Defensive recruiting since Levine

Cougar Football
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Did an analysis of the depth chart and was just amazed at how few players are getting time that were recruited after the Levine era. Here’s a rundown of our current depth chart:

DE: Carter - Levine / Vaughan - Levine
DT: Oliver - Herman / Fleming - Herman
DE: Turner - Applewhite / Hall - Applewhite
OLB: Egbule - Herman / Anenih - Applewhite
ILB: Robinson - Walk-on / Milburn - Herman
ILB: Brown - Walk-on / Owens - Grad Transfer / Gooden - Applewhite
OLB: Godfrey - Herman / Parish - Applewhite
CB: Johnson - Levine(offense) / J.Smith - Herman / K.Smith - Herman
S: Sprewell - Applewhite / Stuard - Applewhite
S: Anderson - Applewhite / Gilbert - Herman
CB: Myres - Walk-on / Watkins - Grad Transfer
NB: Stuard - Applewhite / Williams - Levine

Injured; S G. Davis who was a Levine recruit.

We currently have 2 1/2 starters from the Herman era, and 8 total among 25 players on the 2-deep. These are the players that should be our leaders and our most experienced players, should be the seniors and juniors, or RS sophomores that our leading our defense.

So let’s go year by year:

2015 (Note: Herman was hired a month before the signing date so he had to scramble):

  • 3* DE Tyrell Thompson - Didn’t make it to campus
  • 3* DT Da’Cuan Jenkins - Redshirted one year, injured the next, left.
  • 3* OLB Leroy Godfrey - Current starting rush OLB as a RS Jr
  • 2* OLB Camden Ross - Redshirted one year and left
  • 2* OLB Jordan Milburn - Backup ILB as a RS Jr
  • 2* OLB Emeke Egbule - Starting OLB as a Sr
  • 2* S Darius Gilbert - Backup S as a RS Jr
  • 2* S Michael Eke - Redshirted one year, played in 6 games in 2016, left

2016:

  • 5* DT Ed Oliver - Starting DT as a Jr
  • 3* S Colin Wilder - Played 2 years, injured, left
  • 3* DT Braylon Jones - Moved to offense, starting OG
  • 3* S Terrell Williams - 2 year starter from JUCO
  • 3* S Patrick Rosette - Redshirted a year, left
  • 3* DT Aymiel Fleming - Backup DT as a Jr
  • 3* DE Hasaun Glasgow - Left program after a couple of weeks
  • 3* CB Ka"Darian Smith - Backup CB as a Jr
  • 2* CB Javian Smith - Backup CB as a RS So

2017 (Note Herman leaving caused a lot of turmoil in this class, Applewhite did everything he could to hold it together):

  • 3* DE Bryan Jones - Never made it in due to test scores
  • 3* OLB Amaud Willis-Dalton - Seen limited action as a RS Fr
  • 3* DE Noah Jones - Seen limited action as a RS Fr
  • 3* ILB Derek Parish - Backup Rush LB as a RS Fr
  • 3* OLB David Anenih - Backup OLB as a So
  • 3* OLB Alexander Duke - Seen limited action as a RS Fr
  • 3* ATH Elijah Gooden - Backup ILB as a RS Fr
  • 3* DT Blake Young - Seen limited action as a JUCO Jr, will move into depth chart this week as backup DT
  • 2* DE Payton Turner - Starting DE as a So
  • 2* S Grant Stuard - Backup S and starting NB as a So
  • 2* CB DJ Small - Redshirting this year after serious injury as a freshman

2018 (thanks to @tccoog10’s Redshirt Tracker

  • 3* DE Willie Smith - Seen action in 4 games
  • 3* OLB Dekalen Goodson - Not seen action so far
  • 3* DE Tahj Brown - Not seen action so far
  • 3* OLB Donavan Mutin - Seen action in 6 games
  • 3* S Garrison Vaughn - Not seen action so far
  • 3* CB Zaire Taylor - Left program
  • 3* S Gleson Sprewell - Starting S as a JUCO Jr due to G. Davis injury
  • 3* DE Logan Hall - Played in every game
  • 2* S Johnathan Phenix - Played in 1 game
  • 2* OLB Zamar Kirven - Played in 4 games

Conclusion: Herman was heralded as a great recruiter in his time at Houston, but that was mostly built off of Ed Oliver and the offense. His defensive recruiting while here, beyond Oliver and JUCO Terrell Williams, really wasn’t good. 2.5 starters and 8 of 25 on the 2-deep in year 3 and 4 of these recruit’s tenures is a terrible ratio for someone that calls himself an ace recruiter.

Also, Herman recruited zero ILB while he was here. ZERO. We currently start two walk-ons or a walk-on and a grad transfer if Owens was healthy. He also recruited zero LBs total in that heralded 2016 class. ZERO. You can’t even look at the guys that he recruited and think that maybe he could move some guys around; none of them were potential LBs. Guess he figured Ed could stop everyone himself and he didn’t need them? Or, he knew that he was gone anyway, so who cares. I’ll take Option #2.

Another issue, the lack of CBs. 4 CBs over 4 years, one of them has left the program, and the other 3 don’t get significant playing time. That’s a problem. We have another freshman coming in the next class, but it takes CBs time to spin up and see the field. I would expect grad transfers or more JUCOs added to this class to shore up our weakest position on the team. Why this position continues to not get addressed when we used to have NFL talent at this position is a question that needs to be answered.

This isn’t to excuse Coach D’Onofrio, just pointing out how badly Herman screwed the pooch on defense during his tenure. Now, we basically need a strong DC to help fix this mess for next year when we lose 6 of our current starters and will be even weaker (if that’s possible) at CB.

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Reality is that Ed Oliver was recruited by Levine. They knew about Ed Oliver and knew that if they
got Marcus, Ed was coming also.

Now, Herman did hire his coach at Westfield, which no doubt solidified the signing.

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Thanks for the info. How many recruits left after Herman bailed ?

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to be fair to herman, it looks like his last class was supposed to be his heavy db class…we had 4 cb in the high 3star/4star range all decommitted

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I will add in that Godfrey and Egbule both committed before Levine’s last season. Egbule had 0 other FBS offers so any coach would have been able to keep him committed. Godfrey had low level G5 offers, Fresno St his next best offer. Possible they didn’t have a spot for him anymore either. So I give Herman no credit for those 2 guys.

In 2017 he took Marqez Bimage with him to UT, thought there was another defensive player too. (RB Young on the offensive side)

It is going to hurt any program having 3 coaches in 3 recruiting classes. Herman only had 1 class of his own and did great on offense, got Ed on defense (credit some to Levine for getting his brother).

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Do you remember who they were? Would be interesting to see how they are doing. Still confused how we couldn’t keep any of them, too many NFL CBs to not convince 1 or 2 to stick around.

Nevermind, found it. https://247sports.com/college/houston/Season/2017-Football/Decommits/

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I don’t give Herman credit for the last class. He had a foot out the door from the beginning and only got those guys to commit to boost his own profile by juicing the early rankings. Have a feeling some would have left even if Herms had stayed.

Doesn’t matter as we’re feeling the effects now. Again, I’m not excusing the current DC. A good DC could scheme around these deficiencies. Our current one is not doing that.

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On a related note, Myles Tapusoa decommitted yesterday.

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Myles probably got an emergency call from UT…lol

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So he gives his verbal commitment in June. He seems to be set for U of H. Now read the following:

Until a player sign he is not one of us.

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That is probably the case with most. Youngsters can be easily swayed at times.

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He’s from Salt Lake City so Oregon State is much closer to home. Plus, he’ll have a shot at the CFP!!!

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Yeah… Oregon St.

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Yeah, hilarious.

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That article doesn’t say he decommited. Has he actually decommitted?

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He tweeted that he decommitted

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Story here is that he will be playing for Sumlin.

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Just curious, but where was TOrlando in the recruiting process? Which players was he responsible for bringing in?

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How many kids recruited on our dime, did Herman take with him?

I can’t remember how our recruiting classes have been ranked over the last 5 years, but the redshirt seniors are in the 2014 class and the rest are after that. I don’t remember us ever having a top 25 recruiting class, or top 50 for that matter. We may have, but I can’t remember it.

Yet, our fans expect a top 10 or 20 team every year and if the coaching staff doesn’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, they are deemed incompetent. It’s like saying Mario Andretti would be a bad driver if he didn’t win the Grand Prix in a stock Chevy.

Right now, our talent and experience in several areas are not up to what we need it to be. I believe we have some good young players that given another year or so will develop. We just aren’t there yet. So, maybe a little patience is in order.

That’s the difference between P5 and G5. We in G5 have to develop our talent and it takes a few years. And sometimes it doesn’t work out with some kids. And it’s not new for us. CBY used to get these kids that had recognized potential, turn them over to Tom Wilson and after they were a redshirt soph or junior they were ready to go. But we always went in cycles of up and down. Now, everyone expects nothing but up.

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Oliver’s class of 2016 was top 40 as I recall.