2015 recruiting class.

[E.Z.Rider]

Since I'm starting a new recruiting page today I took out the last class to have players in the 2019 season. Lots of names I didn't even remember.
Austin King QB GA, Donavan Hale QB FL, Devonte Williams RB MD, Leon Thornton WR IL, Camion Patrick WR TN, Isaac James WR IN, Nick Westbrook WR FL,Mike Majette WR VA, Austin Dorris TE OH, Hunter Littlejohn C OH, Simon Stepaniak G OH, Brandon Knight OT IN, DaVondre Love OT MO, Joe Belden DE IN, Brandon Wilson LB/DE FL, Jacob Robinson LB/DE IN, Omari Stringer LB IL, Reakwon Jones LB FL,Tyler Green CB MD, Andre Brown CB GA, Jonathan Crawford S FL, Jameel Cook S TX.

Some worked out well ... some disappeared. The class was ranked 49 by rivals.

 

[IndyIUFan66]

Seems like a lot more didn't work out than worked, but the ones who did worked out pretty well!

 

[TMFT]

Is that 8-9 multi-year starters out of the class?

It's weird to think that out of any given class we might end up forgetting 2/3 of them for various reasons (transfer, didn't pan out, or ........ jail). But that's a pretty good class IMO.

I'm going to have to go back and look at some of the other classes around that time now to see who has showed out and who's faded away.

 

[IndyIUFan66]

I'd think most classes should NOT have a 2/3 of class "not work out" ratio. This class had 8-9 real contributors/starters, but if over a 4-year period, that would be what 36 or so players available. Think you need more than that, considering 1 of those classes would be freshman.

 

[UncleMark]

I'd think most classes should NOT have a 2/3 of class "not work out" ratio. This class had 8-9 real contributors/starters, but if over a 4-year period, that would be what 36 or so players available. Think you need more than that, considering 1 of those classes would be freshman.

Which would indicate to me that subsequent classes were better, with more recruits "working out".

 

[TMFT]

I'd think most classes should NOT have a 2/3 of class "not work out" ratio. This class had 8-9 real contributors/starters, but if over a 4-year period, that would be what 36 or so players available. Think you need more than that, considering 1 of those classes would be freshman.

This is the best I've been able to do with the '15 class:

Player GP Starts
Tyler Green 31 3
Camion Patrick 10 --
Leon Thornton 13 1
Brandon Knight 41 26
Isaac James 36 --
Austin King -- --
Mike Majette 37 3
Hunter Littlejohn 37 28
Jonathan Crawford 50 50
Brandon Wilson 26 2
Simon Stepaniak 41 31
Jacob Robinson 42 22
Nick Westbrook 52 36
Jameel Cook 8 1
Devonte Williams 23 --
Austin Dorris 31 1
Joe Belden Couldn’t find stats
Omari Stringer 8 --
Donavan Hale 47 12
DaVondre Love 30 1
Reakwon Jones 44 23

So, it looks like 8 were multi-year starters (I'm counting Hale even though the team site only had him for 2 starts this past season. Of the rest that didn't transfer or otherwise leave the team, it looks like everyone played. Now, I can't tell for certain how many of these were outside of special teams vs. in the regular on-field rotation, but they played.

Now looking at the 2014 class without counting up all the starts/games:
Starters: Cronk, Lagow*, Khalil Bryant, Ramsey, Riggins, Jerome, Johnson, Ball, Ian Thomas*, StallingsContributors: Nworah, Gest, Natee,

So the 2014 class had 9 starters come out of it. But two were JUCOs who weren't in the same boat as the true FR coming in.

So I guess my point is that if you get 8-9 "starters" out of a class, particularly when they're multi-year starters a lot of times, you get 24-27 "starters" out of your oldest 3 classes out of 22 positions on the field. A lot of the other guys who were contributors transferred out when it was clear they weren't going to be starters. But there are plenty of contributors nonetheless. Of course we'd all love to see a class generate 12 starters and 5 consistent contributors. But IU doesn't have that kind of depth yet. I stand by 2015 as being a quality class because of the reliance the team had on so many of them for so long.

 

[IndyIUFan66]

I don’t want to trash a past class. They had legit contributors. I would say it seems to me in Tom Allen era we are having a higher hit rate of contributors. I can see about 3-5 transfers per class (over say a 3- yr window) but that would usually mean many more hits than misses. I like way recruiting is trending!

 

[newIUfan]

Floridians pay off big because they are ready to play. O-line most likely to contribute. A little worried because IU did not pick up one Floridian in the most recent class. Last years defense given rotation could have been fielded entirely by Floridians. The following were starters or major participants in the rotation.
DBs- Mullen, Burgess, Layne, Johnson, Mathews, Bryant
LBs- Jones, Miller, Allen, McFadden
DL- Head, King, Nogoagatoto'a, Ziemba,

 

[crossfire74]

Since I'm starting a new recruiting page today I took out the last class to have players in the 2019 season. Lots of names I didn't even remember.
Austin King QB GA, Donavan Hale QB FL, Devonte Williams RB MD, Leon Thornton WR IL, Camion Patrick WR TN, Isaac James WR IN, Nick Westbrook WR FL,Mike Majette WR VA, Austin Dorris TE OH, Hunter Littlejohn C OH, Simon Stepaniak G OH, Brandon Knight OT IN, DaVondre Love OT MO, Joe Belden DE IN, Brandon Wilson LB/DE FL, Jacob Robinson LB/DE IN, Omari Stringer LB IL, Reakwon Jones LB FL,Tyler Green CB MD, Andre Brown CB GA, Jonathan Crawford S FL, Jameel Cook S TX.

Some worked out well ... some disappeared. The class was ranked 49 by rivals.

The rule of thumb in college football recruiting is for a class to be deemed "successful" by the coaching staff, 50% of the class ended up being starters at some point in their careers. So looking at this particualr group of 22. Of note, to be deemed successful, 11 would have to be starters.

Austin King: Nothing, and transferred. Much to the chagrin of some
Donavon Hale: Came as an athlete, played QB, but settled at WR. All world athlete, okay football player, that did start.
Devonte Williams: Back up
Leon Thornton: Back up
Camion Patrick: Dang Finite Math! Played a couple games.
Isaac James: Back up that moved to defense. Don't recall if he every started.
Nick Westbrook: Knee injury set him back, but a solid starter and will likely be a pro.
Mike Majette: Back up
Austin Dorris: Back up that transferred
Hunter Littlejohn: Solid starter
Simon Stepniak: Solid starter and will be drafted late this year
Brandon Knight: Solid starter and is a pro now with the Cowboys
DeVondre Love: Started a couple games. Decent back up tackle
Joe Beldon: Injuries caused him to retire I think, but then maybe he did transfer
Brandon Wilson: Back up
Jacob Robinson: Moved to DT and started
Omari Stringer: Back up
Reakwon Jones; Solid Starter
Tyler Green: Don't think he ever started.
Andrew Brown: Solid starter
Jamal Crawford: Solid starter and a pro
Jameel COok: Back up

So by my count we ended up with 10 starters at least at some point in their career. This class did produce a couple pros with at least two more having shots this season. So that ends up being a slightly below average class but with the 4 potential pros I'd probably give it a good C rating. We did hit big on the OL that class for sure with all 4 recruits starting and contributing and at least 2 of them will be draft picks.

 

[TMFT]

Floridians pay off big because they are ready to play. O-line most likely to contribute. A little worried because IU did not pick up one Floridian in the most recent class. Last years defense given rotation could have been fielded entirely by Floridians. The following were starters or major participants in the rotation.
DBs- Mullen, Burgess, Layne, Johnson, Mathews, Bryant
LBs- Jones, Miller, Allen, McFadden
DL- Head, King, Nogoagatoto'a, Ziemba,

Good point. Just to quibble though, you can't put Sio on that list. He did two years in a Florida HS, but he's Samoan. An area that also seems to produce football players at a good rate.

 

[Bligedy]

Since I'm starting a new recruiting page today I took out the last class to have players in the 2019 season. Lots of names I didn't even remember.
Austin King QB GA, Donavan Hale QB FL, Devonte Williams RB MD, Leon Thornton WR IL, Camion Patrick WR TN, Isaac James WR IN, Nick Westbrook WR FL,Mike Majette WR VA, Austin Dorris TE OH, Hunter Littlejohn C OH, Simon Stepaniak G OH, Brandon Knight OT IN, DaVondre Love OT MO, Joe Belden DE IN, Brandon Wilson LB/DE FL, Jacob Robinson LB/DE IN, Omari Stringer LB IL, Reakwon Jones LB FL,Tyler Green CB MD, Andre Brown CB GA, Jonathan Crawford S FL, Jameel Cook S TX.

Some worked out well ... some disappeared. The class was ranked 49 by rivals.

Omari Stringer, Joe Belden and Jameel Cook all retired from FB due to injury.

You'd take the production of this offensive line class every single year and win a ton of games. Devonte Williams and Isaac James were recruited as athletes and never really found a niche. Hale and Crawford were recruited as athletes and found one.

I think we tend to look at recruiting classes and if the guys everyone is most excited about (in this case Tyler Green, Camion Patrick, and Brandon Wilson) don't work out we just assume the entire class didn't work out.

 

[Chriselli]

Omari Stringer, Joe Belden and Jameel Cook all retired from FB due to injury.

You'd take the production of this offensive line class every single year and win a ton of games. Devonte Williams and Isaac James were recruited as athletes and never really found a niche. Hale and Crawford were recruited as athletes and found one.

I think we tend to look at recruiting classes and if the guys everyone is most excited about (in this case Tyler Green, Camion Patrick, and Brandon Wilson) don't work out we just assume the entire class didn't work out.

I also think Donovan Hale could have had a MUCH better career under different circumstances. He was really, really good.

 

[IndyIUFan66]

I also think Donovan Hale could have had a MUCH better career under different circumstances. He was really, really good.

I know he was a great athlete, but not 100% sure his mental game was what it needed to be. He didn't seem to put it all together in my mind. (And I don't ever like to blame this, but have to believe there is some distraction involved when a college player already has a kid he's responsible for, which I imagine at times can take a toll on a player at that age in college?)

 

[JIMSHAM]

I know he was a great athlete, but not 100% sure his mental game was what it needed to be. He didn't seem to put it all together in my mind. (And I don't ever like to blame this, but have to believe there is some distraction involved when a college player already has a kid he's responsible for, which I imagine at times can take a toll on a player at that age in college?)

He had some injury issues. I also am not sure his speed was really great enough to step up much more.

 

[IndyIUFan66]

He had some injury issues. I also am not sure his speed was really great enough to step up much more.

Think he seemed like a FL gem that never quite found his groove. I wish him well in his post collegiate future.

 

[TMFT]

Hale was a great blocker for the screen game this year and that's being a heck of a teammate to get after blocking when you're not going to be a 1,000 yard receiver because of the offense.

And he'll always have a place in my heart with this catch, just abusing the MSU DB.


If Sheridan spreads the ball out like Deboer did, it's going to be hard to have more than one receiver put up gaudy numbers, and there'll be years where no single receiver has over 900 yards while the QB passes for 3,500.

 

[76-1]

Hale was a great blocker for the screen game this year and that's being a heck of a teammate to get after blocking when you're not going to be a 1,000 yard receiver because of the offense.

And he'll always have a place in my heart with this catch, just abusing the MSU DB.

View embedded media

If Sheridan spreads the ball out like Deboer did, it's going to be hard to have more than one receiver put up gaudy numbers, and there'll be years where no single receiver has over 900 yards while the QB passes for 3,500.

Great Catch! ((And if he hadn't caught it, the ref right on top of that play wasn't going to call Interference))...