OrangeBowlMagic
CEO
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2014
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If you remember my thread from last year on the Race to 300 (https://www.canesinsight.com/threads/the-race-to-300.178428/), I pledged my allegiance to being a filthy, smelly, dirty little star *****, wrote a bunch of words nobody cares about on how 300 points on the composite is the gold standard for the truly elite, program-changing classes, and if you want to truly win championships and have a program that has SUSTAINED SUCCESS, you absolutely, positively, MUST be at or near this number for multiple classes.
Well, we got close. We finished with the #7 class, with 284 points. There were only 3 programs that got to 300....Alabama (327), Georgia (315), and Texas (306). Still, I think we all agree, last year was excellent, but if you want to win, you need to stack these classes one on top of each other.
So can we get there this year?
I was asked a few times through the spring, and my short answer was "no". And I haven't changed that stance. Howeverrrrrrrr......your boy might be leaning a little bit after the past month or so. I still don't think we'll get there, because I don't think the offensive class will be good enough, largely due to how utterly horrific we were on offense last year and a lot of kids taking the "wait and see" approach....but can we at least get to 284 again and approach a Top 5 class? I think the answer to that is "yes".
Even though we have 10 commits, and only one is a 4-star, I think we have enough in play to make a realistic run at a Top 5 class. I went to the 247 class calculator, and plugged in a few things. You guys help me out with what I'm missing, but my first assumption is we hold onto all 10 current commits. Probably unlikely given the history and the landscape, but that's what I went with. And then I plugged in the following kids. Again, this obviously would be a MAJOR haul, to start. Do we actually sign every single one of these kids? No. But we have SIGNIFICANT traction with all of them, and I don't think a single person would be shocked if any of these kids sign here. This is where I started:
Dylan Stewart
Justin Scott
Jojo Trader
Aydin Breland
Jerrick Gibson
Zaquan Patterson
Elija Lofton
James Nesta
Only added those 8 to the class, for a total of 18 kids (we'll obviously sign more), and it spits out 264.31. Good for what would have been the 16th best class in the country last year, again with only 18 kids. When you start adding some other solid prospects here and there, I think we do have a realistic shot to get up into the mid 280's and push easily into the Top 10 with scaring the Top 5. Which would be an incredible effort coming off a 5-7 season with the staff turnover we had.
Who am I missing that you guys think are virtual locks to be in the class....and yes, I know that's a **** of an assumption to be made for an uncommitted kid in June. But if we get the 8 above, or even their equivalent (like Breland doesn't come but Stone does, something like that), I think we can push for a truly elite class again. 300 would be very, very surprising to me. But 280 is doable, IMO, and if you stack 2 classes on top of each other like that, you're going to have one of the most talented rosters in the country very quickly.
Well, we got close. We finished with the #7 class, with 284 points. There were only 3 programs that got to 300....Alabama (327), Georgia (315), and Texas (306). Still, I think we all agree, last year was excellent, but if you want to win, you need to stack these classes one on top of each other.
So can we get there this year?
I was asked a few times through the spring, and my short answer was "no". And I haven't changed that stance. Howeverrrrrrrr......your boy might be leaning a little bit after the past month or so. I still don't think we'll get there, because I don't think the offensive class will be good enough, largely due to how utterly horrific we were on offense last year and a lot of kids taking the "wait and see" approach....but can we at least get to 284 again and approach a Top 5 class? I think the answer to that is "yes".
Even though we have 10 commits, and only one is a 4-star, I think we have enough in play to make a realistic run at a Top 5 class. I went to the 247 class calculator, and plugged in a few things. You guys help me out with what I'm missing, but my first assumption is we hold onto all 10 current commits. Probably unlikely given the history and the landscape, but that's what I went with. And then I plugged in the following kids. Again, this obviously would be a MAJOR haul, to start. Do we actually sign every single one of these kids? No. But we have SIGNIFICANT traction with all of them, and I don't think a single person would be shocked if any of these kids sign here. This is where I started:
Dylan Stewart
Justin Scott
Jojo Trader
Aydin Breland
Jerrick Gibson
Zaquan Patterson
Elija Lofton
James Nesta
Only added those 8 to the class, for a total of 18 kids (we'll obviously sign more), and it spits out 264.31. Good for what would have been the 16th best class in the country last year, again with only 18 kids. When you start adding some other solid prospects here and there, I think we do have a realistic shot to get up into the mid 280's and push easily into the Top 10 with scaring the Top 5. Which would be an incredible effort coming off a 5-7 season with the staff turnover we had.
Who am I missing that you guys think are virtual locks to be in the class....and yes, I know that's a **** of an assumption to be made for an uncommitted kid in June. But if we get the 8 above, or even their equivalent (like Breland doesn't come but Stone does, something like that), I think we can push for a truly elite class again. 300 would be very, very surprising to me. But 280 is doable, IMO, and if you stack 2 classes on top of each other like that, you're going to have one of the most talented rosters in the country very quickly.
