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Class Rankings - How I see our recruits
dnc
Member Posts: 56,746
Currently we have 7 4 stars per 24.7 (Stars.gif) and 10 3 stars. Doog that I am, I like the class better than that, and I have a number of 3 stars ahead of some of the 4 stars. Here's how I have the class as it sits now (24/7 ranking in our class in parentheses).
DNC 5 Star - High floor, Superstar ceiling
1. Yankoff (2)
DNC 4 Star - Medium floor, superstar ceiling or high floor, high ceiling
2. Spiker (1) - Only thing that gives me pause is the lack of top end speed. If that develops, as I expect, he'll be unstoppable.
3. Osborne (5) - These two are pretty interchangeable. But Osborne is white so he slides in here.
4. Taimani (4) - Outside of Yankoff, probably the most important recruit in the class based on our current roster.
5. Hampton (15) - Most underrated kid in the class. Can. Not. Lose. Him. His ranking is a fucking joke.
6. QB Sirmon (3) - Superstar ceiling, but his floor is much lower than Yankoff's. Could be a top 5 draft pick or a guy who starts fewer than 5 D1 games. Most chinteresting recruit in the class. Huge variance. Bush's skills as a QB coach might have a lot to say about how he does.
7. Mele (9) - Nobody talks about him anymore but man, what a big get.
8. Curne (12) - Huff going into Arizona and Texas to get these two bodes very well for the future.
9. Lowe (6) - Hardest kid to read in the class for me. If they really use him as a RB primarily I'd move him up to around 7. If he's primarily in the slot I'd move him down to a 3 star.
10. Culp (11) - Probably would have been a consensus four star if he'd have been labeled a TE first rather than starting as a WR.
DNC high 3 Star - medium floor, very good ceiling or low floor, high ceiling
11. Bynum (7) - Really close to a 4 for me. Really like this kid. Probably never a star though, but a very solid starter one day.
12. ZTP (14) - About like I feel with Bynum
13. Other Sirmon (9) - Probably underrated since he's been committed so long. Had he waited until last month to commit I bet some places would have 4 stars on him. Really good get.
14. Tafisi (10) - Exciting to get multiple quality defenders from Utah.
15. Ale (16) - Could suck. Could be awesome. Along with Jake, biggest wild cards in the class. Can Huff develop him? If so, BRB, YO
DNC medium 3 Star - meh
16. Newton - Tried to talk myself into this kid. Failed. Really hope Lowe plays RB.
17. Liu - Still haven't forced myself to watch his film so maybe I'm too low on him. The possibility of him never excited me other than fucking with @89ute.
Where key targets would fall if they were the 18th commit in order of how much I like them:
Togiai - DNC 5 star, #2 in the class behind Yankoff
Tremblay - DNC 4, #5 behind Taimani (I like him better than Taimani but two years of eligibility is huge)
Kaho - DNC 4, #5 behind Taimani
Gordon - DNC 4, #6 ahead of Sirmon
Irvin - DNC 4, #6 ahead of Sirmon
Love to see everyone else's lists.
DNC 5 Star - High floor, Superstar ceiling
1. Yankoff (2)
DNC 4 Star - Medium floor, superstar ceiling or high floor, high ceiling
2. Spiker (1) - Only thing that gives me pause is the lack of top end speed. If that develops, as I expect, he'll be unstoppable.
3. Osborne (5) - These two are pretty interchangeable. But Osborne is white so he slides in here.
4. Taimani (4) - Outside of Yankoff, probably the most important recruit in the class based on our current roster.
5. Hampton (15) - Most underrated kid in the class. Can. Not. Lose. Him. His ranking is a fucking joke.
6. QB Sirmon (3) - Superstar ceiling, but his floor is much lower than Yankoff's. Could be a top 5 draft pick or a guy who starts fewer than 5 D1 games. Most chinteresting recruit in the class. Huge variance. Bush's skills as a QB coach might have a lot to say about how he does.
7. Mele (9) - Nobody talks about him anymore but man, what a big get.
8. Curne (12) - Huff going into Arizona and Texas to get these two bodes very well for the future.
9. Lowe (6) - Hardest kid to read in the class for me. If they really use him as a RB primarily I'd move him up to around 7. If he's primarily in the slot I'd move him down to a 3 star.
10. Culp (11) - Probably would have been a consensus four star if he'd have been labeled a TE first rather than starting as a WR.
DNC high 3 Star - medium floor, very good ceiling or low floor, high ceiling
11. Bynum (7) - Really close to a 4 for me. Really like this kid. Probably never a star though, but a very solid starter one day.
12. ZTP (14) - About like I feel with Bynum
13. Other Sirmon (9) - Probably underrated since he's been committed so long. Had he waited until last month to commit I bet some places would have 4 stars on him. Really good get.
14. Tafisi (10) - Exciting to get multiple quality defenders from Utah.
15. Ale (16) - Could suck. Could be awesome. Along with Jake, biggest wild cards in the class. Can Huff develop him? If so, BRB, YO
DNC medium 3 Star - meh
16. Newton - Tried to talk myself into this kid. Failed. Really hope Lowe plays RB.
17. Liu - Still haven't forced myself to watch his film so maybe I'm too low on him. The possibility of him never excited me other than fucking with @89ute.
Where key targets would fall if they were the 18th commit in order of how much I like them:
Togiai - DNC 5 star, #2 in the class behind Yankoff
Tremblay - DNC 4, #5 behind Taimani (I like him better than Taimani but two years of eligibility is huge)
Kaho - DNC 4, #5 behind Taimani
Gordon - DNC 4, #6 ahead of Sirmon
Irvin - DNC 4, #6 ahead of Sirmon
Love to see everyone else's lists.
Comments
class. Another Gaskin if they're smart and play
him at RB. Hated the Newton pickup.
BTW, DDY has Hampton as one of 5 DDY 3's in the class, so he's come all the way around on him. I think he's a baller.
Osborne excites me much more. Osborne is a long strider and can blow the top off defenses. It’s unreal how open he is on his Hudl. He’s good.
I love Culp. I think he will be a good one.
Zion and Bynum are better than their rankings.
Mele has tools. Not completely sold on him because of his size and strength, but that’s what Socha is here for. I could be completely wrong because some kids gain weight rapidly while some struggle to do so.
I don’t think Jacob Sirmon will ever be consistent enough, but the kid can really throw the ball at an elite level.
Both Tafisi and Jackson Sirmon look like good LB’s to me.
Otherwise, I appreciate the insight.
I agree completely that Lowe has to play RB. He'd be a perfect Lightning to someone else's Thunder IMO.
@RoadDawg55 I'm with you 100% on Mele and Sirmon.
And as far as Ale, I gotta say yes he does look like a turd currently. But!?!? If you are golden gloves champ at any level then you have good hands. And the dude is massive and Poly, idk, but personally I have wet dreams about what he can become.
DNC 5 Star - High floor, Superstar ceiling
1. Yankoff (2)
2. Kaho - High 4 star tape. High 5 star measurables. Going to be an absolute monster.
DNC 4 Star - Medium floor, superstar ceiling or high floor, high ceiling
3. Spiker (1)
4. Osborne (5)
5. Taimani (4)
6. Hampton (15)
7. Gordon (5) - Yeah I'm counting him. If he picks ND tonight you can blame me. I've gone back and forth on him versus Hampton. I think Gordon's more important but I like Hampton just a tiny smidge more. Both should be incredible.
8. QB Sirmon (3)
10. Mele (9)
11. Curne (12)
12. Lowe (6)
13. Culp (11)
DNC high 3 Star - medium floor, very good ceiling or low floor, high ceiling
13. Bynum (7)
14. ZTP (14)
15. Other Sirmon (9)
16. Tafisi (10)
17. Ale (16)
DNC medium 3 Star - meh
18. Newton (15)
19. Liu (19)
Coker
19. Fig
18. Zion
17. Ale
16. Tafisi
15. Liu
14. Lowe
13. Tennessee Sirmon
12. Draco
11. Taimani
10. Culp
9. Curne
8. Yankoff
7. Mele
6. Kaho
5. Spiker
4. Hampton
3. Gordon
2. Sirmon
1. Osborn
DDY
19. Fig
18. Liu
17. Tafisi
16. Zion
15. Ale
14. Tennessee Sirmon
13. Draco
12. Curne
11. Lowe
10. Culp
9. Mele
8. Taimani
7. Yankoff
6. Gordon
5. Sirmon
4. Spiker
3. Kaho
2. Hampton
1. Osborn
I love that DDY hated his #2 kid in the class upon committing. And I love that I cant knock him for having him that high.
18. Liu.
17. Ale
16.Tafisi
15. Zion
14. Sirmon
13. Draco
12. Curne
11.Culp
10. Lowe
9. Taimani
8. Yankoff
7. Mele
6. Gordon
5. Sirmon
4. Spiker
3. Osborne
2. Kaho
1. Hampton
1. Jacob Sirmon
For UW to compete at the national level, we will need a QB that has a healthy amount of irrational confidence and has the kind of arm talent that can allow us to win a game where we are out talented. Sirmon has that kind of ability. If he turns out to be the best recruit in this class, then we're in a position to be in the CFP with this class and also have a chance to win it as well.
2. Brandon Kaho
I've said this previously regarding Kaho, but he's got the kind of ability that reminds me a lot of what I saw in Atlanta last year with Reuben Foster. For elite players, the thing that stands out to be me is whether the game looks slow. The game looks slow for Kaho.
3. Marquis Spiker
I'm likely in the minority for liking Spiker a little more than Osborne ... but it really is a 1A and 1B kind of thing to me. What I see in Spiker is that he's just got the kind of silky smoothness to him that screams of a guy that masters the fundamentals. Everything looks easy.
4. Austin Osborne
The frame and the footwork is outstanding and really reminds me a bit of watching a guy like Ed McCaffrey as a WR ... although the comparison that Huge Mellons has cited of Jordy Nelson isn't a bad one either. In both cases, these guys are technicians and while I think there's a little bit of rounding out for Osborne to do he's well on his way to do so.
5. Kyler Gordon
The first time I watched Gordon's tape it felt like I was watching Budda's tape. While we have the kind of depth where we don't need to necessarily play Gordon next year, I wouldn't be surprised if we can't keep him off the field. He's the kind of player that just makes plays. Those guys are premium players to me.
6. Colson Yankoff
Yankoff could be higher on this list fairly easily. I do think that he's going to need a couple of years of development to him. I see a lot of parallels to Jake Locker in Yankoff. I don't think he has as much raw talent as Sirmon ... but the path for Yankoff backers is that his intangibles more than make up for any talent gaps that he may have and need to develop. The ideal path to me is that Sirmon takes the reigns to start and then Yankoff comes in once Sirmon heads off to the NFL.
7. Dominique Hampton
I can see why others have him ranked so high as you can see him as a playmaker. The film suggests that he's starting to figure out how play. I definitely see him being a little raw and how he grows will be determined by how much he develops in his fundamentals.
8. Matteo Mele
I personally feel that I may have Mele too low on this list. When you look at the elite LTs one of the common traits that you see of them is that they are generally tremendous athletes. When I think of LTs I think of guys like Anthony Munoz and Walter Jones. Both were tremendous athletes that combined great strength with elite movement skills. Watching Mele's film, he moves tremendously well for an OL. The challenge will be in getting him to add the needed 30+ pounds of strength to his body while keeping all of his athletic ability. With Socha in charge of that, I like Mele's chances to be an elite T for us.
9. Victor Curne
When I think of dominating G prospect, I think of a guy that has a combination of the ability to move while pulling but also having enough of a mean streak to want to bury guys. The other thing that I think about is that when you're at the elite level, you're going to have teams looking to find ways to expose your weaknesses. A lot of exotic blitzes come through the middle of the line trying to expose G's that are generally better run than pass blockers. If Curne was brought in to play T, I think he's got the ability to play on the outside and be able to be good at that. But if he plays on the inside, he's got a chance to be elite. That's what's needed at the elite level.
10. Devin Culp
I think Culp's got a chance to be a really, really good TE prospect for us. He's not Hunter Bryant athletic but still plenty good enough to cause significant matchup problems for defenses. He's got the frame to develop into a very good blocker. I'm not sure that I think Culp will be an elite player for UW given all of the talent within the program but he will be an important piece of the program and in the TE rotation going forward.
11. Sam Taimani
Arguably one of the most difficult pieces for me to get a read on in this class given that finding good DL film on him isn't the easiest. I think his floor is pretty high given what I've seen ... just not sure what his ceiling is.
12. Draco Bynum
I see a poor man's version of Levi in Bynum. He's a big kid with good athletic ability that will bulk up to play more on the inside. He'll be a guy on the inside that has good movement to him playing in the 280-285 range. Definitely will be a guy that will be a valuable portion of our rotation going forward.
13. Trey Lowe
If I was ranking Lowe as a RB, I'd be moving him into the Top 10 rather easily. However, as a WR in the Chico role, I just don't see as much value. As a runner, he's got a lot of Myles in him. We've made a significant shift in our WR/TE recruiting to target bigger targets as these are the guys that are going to win 1 on 1 battles in elite games. Lowe's got a lot of talent and I'm sure we'll figure out a way to use him.
14. Jackson Sirmon
It's a sign of how good the class is that Sirmon's ranked here. I love Sirmon's film. You can tell that he's been well coached growing up which makes sense given his father. Where I'm super excited with him is seeing how he drops into pass coverage ... his ability to do so in HS is really good for a college kid. Given his injury as a junior in HS there's likely still a little bit of room for recovery there as it normally takes 1 to come back to play and 1 to get back to where you were. My biggest concern with Sirmon going forward will be that given that he likely won't have as much room to grow in terms of fundamentals and technique, will he be the kind of kid that maximizes his ability early and he just is what he is?
15. MJ Tafisi
Absolute dynamite going downhill and as a blitzer. You can see a big difference between those situations and when he is either going sideline to sideline or having to drop into coverage. Those are things that can be coached up though. Will be really interesting to watch the development of Tafisi vs Sirmon going forward. I suspect that Sirmon will be better early in their career and Tafisi better by the time they graduate.
16. Zion Tupuola-Fetui
A little bit of a project to me because he'll most likely be moving inside and will be all about how he develops in the weight room and learns technique. I actually like his film. I think he's got a good chance to outperform this ranking.
17. Mosiah Nasili-Liu
Another kid that will be a bit of a project and it all will depend on how he develops. There are tools to work with here. But I'd be shocked if he was in a rotation prior to his RS Soph year.
18. MJ Ale
He's got rare size and moves well for his size. He's not going to play at 360 pounds though. He will need to get down to 330-340. There's a ways to go here but absolutely the kind of talent that if it hits, it's a winning lottery ticket.
19. Richard Newton
I don't hate Newton, but he strikes me as the kind of guy that we'd be happy to have if we were in the 7-5 or 8-4 range. He doesn't look like there's anything super elite to him in any one area and with where we are as a program, the guys that will see the field are going to be guys that have some kind of elite skill to them.