Woo hoo, we are only 27 days away from the countdown!
I don't follow recruiting all that closely, but a couple of times a year I dive in to see where we are and how we are doing. Now seemed like a good time with the stories on captain underpants heading off to dogpoop U. and the glass is always half-full outlook that the Miamuh paper gives us, that and the snow has finally melted.
The recruiting class we just signed had an average ranking from the 3 major services of 12.33 (ESPN #5, Scout #21, Rivals #11). The low rankings can be attributed almost entirely to a small recruiting class. The Scout and Rivals give you more points the more players you sign, ESPN scores by average rank of player. For example, Scout had us at #21, but with an average player rank of 3.81 stars which was the 3rd best in the country, Rivals had us at #11, with an average star rank of3.94 for #1 in the country. ESPN doesn't use stars, rather they use their Top 150 rankings. We had 8 of the top 150 and that was good for 5th in the country and they ranked us 5th. This all follows on the heels of 2007 where we had the consensus #1 recruiting class and 2008 with a composite ranking of 6th. So, we are a very stocked talented team and are still on track to bring in another top class.
In 2007 UF signed 27 players, in 2008 22 and in 2009 16. For the 2010 class it looks like we will be signing 24-27 players. Although the NCAA rules state you can have 85 players on scholarship and can sign a maximum of 25 in any given year, we can over sign if we can get some early entrants to count against last year (that is what we did in 2007).
We currently have 82 on scholarship and have 15 seniors so that leaves us with a minimum of 18 scholarships for this year, assuming no one leaves early and there is no other attrition due to injuries, grades, transfers, etc. In a normal year, we can expect 3-5 players to leave and 2-3 leave to go pro. I don't think this year is any different and we will lose 5-8 players allowing us to sign 23-26 for the class of 2010.
Given that, we already have 12 players committed for 2010 and 9 of the 12 are ESPN 150 recruits! What our needs are are anybodies guess, but we will have a greater need at the non-skill positions this year, depending on who goes early.
My breakdown for 2010 looks like this:
QB - Have Brantley and Reed returning - need to sign 1 or 2 more - currently have Trey Burton committed
RB - Have Moody, Rainey, Demps & Gillisee returning - probably need 2 more - no commits this is a major need for a top flight RB (only 2 of 25 on top 150 watch list have verbaled)
FB - Have Wilks and Pridemore - probably need 1 - no commits yet (need one for class separation)
TE - Have Hernandez, Parks returning - Need 2-3 more - Have 2 commits (Hernandez is a good candidate to go pro)
WR - We have Williams, Thompson, Wilson, Debose, Hines, Hammond & Lawrence returning - need 2-3 more - no commits, but this will be a hard spot given the 4 FR in the class last year, also not many of the WRs on the 150 watch list have committed (7 of 43)
OL - We have 17 returning OL with only the Pouncey's with a shot at leaving early, we will still sign 2-3 more and already have 2 verbals
DT - Have Sanders, Antwine, Marsh, Herbert, Howard, Hunter and Brown returning - need 2-3 more - have 1 verbal - potential for early entry from this position too.
DE - Have Dunlap, Trattou, Lemens, Cunningham, Johnson, Okine & Green returning - need 3-4 more - no verbals - likely that 1 or 2 go pro
LB - Have 8 returning , but will still need 2 more - have 1 verbal
CB - Will have 6 returning Jenkins, Haden, J Jenkins, Brown, Bushell, Evans - Need 2-3 more - have 2 verbals - Haden a likely early entrant to NFL
S - Will have Wright, Black, Hill and Finley returning - need 4 more - have 4 verbals - With a big year Wright might go early
K/P - Will have Henry and Sturgis back - needs 0-1 - Not sure they will give a scholly to a kicker
Based on the projected needs above, we will sign 23 - 30. I don't think we get near 30, but 25 or 26 is a good bet.
So now we can start pining over 17 and 18 year old HS men, praise them when they tell us they had a great visit to UF and question their a) intelligence, b) ethics, c) morals or d) all of the above when they commit elsewhere. Next I will evaluate the 2013 draft prospects for our incoming freshmen class, not.
Ken K.
MNGator
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- [gatortalk] The next 127 days... ken
