Yes its 36 players instead of 44 I count as contributors.  I’m harsh.  I’m not willing to count a guy who appears on the depth chart out of necessity alone.  For example, I don’t even count Franks yet because we don’t know if he’ll pan out or not.  If the player is not in the regular rotation, I don’t count him.  Yes, I still don’t count him even if he plays on special teams.  I also don’t count the suspended players even if we know they are real contributors because they’re contributing nothing this season.  Even with this uber harsh standard, 22 of our 36 guys in the regular rotation are from the last two classes….you know, all that “bad recruiting” by the current regime.  Those great top 10 recruiting classes from the last regime that are still represented on the roster have produced a total of 8 guys who are making real contributions this season.

So looking it over, I’m hoping for more of that bad recruiting from the current staff and less of that great recruiting from the previous staff is what’s left of its signing classes roll off the roster over time.

2013 signing class = 2 contributors (Composite #3 ranked class)

normally you would not expect much of a contribution from 5^th year seniors since those are more of a rarity in college football today.  Still, we are only getting real contributions from 2 non specialists which is a low number.  Marcell Harris was a big loss.  Jordan Sherit and Johnny Townshend are good players.  Nick Washington is OK. Antonio Riles doesn’t really play. 

2014  signing class = 6 contributors (Composite #9 ranked class)

Normally you would expect a major contribution from your senior class.  Duke Dawson and Taven Bryan are good, Brandon Powell, DeAndre Goolsby, Cyontai Lewis and Khari Clark are OK, Moral Stephens, Kavaris Harkless, Andrew Mike,  have hardly ever played.  This class can only be called a disaster.  We should be getting real contributions from at least twice as many in this class.

2015 signing class = 6 contributors (Composite #21 ranked class)

Transition classes usually suck for obvious reasons.  Martez Ivey, CeCe Jefferson, Jabari Zuniga, Kylan Johnson are good.  Tyler Jordan and Fred Johnson are OK.  I’d call Luke Ancrum, Kalif Jackson, Richerd Desir-Jones, Nick Buchanan, Rayshad Jackson below average though a couple of these have been pressed into service this year.  *Jordan Scarlet and Antonio Callaway are good and Keivonnis Davis is OK but they are suspended and are not contributing this year.   Kind of ironic it took the suspension of 3 players from this #21 class to make it as bad as the #9 class for contributions this year isn’t it?

2016 signing class = 13 contributors (Composite #12 ranked class)

This class is a prime example of the much vaunted “bad recruiting” by the current staff. 

Tyrie Cleveland, David Reese, Lamical Perine, Brett Heggie, Jachai Polite, Vosean Joseph, Jawaan Taylor, Eddy Piniero, are good.  Antonneus Clayton, Chauncey Gardner, Freddie Swain, Josh Hammond, Mark Thompson are OK

Feleipe Franks, Jeremiah Moon, Jeawon Taylor, Dre Massey, Stone Forsythe, Cristopher McWilliams, Kyle Trask….Franks starts, Moon, Taylor and Massey play as does McWilliams occasionally, but I’d say its too early to judge how they will turn out so I’m not even counting them as contributors – only the guys we already know are good or at least OK.  Rick Wells, Jordan Smith, Joseph Putu look like busts at this point.

*we have since added 4 star #124 national recruit OT Jean Delance and 3 star DT Marlon Dunlap who are not factored into the recruiting rank of this class as they sit out their transfer year

2017 signing class = 9 (composite #11 ranked class)

A bit early to judge of course though some are standing out and some already look OK at least so I’ll just mark them as contributing or not for this year.

Contributing – Tederell Slaton, CJ Henderson, Marco Wilson, Elijah Conliffe, Shawn Davis, Kadarius Toney, Malik Davis, Kyrie Campbell, Donovan Stiner

Not contributing yet – Lacedrick Brunson, Nick Smith, James Houston, Brian Edwards, Ventrell Miller, Jake Allen, Adarius Lemons, Kemore Gamble, James Robinson, Daquon Green, TJ Moore, Kadeem Telfort, Brad Stewart, Zach Carter,