PonyFans.com

Just want to put signing day in perspective when looking at the ratings sites and all of that, compared to where these recruits sit on our roster. A 5 rating means they are rated 3* or higher between all three sites, the composite rating, and have multiple P5 offer. 4 is missing an area. 3 usually is ranked well by 2 services and not the other. Just three years ago, our players were all a 3 rating or lower. My how things have changed.

Just a note really quickly - it is much harder to recruit good players on defense, because there just aren't that many of them compared to the number of high quality skill positions that come out this year. We made massive strides in that area this year.

QB - Stone, 5. 4 star player across the board. Top rated player we have on the roster. Expect us to add two players in the transfer portal.

RB - Dawson is a 5 and our top rated RB. Epton is a 5 and our second best, ahead of McDaniel our other 5. Bentley is a 4 and Williams a 3. Anyone remember how excited we were to pull in Williams a couple years ago?

WR - Gaffney is our 4th best, Daniels 8, and Record 10. Record is a 3, the others are 5s. We now have 8 5s in our group. Lots of talent, just need some to step up.

TE - no recruits, adding Matthews through the portal, who is a 5. This is our lowest rated position and we need another transfer here. This is a challenge to recruit with all the spread offenses in HS.

OL - no recruits, but we have 18 players here right now, and will lose 4. We have 5 5 ratings and 6 4 ratings, so a solid group but the highly rated players are young. Expect a transfer at OT, maybe one at OG.

DE - Samuels and Jones are both 5s and are our top rated recruits. Aho is a 4 if you want to put him here. Paul, Mastrov, Walls, Ndukwe are 3. Significant uptick in talent. Could use an experienced transfer here.

DT - Eby is our third 5, behind Williams and Dotson. Levelston a 4, Chatman a 3 and then a bunch of DITR. High quality add. Whether or not we take a transfer will depend on who is coming back.

LB - Kelley is a 5 and 3rd highest rated recruit behind McBryde and Moore. Sneed is next at a 4, Jolley then as a 3. Everyone else on the roster is a 2 or lower, so this is a significant step up. We still have deficiencies on the roster, so I would expect at least one transfer here.

Fox - Thursby is a 5, and is our third highest recruit here behind Jones and DeArman. Denbow was a DITR. Thursby is the first high quality player we have been able to recruit directly at this position without relying on a transfer.

CB - No recruits. ON the roster, we have 2 5s (Crossley and Stephens), a 4 (Westfall), a 3 (Massey) and then DITR. I would anticipate a transfer if Stephens doesn't come back. But I think odds are Stephens returns.

S - Nwokobia is a 5 and our second highest recruit behind Calloway. McMorris is a 4 and is behind Clay and Taylor. Everyone else is a DITR. We upgraded the skill level at this position.

Hopefully Goffney and Daniels turn into stud WRs but we need Jackson to sign and add to the DE group you mention...and of course we need the last 2 classes of OL to step up next year and give this group some quality depth

Jason B: When you are discussing quarterbacks, you write expect two other players by the transfer portal. Did you mean two other quarterbacks? I'm not being critical, just wondering. I always enjoy your insights.

No CBs and no OL. The bad news is those positions seemed to get worse as the season progressed (regressed?). The good news is we have a lot of those players back next year . Hopefully we can find a way to win consistently with no blocking and no pass coverage.

I expect us to get 2 transfer QBs. One isn't enough. If Green was the real deal, he would have been second string over Gipson, who the staff clearly didn't have confidence in throwing the ball.

Corner - We have one stud in Crossley. He will be a number 1 corner next season. Stephens and Johnson are both solid number 2 corners, and with Stephens' size I would not be surprised to see him move to nickel corner. Massey has explosive speed and would expect him to enter the mix. But I think our inexperience at Safety and lack of cover ability at LB/Fox makes the corner play look a lot worse than it actually is.

OL - We have a TON of very highly regarded young linemen, who did not impact this season because they didn't get a spring practice or a normal Fall practice. Thomas, Howerton, and Ali all graded out as upper echelon players at their positions this year and are all coming back. Osborne came in after Fall camp started, and then after he had to sit out for Covid issues, and improved the line significantly even though he didn't grade super high. He has a ton of potential and will be a very good player for us next season. RT won't be back most likely, that was a big hole this year. Marcus Bryant stepped in for Thomas when he got injured, and was actually rated really well by PFF. He looks like a string bean and hasn't even filled in yet, but he will be an improvement next year at RT with an offseason. A second string line of Ike, Brooks, Smith, Sparks, and Hickman is young but has just a ton of potential. And then on top of that you have players like Shelmire, Perdue, Jordan, and Mossberg who were all solid recruits. We didn't need anyone in this class, and the only thing we need for next year is an OT if Bryant isn't ready. We don't need a player at OG now that Howerton is returning.

To put this in perspective, the only DITR recruits on our roster now at OL are Cobe Bryant, Veau Morris, and Jaylon Thomas. A massive upgrade in talent is already on campus.

Sonny talked about "several guys" having reached out to us as potential transfers and says he expects to take several to fill positions of need, so there is every reason to be excited about next year. He specifically mentioned CB and DL as positions that are difficult to recruit impact guys out of H.S. so watch for transfers as early as January