2014 Master List

[md_bennett]

I get what you are saying but we will most likely lose Rees and Hendrix. So that will leave us with Golson, Kiel. Ziare.

Those being the scholarship guys anyway without delving into walk-ons. I have to agree with the sentiment though of not desiring a QB. I would love to take that third ILB, but I also remember Maryland's QB disaster from last year and never want to see that take place in SB.

 

[irishff1014]

Those being the scholarship guys anyway without delving into walk-ons. I have to agree with the sentiment though of not desiring a QB. I would love to take that third ILB, but I also remember Maryland's QB disaster from last year and never want to see that take place in SB.

I may not under stand what you are saying but no way are you going to get a walk on QB good enough to compete at this level sorry just won't happen.

 

[Grahambo]

Right. I know you can't predict the future (transfers/injuries/etc). But there just seems to be such a log jam at this position. And with what seems to be an already small class, I wouldn't be devastated if we skipped just this one year.

I think QB is the one position you can have a logjam at because of how important the position is.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I think QB is the one position you can have a logjam at because of how important the position is.

True. I agree with that.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

If you do a quick breakdown of needs to replace outgoing talent and where we need to bring in more to add depth here is what I come up with.

Good analysis, and I agree with most of it. Few nits though:

• As far as needs go, RB isn't one of them. We're projected to be at 8/8 or 9/8 not only for 2013, but also for 2014 (depending on where Onwualu settles). If Michel or Hood wants in, I expect we'll take him, but from a depth perspective, we're already full.
  
• TE is tough to project. Since we've been running so much 12 and 13 personnel, the staff may intend on carrying at least 5 TEs. If Welch gets a 5Y, we're probably full. If not, maybe we take 1.
  
• We'll only have 5-6 non-seniors on scholarship at X/W WR this season (depending on where Onwualu settles), so we could take as many as 3. We've already got Brent.
  
• OL is a major need. Assuming Lombard is the only 5Y and Nichols takes a medical, we're only projected to have 11 on scholarship for 2014. We should take 4, at least.
  
• DL is another major need. We're projected to have 8/12 on scholarship if Tuitt returns for his senior year. We need 4 here as well.
  
• LB is our most pressing need, but also the hardest to project because there's likely to be a lot of position switching going on (OLB to ILB, S to OLB, etc.) Unless we convert some Safeties, we'll only have 9/16 on scholarship for 2014 (and that's assuming Okwara stays at OLB). We should take 5-6.
  
• S is hard to project for the reasons mentioned above. Assuming we don't convert anyone to OLB, we'll be at 8/8 or 9/8 (depending on Shumate) for 2014.
  
• We're in good shape at CB. Depending on if Shumate moves back to S, we'll need only need 1-2.

 

[md_bennett]

I may not under stand what you are saying but no way are you going to get a walk on QB good enough to compete at this level sorry just won't happen.

I completely agree with you. What I meant is that Maryland ended up using a LB last year at QB because of all the injuries. I do not want to ever see a walk on playing QB in SB unless its a Luke Del Rio situation. I REALLY am not enthralled with the idea of taking a QB next cycle, but I also understand the need and accept the reality that we will take one.

 

[irishff1014]

I completely agree with you. What I meant is that Maryland ended up using a LB last year at QB because of all the injuries. I do not want to ever see a walk on playing QB in SB unless its a Luke Del Rio situation. I REALLY am not enthralled with the idea of taking a QB next cycle, but I also understand the need and accept the reality that we will take one.

Yea that's terrible if you have to use a LB for QB. But Maryland had depth problems due to the coaching change. They had like 10 or 12 players transfer when they hire Randy.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Am I wrong for disagreeing that we need a QB this cycle? I know BK likes to take one every year, but this class seems to be small. I'd rather see that scholly be used at a different position. Maybe take 3 ILBs instead of 2? Idk. Just thinking out loud.

BK is right to take a QB every year. Besides, most of the current "logjam" was created by Hendrix and Rees being in the same class. They'll both drop off the roster after 2013, so bringing in another in this next class will get us back to 4/4.

That's especially important since we're likely to see a transfer soon. We have so much talent at the position; it'll probably be Golson or Kiel, depending on who wins the upcoming QB battle.

 

[irishff1014]

BK is right to take a QB every year. Besides, most of the current "logjam" was created by Hendrix and Rees being in the same class. They'll both drop off the roster after 2013, so bringing in another in this next class will get us back to 4/4.

That's especially important since we're likely to see a transfer soon. We have so much talent at the position; it'll probably be Golson or Kiel, depending on who wins the upcoming QB battle.

That would suck to lose 3 QBs. and leave us 2. Don't like that.

 

[yankeeND]

This is some great stuff being thrown around. I would love to see 8-10 players brought in along the trenches, 4 minimum on the DL. 3 LB's with 2 being in the middle. 1 QB just because you never know. 1 elite RB if we can. 2-3 WR's and yes 1 of them to be elite. 1 TE, Luatua or Blazevich. Then 3 DB's and most important guy being Peppers. That's 19-21 scholarships which can happen very easily.

Let the journey begin!

 

[STLDomer]

If you look at the original prompt there's a TBD next to the name for number we might take, what do ppl think of this (took your post into account Whiskey):

QB 0-1
RB 0-1
WR 2-3
TE 0-1
OL 4-5
DE/CAT 1-2
DE/NG 1
DE 2
LBs (middle or some DOGs like Bates): 3-4
CBs: 1-2
S: 0-1

 

[Whiskeyjack]

If you look at the original prompt there's a TBD next to the name for number we might take, what do ppl think of this (took your post into account Whiskey):

Looks good, SLU. You might revise LBs up to 5-6, but I wouldn't be surprised if we finished with fewer.

Sean Mele at ISD just went through a similar exercise and posted his results here. I strongly disagree with some of his projections, and wonder if he even added up his numbers to see if we'll have enough spots (hint: we don't).

2-3 RBs? 2 TEs? 3-4 more CBs?

 

[STLDomer]

Looks good, SLU. You might revise LBs up to 5-6, but I wouldn't be surprised if we finished with fewer.

Sean Mele at ISD just went through a similar exercise and posted his results here. I strongly disagree with some of his projections, and wonder if he even added up his numbers to see if we'll have enough spots (hint: we don't).

2-3 RBs? 2 TEs? 3-4 more CBs?

Yeah I like what ISD released yesterday on 2014 but when I update the list there are some things that 247, my opinion or IE threads disagree with.

The numbers you mentioned above made me scratch my head

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Just realized your "3-4 LBs" didn't include ROLBs. Definitely looks good then.

 

[NDdomer2]

Whiskey, as far as TE's go. We are pursuing some still so what does that say about Welch and his 5Y?

It doesn't seem like we have offered too many. Contact only the ones you absolutely want and if we miss Welch gets his 5Y?

 

[Irishman77]

My top 3 for 14 are all DL:
1. Malik McDowell
2. Andrew Williams
3. Jay Hayes

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Whiskey, as far as TE's go. We are pursuing some still so what does that say about Welch and his 5Y?

It doesn't seem like we have offered too many. Contact only the ones you absolutely want and if we miss Welch gets his 5Y?

That would be my approach. According to ISD's Sean Mele, we've only offered 3 at this point, but he also claims the staff plans on taking 2 TEs this year. If that's the case, it seems to indicate very low expectations for Welch (possible medical?), and little chance of a 5Y.

Taking 2 TEs would have us carrying 6 on the roster for 2014. That's defensible if we're going to be using a lot of 12 and 13 personnel, but bringing back Welch would bump that up to 7. It's hard to justify carrying that many.

 

[IrishLax]

Don't know how I missed this thread for so long.... but wow, this is really well developed for the day after NSD. Great job STL!

 

[Luckylucci]

I agree with Irishman. Give me McDowell, Hayes, and Williams. Space permitting and Trumbetti or Smith. The first three are play right away type of guys. Where we could let one of the last two develop.

 

[Emcee77]

Good analysis, and I agree with most of it. Few nits though:

• As far as needs go, RB isn't one of them. We're projected to be at 8/8 or 9/8 not only for 2013, but also for 2014 (depending on where Onwualu settles). If Michel or Hood wants in, I expect we'll take him, but from a depth perspective, we're already full.
  
• TE is tough to project. Since we've been running so much 12 and 13 personnel, the staff may intend on carrying at least 5 TEs. If Welch gets a 5Y, we're probably full. If not, maybe we take 1.
  
• We'll only have 5-6 non-seniors on scholarship at X/W WR this season (depending on where Onwualu settles), so we could take as many as 3. We've already got Brent.
  
• OL is a major need. Assuming Lombard is the only 5Y and Nichols takes a medical, we're only projected to have 11 on scholarship for 2014. We should take 4, at least.
  
• DL is another major need. We're projected to have 8/12 on scholarship if Tuitt returns for his senior year. We need 4 here as well.
  
• LB is our most pressing need, but also the hardest to project because there's likely to be a lot of position switching going on (OLB to ILB, S to OLB, etc.) Unless we convert some Safeties, we'll only have 9/16 on scholarship for 2014 (and that's assuming Okwara stays at OLB). We should take 5-6.
  
• S is hard to project for the reasons mentioned above. Assuming we don't convert anyone to OLB, we'll be at 8/8 or 9/8 (depending on Shumate) for 2014.
  
• We're in good shape at CB. Depending on if Shumate moves back to S, we'll need only need 1-2.

Slu, the list looks GREAT. Nice work.

I'm really excited to see what we do this spring/summer. No question that "power" guys (i.e. linemen) will be the main focus, but beyond that the positions I'm most anxious about are:
a) outside WR. We need one or two elite guys with star power ... I believe Josh Malone is the top target?
b) ILB. Unless a couple position switches work out for us here, our depth is scary. We are in on some top guys like McMillan and Morgan and Garrett and I hope we snag one or two to go along with Martini.

 

[STLDomer]

Numbers game with the DL and CATs is definitely interesting, should we take 5? Can we afford to have 1/4 of our class confined to DEs/NG/CATs?

My dream would be a CAT (Williams), a NG (Clark) and 3 DEs (McDowell, Hayes, and Trumbetti).

To many elite DLineman genuinely interested = great problem to have

 

[yankeeND]

Numbers game with the DL and CATs is definitely interesting, should we take 5? Can we afford to have 1/4 of our class confined to DEs/NG/CATs?

My dream would be a CAT (Williams), a NG (Clark) and 3 DEs (McDowell, Hayes, and Trumbetti).

To many elite DLineman genuinely interested = great problem to have

Add that to what we have and you are talking Dynasty material! Just saying...

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Numbers game with the DL and CATs is definitely interesting, should we take 5? Can we afford to have 1/4 of our class confined to DEs/NG/CATs?

In our base set, there are 2 DEs, 1 DT, and 1 ROLB on the field at any given time. So we oughta be averaging 4 per cycle anyway. And given the holes we're trying to fill in our front 7, taking 1 more than that is easily justified.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Have you cross-checked the 2014 Master List with ISD's list of offers yet, SLU?

 

[STLDomer]

Have you cross-checked the 2014 Master List with ISD's list of offers yet, SLU?

Yeah there's a couple guys I could/should add that would be either low interest or blank (not enough info )

The one guy that stood out to me from all the ISD stuff was DeOndre Clark, we sit pretty good with him (not leader by any means but top 5). There is a 247 article too from 3 months ago. No IE thread though (I'll make it tommorow if no one does tonight)

 

[NDhoosier]

My front seven wish list would be Jay Hayes, Malik McDowell, Andrew Trumbetti, Enoch Smith, Andrew Williams, Greer Martini, Nyles Morgan, and Clifton Garrett. I'm probably way off here, but it doesn't hurt to dream!

I would like 4 LBs and 4 Dlineman in this class to be honest. So throw out another name with that list and I may just have to get an even better gif.

 

[drake29]

Talked with a buddy of mine that coaches HS in Chicago and has talked several times with Clifton Garrett, Nyles Morgan and Parker Westphall. Garrett won't qualify for ND, some people wonder if he'll be able to get in at any of his choices. Morgan and Westphall neither one are giving ND a serious look. ND definitely does not lead for Morgan as shown in the OP's list.

 

[dyrtdogg]

It may affect DL recruiting slightly, but in BK's presser yesterday he stated that OL and DL were the main target groups for '14.

Gimme trench monsters!

 

[Buster Bluth]

The magic number is 19 right now, correct?

Is that assuming Tuitt stays for his senior year? I hate to be the guy who brings that up, but it'll be the elephant in the room for months.

 

[md_bennett]

The magic number is 19 right now, correct?

Is that assuming Tuitt stays for his senior year? I hate to be the guy who brings that up, but it'll be the elephant in the room for months.

It's hard to put a firm number on it right now because we do not know for sure about transfers, medicals, and 5th years. I counted up to possibly 22 after losing 5th year guys, but its all around 19-22 right now from everything I have seen at this point. We'll have a better idea before spring ball starts up.