman, he had 55 carries for 429 yards (7.8 yards per carry) and 10 touchdowns (all second), and 4 catches for 54 yards (7th). He's not really used in the return game (extremely minimal return yardage that makes me think it was pooch kicks or something). An interesting thing happened with the competition he faced at Gulliver Prep, which was that the competition was subpar his first two years and then took a big step up his junior year (top third of competition for Shaw recruits). The yards per carry marks are very troubling red flags. I have tracked 41 junior and senior year performances by Shaw RB recruits and Irvin's junior year is neck and neck with Justus Woods' junior year for dead last at #41 (5.39 versus 5.37). His freshman and sophomore highlights show a smattering of game-breaking plays but nothing notable as far as major college running back recruits go, and then he didn't even put together a junior highlight tape. That's how catastrophic his junior year was. The only track time I'm tracking is an 11.9 100 but that was as a freshman, which would not be a burner but leaves open the possibility he's gotten faster.
Good news first: Stanford has a need to bolster the running back room and this is now two low 4-star/extremely high 3-star commits at the position in less than a week. Irvin has an immaculate offer list (although I doubt many of those top programs would have honored their offers, and we know that Notre Dame didn't) and services still think he may be a 4-star. Ok, now the bad news. This is the most imploding recruitment we've seen this side of Silas Starr. Irvin had double digit Power Five offers before his sophomore season. The big offers all came in the first half of his high school career. Heading into his junior season, he had a composite ranking that if it held would place him #155 in the nation. Rivals once ranked him the #81 overall recruit in the country and now he’s outside the national rankings. It's not hard to see what happened here. He looked promising as a freshman and, given his name and his dad's role as a significant figure in Southeast football, programs flocked, but then the on-field results didn't follow. His junior year was so abysmal as to be beyond any real credibility that he's a star. Against good but not great competition and playing on a team with one of the most talented passing offenses in Florida (a QB who went to Tulane, TEs who went to West Virginia and Florida Atlantic, a WR who went to West Virginia, and Irvin classmates/now rising seniors that included a current 5-star and two 4-stars), which meant there wasn't very much pressure on the run game (they only ran 34.5 percent of the time), Irvin had such a horrible season he didn't make highlights of it, got kicked out of Notre Dame's class, and has had his recruiting rankings steadily plummet all year. I hope he has a major chip on his shoulder after this demoralizing past year and comes out with a vengeance to dominate as a senior.
We need RBs and, after having just gotten LJ Martin, it's plausible to view this as a RB2 in the class (though the strange signal that we might consider Martin at ILB raises eyebrows). While Irvin currently has higher recruiting rankings, his rankings are moving in the wrong direction and it's not crazy to view Martin as the more attractive prospect - I do. I am pleased we're getting some RB depth. But I just can't be too happy with a 5.4 yards per carry back. That is so heinous. Prove me (and I think more poignantly Marcus Freeman) wrong young man!
Services: 247 composite #400 (#28 RB), On3 composite #385 (#27 RB), 247 #16 RB, On3 #61 RB, Rivals #13 RB (5.8 grade, same grade as Barry J Sanders, Kelsey Young, Remound Wright, Anthony Wilkerson, Ricky Seale, Stepfan Taylor, Tyler Gaffney), ESPN #22 RB
Offers: Stanford, Notre Dame (offer pulled), Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Duke, Florida International, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Syracuse, Tennessee, Tulane, UCF, UNLV, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
Production: As a junior, Irvin had 137 carries for 739 yards (5.4 yards per carry) and 13 touchdowns to go with 12 catches for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns (all fourth on the team). In the pandemic-shortened sophomore season, he had 81 carries for 552 yards (6.8 yards per carry) and 6 touchdowns (all team lead) along with 9 catches for 104 yards (fourth). As a freshman, he had 55 carries for 429 yards (7.8 yards per carry) and 10 touchdowns (all second), and 4 catches for 54 yards (7th). He's not really used in the return game (extremely minimal return yardage that makes me think it was pooch kicks or something). An interesting thing happened with the competition he faced at Gulliver Prep, which was that the competition was subpar his first two years and then took a big step up his junior year (top third of competition for Shaw recruits). The yards per carry marks are very troubling red flags. I have tracked 41 junior and senior year performances by Shaw RB recruits and Irvin's junior year is neck and neck with Justus Woods' junior year for dead last at #41 (5.39 versus 5.37). His freshman and sophomore highlights show a smattering of game-breaking plays but nothing notable as far as major college running back recruits go, and then he didn't even put together a junior highlight tape. That's how catastrophic his junior year was. The only track time I'm tracking is an 11.9 100 but that was as a freshman, which would not be a burner but leaves open the possibility he's gotten faster.
Good news first: Stanford has a need to bolster the running back room and this is now two low 4-star/extremely high 3-star commits at the position in less than a week. Irvin has an immaculate offer list (although I doubt many of those top programs would have honored their offers, and we know that Notre Dame didn't) and services still think he may be a 4-star. Ok, now the bad news. This is the most imploding recruitment we've seen this side of Silas Starr. Irvin had double digit Power Five offers before his sophomore season. The big offers all came in the first half of his high school career. Heading into his junior season, he had a composite ranking that if it held would place him #155 in the nation. Rivals once ranked him the #81 overall recruit in the country and now he’s outside the national rankings. It's not hard to see what happened here. He looked promising as a freshman and, given his name and his dad's role as a significant figure in Southeast football, programs flocked, but then the on-field results didn't follow. His junior year was so abysmal as to be beyond any real credibility that he's a star. Against good but not great competition and playing on a team with one of the most talented passing offenses in Florida (a QB who went to Tulane, TEs who went to West Virginia and Florida Atlantic, a WR who went to West Virginia, and Irvin classmates/now rising seniors that included a current 5-star and two 4-stars), which meant there wasn't very much pressure on the run game (they only ran 34.5 percent of the time), Irvin had such a horrible season he didn't make highlights of it, got kicked out of Notre Dame's class, and has had his recruiting rankings steadily plummet all year. I hope he has a major chip on his shoulder after this demoralizing past year and comes out with a vengeance to dominate as a senior.
We need RBs and, after having just gotten LJ Martin, it's plausible to view this as a RB2 in the class (though the strange signal that we might consider Martin at ILB raises eyebrows). While Irvin currently has higher recruiting rankings, his rankings are moving in the wrong direction and it's not crazy to view Martin as the more attractive prospect - I do. I am pleased we're getting some RB depth. But I just can't be too happy with a 5.4 yards per carry back. That is so heinous. Prove me (and I think more poignantly Marcus Freeman) wrong young man!