Jump to content

DrAshHole

Burnt Ends
  • Posts

    2
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by DrAshHole

  1. Spoiler

    How did college football’s chaotic coaching carousel affect signing day? Michigan, Texas and others who benefited most

    This year’s coaching carousel was an all-timer, considering how many big-time programs had to make hires and all the unexpected chaos that occurred along the way. It’s done spinning for now. Temple officially hiring Stan Drayton on Wednesday means every vacancy has been filled.

    The ripple effects of all that craziness and change were easy to spot on the first day of the early signing period. LSU, USC, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Florida, Miami and Oregon all opening up in the same year clearly had a disruptive impact on the 2022 recruiting cycle. That’s too many programs with strong recruiting reputations shaking things up at the same time. It meant a lot of coaches were scrambling to hold their classes together and just as many were trying to move in and use the uncertainty to flip who they want.

    There were close to 100 decommitments in this cycle at schools that fired or lost their head coaches. Among the top 1,000 recruits in the 247Sports Composite, 73 announced decommitments following coaching changes. Due to their significance, we’re including Clemson’s IMG Academy trio in that number, three top-100 defensive commits who backed out after longtime defensive coordinator Brent Venables left for Oklahoma. But if you counted all the players whose decisions were swayed or switched by coordinators and assistants making moves … well, that number becomes a lot more than 100.

    Among the 73 recruits, there were still 21 who are unsigned and available as of late Wednesday night. Domani Jackson, C.J. Williams and TreVonte’ Citizen are the biggest names on that list, but many more could become highly coveted if they’re willing to wait until February to sign. They’re sure to have a lot of newly hired coaches fighting for their signatures.

    Who did the best job of capitalizing on the chaos and upgrading their classes by scooping up players who decommitted? Here are a few programs that benefited most from these coaching changes.

    Michigan: The Wolverines enjoyed a strong finish on Wednesday with five new pledges jumping on board to push their class up to No. 9 nationally. Four of those new additions came from players who had decommitted following coaching changes.

    The best of the bunch was defensive lineman Derrick Moore, the No. 79 overall recruit from Baltimore who’d locked in a commitment to Oklahoma back in July. He backed out of that plan right after Lincoln Riley took the USC job and squeezed in official visits to Michigan and Ole Miss in December before making his final decision.

    Then there was defensive back Keon Sabb, the top-100 recruit at IMG Academy. His plans to attend Clemson changed once Venables became Oklahoma’s head coach. Fortunately for Sabb, he’d already explored a backup plan at that point by taking his official visit to Michigan for the Ohio State game. He’s going to be an excellent chess piece as a hybrid safety in this defense.

    Jim Harbaugh chased Amorion Walker pretty much all year long, not relenting after the three-star wideout from Louisiana committed to Notre Dame back in March. Those efforts paid off on Wednesday when Walker finally flipped and signed to join a receiver class that also added four-star Darrius Clemons out of Portland.

    Another intriguing flip that came to fruition on Wednesday: three-star quarterback Alex Orji, a late-emerging target out of Texas. Orji had stayed loyal to his Virginia Tech commitment since April, but the firing of Justin Fuente there opened the door. Orji visited the College Football Playoff-bound Wolverines over the weekend and concluded now was a pretty good time to jump on board.

    “I’m ready to get up there and make the Playoff myself,” Orji told the Dallas Morning News. “I want to go win the Big Ten and get into the Playoff.”

    Alabama: The Crimson Tide brought in three more top-100 recruits for their No. 2 ranked class in linebacker Jihaad Campbell and wide receivers Aaron Anderson and Isaiah Bond. Campbell, the IMG product ranked as the No. 9 edge defender and the No. 78 overall recruit, had been the first of the trio to pick Clemson by committing in June. He went with Alabama over Texas A&M on Wednesday.

    Nick Saban and his coaches were able to get Anderson, a former LSU commit, on board not long after Ed Orgeron’s firing and got Bond — the top-rated recruit in Florida’s class at the time — on campus for a visit on the same weekend Dan Mullen was fired. That receiver class really came together nicelywith Anderson, Bond and their latest pickup — No. 3 ranked WR Shazz Preston, also out of Louisiana — coming on board to join in-state signee Kobe Prentice.

    But wait, that’s not all. Because the coaching change at LSU also resulted in one of the nation’s best cornerbacks putting his name in the transfer portal. Alabama beat USC and Georgia for five-star transfer Eli Ricks on Wednesday night, adding a former Freshman All-American and instant starter to its secondary.

    Georgia: Five-star defensive lineman Mykel Williams committing to USC was a big deal in June, but it wasn’t by September. The No. 26 overall recruit and No. 3 prospect in Georgia kept his recruitment going after Clay Helton was fired and took more SEC visits before concluding his best move was staying home and flipping to Georgia in October.

    Georgia also capitalized on Venables leaving Clemson and Florida firing Dan Mullen. The Bulldogs won a head-to-head battle against Alabama for five-star Daylen Everette, a cornerback from IMG who, like Sabb, had been pledged to Clemson since July. That was an especially important group for coach Kirby Smart to get right with this class, and Everette was one of five defensive backs who signed on Wednesday.

    “We don’t have enough DBs now,” Smart said. “We don’t have enough. We’re still lower than we’ve ever been in terms of defensive backs.”

    He did add more speed to the receiver room, too, by beating Tennessee to secure a signature from former Gators commit C.J. Smith on Wednesday.

    Texas: Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns were able to generate a lot of momentum down the stretch to build a No. 5 ranked class, and other programs’ dysfunction certainly played a helpful role.

    They were able to avenge a very tough July recruiting loss to Oregon and capitalize on Mario Cristobal’s move to Miami by convincing five-star offensive lineman Kelvin Banks to join their class. Sarkisian and offensive coordinator Kyle Flood managed to persuade him to sign now instead of extending his recruitment until February, making Banks arguably Texas’ most important signee of this cycle besides Quinn Ewers. Banks’ fellow Oregon commit Cameron Williams, a three-star lineman, also jumped on board to boost one of the nation’s best O-line classes.

    “You’ve gotta have big humans,” Sarkisian said. “You’ve gotta be able to play big up front, and I think we addressed that.”

    Texas also got four-star cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau back on its commit list after the coaching change at TCU, flipped defensive back X’Avion Brice away from Oklahoma on signing day and also landed Savion Red, a former SMU commit, to bolster its receiver room.

    Texas A&M: The Aggies really didn’t need anybody else’s help in assembling their incredible No. 1 ranked recruiting class. But they did still swoop in and add two more top-100 recruits to their class thanks to coaching changes. The first was defensive lineman Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, the No. 16 overall recruit and No. 2 player in Florida. Oklahoma won a head-to-head battle against Texas A&M for him back in October, but Brownlow-Dindy was surprised and bothered by Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch bailing for USC and decided to flip to A&M on Dec. 6.

    Texas A&M also picked up a commitment and signature from Jake Johnson, the nation’s No. 1 tight end recruit, on Wednesday morning. Jimbo Fisher already had two tight ends in this class but figured it couldn’t hurt to throw in another. That pickup also suggests that Texas A&M is going to land his brother, LSU transfer quarterback Max Johnson, who is announcing his decision on Thursday.

    Texas Tech: New coach Joey McGuire vowed when he was hired that Texas Tech was going to be known for playing defense during his tenure. He and his staff were able to back up that promise and boost their transition class with four signees on that side of the ball who became available after coaching changes.

    Defensive back Landon Hullaby, a former Oregon commit, jumped on board Wednesday. Linebacker Ty Kana, an ex-USC commit, was one of McGuire’s first new pledges. And thanks to the hiring of defensive line coach Zarnell Fitch, the Red Raiders were able to bring over three former TCU commits in defensive linemen Joseph Adedire and Trevon McAlpine and offensive lineman Seth Martin.

    Texas Tech wasn’t one of those programs that lost a lot during its transition, either, with only one decommit since McGuire was hired. He has put together a top-40 class, and he isn’t done yet.

    Houston: Wide receiver Matthew Golden is the No. 204 recruit in the country, making him one of the Cougars’ highest-rated signees of the modern recruiting era. In fact, only Ed Oliver and two other players were ranked higher. Houston can thank the coaching change at TCU for putting the 6-foot, 190-pound wideout back on the market.

    “Matthew Golden is a phenomenal football player,” coach Dana Holgorsen said. “He had a lot of options to be able to go about where he wanted to here in the last month. Selling him to stay home and represent the city was big. I think the impact that Alton McCaskill had in Year 1, you’ll see the same thing out of Matthew.”

    Houston also picked up former SMU receiver commit CJ Nelson and former Oklahoma commit Demetrius Hunter, a four-star lineman that Holgorsen believes has the size and skills to compete for the starting center job right away this spring.

    Oklahoma: Riley took running back commit Raleek Brown with him to USC, and the Sooners lost Brownlow-Dindy, Moore, Hunter and Brice during their coaching transition. The good news is new coach Brent Venables was able to get Kobie McKinzie, a four-star linebacker and longtime commit, back on board this week. McKinzie decommitted when Riley left and committed to Texas on Dec. 5. But he agreed to give Venables a chance, took one more visit to Norman and flipped back on Monday.

    “I’m really thankful for him,” Venables said. “If you are going to build a great defense, it starts up the middle, inside and up front. That middle backer and safeties, you have to be really strong up that middle. His presence, his size, his strength, his physicality, gives us that chance for exactly that.”

    The Sooners also capitalized on the coaching change at Florida by adding quarterback Nick Evers and receiver Jayden Gibson to their class. Both are top-100 recruits at positions that were needs due to portal attrition. According to 247Sports’ class calculator, those three signings are the difference between OU’s small class currently ranking 10th and not 34th.

    BYU: Bronco Mendenhall’s decision to resign from Virginia prompted twins Dominique and Marcus McKenzie to stay home and flip to BYU. Offensive lineman Joe Brown made that switch, too, and is planning to sign on Thursday. They’re three of the six highest-rated pledges in the Cougars’ class.

    Adding the McKenzie twins, who are both listed as WR/DB athletes according to BYU’s staff, moved their class 25 spots in the team rankings up to No. 57 nationally, and it’s a top-50 class if you count the addition of five-star Oregon transfer Kingsley Suamataia.

    Who else benefited from the coaching carousel shaking up recruiting? Here’s the list of 73 decommits that rated among the top 1,000 recruits nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings and where they’ve signed so far.

    PLAYER
      
    POS
      
    RANK
      
    DECOMMITTED
      
    NEW SCHOOL
      
    Daylen Everette
    DB
    29
    Clemson
    Jihaad Campbell
    LB
    78
    Clemson
    Keon Sabb
    DB
    94
    Clemson
    Isaiah Bond
    WR
    86
    Florida
    Jayden Gibson
    WR
    149
    Florida
    Nick Evers
    QB
    156
    Florida
    C.J. Smith
    WR
    225
    Florida
    Terrance Gibbs
    RB
    317
    Florida
     
    EJ Lightsey
    LB
    484
    Florida
     
    Francois Nolton
    DL
    619
    Florida
     
    Jamarrien Burt
    ATH
    706
    Florida
     
    Tae Meadows
    RB
    987
    Georgia Southern
     
    Camron Cooper
    DL
    992
    Louisiana
     
    Lorenzell Dubose
    DB
    484
    Louisiana Tech
    Jake Johnson
    TE
    83
    LSU
    Aaron Anderson
    WR
    96
    LSU
    TreVonte' Citizen
    RB
    113
    LSU
     
    Decoldest Crawford
    WR
    421
    LSU
     
    Justin Medlock
    LB
    469
    Miami
    Landon Ibieta
    WR
    544
    Miami
    team-logo-267-50x50.pngLSU
    C.J. Williams
    WR
    76
    Notre Dame
     
    Devin Moore
    DB
    251
    Notre Dame
    Amorion Walker
    WR
    518
    Notre Dame
    Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy
    DL
    16
    Oklahoma
    Raleek Brown
    ATH
    33
    Oklahoma
    team-logo-252-50x50.pngUSC
    Derrick Moore
    DE
    79
    Oklahoma
    Kobie McKinzie
    LB
    114
    Oklahoma
    Demetrius Hunter
    OL
    360
    Oklahoma
    X'Avion Brice
    DB
    781
    Oklahoma
    Kelvin Banks Jr.
    OL
    15
    Oregon
    TJ Dudley
    LB
    199
    Oregon
     
    Tanner Bailey
    QB
    218
    Oregon
     
    Jahlil Florence
    CB
    230
    Oregon
     
    Emar'rion Winston
    DL
    409
    Oregon
     
    Cameron Williams
    OL
    458
    Oregon
    Landon Hullaby
    DB
    462
    Oregon
    Andre Dollar
    TE
    477
    Oregon
    Jordan Hudson
    WR
    132
    SMU
    team-logo-187-50x50.pngTCU
    Chace Biddle
    DB
    162
    SMU
    team-logo-187-50x50.pngTCU
    Michael Ibukun-Okeyode
    DE
    399
    SMU
    team-logo-187-50x50.pngTCU
    CJ Nelson
    WR
    777
    SMU
    Jaylon Guilbeau
    DB
    160
    TCU
    DJ Allen
    WR
    184
    TCU
     
    Matthew Golden
    WR
    204
    TCU
    Joseph Adedire
    DL
    416
    TCU
    Cade McConnell
    OL
    680
    TCU
    Ja'Dais Richard
    DB
    841
    TCU
    Trevon McAlpine
    DL
    850
    TCU
    Jocelyn Malaska
    DB
    640
    Texas Tech
    Domani Jackson
    CB
    7
    USC
     
    Mykel Williams
    DE
    26
    USC
    Devin Brown
    QB
    53
    USC
    Jaeden Gould
    DB
    191
    USC
    Ephesians Prysock
    DB
    247
    USC
    Kevin Green Jr.
    WR
    479
    USC
    DeAnthony Gatson
    RB
    529
    USC
     
    Ty Kana
    LB
    547
    USC
    Caleb Douglas
    WR
    753
    USC
     
    Keith Olson
    OL
    992
    USC
    Brody Meadows
    OL
    429
    Virginia
    Dominique McKenzie
    ATH
    590
    Virginia
    team-logo-217-50x50.pngBYU
    Anthony Holmes
    DL
    833
    Virginia
     
    Marcus McKenzie
    ATH
    861
    Virginia
    team-logo-217-50x50.pngBYU
    Joe Brown
    OL
    904
    Virginia
    team-logo-217-50x50.pngBYU
    Keyshawn Burgos
    DE
    967
    Virginia
    Ramon Brown
    RB
    236
    Virginia Tech
    Alex Orji
    QB
    424
    Virginia Tech
    Malcolm Jones
    DB
    800
    Virginia Tech
    Vega Ioane
    OL
    557
    Washington
     
    Chance Bogan
    TE
    635
    Washington
     
    TJ Hall Jr.
    DB
    831
    Washington
    Jackson Stratton
    QB
    951
    Washington
    Adryan Lara
    QB
    675
    Washington State
     

    @LTtxfan

    • Hook 'Em 1
×
×
  • Create New...