So much attention has been focused in the past week or two on the guys we are missing out on, namely Breese and presumably Fleming. My perception has been that Franklin has been improving the overall roster talent level not just steadily but fairly dramatically. But to either confirm my thought or serve as a wakeup call I went back and looked at recruiting classes and PSU's projected roster for 2020. I chose that year, as opposed to this fall, as it includes the kids we are now recruiting who are driving much of the debate.
Here are some findings to think about. In 2020 PSU will have a minimum of 47 players on the roster who were Rivals 4* recruits (a few were 5*, Shorter, Wade and Parsons). That is basically going to be our two-deep with a few exceptions. Further, the roster will also include a minimum of 16 players who Rivals ranked at 5.7 and 3*; IMO these are the kids who merit attention as Rivals rates a 5.8 recruit as a 4* and a 5.7 is a 3*. I think most reasonable people would agree there is likely not much difference between a 5.7 and a 5.8 so I would think the 5.7 kids are recruits/players we should be confident can play at this level. I also note that some of these 5.7 kids were at one time 4* recruits per Rivals but ultimately dropped to a 5.7 3* rating (Michael Johnson, Hakeem Beamon and D'von Ellies are in this group). So the 47 4/5* kids and the 16 borderline 3/4* kids will account for at least 63 of our 85 scholarships in 2020. It's important to note that this analysis includes only the 10 recruits who are committed today; obviously we will add another 5-8 4* (we hope) so this figure will actually be more like 70 total 4* or borderline 4* kids.
The 4* kids are pretty nicely spread out among all positions. I'm not sure there is any position on the field that would be glaringly lacking in terms of highly ranked recruits. Specifically the breakdown looks like this:
DE (5) - Isaac, Oweh, Tarburton, Gross-Matos, Simmons . DT (5) - Brevard, Hawkins, Mustipher, Culpepper, Hansard. LB (7) - Jacobs, Wingo, Dixon, Smith, Parsons, Luketa, Brooks. CB (5) - Moten, Ellis, Gordon, Castro-Fields, Johnson. S (3) - Rudolph, Wade, Sutherland. With the exception of S each position on defense can be at least 2+ deep consisting only of 4 and 5 * recruits. Maybe CJ Holmes will make the move to S to add some depth.
On offense, OT (4) - Parks, Whigan, Walker, Fries. G/C (5) - Wormley, Wallace, Scruggs, Thorpe, Menet. TE (2) - Friermuth, Strange. WR (5) - Dunmore, Dotson, George, Shorter, Hamler. RB (4) - Cain, Ford, Slade, Holmes. QB (2) - Clifford, Roberson. Like the defense, we are 2 or 2+ deep at every position when we include only 4/5* recruits.
The kids who Rivals ranked as 5.7, just missing the 5.8 cutoff for 4 star status includes Toutant, Achumba, Adams, TJ Jones, Ellies, Porter, Johnson, Beamon, Wilson, Brisker, Effner, Katshir, Barber, Miranda, Sullivan-Brown and Hippenhamer. I also note we lost two 4* recruits in Miner and Asiedu, who could have really helped.
All in all I would say this roster should give us cause for optimism regardless of who we don't get in the current class. If we can land one of Carmody, Fashanu or Zinter at OT, Theo Johnson at TE, Dottin plus one of the FL 4* WR's who will be visiting, the DE from Vilbert's HS in Jersey, Izzard and 1-2 4* S, this roster is going to be pretty stacked from top to bottom at every position. Seems to me right now the staff should be identifying a handful of big time DE recruits who are either committed elsewhere or we have not yet gotten in on as that might be the one position that needs an infusion of depth as Gross-Matos will likely leave after this season.
My conclusion is that PSU is in a pretty strong position right now. We need to fix the locker room chemistry (hopefully some of the transfers and kids who turned pro may be a case of addition through subtraction), execute better late in games and call better plays late in games, to get over the hump. Just my .02 to begin the week.
Here are some findings to think about. In 2020 PSU will have a minimum of 47 players on the roster who were Rivals 4* recruits (a few were 5*, Shorter, Wade and Parsons). That is basically going to be our two-deep with a few exceptions. Further, the roster will also include a minimum of 16 players who Rivals ranked at 5.7 and 3*; IMO these are the kids who merit attention as Rivals rates a 5.8 recruit as a 4* and a 5.7 is a 3*. I think most reasonable people would agree there is likely not much difference between a 5.7 and a 5.8 so I would think the 5.7 kids are recruits/players we should be confident can play at this level. I also note that some of these 5.7 kids were at one time 4* recruits per Rivals but ultimately dropped to a 5.7 3* rating (Michael Johnson, Hakeem Beamon and D'von Ellies are in this group). So the 47 4/5* kids and the 16 borderline 3/4* kids will account for at least 63 of our 85 scholarships in 2020. It's important to note that this analysis includes only the 10 recruits who are committed today; obviously we will add another 5-8 4* (we hope) so this figure will actually be more like 70 total 4* or borderline 4* kids.
The 4* kids are pretty nicely spread out among all positions. I'm not sure there is any position on the field that would be glaringly lacking in terms of highly ranked recruits. Specifically the breakdown looks like this:
DE (5) - Isaac, Oweh, Tarburton, Gross-Matos, Simmons . DT (5) - Brevard, Hawkins, Mustipher, Culpepper, Hansard. LB (7) - Jacobs, Wingo, Dixon, Smith, Parsons, Luketa, Brooks. CB (5) - Moten, Ellis, Gordon, Castro-Fields, Johnson. S (3) - Rudolph, Wade, Sutherland. With the exception of S each position on defense can be at least 2+ deep consisting only of 4 and 5 * recruits. Maybe CJ Holmes will make the move to S to add some depth.
On offense, OT (4) - Parks, Whigan, Walker, Fries. G/C (5) - Wormley, Wallace, Scruggs, Thorpe, Menet. TE (2) - Friermuth, Strange. WR (5) - Dunmore, Dotson, George, Shorter, Hamler. RB (4) - Cain, Ford, Slade, Holmes. QB (2) - Clifford, Roberson. Like the defense, we are 2 or 2+ deep at every position when we include only 4/5* recruits.
The kids who Rivals ranked as 5.7, just missing the 5.8 cutoff for 4 star status includes Toutant, Achumba, Adams, TJ Jones, Ellies, Porter, Johnson, Beamon, Wilson, Brisker, Effner, Katshir, Barber, Miranda, Sullivan-Brown and Hippenhamer. I also note we lost two 4* recruits in Miner and Asiedu, who could have really helped.
All in all I would say this roster should give us cause for optimism regardless of who we don't get in the current class. If we can land one of Carmody, Fashanu or Zinter at OT, Theo Johnson at TE, Dottin plus one of the FL 4* WR's who will be visiting, the DE from Vilbert's HS in Jersey, Izzard and 1-2 4* S, this roster is going to be pretty stacked from top to bottom at every position. Seems to me right now the staff should be identifying a handful of big time DE recruits who are either committed elsewhere or we have not yet gotten in on as that might be the one position that needs an infusion of depth as Gross-Matos will likely leave after this season.
My conclusion is that PSU is in a pretty strong position right now. We need to fix the locker room chemistry (hopefully some of the transfers and kids who turned pro may be a case of addition through subtraction), execute better late in games and call better plays late in games, to get over the hump. Just my .02 to begin the week.
