LasVegasIrish

I’ve been told my multiple people this isn’t something to worry about. Mostly just smoke to create some drama on signing day. Schools have reached out though to at least inquire. Lea has spoken with the recruits and will do more of that until he’s at Vandy officially.

From my understanding they still plan on having the recruiting weekend.

That’s saying it nicely

Awful is a strong word. CB recruiting has not been a strength of the staff over the last 4-5 years from strictly a rankings perspective, but most of their guys have worked out pretty damn well. Here is to hoping Mickens only improves it. With that said, you have Crawford coming back who was a top notch recruit and while on the field has been really good. Bracy was a high 3 star guy and has looked good the first two seasons, and is someone I really like for the next two years. After that, you have Rutherford and Wallace - both redshirt freshman former 4 stars. Cam Hart is raw, but same boat as Rutherford and Wallace - he is a redshirt freshman and has length. Then you have 2-3 freshman corners, and while they might not play a major in role in 2020, I'd venture to guess at least one of the guys churns out a nice college career. Henderson has speed and length. Offord is polished, and Lewis is a very good HS WR that the staff targeted early and made a priority. They think his skills can really translate in the backend. Give it time before we simply call it awful depth.

Bench Press is probably going to be gone from the combine soon anyways. It is not the best predictor of strength, but moreso weight room dedication. Fwiw, Hunter Renfroe only had 7 reps last year, and he was a starter on a national champion team and had a good first year in the NFL. Someone like Finke isn't going to wow teams with his strength anyways. If he wows teams it will be in his speed drills.

It's definitely in part because of the high volume of LBs on the roster currently, but I still think they land at least 2 this cycle.

Survive and advance. If they win the remaining games + 1 tourney game I think they get in.

I’ve been preaching for Bowers at LB. Think he could be a dominant Mike or Buck. Also, the staff is recruiting McMillon at Rover so there is one LB, technically speaking. Think the board expands though, but I’ve also heard they could be content only taking 1 LB this year still. I really want the staff to pursue Benjamin Perry, Tyler McLaurin and Cole Bishop.

Honestly, not completely sure. I was surprised he didn’t make the jump in the recent recruiting rankings updates to be quite honest. I wouldn’t go as far to say he will make a Kyle Hamilton level jump, but I’m confident in saying he will be a consensus middle to high four-star when the final rankings come out next year. I think your first observation is the most likely. He recently blew up with offers and hasn’t really had the opportunity to hit the camp circuit yet. Believe he will this spring/summer.

Abiara expected for the big March weekend. Huge news

I don't think he would really be a TE in the traditional sense. The move TE or big slot suits his game really well and he would be matchup nightmare. The TE position is so much different in today's game, especially from team to team.

Released a top 10: Baylor, Pitt, Penn State, Stanford, Memphis, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Virginia, Notre Dame, Villanova

Man I really want Onye and Abiara!

But a profile also includes who is recruiting the kid. Does ND do well when they are battling the likes of UNC, Duke etc? No. This kid is considering in state schools Pitt and Penn State, Stanford, Baylor and Notre Dame. I think that’s an important anecdote.

Agree to disagree a little bit here. He traditionally lands at least 1 top 100 guy per cycle. For me, it just semantics when it's a top 50 vs. top 100 or whatever metric you want to have it be. You also don't find many guys like Jeffress with the basketball/academic profile as strong as his. Does that mean ND lands him? Absolutely not. It might even be harder to land him with him reclassifying. Less time to build a relationship. Plus, to be fair to his ranking, 247 sports has not updated his profile to 2020 yet while Rivals has. He is number 75 in the Rivals top 100 for the 2020 class. Going back to back to 2003, these are guys that are right around that top 100 or better. A few of the guys that were a tad over were still heavily recruited players. My main point here is a profile fit is a profile fit. I don't care if the guy is ranked 50 or 120 cuz in reality I don't see a huge difference - especially in Brey's system. My biggest thing is I don't believe all of these guys he brings in are really that below the radar. Top 150 HS basketball recruits are still very good and highly recruited. He doesn't do a good job at landing the one and dones, that is essentially it. 2003: Falls 2004: Kurz 2005: Zeller, Ayers, McAlarney 2006: Harangody, Jackson 2010: Grant, Atkins 2011: Connaughton 2012: Biedscheid, Auguste 2013: Jackson, Beachem, Vasturia 2014: Geben, Colson 2015: Ryan, Pflueger 2016: Gibbs, Mooney 2017: Harvey 2018: Laszewski, Carmody, Hubb, Goodwin, Ryan (if you want to count him now) I do think we are closer to agreeing than are discussion portrays though. FWIW, ND had an assistant coach in to see him last night

I mean he has won very similar profiles in the past. This isn't a one and done type of kid. I am not even sure how heavily they are pursuing, as it is still kinda early for him. Just like there have been whiffs the past two cycles, Brey has also had a lot of hits of this caliber.

William Jeffress, currently a 2021 recruit - ranked top 50 in the country. Looks to be reclassifying to the 2020 class. Very talented basketball player and maybe more talented in the classroom. Will take officials after the season. Notre Dame, Pitt, Stanford and Baylor look to be the biggest players. Would be a huge recruiting win if Brey and co can pull it off. Best part, he will graduate at age 17.

And that’s fair. Not every hire is gonna work out - and coaches can learn from past mistakes as well.

Exactly. That was honestly my biggest point, was just using football as an example.

While Mickens played for coach Kelly, this isn’t really want anyone should consider a Kelly hire. He’s been a coach or analyst since 2011 and never with Kelly. He did an outstanding job at every stop - always having great secondary production and is viewed as a really good recruiter as well. Also, one little quick tidbit: All coaches hire guys they are familiar with. I hear the same crap with every team I follow in professional sports too. This isn’t some Kelly specific thing, and that’s what bugs me most about the fanbase when this happens. It’s a common hiring practice lol.

I typically hate this term, because if you have solid backup options then usually you’ll be fine...but they have to land a top RB and Shipley looks like the most likely one. They also need a top notch CB. Jakailin Johnson and Ceyair Wright are two guys specifically that are top targets. David Abiara is a rare breed at defensive end, so hopefully Elston can keep that train rolling. After not taking a LB last year, you gotta land a few guys this cycle, but that board is still very much fluid. Hard to determine specific names that would be must gets. And then with all the OL talent they are in on and after only taking 2 guys this cycle, I would say at least 2 of their top guys need to end up in the class - and I’m confident that will happen.

Kelly offered Mickens over Parker. Not sure what that means for Parker, but it looks like Mickens is the guy if he wants it. Steeples is next in line for an interview if Mickens doesn’t accept. He might want more than just CB coach - that’s really the only possible hold up. Plus, if Fickell takes the MSU job, Mickens could follow and be promoted to DC.

Yeah, it's unfortunate

Well said Big, and hard to disagree with your thoughts. Kelly's classes average at almost exactly 22 recruits per class with a few outliers. Outside of that, pretty much everything class has been 21-24 kids. If he can continue what he did this year, but like you said continue his average, things will continue to point up.

Yep. Looks like his parents told him he needs to take some more time which I can respect. Notre Dame/OU battle from all indications.