re: 2018 Football Recruiting Thread -- Final OP Update Edition

Hoping for both the above options TBH.

Good ole JLee


Fwiw Watts CBd Langham to Bama last night which ain't a great sign at all

Gonna need a surprise Wednesday because we heading towards a 2012 closing again

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Tannor-Florida
Confidence-High

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How did we screw this up?

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Gonna need a surprise Wednesday because we heading towards a 2012 closing again

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On the bright side, 85% of our class has already signed. So we might not end up adding to it (substantially), but the class is already pretty much a top 10 class.

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the class is already pretty much a top 10 class.

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Yeah but there will be a huge asterisk to a top 10 class this year. Planning to take 4-5 OL in the class including 2 OT but likely only getting 2 OL & no OTs is a bad miss. The point of recruiting is meeting needs regardless of ranking. OL needs were definitely not met & one could argue CB & S needs weren't fully met either given all the DBs we have lost the past 18 months.

KN put up a recruiting insider this morning wrapping up the weekend. Nothing shocking, mostly a whole lot of "AU thinks they have a shot but aren't overly confident" stuff. Here's summary

- KN prefaced the article by saying that this time of year it's hard to get solid info because recruits either genuinely don't know where they are going or want to build drama. Also coaching staff don't want a ton coming out so other staffs aren't alerted to news on prospects. Bottom line he can't be sure of anything right now so everything below is the best info he's been able to get

- Of all the OVs this weekend AU might feel the best landing 4* WR JaMarr Chase. He took OV with his dad & AU rolled out red carpet. Apparently Kodi Burns, Chip Lindsey & Larry Porter spent a ton of him with Chase over the weekend. Chase spent time with all three QBs on the roster. Also his dad is known for where "He's Open" shirts & throughout the visit members of the coaching staff would wear something similar. Apparently on Sunday Gus wore it to send them off. It's gonna be tough to pull him out of LA but staff feels like they have a real shot

- 4* OT Richard Gouraige took the visit with his mom & brother. He gets along well with Tim Horton (area recruiter) so focus of visit was getting to know JB Grimes better who worked hard to convince him to OV the last 2 weeks. The feeling heading into the weekend was UF is the team to beat. The major reason being distance from home. Staff feels visit went well & really feel pairing Gouraige up with Tampa native Devan Barrett helped. Still the distance factor might end up being too much for AU to overcome

- Sounds like staff came away very impressed with 4* DL Malik Langham. He came off as intelligent, engaging & a good culture fit. Feeling is dad is sold on AU but aren't sure about Langham himself & his mom. Both were hard to read. Staff feels they did all they could to sell him on AU but concern is Bama getting on him earlier will prove the difference

- Unless something major happens, 4* DE Caleb Tannor won't sign with AU. KN tho says he isn't a lock to UF. NEB is a real threat

- Good chance by end of day today AU will know where they stand with 4* LB Quay Walker & 4* DL Malik Langham. Sounds like if they don't get good news they will make a major push for 3* DL Caleb Johnson who is a guy they really like but didn't think would have a spot. Feeling is if AU pushes they can take him away from UF

- Bottom line is KN says there isn't a guy that you can specifically say AU is absolutely gonna get but that they are in the race for all of them. Should be interesting final days



Worst case we get none (including Caleb Johnson) & either keep a few spots open for next year or make late offers to Cam Taylor/CD Daniels & try convince Nathaniel Watson to jump on board

Best case AU gets everybody

My Monday morning guess is AU gets Caleb Johnson, offers Cam Taylor & saves spot for Calvin Anderson but still 2 days to go & I am sure plenty of rumors/changes will come out over next few days

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Yeah but there will be a huge asterisk to a top 10 class this year. Planning to take 4-5 OL in the class including 2 OT but likely only getting 2 OL & no OTs is a bad miss. The point of recruiting is meeting needs regardless of ranking. OL needs were definitely not met & one could argue CB & S needs weren't fully met either given all the DBs we have lost the past 18 months.

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IMHO, this is what AU fans asked for (OL Recruiting)... Fans wanted Herb gone, and in leaving our hopes for a good OL close went out the door with him.

I disagree on the corner/safety recruiting. I think we hit a homerun at safety and got some very good corners.

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IMHO, this is what AU fans asked for (OL Recruiting)... Fans wanted Herb gone, and in leaving our hopes for a good OL close went out the door with him.

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Doesn't matter what the fans want. Bottom line is we didn't get the job done on OL recruiting. Besides word is Gus made the call before the bowl game that he was going to make a move on Hand after the Bowl so I don't think us fans had an impact there at all.

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I disagree on the corner/safety recruiting. I think we hit a homerun at safety and got some very good corners.

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Homerun at safety would be 3 in the class that could be ready to contribute immediately given we play 3 safeties or 2 safeties & a nickel on most plays. We signed 2 that could contribute immediately in Smoke & Sherwood but word is Smoke may have to play CB in year 1 because of depth issues there. The other 2 potential safeties in the class: Marsh could anywhere from safety to growing into a DE given his frame, & Fugua who has a shoulder injury & unlikely to contribute in year 1. We only have 2 or 3 safeties on roster before counting this class. We needed more depth there than 1-2 that can contribute early.

At CB, Tutt had issues versus good competition so very good is a stretch. On McCreary, although very athletic he's still a project that needs a lot of polish.

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Heck, Im worried about recruiting for next year, arent the top three in state prospects all bama leans (one already committed)?

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Webb is assumed to be a Bama lean but IDK that to be the case. He visited AU last season plenty of times.

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So we can go fight the dawgs for some prospects. Good news is they are so loaded they dont even need an offensive lineman next year.

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With the state of Alabama down overall we should be hitting Mississippi hard and Florida w/ UF & FSU having new staffs.

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Florida w/ UF & FSU having new staffs

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Not sure new staffs mean much, (insert Kirby, Pruitt..)