Now that we've had a little over a week to digest national signing day news, here are some off-the-cuff observations:
1. When you are near the bottom of the recruiting food chain, as most FCS schools are, your fate is never entirely in your own hands. Idaho State found that out when Colorado State called California linebacker DeMaurier Blackwell at 6 p.m. the evening before signing day and offered the Bengal commit a scholarship -- which Blackwell accepted, having never been on the CSU campus. Similarly, the Bengals offered a scholarship to 6-5, 225-pound Bishop Kelly defensive end Connor Mallett, but he got a call from Air Force late in the recruiting process, took a quick trip to Colorado Springs and became a Division I recruit.
2. Idaho State's recruiting list was, frankly, disappointing. Because most of the starters are returning next year and ISU has signed large classes the last two seasons, it's not surprising that most of the kids the Bengals signed have "future" stamped on their passports. But I'm sure Mike Kramer was hoping for one or two more kids who could make an immediate impact next year, and he may eventually wind up with them. As always, recruiting and vetting potential transfers is a year-round process and there's always the possibility of landing a couple of impact players anytime between now and August.
3. The best aspects of the ISU recruiting class: they appeared to have signed another young QB (Tanner Gueller) who can come in and compete for playing time in a year or two. They desperately needed more depth at that position. Gueller and James Delacensare, last year's QB signee, will compete for playing time as Justin Arias' backup this year (I would assume Delacensare will be the favorite since he has already used his redshirt), and then both will be competing for real next year for the starting job. The departure of Salmon's Riley Sessions was merely an acknowledgement of what most observers already knew -- he wasn't going to be a serious factor here, what with his inability to beat out punter CJ Reyes for the backup job.
Another positive to this year's class was the presence of two junior college defensive backs -- assuming they are reasonably talented, both will get excellent opportunities to play next year at a position of desperate need.
I also like the addition of Shelley's Cody Anderson, who has been off the football field for several years now, on a mission, playing junior college baseball, etc. He's reportedly 26 years old and will be a junior in eligibility next year. He's already enrolled and will benefit from a spring in the system, comes with an obvious maturity and "looks the part" of a defensive end at a listed 6-3, 275.
Finally, I like the continued collection of large-framed, young offensive linemen in the program. This year's versions include Jake Hoggan (6-6, 282), Brian Fineanganofo (6-6, 255), and Chris Miedema (6-6, 290), who signed last year but greyshirted. The Bengals' "identity" is slowly being defined as a team with a lot of young, tall o-linemen who, we must hope, can play and will stay in the program for four or five years. That is something that has been missing from the program, well,....forever.
What is apparently missing from the class, at least so far, are "home run hitters" -- wide receivers, running backs, return guys -- who can step right in and make an impact with big plays. Kramer told us he was looking for some of those, apparently had one or two such talents on campus for visits, but hasn't closed the deal, at least not yet. Also missing is a JUCO linebacker or two who could step immediately into the outside backer slots that were understaffed last year. Again, that was a target area identified by Kramer and, even though he signed a couple of high school players targeted for OLB, I wouldn't expect any of them to make an impact immediately.
4. The Idaho high school ranks were a little thin on talent this year. For the first time I can remember, no Idaho player signed with Utah, Utah State or BYU. Boise State only took two in-state kids, the University of Idaho one. Nine Idaho players signed with Big Sky schools other than ISU -- five with Weber State, three with Montana and one with Southern Utah. A few Idaho kids went out of state to D-1 offers (the afforementioned Mallet and OL Spencer King, both of B-K, committed to Air Force; BSU lost some previous commits to Washington when Chris Peterson left). But overall, it was not a great year for Idaho high school football.
5. Big Sky Conference schools continued their trend away from signing junior college and Division-I transfers. Of those announced on Wednesday, the largest number of JC kids were taken by Northern Arizona and Sac State -- with five. Conference champion Eastern Washington announced a whopping 27 signings -- all high school players. Montana announced 24 recruits -- all high school players. No program announced more than 3 D-1 transfers. Obviously, these numbers will change over the next six months, as teams add late transfers from both JCs and D-1 schools. But clearly the trend is away from program building with transfers, and toward high school foundations. That is NOT to say (Up for the Challenge) that any Big Sky school should ignore the opportunity to fill holes with transfers. ISU certainly tried this year, and may yet find a couple of more before the year is out. But the days of seeing schools like Sac and PSU taking 10 or 12 JC kids and 7 or 8 D-1 transfers in one year appear to be over. And the most consistently successful programs -- Montana, EWU and MSU -- are going heavily high school, year after year.
6. There has been an interesting trend toward announcing walk-ons on signing day. Schools used to announce only scholarship signees, but more and more schools are listing walk-ons with the preface, "accepted enrollment," or something to that effect to indicate that while the player hasn't signed an LOI or a scholarship agreement, the school has accepted them academically and they have indicated they are coming there. I suppose it's an off-hand attempt to divert "poaching" of walk-ons by other schools, because technically they are still recruitable until they enroll for the first day of class.
1. When you are near the bottom of the recruiting food chain, as most FCS schools are, your fate is never entirely in your own hands. Idaho State found that out when Colorado State called California linebacker DeMaurier Blackwell at 6 p.m. the evening before signing day and offered the Bengal commit a scholarship -- which Blackwell accepted, having never been on the CSU campus. Similarly, the Bengals offered a scholarship to 6-5, 225-pound Bishop Kelly defensive end Connor Mallett, but he got a call from Air Force late in the recruiting process, took a quick trip to Colorado Springs and became a Division I recruit.
2. Idaho State's recruiting list was, frankly, disappointing. Because most of the starters are returning next year and ISU has signed large classes the last two seasons, it's not surprising that most of the kids the Bengals signed have "future" stamped on their passports. But I'm sure Mike Kramer was hoping for one or two more kids who could make an immediate impact next year, and he may eventually wind up with them. As always, recruiting and vetting potential transfers is a year-round process and there's always the possibility of landing a couple of impact players anytime between now and August.
3. The best aspects of the ISU recruiting class: they appeared to have signed another young QB (Tanner Gueller) who can come in and compete for playing time in a year or two. They desperately needed more depth at that position. Gueller and James Delacensare, last year's QB signee, will compete for playing time as Justin Arias' backup this year (I would assume Delacensare will be the favorite since he has already used his redshirt), and then both will be competing for real next year for the starting job. The departure of Salmon's Riley Sessions was merely an acknowledgement of what most observers already knew -- he wasn't going to be a serious factor here, what with his inability to beat out punter CJ Reyes for the backup job.
Another positive to this year's class was the presence of two junior college defensive backs -- assuming they are reasonably talented, both will get excellent opportunities to play next year at a position of desperate need.
I also like the addition of Shelley's Cody Anderson, who has been off the football field for several years now, on a mission, playing junior college baseball, etc. He's reportedly 26 years old and will be a junior in eligibility next year. He's already enrolled and will benefit from a spring in the system, comes with an obvious maturity and "looks the part" of a defensive end at a listed 6-3, 275.
Finally, I like the continued collection of large-framed, young offensive linemen in the program. This year's versions include Jake Hoggan (6-6, 282), Brian Fineanganofo (6-6, 255), and Chris Miedema (6-6, 290), who signed last year but greyshirted. The Bengals' "identity" is slowly being defined as a team with a lot of young, tall o-linemen who, we must hope, can play and will stay in the program for four or five years. That is something that has been missing from the program, well,....forever.
What is apparently missing from the class, at least so far, are "home run hitters" -- wide receivers, running backs, return guys -- who can step right in and make an impact with big plays. Kramer told us he was looking for some of those, apparently had one or two such talents on campus for visits, but hasn't closed the deal, at least not yet. Also missing is a JUCO linebacker or two who could step immediately into the outside backer slots that were understaffed last year. Again, that was a target area identified by Kramer and, even though he signed a couple of high school players targeted for OLB, I wouldn't expect any of them to make an impact immediately.
4. The Idaho high school ranks were a little thin on talent this year. For the first time I can remember, no Idaho player signed with Utah, Utah State or BYU. Boise State only took two in-state kids, the University of Idaho one. Nine Idaho players signed with Big Sky schools other than ISU -- five with Weber State, three with Montana and one with Southern Utah. A few Idaho kids went out of state to D-1 offers (the afforementioned Mallet and OL Spencer King, both of B-K, committed to Air Force; BSU lost some previous commits to Washington when Chris Peterson left). But overall, it was not a great year for Idaho high school football.
5. Big Sky Conference schools continued their trend away from signing junior college and Division-I transfers. Of those announced on Wednesday, the largest number of JC kids were taken by Northern Arizona and Sac State -- with five. Conference champion Eastern Washington announced a whopping 27 signings -- all high school players. Montana announced 24 recruits -- all high school players. No program announced more than 3 D-1 transfers. Obviously, these numbers will change over the next six months, as teams add late transfers from both JCs and D-1 schools. But clearly the trend is away from program building with transfers, and toward high school foundations. That is NOT to say (Up for the Challenge) that any Big Sky school should ignore the opportunity to fill holes with transfers. ISU certainly tried this year, and may yet find a couple of more before the year is out. But the days of seeing schools like Sac and PSU taking 10 or 12 JC kids and 7 or 8 D-1 transfers in one year appear to be over. And the most consistently successful programs -- Montana, EWU and MSU -- are going heavily high school, year after year.
6. There has been an interesting trend toward announcing walk-ons on signing day. Schools used to announce only scholarship signees, but more and more schools are listing walk-ons with the preface, "accepted enrollment," or something to that effect to indicate that while the player hasn't signed an LOI or a scholarship agreement, the school has accepted them academically and they have indicated they are coming there. I suppose it's an off-hand attempt to divert "poaching" of walk-ons by other schools, because technically they are still recruitable until they enroll for the first day of class.
