I give it a B for the WRs and RB in this class. I like the way this class finished but would have like another OL and RB.
Time to get to work
#2ManyLights0n
Time to get to work
#2ManyLights0n
2020 Class - Way Early Grade
- Thread starter 9nationalchampionships
- Start date
I give it a B for the WRs and RB in this class. I like the way this class finished but would have like another OL and RB.
Time to get to work
#2ManyLights0n
About the OL and RB, there will continue to be names come up as transfers. Grad transfers or players entering the Portal. Recruiting dynamics have changed in that regard and things aren't necessarily over as of the Feb signing date any more.
As to the room for additional guys, that potentially can change, too. Be interesting to see what develops after spring practice w/r/t some guys.
Including those 2, Pitt added 20 total players. 10 of which are rated as a 4* on either 247 or Rivals or both.
Narduzzi's best class overall on paper when you include the transfers.
Yep. There is more roster flexibility now with the current transfer procedures in place. Just something that bears observation.
I give it a B for the WRs and RB in this class. I like the way this class finished but would have like another OL and RB.
Time to get to work
#2ManyLights0n
The linebackers look impressive on film too- especially Roberts'.
I guess B is appropriate. I like the guys that they got quite a bit but wish they had gotten more OL help.
QB - Yellen is the best QB we've gotten under Narduzzi. 4* composite. Looked great against USC. A.
RB - Abanikanda has good speed and size. Good offer list. B+ even without Parrish because we really only needed 1 RB.
WR - B+. I like Addison and Henningham and I've been a Jaylon Barden fan all year. Good size and speed here. Calling it now that at least 1 of these guys will play in 2020.
OL - Statham and Taylor are enormous players and both had good offers. Both OT prospects. Probably should have gotten an OG. I guess B/B- simply because I'm not sure we took enough bodies.
TE - the JUCOs are fine but still no long term fix in sight. I do think that with our offense we'll eventually get some players but I can only rate this class on today: C-/D+.
DE/DT - Hayes will be a beast. Belgrave and Williams have prototypical size/speed for the DE position but both are projects and neither of them had great offers. They committed early so maybe they would have looked better with more offers closer to signing day. We're probably ok at DT for the foreseeable future but I give this group a B- because it's all ends and two are developmental.
LB - Kamara, Deshields, and Roberts are pretty perfect for what we play. All 3* but had good offers. B+
DB - A+. A little bit of everything here and it's all good. Royal is the jewel obviously but everyone here has good size. There will come a day soon when we're running out 4 DBs who are all legit 6'+ and 190-200lbs. That is NFL stuff right there. Surprised we were able to pull Battle late but I guess recruits like what they see from our talent and scheme. Narduzzi will definitely make you NFL-ready as a DB.
Specialists - B+/A-. Sauls reportedly has a leg from 50+. Guess is a consensus top 10 punter. People might scoff at giving specialists a scholarship as a freshman but scoring and field position win game. Especially with a defense like ours.
Very happy with this class, especially after last year. Narduzzi and staff earned their money today.
QB - Yellen is the best QB we've gotten under Narduzzi. 4* composite. Looked great against USC. A.
RB - Abanikanda has good speed and size. Good offer list. B+ even without Parrish because we really only needed 1 RB.
WR - B+. I like Addison and Henningham and I've been a Jaylon Barden fan all year. Good size and speed here. Calling it now that at least 1 of these guys will play in 2020.
OL - Statham and Taylor are enormous players and both had good offers. Both OT prospects. Probably should have gotten an OG. I guess B/B- simply because I'm not sure we took enough bodies.
TE - the JUCOs are fine but still no long term fix in sight. I do think that with our offense we'll eventually get some players but I can only rate this class on today: C-/D+.
DE/DT - Hayes will be a beast. Belgrave and Williams have prototypical size/speed for the DE position but both are projects and neither of them had great offers. They committed early so maybe they would have looked better with more offers closer to signing day. We're probably ok at DT for the foreseeable future but I give this group a B- because it's all ends and two are developmental.
LB - Kamara, Deshields, and Roberts are pretty perfect for what we play. All 3* but had good offers. B+
DB - A+. A little bit of everything here and it's all good. Royal is the jewel obviously but everyone here has good size. There will come a day soon when we're running out 4 DBs who are all legit 6'+ and 190-200lbs. That is NFL stuff right there. Surprised we were able to pull Battle late but I guess recruits like what they see from our talent and scheme. Narduzzi will definitely make you NFL-ready as a DB.
Specialists - B+/A-. Sauls reportedly has a leg from 50+. Guess is a consensus top 10 punter. People might scoff at giving specialists a scholarship as a freshman but scoring and field position win game. Especially with a defense like ours.
Very happy with this class, especially after last year. Narduzzi and staff earned their money today.
Yeah, excellent class and great capper to the class too. Honestly I would like to get Heyward transfer from MSU too, but this was probably the best class too to bottom. 2 kickers pull down the average star rating, but they are much needed.
Battle's hair reminds me of Warren Coolidge, #45...
I was thinking early-2000's Piston Ben Wallace.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
There is so much hand wringing over the OL and I guess it has to do with what we saw this past season. I get that but you're looking at a position group that was not recruited well for a couple of years and a group that had a coach that is currently struggling to stay employed. It's going to take a couple of years to right the ship.
That said, tackle was easily the biggest need on the OL and this class addressed that. There are always plenty of guards and Pitt has enough underclassmen to handle it. Also, the transfer portal is always full of guys that can play guard well enough to help.
TE is the one position that needs to improve. That won't happen overnight but I'd bet it's a gigantic priority for 2021.
That said, tackle was easily the biggest need on the OL and this class addressed that. There are always plenty of guards and Pitt has enough underclassmen to handle it. Also, the transfer portal is always full of guys that can play guard well enough to help.
TE is the one position that needs to improve. That won't happen overnight but I'd bet it's a gigantic priority for 2021.
Good to see we got Dog the Bounty Hunter's son on board at TE.
IMHO, recruit classes on paper are only good if the equal or exceed that of most of your league opponents. According to Rivals, at least, this class is about middle of the ACC pack (7 ACC team's classes rated better than Pitt's). So, unless, or until, it proves to be better on the field than on paper, I have to assume this is a mediocre recruit class.
I think you're missing critical data points.
1) Go by average ratings, not total ratings. You can't compare our 20-man class with Louisville's 25-man class. That eliminates UL and NC State, who are above us in class ranking but below in ranking per player. Now we're up to 5th.
2) Then, don't count the two Atlantic Division teams that are above us because their recruits won't play against us. We play FSU in 2020 and Clemson in 2021 and a bunch of true freshmen and true sophomores/RS freshmen, respectively aren't going to turn the tide against us. It's possible none of their recruits even see the field against us, especially the FSU game. Now we're 3rd in the Coastal.
3) Finally, most sites - including 24/7 - don't include Yellen or Krull in our class ratings since they are transfers but you have to include both. Especially since Krull will play almost 100% of snaps this year and Yellen is likely our QB of the future. Further, both are good players. Yellen is a consensus 4* and 90.23 composite recruit. Krull was also a 4* with a 92.00 composite. If you include them, we're likely 2nd in the Coastal in average score, behind only Miami.
I don't really care to play the stars game, but it's way too simplistic to say this class is "middle of the pack ACC."
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Unless, of course, one is attempting to make Narduzzi's efforts and Pitt look bad. We have plenty of those posters on this site.
Very well said I agree. Also note that the kickers lower this classes rating.
Too many years of not enough 4-5 star recruits in our classes for me to get too excited. 247 says we are eighth in the ACC but even if it is 5th with transfers counted doesn’t move the needle much for me. Having experienced the mid-1970s to early 1980s spoiled me. Just can’t get fired up for a team that very rarely makes it into the top 25 and never into the top 10.
This class has at least 6 players that were rated 4* by at least one service. I believe that's tied for the second most 4* in one class (with 2007) in the last 20 years. Only 2006 had more (7)
I'd give this overall class a B. It looks to be Narduzzi's best class to date, so directionally, we're improving. I like the WR's, DB's, LB's, and DE's we got. We added two guys at Tackle that were desperately needed. Would have liked to see a bit more depth at OL. RB was OK. I like the kid we got but losing Parrish hurt. That guy really looked special...We'll see. Our transfer QB looks to be solid. Transfer TE should be OK, but at some point we really need to start developing talent at TE through recruiting.I give it a B for the WRs and RB in this class. I like the way this class finished but would have like another OL and RB.
Time to get to work
#2ManyLights0n
Cruzer
Nice summary. I think the tight end numbers will improve next year along with the o-line.
10 were 4* by Rivals or 247 including the transfers.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Unfortunately, this is the opinion of the vast majority of people in the city when looking at what the program is doing. Is this class the best the staff can do? Not even close. Is it a good step in the right direction? Yes.
This is a great class. It takes time to build a program. It's all about relationships. Narduzzi and his staff are obviously doing it right as this class is talented and the next one is starting out to be equal or better
How much time does it take to build a program?
Duzz is in his 6th year. He has proven to be an above average ACC coach and that's about it. Nothing about this recruiting class changes that.
I'm more excited that several players decided to return and use their last years of eligibility. Pitt should have its best defense in many years for 2020 and will be fun to watch.
Unfortunately the offense looks woefully weak. No solid playmakers in the skill positions. Pickett peaked in the Miami game 2 years ago?
I'm expecting another 8-4 season with a mediocre bowl game that Pitt will probably lose.
Regardless its good Narduzzi is staying. Don't think Pitt would do any better.
So you are saying 8-4 with a bowl win to make it 9-4 or are you saying 8-4 with a bowl loss to make it 8-5. If it is the former that is progress and if you are saying the later it would be stagnant.
Our OL development let us down last year and you can point to the S$C coach so let's see how we play in the 2nd half of games this year to see if that changes.
Our OL development let us down last year and you can point to the S$C coach so let's see how we play in the 2nd half of games this year to see if that changes.
Sorry.
I’m thru with the blind optimism of the past.
I hope Pitt wins every game but the program is stagnant and maybe one tick above mediocre.
It is what it is.
"This class does nothing for me. I am more excited about the decision to return by a bunch of kids that did nothing for me when they signed 3-4 years ago."
The problem with this is you’re keeping every other team static. I don’t know what transfers they added, but surely you would need to factor in their’s as well when moving one team up relative to another?
And the math probably still doesn’t work even with factoring just those two transfers. UNC right now has an average recruit ranking of 88.49 with 25 commits. Which is a pretty impressive average with that high a number. Those two transfers aren’t jumping that from a 86.07.
Bowl games shouldn’t be factored in. There are way too many variables, and most are meaningless these days.
Whatever the baseline win total needs to be, the bowl game shouldn’t determine it.
Yes, you'd have to include other schools' transfers too in order to be fair.
I'm not doing that since I don't care that much. My general point was that it's far too simplistic to say "we're not competing with the ACC's new talent!" when 1) we don't play several of those teams so who cares who they get (are we worried about Tennessee's class of 2020 for example?); and 2) on a per-recruit basis, we still got better than most of our competition.
Trust me, I've been a Pitt fan since I was a little kid in the mid-seventies, so I know all about having Pitt football kicking fans in the plums.
I just find it hard to get down on a bunch of kids who haven't even set foot on the football field, based on something other than what the coaches think about them.
When Pat Bostick and Chad were 5 and 4 star guys, and James Conner and Aaron Donald weren't, I don't get too caught up in the rankings. Especially before they even put a uniform on.
Many teams would love to go 8-4! I will go on record to say we will win 9 regular season games this yr and put us in a much better bowl.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Two years ago the class composite was 47.
Good point. And I go back to what I said in the fall; there just aren't as many reaches as the last couple of years. Class average aside, your biggest reach is a kicker and you're seeing needs addressed (except TE) and depth being built. Ultimately, Pitt needs to get up to 88 and they'll be a real problem for the rest of the ACC.
Good point. And I go back to what I said in the fall; there just aren't as many reaches as the last couple of years. Class average aside, your biggest reach is a kicker and you're seeing needs addressed (except TE) and depth being built. Ultimately, Pitt needs to get up to 88 and they'll be a real problem for the rest of the ACC.
yeah, that’s fine. I just don’t like demanding coaches win meaningless games when determining whether they did a good job. Whether the opposing team’s first round draft pick at QB sits or plays shouldn’t be what determines whether the other coach did a good job that season.
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