New College Football Coaches Killing It on the Recruiting Trail

Cougar Football
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Noteworthy Commitments: Kelan Walker (4-star RB)

2017’s national signing day wasn’t a great one for the Houston Cougars. Heck, it wasn’t even a decent one for a school geographically surrounded by top-notch recruits every year. Per Scout’s team rankings, the Cougars placed 72nd nationally without a single 4-star recruit—the fourth time in the past five years they were denied a player of that caliber.

But just nine days after the most recent NSD, Major Applewhite already has things looking up for the next one. He signed Scout’s No. 290 overall player in next year’s class, running back Kelan Walker. Thus far, Walker is the only player the first-time head coach has signed for 2018.

It’s one heck of a starting point, though.

In addition to being, by far, the highest-rated running back Houston has signed in over a decade, the back from Desoto, Texas, establishes Applewhite as a force to be reckoned with in the local recruiting hotbed.

It might be a little while before Houston is competing for the 5-star guys from Texas, but there are still 34 uncommitted 4-star or 5-star players from the Lone Star State, 10 of which are among Applewhite’s top 12 targets.

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And the importance of rankings: No mention that, even though it was the 4th time in 5 years that UH hadn’t signed a 4 star recruit, they have been very successful in that timespan.

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And we got THE 5* of all the 5*s in Ed Oliver.

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I just don’t put too much into these star ratings. I’ve seen too many examples of guys debunking that rating system. Don’t get me wrong, it has its merits, but it isn’t the end all, be all like some folks make it out to be.

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