[2024] Recruiting Class Grades Batch 10

[tsweezy]

By now you know the drill. Leave some engagement so I'm motivated to do more and get to your team sooner

 

@kgreene829 and @Migi

 

Tulane University

American Athletic Conference

2023: 7-6 (3-5)
 

Recruiting Class Basics:

TLNE signed 1 5-stars, 4 4-stars, 14 3-stars. They signed 14 players with B or better potentials and 4 B overalls. Rankings below:

ESPN: 119th
Rivals: 18th
247: 34th

Composite: 35th

 

Signees below:

 

School	Name	Stars	Ovr	Pot	Pos	Archetype	City	State
TLNE	Derek Scott	3	C	C+	CB	Zone Coverage	Conyers	GA
TLNE	Frank Tidwell	0	D	F	CB	Man Coverage	Baton Rouge	LA
TLNE	Thomas Garfield	3	C	B	DE	Speed Rusher	Pensacola	FL
TLNE	Leon Mose	0	D	A-	DE	Balanced	Houston	TX
TLNE	Forest Rutledge	4	B-	B+	DT	Nose Tackle	Birmingham	AL
TLNE	Joseph Gillette	4	C+	B+	FB	Blocking	Buda	TX
TLNE	Don Liu	3	C	B-	FS	Ball Hawk	Valencia	CA
TLNE	Jozef Smith	3	C	B	FS	Run Stopper	Bradenton	FL
TLNE	Richard Andros	0	D	A+	ILB	Coverage	Pelahatchie	MS
TLNE	Michael Alvarado	3	C	C+	K	Balanced	Los Alamitos	CA
TLNE	Hugh Crawford	3	C	B+	OG	Pass Blocking	St. Augustine	FL
TLNE	Byung Tengan	3	C	A-	OLB	Speed	Santa Fe Springs	CA
TLNE	Ronald Bracken	3	C	B	OLB	Pass Rush	Savannah	GA
TLNE	Brian Kindred	4	B-	A-	OT	Pass Blocking	Monticello	FL
TLNE	Joseph Berman	0	C-	A+	OT	Pass Blocking	Waco	TX
TLNE	Richard Biggins	3	C-	B-	P	Power	Arcadia	CA
TLNE	Joseph White	3	C	B-	QB	Scrambler	Palm Beach Gardens	FL
TLNE	Quy Wilbur	3	C	C+	QB	Balanced	Rancho Cucamonga	CA
TLNE	Frank Jolliffe	5	B	B-	RB	Speed	Layton	UT
TLNE	Marion Mcfadden	3	C	B-	RB	Receiving	Ruston	LA
TLNE	Mark Davis	3	C-	C+	RB	Speed	Windermere	FL
TLNE	Ricardo Santiago	3	C	B-	SS	Zone Coverage	San Juan Capistrano	CA
TLNE	William Zeider	4	B-	A	WR	Speed	Lakeland	FL
TLNE	Nguyen Lee	0	D	B	WR	Red Zone Threat	Mesquite	TX
TLNE	Isaac Shorter	0	D	A-	WR	Possession	Pflugerville	TX

 

Below is a breakdown position-by-position of (from L-R) their current roster, what they did on the trail, and the grade I gave them in recruiting that position.

 

 

Position	Current position grade	Current status	Number signed	Recruiting status	Croot Grade
C	B+	Gwacham is a true testiment to development. A true A overall he started as just a 3-star with B+ potential and the staff managed to turn him into a likely solid draft pick. Behind him Hentges is a good back up as a current B overall (Jr). Unfortunately nobody is behind them	0	sooo Tulane has never signed a center in any of their 3 cycles. That's pretty wild to realize. Anyways next year they'll only have Hentges left and will either need to actually sign *someone* here or suffer the OOP penalty from kicking over an OG/OT.	D+
CB	A-	It hurts that the best player Blanco is a man coverage in a zone scheme, but he leaves after this year. Sinkfield/Riser/Levine are a trio of Soph eligible blue chips who are all solid B/B+ overalls who are about to become very, very good. They also have (So) Sampson as an A+ potential 3 star B overall so damn they've god a squad cooking. Also Riser and Levine should've signed with Tennessee :sadparty:	2	Like I said, they had a shit ton of talent in the previous classes so not a high priority. Derek Scott is like the definition of an average 3-star and they took a garbage walkon, but they weren't really going to get any playing time anyways	C
DE	B	A good mix of archetypes here and at the top are a couple soild upperclassmen. Jenkins is the best player by far at A- overall speed rushing, and then a B/B- option on the other side in Kalambayi/Bellinger. Last cycle they got blue chip Jacob Owens who is their future run shutdown-er	2	Garfield is a solid B potential 3 star so I like that signee. Mose is another garbage walkon. Good enough, but they'll probably look to grab some kind of blue chip this upcoming cycle	C
DT	B-	This is a younger group than the others. Sale is the oldest by far and a B overall balanced (Jr) is good. Second guy up is Beatty, a 4 star from last cycle who has a fast 40-time, but other than that doesn't have many attributes to support his B overall rating. They also redshirted a NT and pass rusher 3-stars who are high C overalls. This is a group that will definitely grow into good players but just aren't there yet	1	Wow one year after taking Beatty from Alabama they return to take Forest Rutledge, a big Nose tackle body who is already a B-/B- player. I don't think they have the depth to run 3-4 so curious if this marks a scheme shift or if Rutledge was just so good they didn't mind	B+
FB	B	Blah blah blah, they have an A- rushing guy and signed a 2-star rusher last cycle	1	Gillette is heir to an immense razor fortune, but decided to do the dirty work and be a lead blocker. He's pretty good at it though as a blue chip B+ potential guy	B+
FS	B+	Another position Tulane didn't sign their first 2 seasons. Kyle Are is another super well-developed 3-star but Landry isn't quite as good behind him. They deinitely need to load the pipeline	2	Finally they do. A pair of 3-star C/B players look like duplicates on paper, but dramatically different skills as a ball hawk / run stopper. Tulane can either wait and see who develops better or choose the best scheme pick in the future	C+
ILB	A	Honestly this is a massive strength of the team. I don't know what they'll run scheme-wise this season but they have plenty of options. Holcomb is a punishing run stopper up the middle (another 3 star who became a star!) at A overall and could feature as an all-conference player just about anywhere... except maybe his own team. Kevin Robles was the first big fish the staff wanted to showcase their initial class and damn he's good. A 5-star is always good but the (So) Field general is an A- overall now and should be a #1 option just about anywhere... except on his own team as he's a notch below Holcomb. Very curious how the coaches sort this one out here.	1	Robles is the only returning player so it's... concerning they didn't sign anybody and just took a walk on. I assume they want to at least have a 2nd ILB on the roster so look for them to sign 1 or 2 this year	D+
K	C-	At least he's got a C in accuracy? Mcdonald is the only kicker on the roster as a 3-star C/C+ from last cycle. He's not that good but should be enough to make chip shots regularly and grow	1	Alvarado is basically the same signee except gives them an actual backup and means they can go another cycle or 2 without a kicker	C
OG	B	How many positions has Tulane not signed a player at? Weird. The 3 guys rostered are solid enough with B+ at the top 2 spots and Hamilton returning as the current best player likely to be an A- next season. Not much in the pipeline though	1	Crawford is a C/B+ 3-star so he's actually a great prospect for one OG slot. The other one is still empty though and next year projects to have only 2 guards rostered	C+
OLB	B+	I'm... surprised. I was ready to talk about how great the LBs at Tulane are but this is not anywhere near as good as ILB is. Hill is a soild B+ senior on one end but I expected more from Hernandez and Barr. Last cycle Tulane looked like they knocked it out of the park with a 5-star pass rusher and a 4 star run stopper and redshirted them both. Neither looks like they progressed at all but C- isn't horrible potential. Anyways, they've got years and years and will be very scary eventually but interesting how many 3-stars Tulane has turned into good players but these guys don't look great yet	2	After last class Tulane could've stood pat but they picked up a pair of high potential 3 stars who should develop nicely	B-
OT	A-	TEN OTs rostered does seem excessive but what do I know. They certainly have good starters as Schlitter is a blue chip A overall senior and Sampson is a (So) blue chip B+ player on the other side. A bit of a drop down to B/B- players behind them and then a shit ton of 3-star C+ overalls with mostly bad potentials	2	Tulane slowed down a bit only signing one player (and a walk on) but damn Kindred made a lot of last years signees obsolete as he's a 4 star B/A- pass blocker who should take the RT slot next season and hold onto it for the rest of his career. Great signee	B+/A-
P	D	They have a 1-star senior as the only rostered punter. BAD	1	Alright Biggins isn't phenomenal, but he is a 3C/B- guy so the room won't bottom out	C+
QB	A	I will begrudingly say that Tulane has some good QB history. Haloti Thomas was a very good scrambler and is a (Sr) A- who's very fast on his feet but only an average arm. Unfortunately for him, Paul McCullers-Sanders (PMS) arrived and stole his job as a (Fr) last season and was a top-5 / top-3 underclassman cementing the job as his for 3 more years. A (So) pocket passer, he's got some pretty good attributes all around and is in contention to be a likely first round pick after the 2026 season. The rest of the guys are career backups and Thomas is moving to the RB room	2	Signed two more clipboard holders but who cares because PMS is still here. They could sign a future starter now or wait a year, it doesn't matter much rn	C
RB	B+	Castillo is just an average B+ starter on his own, but you have to take Haloti into account giving them a nice 1-2 punch at the top. The rest of the room actually looks pretty mediocre with Shin-Soo Martinez (3 star A- potential) as a speed back being the likely starter next year which is not that exciting yet	3	Big waves were made when Tulane went all the way up to Utah and signed Jolliffe from local schools Utah / Utah State which had to sting them. Guess Jolliffe is just a party guy and wanted the NOLA experience. Anyways, a 5 star B- potential is a huge, huge pickup but may be blocked from a starting spot year 1 by Castillo and Haloti. I do think he'll be a monster for them in the future though. Very good pickup. They also took a pair of random 3 stars who are tripping if they think they'll get serious carries	A/A+
SS	B-	Milano is a (Jr) B overall ball hawk and they have another B- zone coverage guy in the room. I don't have much to say, they both have high potential and are in the middle of their growing curve so not great but good enough	1	Santiago is another zone guy with good potential. The room overall is fine, even if I don't have much to say about it
TE	C	Uhhh there are only 2 TEs rostered and both are senior 2-stars. They're both pretty average players on their own and are acceptable but it's dangerous to have no established pipeline.	0	Didn't sign any. No TEs will be in the room next season. Is Tulane planning on running an anti-Kansas offense, moving players to new positions, or just going to sign a shit ton of guys here this cycle?	F
WR	B+	Another hurtful room to review. Tulane cleaned up last cycle signing 5-star Jeffrey Bouthillier (He should have been mine!) along with 4-star A potential speed demon William Henry. Together with senior Dashaun Knight, PMS actually has some good options to throw to and great targets for the future too	3	Another speed blue chip in William Zeider (B with A potential), Tulane has a fearsome underclassmen trio. I'm not counting the walk-ons though, which does show a thin depth chart behind those 3	B+

 

Ok this is just a weird roster. Before this cycle Tulane had never signed a C, FS, OG, P, or TE which is... odd right? They still haven't signed a center or TE and somehow have 0 true juniors on the rostered. A little baffling the distribution of players amongst positions. Anyways, for the rooms they have cared about, Tulane has signed and developed pretty well. I don't think they're nearly as good as Tulsa but they seem neck and neck with Navy for second in the AAC at the moment. They've enjoyed a notably high success rate in their high profile recruiting battles but I think they must be losing more mid-level battles or just investing an outsized amount of resources in the top guys as they lack a little bit of the depth I would expect from a team in their position. I'll be curious what they do this cycle to try and (hopefully) even out their roster a little bit

 

Class Grade: B

 

 

 

University of California-Berkeley

Pacific-12 Conference (RIP)

2023: 7-6 (4-5)
 

Recruiting Class Basics:

CAL signed 1 5-stars, 5 4-stars, 5 3-stars, 10 2-stars, and 2 1-stars. They signed 14 players with B or better potentials and 2 B overalls. Rankings below:

ESPN: 77th
Rivals: 32nd
247: 39th

Composite: 37th

 

Signees below:

 

School	Name	Stars	Ovr	Pot	Pos	Archetype	City	State
CAL	Isaac Cox	3	C+	A	CB	Man Coverage	Cleveland	GA
CAL	Steve Deblasi	2	C	B-	CB	Man Coverage	Slocomb	AL
CAL	William Wilson	4	C+	C+	DE	Run Stopper	Durham	NC
CAL	Glenn Sheets	2	D	A	DE	Speed Rusher	Fort Lauderdale	FL
CAL	James Critcher	2	D	B	DT	Balanced	Youngstown	OH
CAL	Ricardo Blancas	4	B-	B	FS	Man Coverage	Cedar Park	TX
CAL	Keith Williams	3	C	A	FS	Ball Hawk	New Orleans	LA
CAL	Stephen Brown	4	C+	C+	ILB	Coverage	Cottonwood	CA
CAL	Mark Dorff	1	D	A-	ILB	Run Stopper	Clinton	LA
CAL	William Arnold	2	D	C	K	Balanced	Decaturville	TN
CAL	Stefan Meister	4	C+	B+	OG	Pass Blocking	Garden Grove	CA
CAL	Robert Boomer	3	C	C+	OG	Balanced	Bradenton	FL
CAL	Horacio Garcia	2	D	B	OG	Pass Blocking	Palm Beach Gardens	FL
CAL	Erwin Whearty	2	D	B+	OLB	Pass Rush	Modesto	CA
CAL	Edwin Valencia	1	D	A	OLB	Coverage	Chula Vista	CA
CAL	Peter Delossantos	4	C+	C	OT	Pass Blocking	Peoria	AZ
CAL	Robert Kidder	3	C	B-	OT	Run Blocking	Decatur	IL
CAL	Chris Trent	2	D	B	OT	Pass Blocking	Patterson	LA
CAL	Larry Johnson	0	D	D-	RB	Receiving	Peoria	AZ
CAL	Larry Black	2	D	B	RB	Power	Ardsley	NY
CAL	Justin Edwards	0	D	D	SS	Run Stopper	Gilbert	AZ
CAL	Errol Voit	2	D	B	TE	Blocking	Palm Coast	FL
CAL	Nick Morales	5	B	B-	WR	Possesion	San Diego	CA
CAL	George Uhler	3	C	B+	WR	Possesion	Mesquite	TX
CAL	Neil Moskowitz	2	C	B-	WR	Possesion	Mobile	AL

 

Below is a breakdown position-by-position of (from L-R) their current roster, what they did on the trail, and the grade I gave them in recruiting that position.

 

 

Position	Current position grade	Current status	Number signed	Recruiting status	Croot Grade
C	B	I gave Derik Null a hard look last cycle, and Cal snagged a good one out of NC. The sophomore B overall isn't great now, but they have no upperclassmen and with starting experiene he will turn into a great player	0	Didn't sign any, I don't mind after 2 good ones last cycle	-
CB	B+	Rick Guerra is a great senior 4-star ball hawk as an A overall and should blanket any WR1 he's up against. Last year's signee Robert Hanzel is a zone guy who's already a B overall as a (Fr) indicating he has a bright future. There's a few other average guys but notably a mix of man and zone	2	They signed a 3 star A potential and a 2 star, notably both are man coverage. I am on record as saying man corners are easier to recruit, but it is tough when Hanzel is so good as a zone guy. But might as well pick a lane right?	C+
DE	B	The pair of upperclassman 3 star B+ overall run stoppers is going to be really solid for Cal, but they do have a hole as the other two players are last years redshirted signees. Chung Gray is the blue chip who's likely to take a starting job and Spencer actually projects alright too. Depth is the main concern here	2	Will Wilson is another blue chip run stopper and I don't care about Sheets as a 2-star who's bottom of the room. I think Cal now has a pretty good pipeline of future players here	B-
DT	B+	Again, good present, solid future. Carlos Mama has a good name and is an A- overall pass rusher who looks good on paper. Aaron Smith is a blue chip (So) B+ overall who nails down the other starting spot. They have average 3 stars to fill out the room	1	Only signed one guy - D overall James Critcher. Not loving it but they already had depth so not the end of the world	C-
FB	B	A couple solid guys, Gose looks pretty good as the blue chip in the room	0	Didn't sign any, I don't care	-
FS	C+	Moronta is the 2-star man coverage senior, but I'd bet on Weathersby to actually win the job as a (So) ball hawk and hold it for a few years with B- potential. A few other young 3-star ball hawks serve as good depth	2	Ricardo Blancas has a really good chance to win the starting job himself actually. A 4-star B/B player he has great potential and if he gets starting progressions will jump up. Keith Williams is an A potential 3 star, although I do think this is a crowded position with 5 underclassmen and only 1 who can be on the field	A-
ILB	B	Moore is a good field general up the middle with B+ overall. They also have more than capable 3-star backups, but none have very high potential and haven't really broken out yet	2	Stephen Brown is a blue chipper and the only one in the room now. He probably redshirts this year but has a chance to beat out Bojan next season and win the starting job. They also took a 1-star who is whatever	B
K	B	Izaah Giles III is a nice name, and he has a nice leg as a high B+ senior. Of course there's no one to back him up which dings them a bit	1	William Arnold from Tennessee is I guess the presumed heir but like, he's only a D overall and has C potential so not the best omen for the future	D+
OG	B/B+	Well Kyle Reed is a very good 3-star senior with A overall and may be drafted next season so that's good. The bad are that the (So) B- is the other starter and the (Fr) C are the only others rostered. Need more players	3	Meister is a really solid B+ potential 4-star pickup and Boomer and Garcia add solid depth. So I consider the depth issue less pressing now, and Boomer needs to hit the weight room since he'll be starting next season	B
OLB	B+	Damn, solid room here. a 4-star each of the last 3 cycles and D.J.Jenkins is that A overall Run stopping senior (from TN smh we needed him) who is a great starter at one side. Kuechly is the Jr run stopper who's less good and takes the other side. Last years 2 signees are still just C+ overalls and need to progress more	2	Hm a bit downhill here witl a pair of D overalls. I would like to see Cal get back to a solid pipeline here or at least some high potential players for when Jenkins / Kuechly leave	D+
OT	B+	A good mix of archetypes and depth, I like this room. Felix Ponce de Leon is a run blocking A- senior and on the other side you have pass blocking Dante Mejri as a B+ overall. You have a B- (So) and a 3 star (Fr) as well	3	Delossantos seems like he forgot to split up his last name into bits, but he is a blue chip talent which you love to see. Kidder is a 3-star B- potential so the duo makeup a pretty solid signing class. Also a 2-star but idc about him	B
P	B+	Kessler is only a B overall power punter, but he's a blue chip they signed last year so he is a good long term starter	0	Didn't sign any, didn't need to	-
QB	B+	I like Tanner Rodriguez more than I expected to. Frankly I think he's as close to an A- as he can get while still getting the B+. He's incredibly intelligent and has an above average arm. This is his last season and he has some good weapons so I do expect solid production. The heir apparent is the other blue chip in the room: (Fr) David Ferguson from last cycle. David is a balanced QB, which really means at this stage he's just average at everything, but the hope is he grows into a guy who's very good at everything. I think it'll be a step back next season and then he'll keep progressing well (B- potential).	0	Didn't sign any. David is the guy but still rare to see 0 QBs in a class	-
RB	B/B+	They are really deep here. Robertson is the senior starter with B+ overall and is a true receiving threat out of the backfield. Behind him are the 4-stars from the last 2 classes: Swearinger and Davis who are B/B- guys respectively and will take up the mantle in future years	2	Yikes, a pair of D overall guys isn't something that's very helpful. Gonna need to rectify that next year or the year after	D+
SS	B	Cheslor Dickerson is a respectable B overall run stopper and returns next year for a senior capper. C.J. Asher is a fine senior backup this year, but last years signee sucksss as a 1 star D/F guy. They need a future starter	1	Justin Edwards isn't the guy either (D/D). So now next year Cheslor will be the only *real* player at the position (he'll be very good though). High priority here	D
TE	B-	Yamamoto is a solid B+ receiving threat but he's gone next year. The other two guys aren't ready for the lights this year. Saum is a (Fr) 4-star who is still only a C+ same with Junior blocking Tress Crosby. I would've expected those to be good signees but for some reason they just haven't progressed much.	1	Voit is another D overall guy which means it's years before you might see his name anywhere	D+
WR	B+	This room is pretty solid, if thin. You've got Ty Ringo as the A overall blue chip senior who's going to be Tanner's best friend. At WR2 is Don Castillo who's plenty capable himself. Then you have a trio of junior B- overalls who are all physically talented but have not so great hands. Not a great class last year as they kinda punted on it	3	BIG FISH ALERT. Nick Morales is the first 5-star this class has signed and I think he was a fairly big recruiting battle. This is huge as he also has B- potential and is gonna be a starter this year, and the alpha by next year. They also signed a fairly high potential 2 and 3 star behind him. Still lacking a quantity of quality players but they have their all star now	A

 

I think this is a good roster... for one more year. Unfortunately there are a lot of positions that look somewhat brittle(?) I guess? Like I think they have a pipeline to maintain starters just about everywhere, but they are definitely declining from conference championship contenders to a step below. They do actually have a fair number of impact players too, but looking at this year for example, 14/25 signees being 2 star or lower is just not an acceptable ratio if you want a strong roster in the long run no matter how good your hits are. I want them to cast a bit wider of a net and hit some high potential signees this upcoming year. C+ overall but Morales brings it up to a slashy grade by himself. That boy nice

 

Class Grade: C+/B-

 

 

School	Grade	Batch
Western Michigan	A-	Intro
Purdue	A	1
Northern Illinois	C+	1
Michigan	B-	2
Washington State	B/B+	2
Tulsa	B/B+	3
Temple	C+	3
Kansas	B	3
James Madison	C+/B-	4
BYU	C	5
Florida State	B-	5
Indiana	B	5
Houston	B	6
UNLV	B+	6
Georgia	B-	7
Bowling Green	B-	7
Florida	B	8
Stanford	B-	8
Wisconsin	B+	9
Illinois	C	9

Tulane	B	10
California	C+/B-	10

 

 

Edited March 27 by tsweezy