[2024] Recruiting Class Grades Batch 2

[tsweezy]

It's everyone's favorite time of year!! Recruiting class grades are BACK. Prepare for me to scrutinize your roster and recruiting class and tell you how good or bad it was.

Without further ado:

 

Stanford University

Atlantic Coast Conference(???)

2024: 10-3 (7-1)
 

Recruiting Class Basics:

STAN signed 2 5-stars, 9 4-stars, and 10 3-stars. They signed 6 players with B or better potentials and 6 B overalls. Rankings below:

ESPN: 36th
Rivals: 4th
247: 9th

Composite: 4th

 

Signees below:

School	Name	Stars	Ovr	Pot	Pos	Archetype	City	State
STAN	Darrell Wilcox	4	B	C	ATH	Lineman	Forest	MS
STAN	Armando Barrios	4	C	B-	ATH	Bandit	Concord	CA
STAN	Douglas Williams	4	C	C+	ATH	Field General	Hampton	GA
STAN	Aaron Frost	4	C	D	ATH	Return Specialist	Crawfordville	FL
STAN	Jorge Alviso	3	C	C	ATH	Soccer Player	Winter Garden	FL
STAN	Gilbert Lee	3	C	C+	ATH	Strongside	Mesquite	TX
STAN	Charles Shamir	3	C	B	ATH	Triple-Threat	Washington	DC
STAN	David Ayala	3	C	B	C	Balanced	Clearwater	FL
STAN	Craig Ahles	4	C	B	CB	Zone Coverage	Birmingham	AL
STAN	Vincent Gibbs	3	C	C	CB	Zone Coverage	Madison Heights	MI
STAN	Mitchell Meehan	4	C	C+	DT	Pass Rusher	Olympia	WA
STAN	Daniel Keenan	3	C	B	FB	Balanced	West Monroe	LA
STAN	Stephen Ball	4	B	C	FS	Zone Coverage	Wedowee	AL
STAN	Ryan Yancey	5	B	B-	ILB	Coverage	Palo Alto	CA
STAN	Frank Fennell	3	C	B-	OLB	Coverage	Roswell	GA
STAN	William Tomlinson	4	B	B	OT	Run Blocking	Akron	OH
STAN	David Bleth	4	B	C	OT	Run Blocking	Olivet	MI
STAN	Matthew Ard	3	C	C+	RB	Speed	Kinston	NC
STAN	Michael Miller	5	B	A+	TE	Receiving	Palo Alto	CA
STAN	Frederick Coker	3	C	C+	WR	Speed	Dallas	TX
STAN	Lucas Thompson	3	C	C-	WR	Possession	Winder	GA

 

 

 

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
C	B	They're in a good spot here. Tuitt has had some good progressions as a B overall (So) with A- potential and can be a multiple year starter going forward. Clark is also a good backup	1	David Ayala fits the same mold, a solid 3 star with B potential. I don't think he's going to be a starter over the guys from the last couple classes but a good depth pickup	C/C+
CB	C+	They're *almost* into a consistent scheme here. However their best two players (Osmele and Petit) next season are man coverage while everyone else on the roster are zone cover corners. Tough to reconcile. kind of short on depth behind them with a bunch of C overall 3-stars who haven't blossomed yet.	2	Craig Ahles is the better pickup here as a blue chip B potential corner along with Gibbs, an average 3. I think this is a net upgrade with Craig being the only blue chip in the CB room. This could end up even better if Barrios ends up here. Although I think Bandit goes to safety.	C+/B-
DE	C+	Plenty of DEs on the roster. Weber is the only really good player though. A B overall currently he's a 4 star from the initial class. Thon Leaf is probably the other starter as a current B- (also dope name). In the pipeline they have a bunch of 3 stars along with Eugene Knight, a 4-star from last cycle	0	They do have a lot of solid DEs so not horrible to skip it this season I guess.	-
DT	B	Another solid room. John Grant is a current B+ coming back for one more year as a pass rusher. So is Ricky Williams, a B- Junior. In addition they signed a beefy Nose Tackle (Behrends) last cycle who's a mid-B 4-star freshman. Not sure how they'll sort out the pass rusher / nose tackle divide for DTs but they certainly have talent	1	Meehan is another solid blue chip DT for the Stanford squad. A pass rusher though as they keep going back and forth on the archetype. I suppose the optimistic view is that means all scheme options are open	B-
FB	B-	Tomlinson is pretty good I guess. They've got 2 more high potential freshmen 3 stars. nice	1	Come on, how many FBs does one team need? Nice pickup I guess	C+
FS	C-	This is a very not good room though. They have 3 guys rostered and the best option is 2 star C+ (So) Josh Cassel? I mean he could have a big progression with his A+ potential but it's a bit concerning the lack of skilled players	1	Big pickup here this cycle at a position of need. Stephen Ball comes in as a B overall which might well make him an instant true freshman starter and 4 year player.	B+/A-
ILB	A-/A	Mikal Cingrani is a 5-star coverage ILB from the initial recruiting class. It is a little disappointing he's only a B+ as a (So) but he should be due for a big progression pop off soon. A bit of a ding for having almost nothing at all behind him except a bunch of C overalls.	1	Cingrani won't be here forever and they nabbed his replacement (or partner in a 3-4?). Ryan Yancey is another 5 star BB- coverage guy which is just crazy to have 2 of those players side by side. Is there another team with a pair of 5-star ILBs? Amazingly loaded and the only complaint is that multiple ILBs means the pass rushing DTs might be a little less effective	A
K	C	Tyler Hill is pretty good for next season. Behind him Salassi is actually pretty bad so maybe they get a better kicker.	0	Didn't sign any. Not sold on Salassi tbh	-
OG	C+	They lose some good players. Gerson Cunningham is one assumed starter as a B overall (So). The other options are... not great. A bunch of C/C+ 3-star underclassmen. They should be solid eventually though.	0	I'm going to project the lineman athlete Darrell Wilcox as an OG because he fits in SO well here. A B overall already he again could very well be an instant 4-year starter and significantly boost this position group.	B/B+
OLB	C	Kind of FBS average here. 3 3-star Juniors, all C+ overalls. I don't think any of them are gonna be great, but like.. they're serviceable I guess. In the future Chad Smith is probably the answer as a 4 star from last years cycle. They definitely need another guy at that caliber at some point though	1	Frank Fennel is a good player. 3CB is not sneer worthy but he doesn't really raise the profile of the room. Looks like they are leaning into the heavy pass rush defense though.	C
OT	B+	Curtis Tracy is a VERY good player. an A overall he's still got one more year as an elite LT. On the opposite side of the line is probably another 4-star pass blocker. (Fr) Ronald Peterson looks like he's heading for a few years of starting, although the backup situation is, again, a bunch of freshman 3-stars. Overall, not too bad, but I don't see a replacement for Tracy on the roster anywhere.	2	Ok this is a pretty dang good class. TWO B overall 4-stars with Tomlinson and Bleth, the overall talent in this room is significantly increased which is really impressive. They are both run blockers too so a small schematic shift to the outside run in the future I suppose	A-
P	C+	Matthews will be a good senior punter, Wolfson is a freshman 3-star to eventually take over.	0	Didn't sign any	-
QB	C+/B-	Kyle Ham is pretty much the only guy in this room. Good news is he's a pretty good prospect as a former elite 11 invitee field general. Very smart, but not the best arm quite yet. Nobody else in the pipeline	0	I assume the hope is that 4 star field general Douglas Williams is an actual QB instead of an ILB but it remains to be seen how well those types of athletes do. He didn't make top-20 for elite 11 which is worrying, but if he's bad they do still have another year to recruit a future starter at QB	C+
RB	B-	Well, it had to happen eventually. Vontae Knebel is graduating. What will this do to the Stanford offense? Who knows. However, the future is bright with B overall Edgar Guo from last years class looking like he could step in and do his best imitation. Watkins is also a good change up player.	1	Ard is a pretty average 3-star but they didn't need a homerun after getting Edgar last year. Not much to say, Ard hopefully won't be a big player ever	C
SS	B-	Logan Jordan is a pretty solid looking B overall (So) who can be a multi year starter. Grant is also a fine 3-star backup. They have a consistent zone coverage safety squad too.	0	Didn't sign any but I can assume Barrios, the blue chip bandit athlete, is intended to play here. He is a good player for sure and slides in as they don't have any amazing young players coming up so this fits. Again, I'm really unclear on how well athletes replace positional players and Stanford took a lot of athletes in this class	C+/B-
TE	B+	Franco is an A- receiving archetype blue chip with one more year left. Bit of a steep drop off behind him with a couple C+ juniors and C freshmen. That's kind of expected for the youth though and they're a fairly promising group	1	WHEW, one of the best players in this entire year. Miller is a receiving weapon, 5-stars, with A+ potential which is really rare to pair with the 5 star overall pedigree. I think this guy could be the answer when teams key in on the run game in the future.	A+
WR	B-	Vigil and Bennett take over as (Fr) who are the blue chips in the room (along with last years Walter Gordon). To be honest, this is a really young starting group but that means very high hopes for future progressions and very strong upperclassmen in a few years time.	2	Meh, Coker and Thompson are extremely average WRs. Not a huge deal due to the players and youth they already have. Although maybe Frost (4CD return specialist) ends up in this room. Makes it a little better, but again I kinda like the seeds that are already here	C+

 

 

The more I looked at this roster the more I went "meh" about the immediate future. But I also went "hmm nice" about the prospects for the future. They have a LOT of quality depth options who aren't really set up to do things in the next year (maybe 2) but will turn into extremely good players and a very well balanced roster down the line. I think those classes also enabled this cycle to aim a bit higher and they got some really exciting pieces for the future with a cohesive identity. Bullish on the Cardinal

 

Class Grade: B+/A-

 

 

West Virginia University

Big 12 Conference

2024: 11-3 (7-2)
 

Recruiting Class Basics:

WVU signed 1 5-star, 7 4-stars, 9 3-stars, and 7 2-stars. They signed 10 players with B or better potentials and 5 B overalls. Rankings below:

ESPN: 15th
Rivals: 9th
247: 8th

Composite: 6th

 

Signees below:

 

School	Name	Stars	Ovr	Pot	Pos	Archetype	City	State
WVU	Jack Goldstein	3	C	B+	ATH	Slotback	Arlington	TX
WVU	Tod Augustine	2	C	B	ATH	Lineman	Franklinton	MS
WVU	George Trevino	2	C	B-	ATH	Wingback	Blairsville	GA
WVU	Kurt Merckx	2	C	C	ATH	Weakside	Dinuba	CA
WVU	Joshua Baldwin	2	D	C	ATH	Soccer Player	Vivian	LA
WVU	Jason Gordon	3	C	C	C	Pass Blocking	Medina	OH
WVU	Eric Phillips	4	C	C+	CB	Zone Coverage	Crowley	LA
WVU	Benjamin Wert	3	C	B-	CB	Zone Coverage	Liberty Center	OH
WVU	Luis Alvarez	3	C	C+	DT	Nose Tackle	Charlotte	NC
WVU	Paul Burkes	4	B	C+	FS	Zone Coverage	Boonton	NJ
WVU	Scott Nathanson	4	C	C+	ILB	Run Stopper	Granite City	IL
WVU	Brian Frangione	3	C	B+	OLB	Pass Rush	Van Wert	OH
WVU	Walter Zamarripa	3	C	C+	OLB	Run Stopper	Baker	LA
WVU	Donald Thompson	4	B	B	OT	Pass Blocking	Port St. Lucie	FL
WVU	Scott Velocci	3	C	B	P	Accuracy	Albany	GA
WVU	Wilson Winston	4	C	C	QB	Pocket	Greenville	MS
WVU	Gregory Moore	4	B	B	RB	Receiving	Minnetonka	MN
WVU	Roderick Cruz	2	D	B+	RB	Balanced	Peoria	AZ
WVU	Harold Gilbert	2	D	A-	SS	Ball Hawk	Canton	GA
WVU	Geordi LaForge	5	B	B+	WR	Route Runner	Morgantown	WV
WVU	Graham Schow	4	B	C	WR	Speed	Roanoke	VA
WVU	Russ Ward	3	C	C-	WR	Speed	Richwood	WV
WVU	Jose Barrientos	3	C	A	WR	Speed	Williamston	MI
WVU	Peter Foster	2	C	C+	WR	Speed	Oakley	CA

 

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
C	C	A pretty mid setup here. A B- rising (Sr) is the best guy in the room and I don't *love* the replacements. Last year they signed Feaster, a 3 star CC kind of guy. Very average group here for the FBS level. Esteves is the other 3 star who at least has B potential and is pass blocking	1	Same thing this cycle. Gordon is a 3 star but he does have a C potential and is pass blocking. I know good centers are hard to get but this just doesn't wow me especially with their other players here	C
CB	B+	Andre Bell might have been the best player in the genned 2020 class and he's back as a high A overall for one more year. They also signed a really good pair of B overalls as (FR) who will be elite for a while. Good depth too. All around good room here with the only issue that Andre is probably going to have to play a zone scheme as that's what the defense seems to be trending towards	2	Yeah another pair of zone guys. Phillips is the better pickup as a 4CC guy, but they're both solid options. Room has enough depth that they shouldn't start for a while and now have the luxury of recruiting how they want here with no glaring pressure	C+
DE	B-	They have a trio of B overalls from 3 successive classes including 2 4-stars so the starting talent should be plenty good to be competitive (if not elite). They did drop the ball a bit last cycle with only 2 D overalls so they probably need to bounce back with someone.	0	I'm surprised by this omission, seemed like an important position to go after this cycle. Now, you can make the argument that Kurt Merckz (misspelled Karl Marx brother) as a weakside athlete could be a DE, but he's a 2CC so he's not very impactful either. Might be a priority for them next cycle	C-
DT	A-	Now this is a very good room. Riley Jennings might be their best signed player from the 2021 class as an A- (So) already, here for another few years as well. Next to him they have Givens Williams (B+ (Jr)) and then malik Redmon to take his place later, plus another few B- guys. Probably best room on their roster?	1	Not sure about this guy. Luis Alvarez is a random 3CC+ but he's also a nose tackle. I guess I see the vision where they recruited nose tackles last cycle too, but I'm surprised because I don't think they have the ILBs to be transitioning to a 3-4. Guess we'll see	C
FB	C	They have a random 3 star rising junior, fine I guess	0	Didn't sign any	-
FS	B	Ryan Davis had the spot but he's graduating. They are DEEP at this position, and I suspect they'll move one of the FS to play SS next season. Anyway, it looks like it'll be a battle between 2021 4-star Kelvin Gurley (Run Stopper) and (Fr) 4-star Justin Hesse (zone coverage). Both are B overalls and should be capable. They have another pair of B- backups. Nice spot to be in overall	1	Wow, yet another entry into the ring. Paul Burkes is one of their B overall signees (zone coverage 4-star) so he's one of those 5 solid startable FS. But Again, Hesse is gonna be tough to unseat with a 2 year head start. I *think* Hesse will go be the starting SS and Burkes is the presumed guy after Gurley leaves? That would work out pretty well	B
ILB	C+	Like I mentioned, they seem to want to become a 3-4 team. They have 3 potential startable players, but none of them are really stars. L.J. Condo is a B- junior, Cole Snell is a C+ (So) and their only blue chip is last years field general still a C+. So Arostegui will eventually be good, but for next year this room will not be a strength for the team	1	Nathanson is another blue chip ILB which is good! He's not really going to shake up the room but he makes it plausible for a 3-4 to happen. They might want a pair of players next year though to bolster quality numbers	B-
K	C	They had two B- senior kickers. Mike Moore got the surprise senior year redshirt and will start next season. Harry Hacker is the unfortunately named 3-star signee from last year who is going to be the future kicker. Perfectly fine room	0	Didn't sign any	-
OG	B-	They do have some good young talent in this room. Gosewisch is (unsurprisingly from Wisconsin) a big man pass blocker who was a B+ and has one season left in him. On the otherside they have a pair of B overall freshmen pass blockers to battle. They've got another B- depth option, so overall it's plenty good of a room for them	0	Didn't sign any. Surprising because I think you should always take at least 1 OG in every cycle for balanced numbers. I suppose you could argue that Tod Augustine is a lineman athlete who could fit here, but a 2 star doesn't seem that great for a team in ascension like WVU	C-
OLB	C+/B-	They have a lot of OLBs, but not a lot of them are super great right now. Mike Johnson and Kareem Sierra are B/B- (So)/Jr from 2021. Both pass rushers, they're going to be a nice tandem but not all-conference, just generally solid players. They have a couple other pass rushers on the roster, but everyone else is still a C overall and Timothy Wilson is last years blue chip future starter	2	They signed another pair of 3 stars here, Frangione looks better with the B+ potential and pass rushing ability. I think they could turn into something good but at the moment are in wait and see mode to see if they can beat any of the other recent signees	C/C+
OT	C	They lose their two B+ starters which is a pretty significant loss. They do have 4 B- options at replacement though. Oscar Ray was a true freshman 4-star who is their brightest star, and then they have a pair of 3 star (So) and Nick Collins, the (Jr) who tentatively has the highest overall. Should be interesting to see who wins this and it'll be one of the top spring battles to watch	1	They've had some big recent classes so numbers weren't a concern here. Donald Thompson is a QUALITY pickup though. 4BB pass blocker is definitely someone to be excited about and I'm very curious how he'll slot into this upcoming position battle. Could be someone who starts earlier than expected? Or waits for a few years, we'll see	B/B+
P	C	They have a single punter, Greathouse is a So 3-star A potential C overall guy. I guess he's fine. Sign one next cycle for his future replacement I guess	1	This year works too. Velocci is another 3 star punter who is injury insurance and should be fine when it's his turn	C
QB	B+	Dzanan Reid exploded this season and is going to be one of the top quarterbacks in the conference (maybe the country) next season. I'm very high on him and he's only going to be a (Jr). With that said, if he has another year like this he might leave after that season so it's worth looking at the rest of the room. As of now I don't see the next guy in line behind Reid on the roster, just a pack of random 3-star C overalls. This year, at latest next year, they need to find someone to start grooming	1	Wilson Winston is a 4CC Pocket guy. That's definitely better than everybody else in the room besides Reid. However he did not make the top-20 for the Elite 11 competition this year so there's a lot of room to recruit over him. Fine backup / emergency guy though	C+
RB	B+	Dolis and converted QB Guzman were REALLY good players and it stings to lose them. However, I'm actually really high on Michael March-Lillard (not MLM thankfully). I think he's a top-5 back from the 2021 class and is going to be capable of putting up some big numbers. Marimon will be a good complement next to him, although beyond those 2 nobody moves the needle for me	2	Gregory Moore is REALLY good. I don't think he's MML level but he's a 4BB receiving option who's going to pretty seamlessly take over in 2027 as a high end starter. They also took Roderick Cruz and George Trevino / Jack Goldstein who are all kinda mediocre 2-stars and won't really play here	B+
SS	A-	Dante Smith is going to be a 5th year senior and since he was already an A- this year he'll be one of the best players on the entire defense coming up as a run stopper. They are a little thin behind him with only a pair of freshmen 3-stars. Important to get some higher end players soon I think	1	Harold Gilbert ain't that. A- potential sure, but D overall? He ain't starting. Drop off incoming when Dante leaves I think	D+
TE	B	I feel like I fought for Juan Corral at some point? He's going to be good, a blue chip B potential guy. Ahead of him is B- (Jr) Anthony Jackson, and those 2 are as good a pair as you can expect at tight end. Behind them is last years signee, a 4 star vertical threat with B+ potential (from in state!) who's taking a redshirt this season	0	Didn't sign any	-
WR	C+	They had some elite WR play to help Reid this year, particularly Purcell. But their top 3 WRs are all graduating leaving them with Murray (B- (So)) and last years blue chip B overall Bundick as the only good players rostered. Need some quality depth	5	DAMN, 5 signees including the first ever 5-star for the Mountaineers.LaForge is a really nice pickup growing up in Morgantown and is likely an instant starter and future offensive focal point. Don't let that overshadow the others though, as they are all track stars. Barrientos has a nice 3 star A potential, and the other big fish is Graham Schow, a B overall who also could see some early playing time	A

 

WVU also signed some athletes, I mostly mentioned them but they could have slightly different plans. None of them are that good though so I didn't worry about it too much. To be honest, this is a bit of a harsh grading, I know they've made some big turnarounds on the field and getting to the playoff quarterfinals means more scrutiny, and lots of this roster aren't really at that level. Their recruits are definitely getting better, I think they got some big fish here, but when you look across the board this really isn't a top-10 roster and probably won't be imminently which puts a lot of onus on cohesion and coaching (which tbf have been very very good so far). Still, take this as an indication of how quickly the level of play and expectations are rising in Morgantown

 

Class Grade: B

 

A little something new. Cheat sheet to see the last 3 cycle class grades

School	2022 Grade	2023 Grade	2024 Grade
Western Michigan	B-	B+	B+
Georgia	B	B-	B/B+
Stanford	-	B	B+/A-
West Virginia	C+	C+/B-	B

 

[DarthJarJar]

Sign me up. The Lobos signed the best class in the country.

[Curby4]

Would love to also see my very average recruiting class mentioned. 

[npklemm]

Nice to see WVU continuing to improve in recruiting. Given how they performed this past year with how they generated, Mountaineer fans should be super hyped on the future of the program

[acewulf]

Show me Tulsa

[Ewade]

I'd like to see my class. Since I would say this was my best year of crooting.

[Tryggr]

Come take a stroll down the UNC roster and recruit list

[Bundy]

Scrutinize my croots daddy sweezy (eventually, doesn't need to be the next one but I always look forward to your analysis)

[Bellwood]

Ooh, I'm interested!

[subsequent]

My class is underrated per the media, prove me wrong.

[SageBow]

Stanford with 7 ATHs LMFAO

 

Utah wants a grade!

Edited September 11 by SageBow