This is the best class we've signed since I started following recruiting.

[Woopig69]

Trey Biddy just said on DTS that TN was ranked 5th in the nation with an average star ranking of 3.6 something. He then went on to say Arkansas was ranked 25th with an average star ranking of 3.2 something. So you tell me how .4 tenths of a star will matter 2 years from now.

[Chief Mac]

Perspective ladies and gents:

Our three invited walk-ons talent level far exceed any of our past classes last minute filler recruits

chew on that for a second

[ArmyOfnobunaga]

Trey Biddy just said on DTS that TN was ranked 5th in the nation with an average star ranking of 3.6 something. He then went on to say Arkansas was ranked 25th with an average star ranking of 3.2 something. So you tell me how .4 tenths of a star will matter 2 years from now.

Well you have to look at it as .4*25 and that comes to like eleven stars which is like three four star guys. It just means a little more depth perhaps. And perhaps I'm full of crap but im not worried about the other sec teams classes. I like outs best.

[Woopig69]

Well you have to look at it as .4*25 and that comes to like eleven stars which is like three four star guys. It just means a little more depth perhaps. And perhaps I'm full of crap but im not worried about the other sec teams classes. I like outs best.

agreed. It doesn't mean darn.

[Vantage 8 dude]

None of us know how this class will materialize and the same can be said about Alabama's.  I agree that saying it's the best ever at Arkansas may be reaching, but not by much.  The thing that stands out to me, in comparison to past classes, is that it's solid from top to bottom.

Every player has offers from other good P5 powers, which is something you can't say about some 4-star recruits out there.  Overall, this class probably doesn't match up with some others at the top, but it's stronger at the bottom.  Bielema doesn't recruit fillers.

Pretty much agree with everything you said here. And while we may have missed on a couple we were really hoping for (Hill and Weathersby) the one thing that impressed me was the (apparent) quality depth we added this year in the secondary and LB position(s). Obviously Pittman did another tremendous job adding high level talent on the OL. Now we need to shore up additional talent at WR (we SURE NEED REED to qualify) and get another couple of stud backs this next class.

[yraciv]

Again I'm not saying anything about how these players will contribute because we have no idea, but:
TJ Smith - Only other major offer Vandy
Ryan Pulley - Lists S. FL and Zona offer; really only S. FL pushed us for him
Derrick Graham - FL and Nebraska offer supposedly; no one pushed for him
Dre Greenlaw - no major offers

All these guys I'm glad to have, but we didn't really beat out many comparable schools for any of them.  Every class is going to have guys who don't end up contributing.  I don't know who that will be yet, but it will happen. That is why you wait 3 or 4 years to evaluate these classes against our others.

[Wildhog]

Again I'm not saying anything about how these players will contribute because we have no idea, but:
TJ Smith - Only other major offer Vandy
Ryan Pulley - Lists S. FL and Zona offer; really only S. FL pushed us for him
Derrick Graham - FL and Nebraska offer supposedly; no one pushed for him
Dre Greenlaw - no major offers

All these guys I'm glad to have, but we didn't really beat out many comparable schools for any of them.  Every class is going to have guys who don't end up contributing.  I don't know who that will be yet, but it will happen. That is why you wait 3 or 4 years to evaluate these classes against our others.

Compare that to the bottom of previous classes.  And Dre Greenlaw had a Georgia offer.

[Chief Mac]

Compare that to the bottom of previous classes.  And Dre Greenlaw had a Georgia offer.

exactly

Perspective ladies and gents:

Our three invited walk-ons talent level far exceed any of our past classes last minute filler recruits

chew on that for a second

[IBleedRazorbackRed]

Wildhog, you're supposed to be the negative one around here. I'll get us back on track. How do you feel about Coach Joel Thomas?

[Wildhog]

Wildhog, you're supposed to be the negative one around here. I'll get us back on track. How do you feel about Coach Joel Thomas?

Let's try to stay on topics that aren't remarkably depressing.

[ArmyOfnobunaga]

are you guys kidding me? Joel Thomas has had 2 1000 yard rushers each year....

We have all just admitted this is one of the best classes we have ever had.

If anyone can be negative about a coach at this juncture is simply bi-polar or not grounded in reality.

The reality is that every darn assistant coach doesn't have to be on a favrian or bart star level. I follow CFB better than I would challenge anyone here and I can name you guys MAYBE 6 rb coaches nation wide.

Our rb coach is fine.


We are fighting the facts of  being beat the hell out of in the the SEC for the last three years... and we are fighting a home state with about a third less people than the city of houston.


Win and our rb coach will look like a recruiting all star.

[IBleedRazorbackRed]

are you guys kidding me? Joel Thomas has had 2 1000 yard rushers each year....

We have all just admitted this is one of the best classes we have ever had.

If anyone can be negative about a coach at this juncture is simply bi-polar or not grounded in reality.

The reality is that every darn assistant coach doesn't have to be on a favrian or bart star level. I follow CFB better than I would challenge anyone here and I can name you guys MAYBE 6 rb coaches nation wide.

Our rb coach is fine.


We are fighting the facts of  being beat the hell out of in the the SEC for the last three years... and we are fighting a home state with about a third less people than the city of houston.


Win and our rb coach will look like a recruiting all star.

Sorry guys. I'll take full responsibility for the detour. Just trying to get some humor going and someone goes on a rant. Anyways, I agree 100% about this class. No reaches or questionable offers.

[Wildhog]

are you guys kidding me? Joel Thomas has had 2 1000 yard rushers each year....

We have all just admitted this is one of the best classes we have ever had.

If anyone can be negative about a coach at this juncture is simply bi-polar or not grounded in reality.

The reality is that every darn assistant coach doesn't have to be on a favrian or bart star level. I follow CFB better than I would challenge anyone here and I can name you guys MAYBE 6 rb coaches nation wide.

Our rb coach is fine.


We are fighting the facts of  being beat the hell out of in the the SEC for the last three years... and we are fighting a home state with about a third less people than the city of houston.


Win and our rb coach will look like a recruiting all star.

Danny Nutt agrees.

Not going to spend any time on this, though.  Our class is awesome.

[ArmyOfnobunaga]

Danny Nutt agrees.

Every internet nerd from the 21st century wants their money from their trademarks "XXXXX agrees" and "XXXXX says hi" ----  awesome line.

[DLUXHOG]

Okay, I'm sorry, guess it's hard for me to accept ya'll's opinion that the gold just isn't as shiny as someone else's....

[Wildhog]

Every internet nerd from the 21st century wants their money from their trademarks "XXXXX agrees" and "XXXXX says hi" ----  awesome line.

So you don't have a point?  Because I do.

[ArmyOfnobunaga]

So bipolar it is!


lol carry on.. great thread

[Wildhog]

Cannot believe I just allowed myself to get trolled in my own thread.

Someone delete these last few comments, and let's carry on with the positive.

[cosmodrum]

This thread is a quality bar of soap with only a couple curly hairs on it.

[Wildhog]

This thread is a quality bar of soup with only a couple curly hairs on it.

You eat strange soup.

[cosmodrum]

You eat strange soup.

My phone is a ***.

[Razinhail]

The thing that really stands out to me about this class is character. We didn't sign 24 kids, we signed 24 young men. The more I listen to the coaches and these recruits, the more I believe that.I really believe that each one of these guys will be here in 4 to 5 years and will be successful. I think it also says a lot about our head coach and coaching staff. It says a lot about them when they are unwilling to sign 25 players just for the sake of filling out the class (we've all seen that in the past). I also like their dedication to these young men, not promising them anything and being up front and honest. It's very refreshing,  especially these days and times.

[colbs]

Again I'm not saying anything about how these players will contribute because we have no idea, but:
TJ Smith - Only other major offer Vandy
Ryan Pulley - Lists S. FL and Zona offer; really only S. FL pushed us for him
Derrick Graham - FL and Nebraska offer supposedly; no one pushed for him
Dre Greenlaw - no major offers

All these guys I'm glad to have, but we didn't really beat out many comparable schools for any of them.  Every class is going to have guys who don't end up contributing.  I don't know who that will be yet, but it will happen. That is why you wait 3 or 4 years to evaluate these classes against our others.

TJ Smith also had offers from Missouri and North Carolina.

Ryan Pulley had offers from FSU, Louisville, and Michigan St.  Also, A&M was trying to get him to visit the last weekend.

Derrick Graham had an offer from Mississippi State.  Florida pushed really hard for him to flip to them.

Dre Greenlaw had an offer from Georgia.  He might have gotten more offers if he hadn't committed to Arkansas shortly after.

[poloprince]

The 2009 class was better ranking wise.

[immahog]

I love the class ...I do Not care about the rank I care how we finish. LSU and ole miss the last 3 years have killed us on NSD an how many pts did they score this year on us?  Bama has had the top class in the last 5+ yrs an they were 1 pt better than us.....I trust coach BB more than any coach we have had. love our state or fans (even the crazy) our coach and our HOGS WOO DAMN PIG.

[Großer Kriegschwein]

I do Not care about the rank I care how we finish. I trust coach BB more than any coach we have had.

The only people that do care about the rankings are the people (1) employed by those services, (2) never played football therefore can't get anything from ANY video they watch, (3) that we are underacheiving because they believe that with all the money in NW Arkansas we can attract 5* talent, (4) athletes that find themselves ranked on them, (5) and/or they have a man-crush on Petrino still and their Little Bobby bobblehead told them that he did better in 2009. Truth.

[Chief Mac]

The 2009 class was better ranking wise.

overall yes, it ranked higher nationally but if you break it down to the star average, this class is better.

National Rank          Class avg  (from 247)
2009                         81.73
2015                         86.85

Now to further highlight the difference, if we had signed a class similar to the 2009 class this year, it would have been ranked 64th in the nation.

Additionally, here are the top 5 and last five out of each class and their rating:

2009 (42 signees)
Darius Winston    5 star .9873
Ronnie Wingo      4 star .9315
Knile Davis          4 star .9127
Anthony Oden      4 star .9111
Anthony Leon       4 star .9000

William Serrano    NR
Dylan Breeding     NR
Michael Villegas    NR
Will Coleman        NR
Ronald Watkins     NR

2015 (24 Signees)
Hjalte Froholdt      4 star  .9339
C.J. OGrady          4 star  .9172
Will Gragg            4 star   .9160
Jamario Bell          4 star   .9100
Ty Storey              4 star   .9088

Willie Sykes          3 star   .8226 
Tyler Phillips          3 star  .8125
Blake Johnson       3 star   .8107
Byron Keaton        3 star   .8044
Reid Miller             NR 

[Wildhog]

Thought this video was pretty telling re: our OL depth.

I'm not just making this stuff up.  Here it is straight out of Pittman's mouth:

http://www.wholehogsports.com/videos/2015/feb/04/11213/


He says we're at 13 scholarship OL, and you generally want that number to be at 15-17.  He said we're lucky we were able to bring in three of our OL signees early, so that we're able to function in the spring.  He also didn't sound too thrilled about having to move Kirkland out to tackle.

OT will be a major position of need in the 2016 class, as it was in the 2015 class.

[bigdaddyhawg]

Thought this video was pretty telling re: our OL depth.

I'm not just making this stuff up.  Here it is straight out of Pittman's mouth:

http://www.wholehogsports.com/videos/2015/feb/04/11213/


He says we're at 13 scholarship OL, and you generally want that number to be at 15-17.  He said we're lucky we were able to bring in three of our OL signees early, so that we're able to function in the spring.  He also didn't sound too thrilled about having to move Kirkland out to tackle.

OT will be a major position of need in the 2016 class, as it was in the 2015 class.

Yeah, Wildhog, I thought of you when I saw him talk about that.

I must admit that when I read your comment on this yesterday I thought you were pretty much full of it, at least to some degree.

But you definitely earned a star on that one.  +1, and more if I could.  Hats off.

[LRHawg]

Thought this video was pretty telling re: our OL depth.

I'm not just making this stuff up.  Here it is straight out of Pittman's mouth:

http://www.wholehogsports.com/videos/2015/feb/04/11213/


He says we're at 13 scholarship OL, and you generally want that number to be at 15-17.  He said we're lucky we were able to bring in three of our OL signees early, so that we're able to function in the spring.  He also didn't sound too thrilled about having to move Kirkland out to tackle.

OT will be a major position of need in the 2016 class, as it was in the 2015 class.

I know Pittman really wanted Weathersby. Sucks missing out on him.

[LJHOG]

So you tell me how .4 tenths of a star will matter 2 years from now.

A lot is that gap comes in the form of another Armari Cooper or a Bo Jackson.  The fact is sometimes stars do matter much.  Sometimes they matter a great deal.

[Choctaw Hog]

Very happy with this class.  I especially love that we were able to bring in eight guys at mid-term.  This is the first class I can remember that there's NOT ONE player that I would label as a reach. 

We were a couple of late misses away from signing an ELITE class.  Hopefully, after a great 2015 season, we can break through to that next level.

We're very close.  This could be the class that we look back on and say, "These are the guys that made it possible."  Great times ahead for our Hogs.

WPS

Certainly seems that way but we won't know for sure until a few years from now. What does seem very apparent is that Bidlema and staff is the hardest recruiting group we've ever had I believe they do a fantastic job of vettting these recruits. That's why class recruiting rankings don't mean $hit to me right now.

It's what those players do once they get on campus and how they represent themselves, their family, the University, and the state of Arkansas is what matters most. Hog futures have never been higher.

[Choctaw Hog]

I know Pittman really wanted Weathersby. Sucks missing out on him.

The way I look at it is that not getting Weatherby this year means we will land someone better than him next year. Remember all the wailing and temper tanthrums from the losers on here last year when the Eluminator flipped to A & M and we signed Tretola instead? Anybody want to trade those two now?

[Cresthog]

Weathersby is a huge hit.

The real question is do we have anyone that can move positions in the mix? Guys off the radar?

[bigdaddyhawg]

A lot is that gap comes in the form of another Armari Cooper or a Bo Jackson.  The fact is sometimes stars do matter much.  Sometimes they matter a great deal.

Absolutely, and the current rating system completely fails to value those kids different from the pile of 5* that will flame out.

Just part of the current inefficiencies associated with rating recruits.

[Großer Kriegschwein]

I believe they do a fantastic job of vettting these recruits. That's why class recruiting rankings don't mean $hit to me right now.

When we changed schemes, every recruit we took on campus had to be solid in the classroom, good teammate and have the physical attributes to contribute. Coach didn't have the luxury of swinging and missing on a few that wash out. 15 of 23 are left from his first class, 21 are left from his second. Numbers aren't bad.

[Großer Kriegschwein]

Weathersby is a huge hit.

The real question is do we have anyone that can move positions in the mix? Guys off the radar?

High possibility that Merrick plays tackle. Per Pitt Boss

[Cresthog]

When we changed schemes, every recruit we took on campus had to be solid in the classroom, good teammate and have the physical attributes to contribute. Coach didn't have the luxury of swinging and missing on a few that wash out. 15 of 23 are left from his first class, 21 are left from his second. Numbers aren't bad.

Who have we lost in the first class?

[Pork Twain]

Perspective ladies and gents:

Our three invited walk-ons talent level far exceed any of our past classes last minute filler recruits

chew on that for a second

The fact that we are now taking 3* as walk-ons says a lot about program and the depth we are building

[WizardofhOgZ]

Take the 10 SEC schools ranked ahead of us, then put the coaches names next to each school.

It will make you feel a whole lot better about this class regardless of where you sit. I think BB coaches them up better than most in the league.

Here's something to support that.  Look at the 2002-2015 success rankings.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/after-signing-day-wisconsin-makes-the-best-of-its-recruits/

[Razinhail]

When we changed schemes, every recruit we took on campus had to be solid in the classroom, good teammate and have the physical attributes to contribute. Coach didn't have the luxury of swinging and missing on a few that wash out. 15 of 23 are left from his first class, 21 are left from his second. Numbers aren't bad.

I think those numbers will continue to improve the longer this staff stays in place and are able to continue building relationships with recruits. CBB is more about "fit" than any coach we have ever had and it shows.

[Chief Mac]

The fact that we are now taking 3* as walk-ons says a lot about program and the depth we are building

absolutely, but don't try to tell the Debbie Downers that

[Großer Kriegschwein]

I think those numbers will continue to improve the longer this staff stays in place and are able to continue building relationships with recruits. CBB is more about "fit" than any coach we have ever had and it shows.

Yes. Recruiting into your system matters quite a bit (Oregon 2010 season as an expample with average class ranking of #28 in previous 4 years), scheme, development, preparation and not the least but maybe the most important, a little bit of luck.

[Cresthog]

Anyone know the story with Scott? What is our general plan for Safety depth?

[Hogpkins]

Coach Hargreaves sounded very uncertain whether Dre Greenlaw would play LB or Safety. It sounds like Dre will work in some sort of hybrid position most likely, but it's too early to rule him out as a safety.

The coaches also said that Nate Dalton could play either CB or S. (I hope I'm not confusing Dalton with Sykes -- I know they said one of those guys could play either position.)

[STLhawg]

Here's something to support that.  Look at the 2002-2015 success rankings.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/after-signing-day-wisconsin-makes-the-best-of-its-recruits/

I only see 2014 and 2005-2014 ranking.

[JackJohnson]

Who have we lost in the first class?

Hartsfield, Tavarres and Marshall left/been kicked off before eligibility was up, but of course Tavarres was a JC so he would have been gone after this year anyway

Speight, McClure, Irwin-Hill, Washington, and Coleman exhausted eligibility as they were JC

Brignoni got injured and is on medical RS

So 9 of 23 are no longer on the roster from the first class

[JackJohnson]

Thought this video was pretty telling re: our OL depth.

I'm not just making this stuff up.  Here it is straight out of Pittman's mouth:

http://www.wholehogsports.com/videos/2015/feb/04/11213/


He says we're at 13 scholarship OL, and you generally want that number to be at 15-17.  He said we're lucky we were able to bring in three of our OL signees early, so that we're able to function in the spring.  He also didn't sound too thrilled about having to move Kirkland out to tackle.

OT will be a major position of need in the 2016 class, as it was in the 2015 class.

Good post.  We NEEDED TW.  Hope we can sign at least 3 OT's next year from HS ranks.  I'm "ok" with a JC, but it would need to be a mid termer who is basically so good that they would be a lock to start, otherwise I would continue to build and redshirt through HS ranks

[Cresthog]

Hartsfield, Tavarres and Marshall left/been kicked off before eligibility was up, but of course Tavarres was a JC so he would have been gone after this year anyway

Speight, McClure, Irwin-Hill, Washington, and Coleman exhausted eligibility as they were JC

Brignoni got injured and is on medical RS

So 9 of 23 are no longer on the roster from the first class

Got it. I knew the ones running out of eligibility. I thought he was counting those as all in the kicked off, left category from your first paragraph.

[redeye]

A lot is that gap comes in the form of another Armari Cooper or a Bo Jackson.  The fact is sometimes stars do matter much.  Sometimes they matter a great deal.

I've always said that every great team needs a few difference makers, which can mean the difference in that gap.  Signing more highly rated players gives you a better chance of gaining some, but it's no guarantee.  I know you only used Bo Jackson to make your point, but I'm not sure we have any idea what he would have been rated.