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Taking a look at criteria from Rivals, Scout, 247, ESPN, and offers, this is what our class looks like:

CB: Graduate 5th best recruit (Ho Richardson), recruited 6th and 9th (Johnson, Guy-Robinson). Downgrade

DE: Graduate 5th, 7th, 9th best recruits (Nabusoshi, Pruitt, Horton); recruited 3rd and 10th (Nduke, Neals). Upgrade

DT: Graduated 1st and 2nd (Green, Minor); recruited 4, 9, and 10 (Loveless, Coxe, Gipson). Downgrade

LB: Graduated former walkon Jackson Mitchell; recruited 7th best (Hailey). Wash

OL: Graduated 11th, 12th, 13th; recruited 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best. Massive upgrade.

QB: Graduated 2 and 5 (Davis, Colbert); Recruited 3 and 6. Wash.

RB: Graduated 0, recruited number 1. Upgrade

S: Graduated 1 (DM), recruited number 5 and 6 (McQueen, Robinson). Downgrade

TE: Graduated 1 (Gaines), recruited number 3. Downgrade

WR: Graduated none, recruited number 8 and 9 (Page and Bell). slight upgrade

Overall, a slight upgrade to the roster because of the OL recruits. The drop at some of the positions is expected because we can no longer promise starting roles, and we haven't won enough to attract big recruits. I would expect to see the trend turn around significantly with a 9 or 10 win season.

as always, time will tell

If we look at HCCM's classes since he has been here it is mostly upgrades and better overall recruiting. We also had a small class this year so we did not go after a lot of recruits. And we will probably have a small class next year. Even if the team did have a 9 or 10 win season next year it would not affect the 2018 class because they normally have most of the class committed before seasons end. It would help the 2019 class if he is still here.

Did you incorporate the transfers? I'd assume at QB, WR, TE are good additions which may not have been added into your analysis.

JasonB wrote:Taking a look at criteria from Rivals, Scout, 247, ESPN, and offers, this is what our class looks like:

CB: Graduate 5th best recruit (Ho Richardson), recruited 6th and 9th (Johnson, Guy-Robinson). Downgrade

DE: Graduate 5th, 7th, 9th best recruits (Nabusoshi, Pruitt, Horton); recruited 3rd and 10th (Nduke, Neals). Upgrade

DT: Graduated 1st and 2nd (Green, Minor); recruited 4, 9, and 10 (Loveless, Coxe, Gipson). Downgrade

LB: Graduated former walkon Jackson Mitchell; recruited 7th best (Hailey). Wash

OL: Graduated 11th, 12th, 13th; recruited 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best. Massive upgrade.

QB: Graduated 2 and 5 (Davis, Colbert); Recruited 3 and 6. Wash.

RB: Graduated 0, recruited number 1. Upgrade

S: Graduated 1 (DM), recruited number 5 and 6 (McQueen, Robinson). Downgrade

TE: Graduated 1 (Gaines), recruited number 3. Downgrade

WR: Graduated none, recruited number 8 and 9 (Page and Bell). slight upgrade

Overall, a slight upgrade to the roster because of the OL recruits. The drop at some of the positions is expected because we can no longer promise starting roles, and we haven't won enough to attract big recruits. I would expect to see the trend turn around significantly with a 9 or 10 win season.

I think your methodology is seriously flawed. When players are leaving, their rating 4-5 years ago is irrelevant. If they were good players on the way out, they will be missed more than Top recruits who never did much.
Btw - your numbers are wrong. We lost five scholly OL - not three: McCarty, Saena, Fister, Richards, & McNeil. If you are going to count a transfer like Green, you need to count guys like Ayeni.

Offense: virtually every player was a 3-star. The 2-stars were picked over guys with 3-stars.
QB - massive upgrade over 2016. Peavy, Gillins, & the freshman
RB - minor upgrade - no losses
WR two interesting prospects + Quinn - no losses.
TE - Gaines vs Epps a push. I think Bell (like Gaines) eventually grows into a TE.
OL - best incoming class in the post SWC era.

Defense: #troubling
Not enough 3-star guys and/or guys that we had to fight hard to keep.

Transfers: Morris did a great job adding Peavy, Gillins, Quinn,& Epps to the offense. We really need to upgrade the defense - LB!

strategy: Out-score our opponent to death and hope the defense can get a stop or 2.

It worked for Baylor-the Defensive upgrade came after they put an exciting Offense on the field

If things break right we should have a Top 10-20 Offense in near future-odds are pretty good when you are stacking players 3 deep at most Offensive positions.

Watch out for Tyler Page. Could be the one we've been waiting for.

Good points on the OL, I forgot Fister and Richards graduated. The three transfers from last year I had kind of counted as last years class and were treating them as redshirts.

What I was trying to point out was that even though this class wasn't a knock it out of the park class, it still upgraded us at certain positions. Not a bad "down year" class to have, and that down year is typically expected after the "you can be an instant starter" spots are gone and you haven't won yet.

If you give players a point for each of the 5 areas: 3* rivals, 3* scout, 70+ ESPN, 3* 247, 2+ P5 offers, a consensus "good" recruit would have 3 points or more. At each of the positions, here are the number of players we have on the roster that are 3 points or more:

CB: 2
DE: 3
DT: 1
LB: 2
OL: 7
QB: 3
RB: 2
S: 1
TE: 2
WR: 8

We have 17 more players that rank in 2 areas, which provide us depth at a lot of those positions.

- QB is going to turn into a strength this year
- OL is going to turn into a strength this year
- We will grow on our existing strength at WR this year
- DT, LB, S are the positions it says we are weakest, but out of those, I am only concerned about LB.

Sutton is sticking around because he and the staff think we get to 10 wins next year, and that puts Sutton up as a first round pick.

Personally, I buy it.

SMU_Alum11 wrote:strategy: Out-score our opponent to death and hope the defense can get a stop or 2.

pretty much what JJ said when he came to SMU. Recruit offense 1st, score a lot of points and be fun to watch which HOPEFULLY will put more butts in seats at Ford...defensive studs will come later once the team starts winning in front of larger crowds. JJ couldn't get it done. Let's hope Chad does as he certainly appears to be farther along!

JasonB wrote:Good points on the OL, I forgot Fister and Richards graduated. The three transfers from last year I had kind of counted as last years class and were treating them as redshirts.

What I was trying to point out was that even though this class wasn't a knock it out of the park class, it still upgraded us at certain positions. Not a bad "down year" class to have, and that down year is typically expected after the "you can be an instant starter" spots are gone and you haven't won yet.

If you give players a point for each of the 5 areas: 3* rivals, 3* scout, 70+ ESPN, 3* 247, 2+ P5 offers, a consensus "good" recruit would have 3 points or more. At each of the positions, here are the number of players we have on the roster that are 3 points or more:

CB: 2
DE: 3
DT: 1
LB: 2
OL: 7
QB: 3
RB: 2
S: 1
TE: 2
WR: 8

We have 17 more players that rank in 2 areas, which provide us depth at a lot of those positions.

- QB is going to turn into a strength this year
- OL is going to turn into a strength this year
- We will grow on our existing strength at WR this year
- DT, LB, S are the positions it says we are weakest, but out of those, I am only concerned about LB.

Sutton is sticking around because he and the staff think we get to 10 wins next year, and that puts Sutton up as a first round pick.

Personally, I buy it.

On offense, the only question mark is the OL. Are the young guys ready? The 2018 offense will be fantastic.

If the defense isn't better, we need to make some changes on the coaching staff.

2018 offense is going to need a 9 man to step up. Here's looking at you Alex Honey/Kevin Thomas/Brandon Benson.

When I asked Morris what he was going to do with Page, he replied, "Get the ball in his hands!". So QB and WR looks like possibilities.

should someone tell JasonB that 247Sports.com has already invented a composite rating that blends the Rivals/Scout/ESPN/ 247 rating of each recruit? Much better than JasonB's Upgrade/Downgrade +1/-/-! rating system

See red dots for each recruit that light up as rating comes in for Rivals, Scout, ESPN and Scout come in
http://smu.247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/Commits

Stallion wrote:should someone tell JasonB that 247Sports.com has already invented a composite rating that blends the Rivals/Scout/ESPN/ 247 rating of each recruit? Much better than JasonB's Upgrade/Downgrade +1/-/-! rating system

See red dots for each recruit that light up as rating comes in for Rivals, Scout, ESPN and Scout come in
http://smu.247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/Commits

"Someone should tell..." I'm not sure what I have done to intimidate you, but I can assure you I am quite approachable. Don't be scared to go ahead and tell me.

1) because 247 was in my evaluation, obviously I saw the composite rating
2) I choose the point system because the individual perspectives are a better judge. I think a 3 and a 3 are better than a 2 and a 4, even though they both average 3.

Hopefully a few more months of Trump will make people realize how annoying it is to be a jerk online.