Monday, February 19, 2007

Recruiting 2007 --- Reflections

Well, recruiting for 2007 is mostly over. Coach Brown stated that he is holding one or two scholarships up his sleeve.

Usually I-A transfers decide after Spring Football when they end up down in the depth chart. We'll have to wait to see if Brown comes up with any I-A transfers.

Obsessing about recruiting is foolish, as Chuck Burton points out in his CSN Diary-Letter of Intent article. Starting a "fire the coach" website when a fan's team suffers the hell of only signing 6 four-star Rivals recruits and Florida State signed nine is crazy.

But that only goes so far. Recruiting is the lifeblood of a program and better athletes means better results.

UMass signed seven defensive players (counting the punter as defense) and eight offensive recruits. Four of the recruits were team captains in high school.

How did we do? Pretty well thinks this blog. Lots of I-AA teams signed I-A transfers. Not many signed a I-A All American like Jeromy Miles.

UMass signed four OL. Reading the pedigree of offensive linemen is usually not very exciting. They usually are touted as "All league". UMass' recruits are all over 6-4 and all have multiple citations for "All-Something".

Octavious Hawkins could be a steal at QB.

Three of the recruits should start. Jeromy Miles should start at Strong Safety. JUCO Chris Pollard should start at Free Safety. Brett Arnold should start at punter.

Can't wait to Spring Football to see them all perform.