We all have our opinions, and that's fine. But let's keep in mind the following:
*We have the 2nd highest average ranking per recruit in the AAC (could be 1st by end of day)
*247 now has us 4th in the AAC, but the three ahead of us have at least three more recruits
*Only one team in the West, and they have four more commits, is ahead of us
*We are rated ahead of Kansas State, Cal, KU, Purdue, SDSU, and SMU, Tulsa, and Navy
*We have an ESPN 250 DL (the 2nd we've signed in 25 years?)
4) We have about 10 tier-two guys--recruits ranked somewhere between 75-150 on some list with P5 offers
5) The lower ranked kids would have been near the top of Levine's classes. All of them have AAC offers, in many cases multiple G5 offers. Let's keep in mind where we were recruiting before '16
Yes, Payton is a sleeper, much as Alex Cooper was in '11. Coop played basketball and had no other offers. He was a captain and all-conference player his senior year.
All in all I see this as one of the best classes of the last 10 years and a success coming on the heels of a transition. It was disappointing to lose a number of recruits, but Sellers told us many of those same kids were on the fence from the beginning, and then Texas came in and offered 3-4 of our guys. How many recruiting battles have we won with UT since the 70s or 80s?
I just feel it's a solid class. I can understand wishing we would have signed another to compare with '16, though that's pretty unrealistic after a coaching change, but if we look back at other classes the past decade or so, this one is going to be right there with the best of them save last year's.
*We have the 2nd highest average ranking per recruit in the AAC (could be 1st by end of day)
*247 now has us 4th in the AAC, but the three ahead of us have at least three more recruits
*Only one team in the West, and they have four more commits, is ahead of us
*We are rated ahead of Kansas State, Cal, KU, Purdue, SDSU, and SMU, Tulsa, and Navy
*We have an ESPN 250 DL (the 2nd we've signed in 25 years?)
4) We have about 10 tier-two guys--recruits ranked somewhere between 75-150 on some list with P5 offers
5) The lower ranked kids would have been near the top of Levine's classes. All of them have AAC offers, in many cases multiple G5 offers. Let's keep in mind where we were recruiting before '16
Yes, Payton is a sleeper, much as Alex Cooper was in '11. Coop played basketball and had no other offers. He was a captain and all-conference player his senior year.
All in all I see this as one of the best classes of the last 10 years and a success coming on the heels of a transition. It was disappointing to lose a number of recruits, but Sellers told us many of those same kids were on the fence from the beginning, and then Texas came in and offered 3-4 of our guys. How many recruiting battles have we won with UT since the 70s or 80s?
I just feel it's a solid class. I can understand wishing we would have signed another to compare with '16, though that's pretty unrealistic after a coaching change, but if we look back at other classes the past decade or so, this one is going to be right there with the best of them save last year's.
