Very possible the staff went after Owens because the transfer safeties, Moore and Mwaniki, didn’t win their appeals to play this year.
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I was looking. The new staff has recruited several junior college transfers, including five who made the national top 150. They change the rankings around some after the season, and I’m not convinced some of that isn’t to gild the ratings of P5 programs that typically have more subscribers. So I’m going with the highest rating I saw. Owens was ranked 50, Taurus Payne 47, Kelvin Clemmons 87, Damarion Williams 100, and Atlias Bell 105. Note that Jamykal Neal was 151 and Terrance Edgeston 157. That’s a pretty impressive haul.
Last time I recall a class with as many JC transfers was 2009. For the sake of comparison, we signed these players (national ranking in parentheses): Roy Watts (40), Jarve Dean (109), Devin Mays (124), Jacky Candy (170), and James Cleveland, who wasn’t rated. Owens and Watts were our starting tackles in ‘09 and good ones at that. Mays, IIRC, played a lot at CB and was a dangerous kick returner, Candy was a top reserve at safety, and Cleveland made some All-American teams. So getting as many highly rated junior college players very likely bodes well for the program. Looks as if Edgeston will start at LB, Williams at CB, probably Neal or Charles-Pierre at NT, and Owens possibly at NB. I expect our defense to be better than expected. My guess is we finish somewhere in the 70s or so in national stats. Had we finished #75 last season, we would have surrendered 10 fewer points per game.
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With our offense, our defense just needs to be alright. Will win 10 games if that’s the case. Obviously you like to go undefeated but you need luck and breaks. So cross your fingers lol.
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how can it be this guy when its shown he signed with Minnesota? did he change mind and they let him out of it?
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Two guys from Minnesota in the same class. One enrolled during the spring and decided to transfer while the other signed his LOI and is transferring prior to enrolling.
I’m curious to see the percentage of JUCO recruits that eventually get playing time versus the percentage of high school commits that ever hit the field. With high school recruits, some don’t even make enrollment, others lose eligibility before getting to play and some other transfer. So my guess is, when it comes to contributing, JUCOs have a better score card but when it comes to being an eventual all conference selection, high school commits have the better percentage.
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Wow, Owens is a great pickup. All-American. That’s great news! I’m really liking how this recruiting year is shaping up considering the change in coaches. Clearly we’re hitting the JC’s hard since the defense was looking so thin.
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True. That and CDH true first class will be in 2020.
Our depth chart looks pretty decent now.
Simple fact: Some coaches work harder than others.
Yes hard work is part of it but just having the connections is huge. We are aslo also benefitting tremendously by having a coach who gave up successful run with a big 12 program to come be our coach.
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Multiple people on Twitter have said Owens is eligible this season, but I thought he signed an LOI with the Gophers in Feb. Wouldn’t that make him a transfer?
On another site, someone said he was let out of his LOI by the school. Owens tweet also says he will be playing in Norman so does not seem like he is concerned about needing a waiver.
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Was asking about that on the JUCO thread. Even if Minnesota gives him permission, I would still think the NCAA is still involved.
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Owens basically says in a tweet that he’ll play against OU. Assuming that is the case the staff has transformed the defense. Now we did have some good players returning—Chambers, Turner, Fleming, Hall, Carmouche, Gooden, Godfrey, Anenih, Sprewell, and Anderson, among others—but there were some glaring holes at CB, NB, NT, and possibly ILB. Given the juco and grad transfers (and to be fair the previous staff signed some of them in December) we are now legitimately two-deep on defense, even three-deep at a few positions. And that doesn’t include a number of players—Moore, Mwaniki, Clemmons, M. Jones—who will sit this year and be eligible next season. I really expect the defense to be pretty good. I don’t expect it to finish in the top 25 in scoring or total defense, but I could see it ending up somewhere in the middle of the pack, maybe 75 or so. The following year I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the defense isn’t the strength of the team. We’ll return some 8-10 starters.
This staff knows how to “throw numbers” at a weak positional group & has the connections,recruiting skill, & reputations to get it done w quantity & quality.
Next step- get the redshirt situation to normal levels where all but the truly exceptional get redshirted. Especially the Oline/Dline.
This could take a few seasons to get most of the young guys redshirted on a regular basis. Bad roster management has left some weak spots in the 2 deep.
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A few seasons for what? Hopefully you aren’t talking about a few seasons to be better than the last two seasons. This year is the rebuilding year. 2020, he needs to win the division and have us ranked bare minimum.
Few seasons to get the redshirt situation right.
Coaching changes & horrible roster management makes it tough to not play some frosh right away in the near term.
I’ll edit that in my previous post.
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