AUinfusion

Interesting. I would like to hear from those more knowledgeable than me why Ingram is a quick take and Brown was a no go, especially given the "not great speed" comment. Not trying to start an argument, just honestly interested in the thought, here. Did he play at all at Central Michigan? It doesn't look like it.

Yeah, I expected to get a bit of a recruiting bump with Coach Will Friend, but it feels like we don't get much of a look with the OL transfers that pop up. I'm feeling a lot better about our transfer portal efforts, but we really need an OT (and maybe a center), IMHO.

I typically don't like a lot of skill position comparisons between new (potential) players and previous players because I think that they tend to be wrong. I also tend not to put a lot of stock in the "we found the three star that is really a five star" assertions because I've been around long enough to recognize that stars matter when we are getting them, and they don't matter when we are not getting them. All of that said... this kid reminds me a lot of Tank in the way he runs. He is adamant about no being tackled, moves like a water beetle picking his way through traffic and has great body control such that if you fail to wrap him he will just bounce off of a hit and keep on trucking. I'm hoping that he really is 6'-0", 195lbs as an 11th grader, because I see a LOT of potential in him.

I’ll take the blame for this rabbit hole.

Holy cow, he’s going to play ILB. Someone buy that kid a couple of Five Guys burgers, stat! I love his engine and IQ, but he’s gonna need a bit more sand in the britches at ILB, IMHO.

I've seen a couple of offers that I wondered about, but it's creating more curiosity in me than concern. I want a crystal ball so I can spy on the strategy meetings and hear what they are thinking. This guy looks too skinny for SEC LB, but who knows what the coaches are evaluating on, or what the long term strategy is? The next 12 months are going to be interesting. In the meantime, I think it's fair to raise questions around NR recruits when we aren't seeing much talk (or at least I'm not) around higher ranked recruits at the same position. It at least makes for interesting discussion.

I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall during the recruiting strategy meetings.

Yup. And this coming on the heels of pulling Roc Taylor’s scholarship offer right before signing day.

There are a couple of full games of his on YouTube. Quick thoughts from watching one: JH is a tough kid who plays with a lot of heart, but he is not physically dominating. He does play hard and take good advantage of his opportunities. Measure that observation against the fact that he touches the ball on about 95% of offensive plays, including punt returns, and also plays defense. I'm hoping that getting some dedicated coaching and training at just RB, and getting to play in an offense where everyone on the field is not keyed on him will give him more room to blossom further.

Hmm... I was assuming that we would wait so that Hunter could be the first RB announcement based on "waiting to announce after Hunter’s in". I'm not sure why else we would wait?

That has a nice ring to it. I assume that would mean a higher level RB, so we end with Hunter, another quality RB, and Brooks from UT (and then on to later transfers). If we can pull a good OT from the transfer portal with all of that (and maybe another LB), I'll feel a lot better about this class.

Has just a tiny bit of Kerryon in him. I'd take that.

Fisher knows how to play the game.

Wonder if this means we're going to miss on Balfour?

Gus did a good job of keeping us in the bridesmaid spot for high ranking offensive linemen. There are plenty of great OTs around the SEC that we "almost" landed. I suppose that might have led some people who were not paying close attention to believe that we were doing better at OL recruiting than we were, because there was seldom a 4* backup plan to the 5* recruit that we missed on... again...

He has, although it seems like I heard some people saying we might be able to get back in on him? I was just saying that I thought those two (who we both high on our radar) looked more ready, in my amateur opinion, than Geriner. I'll reiterate that with Bobo and Harsin on staff, I feel relatively confident that we can identify talent.

He plays more like an OLB, to me, if there is such a thing. He seems to use more agility than power. I don't see him running through people as much as quickly navigating through the crowd, to the ball carrier, and then wrapping the ball carrier up (well). It will be interesting to see what the LB coaches do with him. With a name like Joko I was expecting him to be more of the "destroy everything in front of me" type LB. 🙂

I guess we need some protocol where we can make observations without being too negative recruits. IMHO he is the least athletic of the QBs on our radar. His arm looked strong to me, but unpolished. I think Tanner(1) and Gunner(2) looked more ready to make an early impact. Now, it's very possible that a couple of QB whisperers on our staff see some raw potential that I don't and have a lot of confidence that this guy is a star in the making under the right tutelage... There is no way I would challenge, with just my expertise, the decisions of Bobo and Harsin on QBs. Also, the kid committed to AU so he is now part of the family (at least "in waiting"). WDE to him! Disclaimer: I'm not an expert. I can make a decent pass at judging athleticism, release, accuracy and quality of throw, but that's all from the comfort of my couch.

What ever happened between AU and LJ Johnson? I always liked the way he ran. It's a nice combo of smooth gait and violent refusal to be tackled.

On Shiver’s, I honestly think we have a bammer or two trying to run Shiver’s off by pissing off his mom. On the WR coach, I agree that Harsin is doing the interviewing and probably knows his business, but I understand the disappointment when we go from “probably and NFL guy or this well respected name” to hiring a position coach from Troy. Not saying he won’t be great, but I understand wanting those highly regarded known quantities.

I'm not recommending one way or the other. I linked into it from a recruiting analyst's post, and am just reporting what I saw. Creepy is probably the right word, but what Trenton is seeing in his feed is a whole bunch of UNC folks responding to (I forget what the accolades were for).

I noticed one of the recruiting gurus on Twitter congratulating him on something or other, and when I clicked the link that followed through to his twitter feed, it was drowning in NC fans begging him to come to NC. Very few AU fans in the feed.

Does anyone know what level of competition he plays against?

Too bad for AU. He had a lot of potential. I hope he has a good career there.

I actually disagree from my own amateur evaluation. I was originally "star struck" with Cain, but after watching film of both Cain and Mar, I feel like Mar is the better athlete and will be the better RB. Trey Sanders was definitely better than Cain (watching them play on the same team). I typically dislike comparing recruits to past stars (we usually do it wrong), but MAR does remind me of KJ quite a bit.