CaaInsider Ranks the Recruiting Classes

[Monarch History]

CAAinsider.com has ranked the CAA Conference recruiting classes.
http://www.caainsider.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5173&Itemid=356

[Wildcat80]

11. New Hampshire Wildcats

While I have UNH's class pretty low in these rankings it speaks more to the talent of the CAA than the class that they have brought in. Offensive lineman Seamus O'Neill will grow into a player as he grows into his body. The wildcats have brought in the top group of defensive ends in the CAA this year, hands down! Colbert, Schmalhofer, Muller and Jameson? No one is even close to this group. Kevin Gangelhoff could be a real surprise that many people just did not know much about. Manny Asam was a huge pick up for the Wildcats and he is my dark horse to be special. If they would have been able to bring in linebacker Alfred Tillerson it could have really helped this class.

[JMU DJ]

I thought JMU had a good recruiting class, but I didn't think anyone would rank them that high in the CAA. I guess like the author, I am surprised to see Richmond that low, but I recall people talking about how JMU's recruiting class might not be that good after we won the title in 2004. We'll see how this classes pan out, looks like over all good recruits among CAA contenders.

(hey where'd the homer alert smiley go? I wanted to sip on some of my Kool-aid)

[Eight Legger]

Right, we have the #11 recruiting class in the CAA. Next you'll tell me Northwestern State had the #1 recruiting class in the whole nation. Please.

[Wildcat80]

11. New Hampshire Wildcats

While I have UNH's class pretty low in these rankings it speaks more to the talent of the CAA than the class that they have brought in. Offensive lineman Seamus O'Neill will grow into a player as he grows into his body. The wildcats have brought in the top group of defensive ends in the CAA this year, hands down! Colbert, Schmalhofer, Muller and Jameson? No one is even close to this group. Kevin Gangelhoff could be a real surprise that many people just did not know much about. Manny Asam was a huge pick up for the Wildcats and he is my dark horse to be special. If they would have been able to bring in linebacker Alfred Tillerson it could have really helped this class.

I think Schmalhofer is targeted for left tackle--former Coach Devine now of BC was real high on him. That's where AppState & Samford wanted him too. If you saw his rivals highlights he can play either OL or DL once he gets to 280. I'd bet he will be the most athletic OT in this class in 4 years.

[TribeGuy09]

JMU's recruiting class looks excellent. They are where they belong. As excpected, ODU and GSU will be dangerous in a few years. I am not a huge homer, but I would probably put W&M over Villanova, just for the fact that I haven't seen a ton of press on nova's kids, but hey of course I'm biased.

[Tribe4SF]

The Tribe class got a boost when Caprio signed up because of his high profile in Jersey. Brent will have his hands full in Spring of 2010 competing with Terrance Schmand and Nolan Kearney for the QB spot.

The Tribe scored well at DE taking Stinnie from Duke, and Johnson from JMU and Richmond.

The intriguing prospect is Quincey September. The South African is new to football, but garnered state def. POY honors, and is a starter on a very good St. Anne's bball team, as well as a state champ in the 110 hurdles. His learning curve for football was softened by the fact that he was a rugby player in his homeland. When his 6'5" 200 frame fills out, he could land at any one of a number of positions.

[ur2k]

Right, we have the #11 recruiting class in the CAA. Next you'll tell me Northwestern State had the #1 recruiting class in the whole nation. Please.

xnodx

Seriously, I'm not really concerned with where this person ranks our class. Who is the CAA insider? Have they ever released any other worthwhile content?

[JMU DJ]

It's recruitment rankings... who knows how these guys will turn out. You never know how an NFL draft pick is going to turn out. If you go by recruitment rankings, Notre Dame should be contending for the BCS NC every year. I don't put much weight on these rankings, I just look to see if the school has filled their needs.. and it appears most of the CAA has gotten players where they need them. Yeah, it's great to see you got some highly touted recruits, but sometimes the last guy taken turns out to be the best. Hopefully JMU's recruitment class will turn out, but who knows maybe UR's "11th ranked" class could turn out to produce more.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

This guy may have it all figured out. That said, his rationale that Richmond was hurt in recruiting by our deep playoff run is foolish. Many of our recruits had committed before the playoffs began.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

Also, considering ODU and GSU are fledgling programs that could afford to add 25 or 30 kids this year ... does it really make sense to compare their classes to the existing programs?

I'm not saying that to knock ODU and GSU.

[Wildcat80]

Rivals ranks the same way..more on overall numbers than quality. Richmond did get a bunch of early commits. Time will tell......

[mainejeff]

CAAInsider was invaluable during the last month leading up to Signing Day. He does a great job and gets an A+ for effort. I don't necessarily agree with all of these rankings and especially including ODU and GSU in them, but it's nice to see an informed opinion and gives us something to discuss in the off-season. xthumbsupx

[bleedblue]

This guy may have it all figured out. That said, his rationale that Richmond was hurt in recruiting by our deep playoff run is foolish. Many of our recruits had committed before the playoffs began.

FCS does not have a huge staff for recruiting so we depend on our head coaches and assistant coaches. A team like Alabama has an entire team for only recruiting that has only 2 coaches part of that team. Their other coaches will have some input but only if those coaches choose to. Not even Saban attends the meetings with the exceptions of the 1st meeting, which is usually 1 to 2 weeks after the season, and the last. Or of course when Saban wants to. It makes if difficult for the FCS teams when you go deep into the playoffs. Granted I would rather be in UR's situation being the national champs but it does hurt not being able to put the current team aside and work on the future of the team. Don't believe me ask Coach London. What the CAA insider did not say is that kids want to have a chance to play for a NC. Everyone wants to play for a winner so winning does offset some of the issues with recruiting while preparing for the next playoff game. To say "many of our recruits had committed before the playoffs began" is just wrong. That's only a verbal which means, this is the school I want to go to now. That's it. Most kids change their minds all the time and some of the kids that verbal this year took back their verbal. Only when you have a LOI in hand can you say this kid will MOST likely be coming to our school and that's not always the case. So UR has had kids that have given their verbal to them before the playoffs and withdrew that verbal before signing day. So the only thing that seems "foolish" is when someone speaks when they have little idea of what they speak of. But then again I guess that's why these boards exist.

[th0m]

This guy may have it all figured out. That said, his rationale that Richmond was hurt in recruiting by our deep playoff run is foolish. Many of our recruits had committed before the playoffs began.

Gotta agree with you there. It's not like that one extra week (when compared to JMU's playoff run) would've made that much of a difference I'd say.

[JMU Newbill]

Also, considering ODU and GSU are fledgling programs that could afford to add 25 or 30 kids this year ... does it really make sense to compare their classes to the existing programs?

I'm not saying that to knock ODU and GSU.

I think its worth nothing that some of those kids would have prob ended up at other CAA schools if those programs did not exist. I mean ODU got some legitimate solid-looking recruits. Imagine if one or two of those went to JMU, or UR, or W&M.... could have an effect on the "rankings".

Either way, ranking recruits is what it is. It's something to write about, something for us to argue about, and something for me to do at work at 7 in the morning instead of crunching numbers in excel.

[Tribe4SF]

Gotta agree with you there. It's not like that one extra week (when compared to JMU's playoff run) would've made that much of a difference I'd say.

JMU got the last week to work recruits, while UR came out of the championship game and headed right into the quiet period. There's no way of knowing what impact that had, but it certainly may have been a factor. Another factor may have been Russ Huesman's immediate departure for UTC.

[mcveyrl]

JMU got the last week to work recruits, while UR came out of the championship game and headed right into the quiet period. There's no way of knowing what impact that had, but it certainly may have been a factor. Another factor may have been Russ Huesman's immediate departure for UTC.

Both good points, a whole week going into the quiet period is big. I also think that Huesman leaving probably lost UR some recruits (although there's nothing to back that up and it couldn't have been more than a couple).

Either way, these are recruiting rankings. As others have said they aren't worth much. It's only (generally) a fourth of your team and most of them aren't going to play for a few years. You gotta get them on campus, keep them on campus, and get them to gel with the rest of the team. Oh, and they have to live up to their "potential." Somebody ask Ryan Leaf about potential. (Here's a hint, if he won't talk, offer him a couple of pain pills for an interview).

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

To say "many of our recruits had committed before the playoffs began" is just wrong. That's only a verbal which means, this is the school I want to go to now. That's it. Most kids change their minds all the time and some of the kids that verbal this year took back their verbal. Only when you have a LOI in hand can you say this kid will MOST likely be coming to our school and that's not always the case. So UR has had kids that have given their verbal to them before the playoffs and withdrew that verbal before signing day. So the only thing that seems "foolish" is when someone speaks when they have little idea of what they speak of. But then again I guess that's why these boards exist.

We had verbals from most of these kids before the playoffs started. The only two kids we didn't end up getting a LOI that had already given us verbal could not qualify academically for UR. It had nothing to do with the coaches not getting a chance to further recruit them because they were busy looking at playoff film.

If you want to call London a lousy recruiter because you don't think he got good recruits ... fine. The playoff argument just doesn't make any sense.

We only had 15 spots and we got 15 guys! At least 10 or 12 of them told us they were coming before the playoffs began!

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

CAAInsider was invaluable during the last month leading up to Signing Day. He does a great job and gets an A+ for effort. I don't necessarily agree with all of these rankings and especially including ODU and GSU in them, but it's nice to see an informed opinion and gives us something to discuss in the off-season. xthumbsupx

I agree with you. Rankings and analysis aside, it is a great place to keep track of who the teams are looking at! xbowx

[putter]

This guy may have it all figured out. That said, his rationale that Richmond was hurt in recruiting by our deep playoff run is foolish. Many of our recruits had committed before the playoffs began.

What could be better for recruiting than being on ESPN for 2 weeks in a row and winning a NC?

[ur2k]

CAAInsider was invaluable during the last month leading up to Signing Day. He does a great job and gets an A+ for effort. I don't necessarily agree with all of these rankings and especially including ODU and GSU in them, but it's nice to see an informed opinion and gives us something to discuss in the off-season. xthumbsupx

Works for me, I had never seen anything from this site before. Its so tough to judge recruiting classes - it will be almost 2 years before a lot of these kids even play a game, I know UR tends to redshirt all incoming freshmen - with some exceptions.

[89Hen]

You're all a bunch of Hen haters. :p

[th0m]

JMU got the last week to work recruits, while UR came out of the championship game and headed right into the quiet period. There's no way of knowing what impact that had, but it certainly may have been a factor. Another factor may have been Russ Huesman's immediate departure for UTC.

Alright, maybe I underestimated that one week. But as putter said, that extra exposure didn't hurt them (or I guess it did because it means they weren't out recruiting but you know what I mean ;)). Indeed neither can be measured, so let's call it even :D