Grading the 2020 class

Topic

QB: Ethan Garbers
Grade: A-
Not much fanfare when he committed but he’s had a monster senior season and should be getting a bump in the final 247 rankings up to a 4* (currently 4* in the composite). Odds are he will never be a starter with Huard coming in the following year but he’s a solid depth guy.

OL: Myles Murao, Geirean Hatchett, Gaard Memmelaar, Roger Rosengarten, Sam Peacock
Grade: A+
This is the equivalent of our DL class last year. These five could form a starting OL in 3-4 years. In most years Hatchett would be the crown jewel of the OL class but he’s possibly the 4th best in this group. Even Peacock has potential to be a stud.

WR: Jalen McMillan, Rome Odunze, Sawyer Racanelli
Grade: A
Jalen is the best athlete at WR we’ve had since Ross and Rome looks like he could be Reggie. Don’t sleep on Sawyer either, he can be a great possession receiver if he stays on offense.

RB: Jay’veon Sunday, Sam Adams
Grade: B-
I like both backs but I don’t see either as an every down back. Not much else to say.

TE: Mark Redman, Mason West
Grade: B
Redman is going to be a stud and should play right away. West seems destined for a Jacob Kizer type role where he’s strictly a blocker. Really hope we can add Yary in Feb

DB: Jacobe Covington, Makell Esteen, Elijah Jackson, James Smith
Grade: B
This might be Lake’s most underwhelming DB class in a few years which says more about our expectations for Lake than the guys he got. Covington and Esteen will make a nice tandem at safety. Jackson brings some physicality and swagger to the CB spot. Smith is a project and kind of a head scratcher, I wish we used his spot on one of the instate kids instead (Hector or Oywak)

OLB/Buck: Savell Smalls
Grade: A
Huge get for a million reasons. If he was announcing this week the boards would be on fire with speculation and hand wringing but instead he committed out of the blue early and has kept a low profile since. There’s been talk that he’s too raw to contribute right away and might even be overrated as a 5* but I don’t care, this is the biggest recruit we’ve landed since Shaq Thompson.

MLB: Carson Bruener, Cooper McDonald
Grade: C-
I think both these players have potential to be solid contributors but it doesn’t overlook the fact that we completely whiffed on Botelho, Herbig, and Flowe.

DL: N/A

Specialists: Triston Brown, Jaden Green
Grade: B?
They sound fine?

Overall I’d give the offensive class an A- overall, the defensive class a B-, and the total class a B+. Coming off a 7-5 season and the coaching transition, that is pretty damn good. Hopefully we can add 1-2 more kids in January and then start working on the ’21 class.

Replies

I think you’re too easy on the defensive class. The only + position we got was OLB because of Sav’ell. The overall defensive class is closer to a D+ or C- imo. Worst DB class we have had since… maybe since Jimmy Lake has been here? (I still think there are some solid players there, just much lower than the standard that has been set). The DL class was a big whiff, even though there were some recruiting challenges with the weak west coast DL class. Linebackers… at least we are signing a couple I guess? Both of those guys would be great as our third LB we take, not as our top two options. The defense was a poor effort overall.

You’re spot on about the offense though, holy SHIT that OL class is unbelievable. It’s especially great considering how weak the class in the west was for OL. Not only did we get a great class, but no one else in the PAC came close. Our WRs are insanely good, and Mark Redman probably has the highest NFL ceiling of anyone we have had since ASJ.

MillennialDoog wrote:

I think you’re too easy on the defensive class. The only + position we got was OLB because of Sav’ell. The overall defensive class is closer to a D+ or C- imo. Worst DB class we have had since… maybe since Jimmy Lake has been here? (I still think there are some solid players there, just much lower than the standard that has been set). The DL class was a big whiff, even though there were some recruiting challenges with the weak west coast DL class. Linebackers… at least we are signing a couple I guess? Both of those guys would be great as our third LB we take, not as our top two options. The defense was a poor effort overall.

You’re spot on about the offense though, holy SHIT that OL class is unbelievable. It’s especially great considering how weak the class in the west was for OL. Not only did we get a great class, but no one else in the PAC came close. Our WRs are insanely good, and Mark Redman probably has the highest NFL ceiling of anyone we have had since ASJ.

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I would consider this a win if it gets rid of the dead weight in recruiting especially gregory. I think this is also a window to say goodbye to Harris greatly simplifying the recruitment of GA.

utahdawgfan wrote:

MillennialDoog wrote:

I think you’re too easy on the defensive class. The only + position we got was OLB because of Sav’ell. The overall defensive class is closer to a D+ or C- imo. Worst DB class we have had since… maybe since Jimmy Lake has been here? (I still think there are some solid players there, just much lower than the standard that has been set). The DL class was a big whiff, even though there were some recruiting challenges with the weak west coast DL class. Linebackers… at least we are signing a couple I guess? Both of those guys would be great as our third LB we take, not as our top two options. The defense was a poor effort overall.

You’re spot on about the offense though, holy SHIT that OL class is unbelievable. It’s especially great considering how weak the class in the west was for OL. Not only did we get a great class, but no one else in the PAC came close. Our WRs are insanely good, and Mark Redman probably has the highest NFL ceiling of anyone we have had since ASJ.

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I would consider this a win if it gets rid of the dead weight in recruiting especially gregory. I think this is also a window to say goodbye to Harris greatly simplifying the recruitment of GA.

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I like Harris. I am perfectly happy to have him coaching safeties and Gerald coaching Corners and as Recruiting Coordinator.

My class grades:

QB: B-
RB: B-
OL: A
WR: A
TE: B

Offense overall: B+/A-

Landing Yary would move TE to B+ and would solidify an A- grade for the offense.

DL: F
OLB: A-
ILB: C+
DB: B-

Defense Overall: C/C-

I am considering Sawyer Racanelli as part of the OLB group because I don’t believe he will be a WR for the long haul. Adding a decent DL would move the Defense class to a C+.

AIRWOLF wrote:

My class grades:

QB: B-
RB: B-
OL: A
WR: A
TE: B

Offense overall: B+/A-

Landing Yary would move TE to B+ and would solidify an A- grade for the offense.

DL: F
OLB: A-
ILB: C+
DB: B-

Defense Overall: C/C-

I am considering Sawyer Racanelli as part of the OLB group because I don’t believe he will be a WR for the long haul. Adding a decent DL would move the Defense class to a C+.

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B- for QB? I think Garbers might be the best QB we’ve signed out of HS under the Pete/Lake era (not counting Huard who hasn’t signed or Eason).

Garbers definitely put up eye popping stats at the high school level but HS stats have very little correlation with success at the next level. You have the remember that he had a Stanford WR and Redman who is basically a young Gronk.

Garbers could be successful and I don’t think anyone is saying he can’t be. But nothing on his film stood out as National Championship caliber QB.

Remember B- according to our rubric would be a QB for the 15-16th ranked team in CFB. That by no means is bad but someone like Sirmon has the physical skills to be a A or A+ if everything clicks mentally. Not sure I can see Garbers being more than a top 10 QB as a ceiling.

Woof wrote:

AIRWOLF wrote:

My class grades:

QB: B-
RB: B-
OL: A
WR: A
TE: B

Offense overall: B+/A-

Landing Yary would move TE to B+ and would solidify an A- grade for the offense.

DL: F
OLB: A-
ILB: C+
DB: B-

Defense Overall: C/C-

I am considering Sawyer Racanelli as part of the OLB group because I don’t believe he will be a WR for the long haul. Adding a decent DL would move the Defense class to a C+.

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B- for QB? I think Garbers might be the best QB we’ve signed out of HS under the Pete/Lake era (not counting Huard who hasn’t signed or Eason).

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I mean, if you ignore Sirmon too, then I guess so.

But yeah, I was following our grading scale, which says a B- is somewhere in the mid-teens. I just looked at the 247 Sports composite ranking and it looks like he has risen to somewhere around 12th or 13th, so maybe you could call it a B.