JUCO Recruiting

If it’s an either/or situation, I really, really trust the N.C. State DLine evaluations. Not to say Coates wouldn’t be a great pickup, but NCST has had a nasty DLine pipeline for years.

 
Quoting this from the 2020 thread so as not to derail that thread...

Decked said:
Mauga-Clements is severely undersized & Niko Cooper needs to add weight and adjust for the college game. JUCOs have been just okay. Payne & Riley are not terrible. Keem Green has been about exactly as I thought he was gonna be. 
Click to expand...


This got me thinking, we used to be pretty good at recruiting impact JUCOs.  For whatever reason, Pelini's crew was pretty dang good at it.  I was hopeful that Held's connections would get us back to that level but not so much so far.

Here's a look at what we have done in the past:

2009:
Dejon Gomes - Second on the team in tackles; 4th round NFL draft pick
Brandon Kinnie - Graduated #11 in career receptions; NFL free agent signing

2010:
Lavonte David - B1G LB of the year; 2nd round NFL draft pick
Jermarcus Hardrick - NFL free agent signing
Chase Harper - Ummmmm.......
Stanley Jean-Baptiste - Second team All-BIG; made NFL roster

2011:
Joseph Carter - Contributor but nothing special
Daimion Stafford - Two year starter; 7th round NFL draft pick

2012:
Zaire Anderson - 5th leading tackler as a senior; Signed NFL deal
Mohammed Seisay - Played sparingly

2013:
Matt Finnin - Bust
Randy Gregory - 1st team All-B1G
Chongo Kondolo - Starter his senior year

2014:

Joe Keels - Limited contribution

Byerson Cockrell - Started some as a junior and all senior year

So, by my count that's three home runs (Gomes, David & Gregory), four others who signed in the NFL (Kinnie, Hardrick, Stafford & Anderson), three more impact players (SJB, Kondolo & Cockrell) and five busts (Harper, Carter, Seisay, Finnin & Keels).

From 2015-2017 we didn't take anyone (way to keep a good thing going, Riley).  

Now we're back into it but not having much success.

2018:

Jaron Woodyard - bust

Greg Bell - OK but quickly busted out

Will Honas - Solid starter

Deontai Williams - Solid starter

Mike Williams - Extremely limited contributions

2019:

Jahkeem Green - headed towards being a bust

Desmond Bland - Never got here

2020:

Omar Manning - Loading....???

Nadab Joseph - Loading...????

Eteva Mauga-Clements - not this year

Jordan Riley - Limited contribution

Niko Cooper - Some contribution on special teams

Pheldarius Payne - Solid role player

Too many incompletes to give grades on but only a couple have even made it to solid starter yet which isn't great for the guys who are supposed to fill spots of need.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mavric said:
Quoting this from the 2020 thread so as not to derail that thread...

This got me thinking, we used to be pretty good at recruiting impact JUCOs.  For whatever reason, Pelini's crew was pretty dang good at it.  I was hopeful that Held's connections would get us back to that level but not so much so far.

Here's a look at what we have done in the past:

2009:
Dejon Gomes - Second on the team in tackles; 4th round NFL draft pick
Brandon Kinnie - Graduated #11 in career receptions; NFL free agent signing

2010:
Lavonte David - B1G LB of the year; 2nd round NFL draft pick
Jermarcus Hardrick - NFL free agent signing
Chase Harper - Ummmmm.......
Stanley Jean-Baptiste - Second team All-BIG; made NFL roster

2011:
Joseph Carter - Contributor but nothing special
Daimion Stafford - Two year starter; 7th round NFL draft pick

2012:
Zaire Anderson - 5th leading tackler as a senior
Mohammed Seisay - Played sparingly

2013:
Matt Finnin - Bust
Randy Gregory - 1st team All-B1G
Chongo Kondolo - Starter his senior year

2014:

Joe Keels - Limited contribution

Byerson Cockrell - Started some as a junior and all senior year

So, by my count that's three home runs (Gomes, David & Gregory), three others who signed in the NFL (Kinnie, Hardrick & Stafford), four impact players (SJB, Anderson, Kondolo & Cockrell) and five busts (Harper, Carter, Seisay, Finnin & Keels).

From 2015-2017 we didn't take anyone (way to keep a good thing going, Riley).  

Now we're back into it but not having much success.

2018:

Jaron Woodyard - bust

Greg Bell - OK but quickly busted out

Will Honas - Solid starter

Deontai Williams - Solid starter

Mike Williams - Extremely limited contributions

2019:

Jahkeem Green - headed towards being a bust

Desmond Bland - Never got here

2020:

Omar Manning - Loading....???

Nadab Joseph - Loading...????

Eteva Mauga-Clements - not this year

Jordan Riley - Limited contribution

Jimari Bulter - not this year

Niko Cooper - Some contribution on special teams

Pheldarius Payne - Solid role player

Too many incompletes to give grades on but only a couple have even made it to solid starter yet which isn't great for the guys who are supposed to fill spots of need.
Click to expand...
Jimari Butler I believe is a true freshman. 
 

I also wonder how much easier it is for JUCO guys to not walk in to a work in progress. Where they were picked up to fill a hole depth/starter  (pelini) and not be a culture builder leader (frost). 
 

 
AlaSker said:
Jimari Butler I believe is a true freshman. 
 

I also wonder how much easier it is for JUCO guys to not walk in to a work in progress. Where they were picked up to fill a hole depth/starter  (pelini) and not be a culture builder leader (frost). 
Click to expand...


Yeah, thanks.  Not sure why I included him.

 
I still can't believe SJB was a 2nd round draft pick.  Then again that time period was when the Seahawks were at peak Legion of Boom-ness and were torturing teams with their tall DBs and SJB was nothing if not a tall DB.

 
Mavric said:
Quoting this from the 2020 thread so as not to derail that thread...

This got me thinking, we used to be pretty good at recruiting impact JUCOs.  For whatever reason, Pelini's crew was pretty dang good at it.  I was hopeful that Held's connections would get us back to that level but not so much so far.

Here's a look at what we have done in the past:

2009:
Dejon Gomes - Second on the team in tackles; 4th round NFL draft pick
Brandon Kinnie - Graduated #11 in career receptions; NFL free agent signing

2010:
Lavonte David - B1G LB of the year; 2nd round NFL draft pick
Jermarcus Hardrick - NFL free agent signing
Chase Harper - Ummmmm.......
Stanley Jean-Baptiste - Second team All-BIG; made NFL roster

2011:
Joseph Carter - Contributor but nothing special
Daimion Stafford - Two year starter; 7th round NFL draft pick

2012:
Zaire Anderson - 5th leading tackler as a senior
Mohammed Seisay - Played sparingly

2013:
Matt Finnin - Bust
Randy Gregory - 1st team All-B1G
Chongo Kondolo - Starter his senior year

2014:

Joe Keels - Limited contribution

Byerson Cockrell - Started some as a junior and all senior year

So, by my count that's three home runs (Gomes, David & Gregory), three others who signed in the NFL (Kinnie, Hardrick & Stafford), four impact players (SJB, Anderson, Kondolo & Cockrell) and five busts (Harper, Carter, Seisay, Finnin & Keels).

From 2015-2017 we didn't take anyone (way to keep a good thing going, Riley).  

Now we're back into it but not having much success.

2018:

Jaron Woodyard - bust

Greg Bell - OK but quickly busted out

Will Honas - Solid starter

Deontai Williams - Solid starter

Mike Williams - Extremely limited contributions

2019:

Jahkeem Green - headed towards being a bust

Desmond Bland - Never got here

2020:

Omar Manning - Loading....???

Nadab Joseph - Loading...????

Eteva Mauga-Clements - not this year

Jordan Riley - Limited contribution

Niko Cooper - Some contribution on special teams

Pheldarius Payne - Solid role player

Too many incompletes to give grades on but only a couple have even made it to solid starter yet which isn't great for the guys who are supposed to fill spots of need.
Click to expand...
Thanks for moving to the right thread.

This is really interesting what you posted. We really have to hit on these guys, and if not then we need grad transfers to fill holes. Would be nice to have guys in the system longer than that though if possible.

 
I always wondered how our JuCo recruiting fared under Frost. Here is a nice for reference list I am compiling. Felt like the discussion was more suited for here rather than the main football forum. I put in walk-ons as well in case they were to contribute in some capacity. If I missed someone please let me know so I can be as accurate as possible. I believe all the scholarship guys are accounted for in each class.  I can't remember if John Bivens went Juco or prep school but he is no longer on the team.

I am grading them on a 1-4 scale. 

1= no contribution  2= very little contribution  3=some contribution  4 =Solid/starter level contribution

2018

Will Honas- 4

Deontai Williams- 4

Jaron Woodyard- 2

Greg Bell- 2

Mike Williams-3

Will Jackson-this one was very short lived- was he a walk-on?- 1

2019

Dedrick Mills- 4

Jakheem Green- 2

Desmond Bland- signed but never made it here-1

Walk-ons- All of them are a 1

Zach Ingram

Kadeem Telfort

Josh Wegener

2020-TBD for most- some can still make an impact

Omar Manning- 1

Eteva-Mauga Clemmens- 1

Niko Cooper- 1- transferred out

Jordon Riley-2

Pheldarius Payne- 3

Nadab Joseph-2

Walk-ons- No contribution-1

Chase Contreraz

Darius Moore

2021

No scholarship Juco's taken.

Walk-ons TBD.

Overall, a lot of misses and very few contributors so far. The 2020 class can really change this perspective. I am mostly looking at the scholarship guys and even they have struggled to produce.

Only counting scholarship guys- here is the breakdown for each group.

4s- three guys: Honas, Williams, and Mills. A solid year from some in the 2020 class and they could move up here. 

3s- Two guys in this group so far. I would have expected a few more here but there is still time for others to move up.

2s- Five guys fill out this group. Tons of potential but just not enough to get on the field. A few can still move up.

1s- Five guys in this group. Some are gone but some are still here and can move up.

So far 1/3 Jucos are solid contributors or better. There is a lot of time for others to move up and produce. JuCo recruiting is looking sub par but can really rebound with some solid contributions from the 2020 class.

 
Back
Top