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Baylor Football

Recruiting still trending up for Bears over five-year span

January 8, 2018
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The push by Matt Rhule's staff in Waco on the recruiting trail has been nothing short of remarkable, but how does the recruiting stand up to recruiting on the back of a Heisman Trophy in 2011, two Big 12 Championship seasons, and four 10-plus win seasons? That's where the story gets even more intriguing.

After a quick glance at the SicEm365 Class Breakdown, I removed freshmen tight end Rob Saulin‍ and linebacker Terrel Bernard‍ from the sophomore class and placed them in a newly created redshirt freshmen class for the table. Both prospects are expected to receive their freshman season of eligibility back after injuries prevented them from finished their first seasons on campus. 

Completely removed the calculations are contributors on the special teams as they are naturally lower rated and would skew their classes overall rating. There were outliers in multiple classes caused by transfers. Defensive end James Lockhart‍ and offensive lineman Jake Fruhmorgen, neither of which have played a down for the Bears yet, takes the Junior class from an 85.6 to 87.4 average rating. The low rating of Temple safety grad transfer Derrek Thomas offsets the high four/five-star rating of Jalen Hurd‍ for the senior class. 

 

CLASS SR JR SO RsFR FR
RATING 83.9 87.4 86.3 83.8 87.1
W/O TRANSFERS 84.0 85.6 86.3 83.8 87.1
VARIANCE -0.1 +1.8 0.0 0.0 0.0


An interesting observation can be seen from the Redshirt Freshmen class with the higher rated skill position players from the 2017 class seeing the field first. Another observation is the 2017 redshirt tight end class pulling the class down .7 in rating. One can easily argue Rob Saulin‍ played above his 78 rating before an injury ended his season and he could be moving to a new position for 2018.

 

POSITION SR (12) JR (21) SO (15) RsFR (14) FR (21)
QUARTERBACK (2) n/a n/a 84.6 (1) n/a 91.4 (1)
RUNNING BACK (5) n/a 91.2 (1) 87.8 (2) 84.3 (1) 88.4 (1)
WIDE RECEIVER (12) 92.1 (2) 87.4 (4) 88.5 (2) n/a 88.7 (4)
TIGHT END (5) n/a n/a n/a 79.4 (2) 85.7 (3)
OFFENSIVE LINE (16) 84.4 (3) 89.4 (2) 83.6 (2) 84.1 (4) 86.1 (5)
DEFENSIVE END (7) 82.9 (3) 94.1 (1) 86.1 (1) 87.2 (1) 82.5 (1)
DEFENSIVE TACKLE (8) 83.1 (1) 83.6 (3) 86.6 (1) 82.4 (2) 87.8 (1)
LINEBACKER (10) n/a 81.6 (4) 86.7 (3) 84.1 (3) n/a
CORNERBACK (8) 76.9 (1) 84.8 (2) 86.5 (3) n/a 87.7 (2)
SAFETY (8) 83.9 (1) 86.7 (4) n/a 84.8 (1) 85.8 (2)

 

  • The star potential for Charlie Brewer is evident, but the 6.8 point jump to Gerry Bohanan is noticeable as much as the difference in offers.

 

  • Running back sees a nice bump with Craig Williams after a fall from JaMychal Hasty over the past two years.

 

  • Wide receiver is actually the highest if Jalen Hurd is factored out for what many considered WRU.

 

  • Tight end takes a leap up from relatively unknown Tyler Henderson and Rob Saulin.

 

  • The offensive line is another position which shows the future could be bright compared to past classes.

 

  • Defensive end recruiting from Matt Rhule was a step up, but taking a developmental prospect like Marje Smith isn't out of the question if the staff sees what they want.

 

  • Linebacker took a leap for the 2016 and 2017, but Clay Johnston is severely underrated in the 2015 class.

 

  • Cornerback shows another strong class put together by Fran Brown.

 

  • Safety still needs improvement, but considering Trevon Lewis wasn't on any radar prior to winning the Houston TD Club Defensive Player of the Year his 84.8 could be low. Blake Lynch also skews the junior safety class by a positive 1.2 points with his 91.1 rating as a wide receiver. 
Discussion from...

Recruiting still trending up for Bears over five-year span

11,263 Views | 11 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by CottonValley
ColomboLQ
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This article seems to fly against the "bare cupboard" theme/excuse so many people kept using last season.
Brian Ethridge
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Staff
ColomboLQ said:

This article seems to fly against the "bare cupboard" theme/excuse so many people kept using last season.
The article doesn't show a cupboard bare or not bare. It shows talent rating is rising from 2014 until 2018.

As for the cupboard bare argument, there are definite holes in the cupboard as posted above with an N/A in several positions where there should be bodies, let alone talent.

Offensive line would have no juniors if not for a transfer and moving Teck from TE. OL would also have fewer bodies if Malin wasn't moved by the staff. OL was pretty bare after Riley, Pelzel, Muir, DeSouza, Thrift, Wilson, etc... left the team for medical, graduation, or their own wishes.
geewago
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Man this is some kind of confusing. So the talent level has been trending upward every year from 2014 to 2018. But the W - L record for the last four years is 11 - 2 , 10 - 3, 7 - 6, & 1 - 11. OK! Little hard to believe. But I won't argue with the experts.
BobbyPop
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Brian, do you think this Temple DB will get any playing time? Is he a safety, nickel, or corner? Also without seeing them practice and knowing the chemistry, do you think our O-Line will be better this year? Do you think we are going to sign any Juco O-lineman?
Brian Ethridge
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geewago said:

Man this is some kind of confusing. So the talent level has been trending upward every year from 2014 to 2018. But the W - L record for the last four years is 11 - 2 , 10 - 3, 7 - 6, & 1 - 11. OK! Little hard to believe. But I won't argue with the experts.
Just going by the rating services. The depletion of ready bodies from the many reasons left the team relying on true freshmen and true sophomores as only 3 kids redshirted in 2016. Then the injuries, retirements, etc... and you're left with big holes in certain positions.
Brian Ethridge
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BobbyPop said:

Brian, do you think this Temple DB will get any playing time? Is he a safety, nickel, or corner? Also without seeing them practice and knowing the chemistry, do you think our O-Line will be better this year? Do you think we are going to sign any Juco O-lineman?
He's a CB and yes I do see him getting time.

We're pretty sure a JC OL will be coming to give another talented and ready body to go along with the returners and Jake Fruhmorgen.

OL should be better with 17-18 scholarship athletes and 5 of them hopefully redshirting versus 11 with 1 unable to play in 2017 and 3 more redshirting after Pelzel and Muir retired, DeSouza graduated, and was dismissed.
txkypreacherskid
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Brian-It's good to see you again!! Did you ever open that place in Galveston? Every time I think of our O-line, I think of those two studs we lost to UT in that Class of '16.

My Father in law passed away last week. He almost made it to his 93rd birthday. They told him 5 weeks ago he had an extremely aggressive brain cancer, and he had 1 week to 3 months to live. He was one of the finest Christian man I ever knew, and absolutely loved his Bears!! We will miss him greatly!!!!!

Your friend,
Buddy.
bearlyafarmer
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An article published (and not by Bleacher Report) the other day had Briles' final class (before getting nuked by Baylor) at 17th in the nation.
MilliVanilli
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bearlyafarmer said:

An article published (and not by Bleacher Report) the other day had Briles' final class (before getting nuked by Baylor) at 17th in the nation.
And that class since looks like a bust. Most of its prized recruits have flopped to date, and they were supposedly going to be instant can't miss blue chip contributors.
BaylorProud77
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So sorry to hear this. Prayers
CottonValley
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At first glance, it appears we had the talent to beat Liberty and UTSA.
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