Grade the 2016 Recruiting Class

I'll wait to grade it when it's finished

Too early to really tell, but I'll give it a B+ based on the information we do have.

Whaley, Hammonds, Jordan Jones, and Kelly are a nice package of offensive skill players, especially Whaley and Hammonds who are versatile players and a threat to score from anywhere on the field. The defensive front 7 class was a homerun as far as Arkansas is concerned. We could have landed 1 more top rated OL, one more high quality defensive back, and it would have been awesome to land a RB like Porter, but throw out what we hoped for and just take a look at what we got, and it is very solid.

I go with. B

Numbers were a bit low
Landed some good depth
Landed a couple who can hopefully step in at OL through JUCO signings
Landed the nations #3 RB
Landed a stud 5* DE
Had a good LB haul
Had a great year in Louisiana

It was a solid class. B+ overall. There has been a lot of Bert bashing and whining about mot signing 25 from some people that I'd love to buy some vagasil for and make the itchy/outchies go away, but we got quality players and addressed needs pretty well. 7 of our 20 had offers from Bama, and most of the others had excellent offer lists as well.

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All that matters is creating a culture of winning and implementing a system

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Every coach has a system that they implement. Not all have good results. A culture of winning requires winning which is happening more and more here but requires both the x's and o's plus the Jimmie and joes. Not every kid will contribute and there will be busts in this class. The questions I have are based on that probability and reducing the number taken reduces the number of misses you can have in a class for it to really help you along for 4 years. That's why most every coach will take some reaches on signing day when the 1st and 2nd options go elsewhere instead of leaving blank spots in a class.

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recruiting rankings don't mean much

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They aren't the end all be all but to pretend there is no substance behind them is silly.

I'll wait to grade these chickens until after they've hatched.

I'll give it a B just based on the defensive recruits alone. We filled all our needs on that side of the ball, especially in the LB corps. Could've used one more stud RB and maybe an OL, if so it could've easily been an A- class. The numbers were lower than we wanted, but those we did end up with are all quality. I haven't seen ONE highlight video from this class and thought "meh...." or "this looks like a sunbelt quality player" like in years past. Some will need some time, but they all look like they could either be SEC ready or have the potential to be after a RS year. This is more than we could say about years past.

B


Needed a legit safety I don't think we got one. Meh on the the we signed. O line class is not great but Pittman



Its a really solid class though and as long as their is no attrition will make noise

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eeded a legit safety I don't think we got one. Meh on the the we signed. O line class is not great but Pittman

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This

If I could only pick one signee to really surprise and overachieve to their ranking I would pick Deon Edwards.

He's rated a solid 3 star but we really needed a stud. Maybe we have one and just don't know it yet.

We never get a solid DB out of Arkansas because they're all RB and WR. I wish one of our WRs in this class or the last one would tell coach they want to go to safety and give us some talent and speed back there.

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I'll wait to grade it when it's finished

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This. Currently a B-.