BillySee58

It would be really interesting if Fine still doesn't sign on Wednesday

Yeah, but if he thinks he can get a good high school QB next year, shouldn't he be using the scholarships on guys who will still be here after his first semester on campus? I agree, another grad transfer could be in the works. Hopefully they don't get rid of that rule like they've talked about.

The main reason I'm confused about all these juco pickups is that sure, this year we'll have Moreis, but even then it's hard to imagine going to a bowl in year 1. It usually takes even juco guys a year to get adjusted, just like last year with guys like Combs. Then in year 2 our returning QB stable isn't looking good. Why not get more high school kids or save spots for high school kids, or even JUCOs next class? I think I'd rather have guys who will be here in 2018 and 2019 when we hopefully have a good QB situation.

Can't make this stuff up

Truthfully, I think Littrell's first class is starting to look pretty similar to Mccarney's first class in 2011 (not necessarily a bad thing). This is, of course comparing based on offer lists. A major difference is the focus on JUCOs with this class, as well as the two key FBS transfers. Comparing the top recruits so far of 2016 to the most highly recruited in 2011: - 2016 JUCO LB William Johnson's offer list looks a lot like 2011 JUCO TE Andrew Power's - 2016 RB Nic Smith's offer list is similar to 2011 OL Cyril Lemon's - 2016 OL Chandler Anthony's offer list is similar to 2011 LB Derek Akunne's - 2016 WR Rico Bussey has more FBS offers than 2011 DB Freddie Warner had, but Warner had a P5/BCS offer in Texas Tech where Bussey did not Again, this isn't a bad thing. 3 of those 4 guys from 2011 mentioned spent time in NFL camps, 2 were all-conference, and Warner appeared on track to be as well before injuries tragically de-railed his career. The key will be to finish strong and follow up this class with a good, hopefully better class next year. Unfortunately we followed up the 2011 class with a class in 2012 that had many players with no other FBS offers and a class that has produced very little outside of Carlos Harris.

Oh, okay. I thought I remembered one of the coaches following a player named Harrison at one point. Edit: It was this kid. Thought we would pursue him at some point. I liked his film. http://247sports.com/Player/Jhakari-Harrison-78272

Harrison?

Just ignore Fine and there's your list. We don't have any blueshirts, unless the player was told not to announce it. They could personally announce it, but the school or coaches couldn't acknowledge it until they put the player on scholarship. Vito said it looks like Fine is walking on in his recent blog post about Pirtle coming to do the same.

He did, and I acknowledged that. But we ended up finding out that he did offer Putu. So it's pretty clear that was the reason for that visit to their juco. Generally speaking, juco players committing almost never affect high school recruiting at the same position. So yes

I think that is him. He's from Nashville, and that school he's playing for is in Nashville. Interesting if true

Florida was recruiting his teammate Putu. That's why Mcelwain was in town.

He has said to Vito that that's where he's being recruited to play (at Rover)

I said that I counted 60 returning scholarship players still on the roster, meaning we could sign the full25. But there's almost a certainty that those 60 don't remain completely intact between now and fall camp. History says some quit, transfer, etc.

There goes the idea that he may have lost his spot to Johnson. I'm guessing that means Johnson will be one of the two LBs in the box and Ejodamen will compete for that Rover-type spot.

I wonder if Bradley will be back after all. Vito said he might be back after reports were that he was transferring. He's still not back on the roster. If Bradley, Kidsy, and Johnson are all gone that could open things in the return game for Tyler Wilson. Wilson averaged 42 yards/kickoff return last year at Arlington Martin.

Looks like Johnson is gone after all. http://www.scout.com/player/193686-nick-smith/recruiting?year=2015

And Wheeler

Sorry. Meant Keena

This staff appears to value JUCOs, so that tells me they may not be as concerned about having good young depth across the board at all times. That being said, when looking at last class and this current class, here's where we are lacking in the underclassmen department on our roster. QB - Obvious one. Our QB last class was Chumley, who all indications are he won't finish his career there. At the very least he's a guy you need to bring good competition around to make him earn any spot he gets. Fine was not announced as a scholarship commit like the others, so it looks like that hole is unfilled for this class. RB - Nic Smith was a huge pickup. However, we didn't sign an RB last class. Maybe we get one more if we can pull a good one like Deandre Cook at the last minute, but if not I think we just roll with Smith and look at maybe getting two next class. WR - I think we're done here unless we could still maybe flip Keenen Johnson. TE - Littrell really didn't use TEs much at North Carolina. Our current TEs consist of three who were not highly recruited (as tight ends) in high school and have yet to play a snap in an undecided game here. The fact that he has gone after so many JUCOs yet no JUCO TEs despite that fact tells me Littrell isn't too concerned about getting a whole lot out of his tight ends. OL - JUCO OL Cody Hayes seems like the obvious one here. After him I think we could benefit from one interior high school OL to go along with high school offensive tackle Chandler Anthony. DL - Still without a high school DL, however, Ozougwu and English both may have all 4 years of playing eligibility left. I think we could really use another high school DE. The only one we signed last year left, in Eli Howard, and the class before that we also only signed one (Tillman Johnson. LB - Another spot we neglected last class (outside of McNair at the last minute) and still don't have a high school commit at. With only two LBs and one hybrid in the base package, maybe depth isn't as vital here. However, I really think we could use at least one high schoo LB this class. DB - Safety was, surprise, another position we neglected last class as far as high schoolers. I really think we need a high school safety this class, as the last high school safety we signed was Kishawn Mcclain. I think we're good at corner for now. K/P - Probably not a scholarship guy but maybe a PWO to groom a punter for when Keena leaves after this year.

He just said not to expect much this class, as in don't have unrealistic expectations. He never said we couldn't pass up teams we should've been ahead of a long time ago to get to 10th in CUSA. I think it's a realistic possibility we would've ended up with some of these players had Mccarney still been here. This was Mccarney's strategy for this class all along. A guy like Moore who has to part with Rice because of grades, and a guy like Nic Smith who waits, gets injured and doesn't get to improve his stock, and loses his spot with the other schools who recruited him. That's what Mccarney/Grant kept those open spots for, so we wouldn't have to actually win recruiting battles and still get players like that. That being said, I absolutely believe this staff is much better at recruiting than the last. Doing a good job finding good prospects whose recruitments had cooled down. We're still not exactly showing great ability to win actual head-to-head recruiting battles against a school where the recruit has taken an official visit. That's where this staff can still stand to improve, but they appear to be relentless which is more than half the battle, IMO.

I was hoping it would be an outright flip from rice. Even though it sounds like it was a grade issue, doesn't change the fact that we got a player Rice (at least their coaching staff) wanted

Today, as of 15 minutes ago. Until then it was obvious, and he had even said it looked like he was going to flip, but he hadn't gotten official word from Moore.

I have no clue

By signing day, maybe. But I could see us signing up to 22 for this class by the time fall camp starts. I just hope our post signing day recruits work out better than they did for Mccarney.

We think so, but it was never officially confirmed.