recruiting roundtable

by JRT, Island of Misfit Toys, Friday, February 13, 2009, 06:43 (6259 days ago) @ Bruno95

Biggest get: Just to be contrarian, I will say Tyler Stockton. Why? Well, as Casey Stengel said, "You have to have a catcher because if you don't you're likely to have a lot of passed balls." The recruiting whiffs in the 2005, 206, and 2007 classes left the Irish painfully thin at DL. Even after landing a rising star in Ethan Johnson and the group of Williams/Cwynar/Newman/Lewis-Moore, the Irish still need talented defensive lineman to be the first line of defense in Corwin Brown's 3-4 (ish) scheme. Playing linebackers on the defensive line is only an effective solution against pass-happy and undersized teams, qualifications that Hawaii thanfully met in spades. If Stockton stays healthy and becomes a productive player (and I think highly of him), he might salvage this class's DL grade from an F to a C, so he's the biggest difference making recruit in that sense.

Biggest Miss: I'm done ranting about DL, so I'll just say that Xavier Nixon looks like a future star to me.

Class sleeper: Among recruiting geeks like me, Motta and Bullard are officially "so underrated they are overrated" at this point. With the small class, I don't feel anybody is being lost in the shuffle, so I'll take Jake Golic. Not a no-name, but fairly low-rated, and there's nothing wrong with taking a flyer on a 225 pound kid who can move a little bit.

Best moment: Te'o, the "cardiac kid."