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(01-22-2018 08:45 AM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  We really need a strong class this year to get things balanced out and keep the momentum going, but it doesnt seem like that is happening.

I personally don’t think the way we recruited during the shutdown was or is sustainable. A fair amount of the players we signed were partial qualifiers or players who had big-time offers coming out of high school but not-so-much in the JUCO ranks. We are now on a level playing field and I think the results are OK. We signed 10 guys in December. My biggest takeaway was the quality of the high school recruits, which is somewhat uncommon for our program. See: Michael Fairbanks (17 offers), Dylan Hopkins (16 offers), Jaylen Key (5 offers, including UCF), DeShaun Oliver (local player w/ 7 offers). Oliver is the lowest ranked prospect but he is likely to be a package deal with his high school teammate, Starling Thomas. I’m highly impressed w/ two of the JUCO signees (Colby Ragland and Austin Watkins, Jr.) and the rest, on paper, are “meh.” But we have had plenty of “meh” players becsome big-time contributors on the field, so we’ll see.

As far as the Feb. signing period is concerned - Clark said he only has 6 spots to fill. I’m guessing that means total but I guess it’s possible he means in addition to the commitments he already has? Assuming he only has 6 total spots available, I wouldn’t expect any surprises. The staff has been on Adarius McWilliams for a long time. I’d expect him to be a lock unless someone offers him late. The staff obviously wants Starling Thomas and his friend, CD Daniels. Both would be great additions. My gut feeling is we hold onto Thomas but Daniels picks up a bigger offer on or around signing day. Jalen Rayam would be an absolute stud addition but I don’t know what our chances are.

I’m rambling now but my main points are I don’t expect us to have as many “flashy” signings as we did when the program was shut down, the December signing period demonstrated our new ability to sign high quality high school recruits, and the Spring signing period is looking like a toss up right now. If we land Thomas, Daniels, McWilliams, & Rayam or Forte + 2 or 3 JUCO fillers, I’d be very happy. We have a lot of players returning from an 8 win team so next year should be a good season but we’ll lose a lot from the Senior class.

Spot on Frenchbeef. I really like Fairbanks, I think hes a great addition. Hopkins as well.

Class looks like it will be solid to me filling needs. I expect a solid finish with the few spots we have left. Knowing we had specific holes to fill I wasn’t expecting flashy. I like our direction.

So, for one to whom the names mean absolutely nothing, how did we do?

Recruiting at this level really is an inexact science, and the only way to really know how we did is to ask in 3-4 years.

If you want an indicator to go off of in the mean time, then really the best way to judge is by going off what the coaching staff that is doing the recruiting thinks. When you see us suddenly interested in a lot of new players this late in the game after a lot of the players we were formerly recruiting are committing elsewhere, then that means we are missing out on kids that our own staff liked and thought we had a chance to sign and looking for a plan B.

It'll be interesting to see how our recruiting changes once the stadium project gets off the ground and then further changes when we start playing games in it.

In other words its recruiting. We are not a power 5 school and we are in the same boat as most non-power conferences. That said We only have about 6 or so spots to fill not 20. I like where we are filling needs. We even snared a five star punter.

I remember last season having asst coaches from a few P5 schools follow me on twitter the week before signing day... I guarantee you they were trolling the waters looking for a player to poach. It's one of the reasons I really hate public announcements of verbal commitments.

There has also been a dramatic increase in the number of schools recruiting Alabama hard. FAU just offered 3 top Jrs(2019) from the same high school(Jackson-Olin). In addition, many P5 schools are now making Alabama a priority - 3 star AL players are in great demand. Recruiting within the state has gotten a lot more difficult. Many guys want to leave to play ball anyway, and this relatively new recruting emphasis from outside of Alabama falls right into that...

OL Keith Williams to Colorado state

OL coach Trey Clark made a visit out to ASA college to see Henry Yoboue today

It is likely that UAB will sign as many desirable athletes as it can - up to the 25 / 85 limit. UAB will not sign space / bench fillers just for numbers but will not pass on good ones and will sort them out later. Clark knows how to write "pink slips" as well as any other coach if it comes to that. That is part of the one year scholarship deal and the players know all about it.