Lookback: 2017 recruiting class

So what you’re saying is we are Georgia...

This is our senior class 2020.
Senior leadership hopefully is
Fromm, Lecounte, Webb, Herring, Rice, and Stokes.

And I'm probably the only one who hasn't written off Landers (he isn't a leader, but if he gets improvement with his hands... he has the body/speed to be a solid contributor. that is a huge if).

I wouldn't be shocked to see a grad transfer at WR or TE if we have numbers in the class (or miss on 2 TEs as freshmen).

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I want Landers to turn it around, I do.

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He reminds me of Rumph. But he gets targets out of necessity where Rumph was covered by Conley, Bennett, Mitchell, McKenzie at the position and was rarely seen.

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In what world has Landers ever done anything of consequence?

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Not sure seeing the field but making no real contributions - well, positive contribution - makes you OK.

ETA - You had Zamir White listed as OK in his first season after injury, the same as Landers who did nothing. Also, should we grade kids on a scale?

Snaps =/= On Field Results, IMO

Landers has been a colossal disappointment

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If your ranking is .857 and you are getting as many big game snaps as Matt Landers has, then you have done a damn good job as a recruit.

It's why I don't label a low tier recruit a bust unless they leave the program for another school. I don't look at a Matt Landers and expect George Pickens.
I don't look at Tramel Walthour and expect even Devonte Wyatt.

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I understand, but wouldn't it be a more reliable measure to be able to say success is having 50% of top tier, 35% or mid tier, and 15% of lower tier recruits who were OK or better? That way you can benchmark and glean information.

Maybe I'm nitpicking but I just think it makes sense.

While I agree with the premise of what you’ve said i think that the context has to move landers to a “bust”. I don’t think bust is accurate but if you could label “out of his depth” or even something a smidge below “failure”.

I think it was Matt Chernoff who said something, and it may have even been about Simmons, but he said that when a kid, like Landers, is in the game and routinely failing to make plays or being a net negative overall then that’s not on the kid but the staff. Be it a failure to recruit proper depth or play someone better.

Landers has shown that, frankly, he isn’t capable of playing at this level. I can, with all honesty, not think of a time he helped the team. Maybe a ST tackle? A 5 yd reception here and there? What I can recall, and not even in totality, is times his inability deprived Georgia and opportunity or actually cost them something.

So, while Landers May have succeeded in that he’s been on the field I think that ultimately it’s unfair to say he, as a prospect, is good. He is clearly not capable and he is, perhaps unfairly, being put in positions that he simply cannot succeed in.

ETA: I guess you said that your counting snaps so I get it. I do question the quality of his snaps but again that’s on-field results. I just can’t fathom saying the kid has done anything positive and I don’t mean it as a personal attack to him. He just hasn’t.

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Maybe I'm nitpicking but I just think it makes sense.

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I think it is mostly semantics/subjectivity. Is a high 4 star recruit a bust if he is a starter? I've said yes if he has multiple arrests and no key games.

The main points from these are:
How many high 4 star/5 stars are great?
How many mid-tier recruits are great?
How many low-tier recruits are great?

A contributor (or even a very good looking one if it is WR, ILB, or RB that puts up stats) may only be a contributor because everyone else sucks. Herrien doesn't get many reps as a senior if he is still behind Chubb/Sony/Swift this season. Landers doesn't get snaps if he is behind Holloman, Ridley, Pickens, and Cager. So even the level of good/great contributions (Herrien) may be because a lack of success in other areas of recruiting (Holyfield leaving early, Cook/Zeus not playing elite despite the rankings). Nitpicking over Landers as "OK for a mid-3 star" really isn't as important as why he is getting reps.

If Landers comes back and is even just a capable rotational player it’ll be one of the more pronounced player turnarounds I’ll have seen in Athens.

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If Landers comes back and is even just a capable rotational player it’ll be one of the more pronounced player turnarounds I’ll have seen in Athens.

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There some positions and receivers are certainly the case in which we cannot afford mediocrity. We need to reach Alabama's level in terms of receiver quality a level in which players like Landers are processed to make room for outstanding/dynamic receivers.