Analyzing Miles' first class...

Alright, it is a bit early, but I'd like to try to analyze Miles' first class - from the '05 seasons.

Here's the list of recruits with star rankings according to Rivals (remember, it was a small class)

Pos Stars Ht Wt 40
Kyle Anderson TE *** 6-6 260 4.62
Darry Beckwith LB **** 6-1 224 4.53
Ciron Black OL *** 6-5 315 5.3
Chris Hawkins DB **** 6-1 180 4.5
Lyle Hitt DT *** 6-2 272 4.96
Trindon Holliday ATH *** 5-6 168 4.3
R.J. Jackson ATH **** 6-0 197 4.5
Ricky Jean-Francois DE **** 6-3 241 4.88
Al Jones DE **** 6-2 236 4.71
Steven Korte RB **** 6-2 230 4.6
Brandon LaFell WR *** 6-3 180 4.5
Ryan Perrilloux QB ***** 6-2 207 4.5
Antonio Robinson RB **** 6-0 195 4.5

 

Looking pretty good, with some impact guys already.

Best thus far:
Beckwith & Black

Great things on the immediate horizon:
LaFell, Holliday, Jean-Francois, Jones

Great things coming in a while:
Perrilloux and RJ Jackson

 

Hawkins redshirted in 2005, don't think he played any last year. Haven't heard anything about him or how he's looked in practice. Jai Eugene appears to be ahead of him on the depth chart for next year. We may not see a whole lot of him through his career here.

Robinson got injured & then transferred to some Div II school.

Beckwith & Black are both already starters, and Ricky Jean Francois also has a few starts under his belt. Beckwith is a future first rounder, Black is a first day pick kinda guy, and Ricky Jean has the potential to be a first rounder if he can keep his grades up.

LaFell & Holliday have both seen substantial PT. LaFell hasn't played a whole lot, but he made it count when he did last year. He should have a great season this year and will leave LSU a first day pick. Holliday has been a very pleasant suprise - a special teams demon & I really look forward to see how Crowton uses him in the offense this year.

I'm hearing some really good things about RP right now from Spring practice. I hope he lives up to the hype.

RJ Jackson was injured, is playing WR this Spring. He was a heck of an athlete coming out of HS, I hope he can regain his form & crack the lineup at some point in his career. With the way we've been recruiting RB & WR though, he may not ever be a starter.

Korte, got injured (noticing a trend here?), was a FB, then a RB, now he was supposed to be trying his hand at Safety (don't know if he ever did for sure). He missed some Spring practice, needs to pull his grades up I think. Korte is a Jr, and I honestly don't expect to see a whole lot of him the next 2 years.

Al Jones (aka Rahim Alem) - very talented, but heard he had a bad attitude in practice last year. I haven't heard anything about this year, hopefully he realizes that he'll have to work hard if he wants to be a star on this defensive line. He played a little bit last year & looked pretty good when in the game. I imagine he'll see some more PT this year.

Lyle Hitt & Kyle Anderson both switched to the OLine. I've heard Lyle is having a great Spring at OG, and I think is playing with the ones for now - will probably be second string when Will Arnold comes back, but given his injury history we could see a lot of Lyle this year. I haven't heard anything about Kyle & how he's progressing... anybody else know?

 

Yea, I read that article too. But he said the same stuff when he got here so I don't put much stock into it. I'd rather here it from someone at practice besides himself, Miles or otherwise.

 

So approx 1/3rd of our class from 2 years ago is already making solid contributions right? I would say thats a pretty good return so far. Some are still developing and some may not make it but if you can consistently get 1/3rd of your class to make contributions within their first 2 years on campus that would be very good IMHO.

 

5 players so far have made solid contributions on the field (out of 13). At least 1 more will before their time is done - Perrilloux. Lyle Hitt also will likely as well. The rest are up in the air, IMO.

That would mean close to 50% of the class eventually became important starters for us, while the rest are talented back-ups that the team needs to get better. I'd say that is pretty good.

Also note, only one player from the class is no longer on the team. We aren't seeing much turnover of players from Miles' classes and that is a tribute to his relationship with them as well as the character of the guys he brings in.

 

I was surprised to see that LaFell was only a 3 star. I knew Black and Hitt were 3 stars. I knew we had slim pickings at OL and was glad we landed Black back then. I remember seeing him on TV in a Texas high school game-- I believe it was a championship. I was impressed by him. I questioned why they signed Hitt on defense, but am glad to see he has found a spot on the OL.

 

Rivals didn't get video on him until very late, which is why he was a 3 star. ESPN had him as one of their top 10 WRs that year though.