Recruiting BY TEAM
North
BYU – 8 Open Scholarships – Signed the WR#2 Manuel Sutton, who is decent receiver but not spectacular at any one skill. OT#9 Bill Conner is the lowest rated OT to sign in the whole Pac12. BYU only had 8 scholarships to fill and failed in spectacular fashion. GRADE: *
California – 12 Open Scholarships - Jose Rose is the #5 rated QB, while they were aiming to get a better player here, he is not too far behind the two guys rated above him. At the RB position the Cal Bears went north to Renton, Washington to grab RB#3 Lawrence Hill, a solid runner but a tier bellow the two elite RB to join the conference. They also signed RB#12 Harvey Flores who has speed but is not very good past that. At the WR position Cal targeted WR#5 Manuel Sutherland. Sutherland has elite hands and elusiveness but lacks speed and athleticism. TE#3 Thomas Funk is not spectacular at any one thing but is a well-rounded player. OT#8 William Myers is an average player, and OG#8 William Bailey is horrible. California should have done better at the O-line position. DT#6 Anthony O’Hara is also horrible and does not belong in the Pac12. Not a good class for the big uglies in Berkeley. CB#8 David Boyd, CB#11 Anthony Green, and S#2 David Campbell are decent for depth but Cal would have really liked to do better here too. Missing bowl money hurts. This was a very underwhelming first class for roundtop13. GRADE: ***
Oregon – 10 Open Scholarships - Even though they are a sim team, the Oregon Ducks got a decent QB with the #4 Pac12 QB Jose Reed. Also got a decent player in TE#7 Patrick Combs from all the way across the country in Lancaster, VA. DE#4 Samuel Taylor is the bottom man in this class at Oregon. Does not have a lot of talent but will add some depth. GRADE: *
Oregon St – 14 Open Scholarships - Signed the #1 QB in the Pac, Anthony Greer, who they envision as a running threat out of the wishbone. RB#11/FB#1 Ryan Virgil is not a good runner but is a great FB that should led the way for great backs for years to come. WR#7 is not a good WR but can block if you are into that type of thing. Oregon St has been very mediocre at the TE position in recent recruiting cycles. Not this season. Oregon St landed one of the best TE in the country and the TE#1 in the Pac 12. He should start from day one. OT#2 Bobby Sellers is a stud that should start from day one. OG#2 Scott Jones is also good, should add to a talented OL. DT#2 Brian Welch is one of the best DT prospects in the country and should also start right away in Corvallis. The Beavers are very short on LB depth and so that’s all they were trying to add here. LB#11 Joshua Murry and LB#10 Claude Hines are both career backups at best. Hit big with CB#2 Sam Mitchell and CB#6 Floyd Hunter both could see starts this season. S#1 Sam Swain was a late addition to this class and adds depth where it is needed most. Getting this class over the top as a success is the #1 kicker in the country James Mayes. Having him should give the Beavers the advantage of a shorter field. GRADE: ****
Washington – 12 Open Scholarships - Got RB#6 Carl Martin, lots of athleticism but that’s about it. The first good player in this class, WR#4 Francisco Copeland will add an all-around solid WR. While TE#5 Charles Ramirez is not a good player he does have some value as a receiver. OT#7 Kyle Black and OG#4 Daniel Black are a solid duo, Kyle should be a starter for all four years on campus. DE# 3 David Jarvis is not good but will fill a need. Did not take a LB. Did not take a DB. GRADE: **
Washington St – 16 Open Scholarships - QB#8 Erik Trevino is not good but looks like Payton Manning compared to QB#11 Matthew Price, who is the worst Pac12 QB recruit this season. RB#9 Harry Ellis has a little bit of power and speed but not much else. TE#6 Michael Morgan is right behind the #5 guy that USC got. Not too bad. Has elite hands and blocking skills, but no speed or strength. OT#4 Danny Carter, and OG#3 Michael Roman are both really good. It’s rare to see a sim pull in such a talented group of OL. Both players should be building blocks for the future. For as well as Washington St. did on the OL they did equally as bad on the DL. DE#5 Bernard Dominguez is the lowest rated DE to sign with a Pac12 school. Same with DT#8 Edward Young. S#4 Jerry Tillman is not going to be a big impact player but will add depth to a bad secondary. GRADE: **
South
Air Force – 14 Open Scholarships - James Locke QB#6 is a step below the #5 guy, and not very good but could still find himself as the starter by seasons start. RB#13 Lester Quick is the worst to sign at his position. WR#8 Randy Hobbs is not too bad; his saving grace is elite hands and elusiveness. OT#10 Chris Jackson is the lowest rated OT in this class. DT#9 James Caldwell is also the lowest rated player at his position. LB#8 Robert Gibson is the best player to sign with the Falcon. GRADE: *
Arizona – 16 Open Scholarships - Jose Ewing is the #9 rated passer to sign in the Pac 12, third to last. RB#10 John Anderson adds some speed to the backfield and is an able blocker coming in as the FB#2. How in the world did a sim team get the second and third best WRs in the whole Pac 12? WR#3 Samuel Perry is a steal for a sim team. TE#8 Leroy Martinez will take a roster spot. C#2 Edward Vargas is a keeper and much better than OT#6 Matthew Morrow. OT#3 James Tyler is another steal, as Arizona beat out Oregon St for his services. DL# Greg Turner. DT#3 Robert Lewis is a solid backup. DE#6 Francisco Johnson is not. DB#10 Nicholas Burton is a bum. GRADE: **
Arizona St – 13 Open Scholarships - Roy Lopez is not the answer at QB for the Sun Devils, rated as the #7 QB signed by a Pac 12 team. RB#2 Ricky Thompson is a superb back and could challenge Steven Johnson (UCLA) as the primer back of this class if he were stronger and faster. They also add RB#8 Steven Gray who is a power back that can be a great FB#3 to charge up the middle. The Pac 12 may have the worst collection of WRs in all of college football with one player that can even break the top 25. WR#1 Christopher Webb is that one bright spot in the conference. TE#4 Alfred Smith is not great at any one thing but not bad at anything either. Could very easily have been the #2 TE in the conference. Got a good one with OT#6 Douglas Johnson, but had to settle with OG#7 Jose Maxwell. DT#5 Jeffrey Baker and DE#7 Timothy Ford leave a lot to be desired. These two do not add much to the line. LB#5 Robert Sterling and LB#6 Thomas Clark are both good players that are right up there with the best in the conference. DB#3 Eric Cox should see the field as a backup in his freshman season. Has a huge advantage with Punter Henry Smith being, by a large margin, the best punter in the country. GRADE: ****
Stanford – 13 Open Scholarships - Keeping up with recent history the Stanford Cardinal took Eric Morris QB#10, one of the worst passer of all division I signings. Things start to look up with RB #7 Russell Crowder, who adds much needed speed. WR#6 Bradley Smith is also a speed guy, but would rank much lower in any other conference. Got a good TE out of Texas, TE#2 Sean Harrell is a strong player that is instantly one of the better on this roster. Anytime a sim lands a top two player at any positon it is a big deal. OT#5 Lawrence Novak is a high BLK guy, OG#5 Phillip Parrish is not as talented. DT#7 Fred Reynolds is a horrible player. GRADE *
UCLA – 19 Open Scholarships -The Bruins have 19 open scholarships entering the recruiting period, giving them the most resources in the conference. The #2 QB in the Pac12, Zachary Grayson is right behind Anthony Greer in my QB rankings. Not a future star, he will hope to earn some reps as a backup. The Bruins snatched three solid backs getting all around stud RB#1 Steven Johnson, RB#4 Ray McIntyre, and RB#5 James Johnson. Steven Johnson is not only the top back in this class in the Pac 12, but he is right up there with the top in the country. Did add depth with TE#6 James Harris, a blocking machine who is one of the best run scheme TE in this class. Put together a great group of blockers that easily ranks at the top of the conference. OT#1 Timothy Hall. C#1 Todd Trevino. OG#1 David Miller. All three will get significant playing time do to depth concerns. DT#1 David Green is my highest rated DT in the whole country. A HUGE get for UCLA. With Green manning the middle, DE#2 Christopher Medina and DE#1 Cecil Sanders will provide the rush off the edge. UCLA did a great job filling up their lines. Championships are won and lost in the trenches and UCLA set themselves up nicely moving forward. LB#1 Steven Riggs leads a corps that includes LB#4 Jeffrey Savage, LB#7 Bruce Williams, LB#9 Richard Wise, and LB#10 Joel Levine. The top three could play right away, with Wise and Levine providing help next season when UCLA loses two seniors. CB#7 James McNeal, CB#9 Todd Moran, and S#3 Michael Rojas are not good. The Bruins did not need DB as bad as they did other positions. This is a great class. My highest rated in the conference. Helps close the gap in talent with rival USC. GRADE: *****
USC – 13 Open Scholarships - Not the best class by USC standards, there is still some good talent here. Peter Johnson is the #3 QB of all Pac 12 signees. TE#5 Rick Turner is a strong player but lacks the desired athleticism at the position. TE#10 Carl Nelson is not good at all and should get buried on the depth chart in future seasons. LB#2 Luis Brady and LB#3 Matthew Harris are two of the best LB and could challenge Steven Riggs (UCLA) for the top spot. CB#1 Glenn Nichols and CB#5 Arthur Jones help boost the class. Nichols is the best player to sign with USC this season. Not sure exactly what happened here, not having bowl money did not help. USC will be fine because tampafla is a great coach that will rebound next season. With that being said, this is a very bad class for an elite like USC that is coming off a National Championship game victory. GRADE: ***
12/4/2016 8:39 AM (edited)