Not going to disagree with you there. We are all hoping this staff can spot some talent. But that doesn't mean we can't also hope for some guys who have more of a consensus from recruiting services that they are a little farther up the list.
Here's my read on the situation for now. We don't really know if much of this is true ... we'll have a better idea in February but probably won't really know for another year or two. But this is how I see the situation at the current juncture:
- This staff has worked together and has a pretty good plan in place for how to find talent and recruit it once they find it.
- Despite the "Frost doesn't like to recruit" narrative that was circulating a bit when he was hired, I think it's pretty obvious the opposite is true. There have been many recruits that have comments about how involved Frost is once a target is identified, and the inference is that's not how it is with a lot of other schools. Once they lock in on a guy, they really get after them.
- They did an incredible job in a short amount of time with the 2018 class. They were able to find guys they like and, in particular, guys who were ripe for the picking because of their situation. Most of our highest-rated guys were snagged out of a JUCO where they weren't being recruited up to their rating (Woodyard, Bell, Honas, Williams), their previous commitment had issues (Martinez and Tannor) or they had other issues that scared other schools away (Washington). That's being very resourceful with what they had to work with.
- I think they are casing a pretty wide net with the 2019 class. They were a long ways behind most everyone else with this class so they have some ground to make up. Because of that - and because they are recruiting to a school that went 4-8 last year - I think they realize that they aren't going to get as much traction with the big fish right off the bat. They're still working on them but it's going to take some on-field success to really get in the door with a lot of them. Because of that, they're working overtime to get a lot of guys who might otherwise be a Plan B in our corner now. Knowing we'll have another big class in terms of number of commitments, we are fine to get a good start on this class with some guys who they think are under-valued while they work their way up the list with the four-stars.
- I don't see this a panic at all. I see it as pragmatic. Everyone wants the best guys they can get. But I think they are securing the base of this class with guys who they think are great fits and have potential to be solid contributors. They don't want to get caught waiting on the big fish only to have the season not go very well and have nothing else built up behind it. That's what happened to the previous staff all too often. By doing it this way, they'll have guys they like recruited if they need more of the Plan B guys later. But they'll be saving plenty of spots for the Plan A guys for when the season gets here and they can (hopefully) show what's happening on the field and get them here to visit for a game.
- Another reason why I think the recruiting style we're seeing right now will diminish in future years is that they've already been hard at work on the 2020 class but we aren't seeing anywhere near the number of "Plan B" offers for that class. They are really after the big fish there. I would posit that's because they are betting on themselves to be able to build more relationships with those guys because they have a lot more time to work with. They also have a lot more time to get those guys to campus and (again, hopefully) show them the progress being made on the field as a selling point.
- These guys have a lot to sell. They are still the hot commodity right now. Everyone knows that they went undefeated and beat Auburn last year. They also have their own history in playing and coaching to sell. This stuff means a lot to a lot of recruits.
Frost won a national championship as a player, coached in a national championship game at Oregon and played several years in the NFL
- Walters played in the NFL
- Chinander has coached in the NFL
- Austin coached in a national championship game at Oregon and also coached in the NFL
- Dawson coached in the NFL
- Fisher played in the NFL
- Held has a lot of pull in the JUCO world
- Ruud played in the NFL
Again, none of that means anything until the results show up. But they haven't really had much time to produce any results yet. So until proven otherwise, I see a lot of reasons for optimism and not many reasons for doubt.
Time will tell.