Last year's portal class was obviously amazing, but this year was pretty damn good as well--
--Transfers who have played in all 6 games--Franke; Wheeler; Ratcliff; Nowakowski; Hemby; Mendoza; Moore; Michalski; Benson; Gandy; Staes; Brady; Daley; Boykin; Wyatt; Coogan.
I'd label Mendoza, Coogan & Franke as great gets; Wheeler, Ratcliff, Nowakowski. Hemby, Moore, Benson, Brady (as a PR) & Wyatt as very good gets; and Michalski, Gandy, Daley, and Boykin as good additions. To me, Staes is a bit disappointing. We could use a big-time TE prospect as a pass catcher in the middle of the field, but that hasn't happened. How is he doing blocking? I don't watch the TEs closely enough to know.
I was real high on Tyler Morris as a slot prospect.....Brady has been excellent as a PR, but he's very average at best as a slot WR. Beebe is a guy who would have played in every game....I especially liked his receiving abilities....which Hemby has but Black not as much. Also, absent injury, McCarthy would have punted in all six games, so he would rank as a very good get.
Others: Knighten (2 games); M. Jackson (3); G. Wilson (2). Jackson was a late addition as a replacement for Morris, He's easily the biggest disappointment of this group given his excellent production at a lower level, and the need he was to address. I think Wilson is exactly who we expected him to be. Knighten was always something of a mystery recruit to me--highly rated by some, hardly mentioned by others. His build is awfully slight. I wonder if they've given up on him, or if he's viewed as a RS candidate.
So.....I'd say Cig went about 19/22 with this portal class. Not bad.
The fact that Knighten is still on the team tells me we haven’t given up on him and more importantly he hasn’t given up on IU. He and Gandy both will benefit from a full year+ of development and could be major contributors next year. I’m glad you mentioned Franke, because he certainly is a very critical piece to our success. Going from having to do those Angle kicks to the pylon with the risk of going out of bounds versus now being able to kick it through the back of the end zone has been a huge advantage for us. I hope we find someone comparable to handle kickoffs next year. I hate doing those angle kicks.
I’m anxious to see how our high school recruiting turns out for next year. I’d bet we will be doing some flipping. I know Cig is going to concentrate on getting high school kids and then supplementing by the portal. Also hoping Mendoza 2 gets some more playing time… starting this weekend.
Last year's portal class was obviously amazing, but this year was pretty damn good as well--
--Transfers who have played in all 6 games--Franke; Wheeler; Ratcliff; Nowakowski; Hemby; Mendoza; Moore; Michalski; Benson; Gandy; Staes; Brady; Daley; Boykin; Wyatt; Coogan.
I'd label Mendoza, Coogan & Franke as great gets; Wheeler, Ratcliff, Nowakowski. Hemby, Moore, Benson, Brady (as a PR) & Wyatt as very good gets; and Michalski, Gandy, Daley, and Boykin as good additions. To me, Staes is a bit disappointing. We could use a big-time TE prospect as a pass catcher in the middle of the field, but that hasn't happened. How is he doing blocking? I don't watch the TEs closely enough to know.
I was real high on Tyler Morris as a slot prospect.....Brady has been excellent as a PR, but he's very average at best as a slot WR. Beebe is a guy who would have played in every game....I especially liked his receiving abilities....which Hemby has but Black not as much. Also, absent injury, McCarthy would have punted in all six games, so he would rank as a very good get.
Others: Knighten (2 games); M. Jackson (3); G. Wilson (2). Jackson was a late addition as a replacement for Morris, He's easily the biggest disappointment of this group given his excellent production at a lower level, and the need he was to address. I think Wilson is exactly who we expected him to be. Knighten was always something of a mystery recruit to me--highly rated by some, hardly mentioned by others. His build is awfully slight. I wonder if they've given up on him, or if he's viewed as a RS candidate.
So.....I'd say Cig went about 19/22 with this portal class. Not bad.
Really good thoughts here.
The one kid I'd argue is Boykin is better then the good addition category. He's someone that is a pivotal piece in our secondary. No, he doesn't have the flashy numbers, but he's not getting beat either. He obviously has to come out when we go 3 backers, but he's been a really steady addition.