Signing Day Eval Time

[shon46_rivals360748]

What grade do you give Monty's first recruiting cycle class?

(My Grade)

Offense (C)
The addition of quality Oline depth was encouraging but we failed to bring game changing speed at the WR and RB position to compete with the upper competition of the conference.

Defense (D+)
LB additions were solid but we missed on bringing in immediate help at the safety position. Depth at DL was and is still a huge concern. Not being able to land Bean and or another 2 or three guys hurts us significantly.

Overall Grade: C-
While Monty and staff were able to beat out some power 5 schools and help us land some quality individual players, this class lacks overall playmakers and game changing speed. It was a decent start for Monty but the rest of the staff needs to step up and can't just rely on Montys connections in Texas to get us to the promise land!

 

[lawpoke87]

I think that's fair. We finished 10 out of 11 in the Rivals final class rankings for the AAC. However, after the top 4 I think the rest of the schools are fairly even. Houston obviously had a very good class. Scott Frost at UFC was impressive with two 4*s and nine 3*s in his first class. Temple got a top 100 national kid on signing day to close strong.

Monty can excel offensively with this type of talent. Defense is my concern. We need better players....especially seeing what the top of the conferencing is bringing in.

 

[astonmartin708_rivals]

Offense B-
Defense C

Honestly there wasn't a lot to do on offense. We bolstered our lines which was our biggest weakness last season. I'm really impressed with Skipper. He has the potential to be great.

As far as defense goes, I'm still not sold on our secondary additions. We'll see how effect they are. The LB additions were all right but that wasn't an mediate area of need.

 

[Weatherdemon]

Not bad for a first recruiting class but would've liked to see a few more jucos at DB/LB or 'ready to play' guys. But, I do appreciate not getting too wrapped up in the JC route.
OL and DL were certianly covered which will help LB, RB, and QB positions.

Bump up to 8 wins next year and I think recruits will see a pattern and the classes will continue to improve as long as Montgomery is here.

 

[Chris Harmon]

we failed to bring game changing speed at the WR and RB position to compete with the upper competition of the conference.

Keenen Johnson runs a 4.4 forty and is slated to play slot and move outside some, maybe play some RB according to Montgomery. And RB was not a need in the class per Monty.

 

[I WILL TRY TO BE LIKE CHARLIE KIRK NOW]

Tulsa is building speed in the back in on defense RS Robinson and Wadley both run sub 4.5 as do both CBs this year plus all 6'1 or better. Whitfield will be better with more experience and he is not slow. Revels and the big cat by the 4th game will also make everyone better. The team has needed a big guy in the middle for a long time as he will demand double teams to run up the middle. Revels will be the Charles Clay of the defense as a freshmen as Charles was for the offense in my view.
B for the offense. QB is a B, Receivers B, Line B+, TE C-
B- for the defense Line B, LBer B, Backs C

 

[red dirt]

Aston, Linebacker was not a need? Did you watch how slow and un-athletic our linebackers were?

 

[TU Hurricane Warning]

Aston, Linebacker was not a need? Did you watch how slow and un-athletic our linebackers were?

Totally have to agree. Undersized and slow.

 

[Rjjackson4]

Monty score a B+ in this year recruiting cycle. He address all the areas he needed to address. The offense proved they can score on anyone once they get into a groove. The running game was not consistent and we didn't use a TE much in the passing game. Our defense needed CBs and DTs. Our LB situation will improve with the incoming coming recruits.

Offense (B+)
We have two NFL size guards 6'5 330 and three NFL OT 6'6 295. We recruited a center last year so this offensive line is in tact for the next 2-4 years. We have 3 WR and one WR/RB who runs a 4.4. Keenen Johnson will play both RB and WR which bring a new dimension to the offense. A TE will help attack the middle of the field on different levels. This TE may have a dual role where he can rush the QB as a DE. We have a good QB with a good upside.

Defense (B)
The CB's was our biggest weakness and we addressed the issue with two CB with 4.4 speed. At 6'1 Hill is a JUCO player who bring toughness, attitude, confidence and speed. He has ball skills that we haven't seen in many years. Norris is a 6'1 4.4 ball hawk with attitude confidence and speed. He will challenge for the other CB position as a freshman. We have size at the MLB and the OLB will be able to run down and make open field tackles. We needed a big DT in the middle who can collapse the pocket. We have two DT who avg 6'4 310 who can play immediately and collapse the pocket and play the run. We have two strong side DE that avg '6'4 255lbs who can play immediately. Johnnie Williams 6'5 260 may slip into the starting rotation at one point but he will make a major impact in the 4-3 defense next season.

This was a great recruiting class because we address the problems on both side of the ball. We have a good chance to win the conference title this year. We have players with speed who were redshirted and they will be eagered to play next season. We have two big running backs that will be unwrapped next year. We also have Keenen Johnson who can add a new dimension to Monty offense.

 

[shon46_rivals360748]

Keenen Johnson runs a 4.4 forty and is slated to play slot and move outside some, maybe play some RB according to Montgomery. And RB was not a need in the class per Monty.

Chris, even when I was playing, despite the many losses we endured, we always had individuals that possessed great speed. The problem has always been depth. Grade issues and injuries always seemed to plague us. Graham was the last coach who was truly able to recruit speed year after year and build a great team and the NFL came flocking to our campus because of it. We will struggle to beat UC, Houston, and UCF if we are not able to land more guys with speed at every position not just the skill positions.

 

[Lumpuckeroo]

Chris, even when I was playing, despite the many losses we endured, we always had individuals that possessed great speed. The problem has always been depth. Grade issues and injuries always seemed to plague us. Graham was the last coach who was truly able to recruit speed year after year and build a great team and the NFL came flocking to our campus because of it. We will struggle to beat UC, Houston, and UCF if we are not able to land more guys with speed at every position not just the skill positions.

If Coach Phil can recruit like Todd Graham, I'll be more than happy and eight wins next year would be fantstic !

 

[Rjjackson4]

Chris, even when I was playing, despite the many losses we endured, we always had individuals that possessed great speed. The problem has always been depth. Grade issues and injuries always seemed to plague us. Graham was the last coach who was truly able to recruit speed year after year and build a great team and the NFL came flocking to our campus because of it. We will struggle to beat UC, Houston, and UCF if we are not able to land more guys with speed at every position not just the skill positions.

We can beat UC, Houston and UCF with the team and players we have now. For us to dominate we need pass rushers and a DT to collapse the pocket. The key are the CBs Hill and Norris. Barrows and Thomas will be our slot CB.

 

[TU 1978]

A good class. Would have been even better with Dae had he not chosen to go to Loserville.

 

[shon46_rivals360748]

We can beat UC, Houston and UCF with the team and players we have now. For us to dominate we need pass rushers and a DT to collapse the pocket. The key are the CBs Hill and Norris. Barrows and Thomas will be our slot CB.

Rjjackson4, Houston is preseason #8 team in the country. The last time TU beat a top 10 ranked opponent was A&M in the early 90's. Im not saying that it cant happen but lets be real, they just signed a 5* DT and a couple of 4* receivers on top of having an already outstanding team. UC and UCF continue to add quality depth and speed from the state of Florida to their teams. We have tons of heart and I love the the direction Monty is going, but realistically, compared to the top tier teams in our conference, we are not there yet.

 

[Rjjackson4]

Rjjackson4, Houston is preseason #8 team in the country. The last time TU beat a top 10 ranked opponent was A&M in the early 90's. Im not saying that it cant happen but lets be real, they just signed a 5* DT and a couple of 4* receivers on top of having an already outstanding team. UC and UCF continue to add quality depth and speed from the state of Florida to their teams. We have tons of heart and I love the the direction Monty is going, but realistically, compared to the top tier teams in our conference, we are not there yet.

It doesnt matter if they have speed all over the field. Your still playing with 11 players. Houston is a pressure team. It try to pressure the QB into mistakes. What can hurt Houston are screens, misdirection, and TEs in the middle of the field. Use our speed against theirs speed in open field.
Houston offense goes through their QB. Keep him in the pocket and collapse it around him. We have better CBs so we can match the WR speed for speed. We stop the big plays we stop Houston

 

[shon46_rivals360748]

It doesnt matter if they have speed all over the field. Your still playing with 11 players. Houston is a pressure team. It try to pressure the QB into mistakes. What can hurt Houston are screens, misdirection, and TEs in the middle of the field. Use our speed against theirs speed in open field.
Houston offense goes through their QB. Keep him in the pocket and collapse it around him. We have better CBs so we can match the WR speed for speed. We stop the big plays we stop Houston

All you have to do is stop Henry if your playing Alabama or Mayfield if your playing Oklahoma or Boykin if your playing TCU. Once upon a time when the stables were full, I would have been on board with you but I get what your saying. Its five O'clock somewhere right!

 

[Rjjackson4]

Now you want to change the team. You said Houston, UC and UCF. You cant change the rules of the game. Alabama couldnt stop Clemson so onside kick and they threw to the TE. We couldve beat Oklahoma this year if we had good CBs. TCU is not much better than Houston.

 

[TulsaGrad07]

Rjjackson4, Houston is preseason #8 team in the country. The last time TU beat a top 10 ranked opponent was A&M in the early 90's. Im not saying that it cant happen but lets be real, they just signed a 5* DT and a couple of 4* receivers on top of having an already outstanding team. UC and UCF continue to add quality depth and speed from the state of Florida to their teams. We have tons of heart and I love the the direction Monty is going, but realistically, compared to the top tier teams in our conference, we are not there yet.

Doesn't seem that long ago, although it has been... I remember everyone in Tulsa talking about that game for 2 or 3 weeks afterwards. We need another boost as a program with a win over a top 10 team. Beating Ohio State would be beautiful if we can catch them off-guard early in the season in their "cupcake" portion of the schedule.

 

[shon46_rivals360748]

Now you want to change the team. You said Houston, UC and UCF. You cant change the rules of the game. Alabama couldnt stop Clemson so onside kick and they threw to the TE. We couldve beat Oklahoma this year if we had good CBs. TCU is not much better than Houston.

Rjjackson, I was trying to speak metaphorically when I mentioned the other teams by making the point that in order to beat a quality ranked opponent, ALL you have to do is shut one or two players down and play well. If this year was a year where depth, talent, and experience all lined up I would agree with you on our chances of beating UH. Right now, I think there is a very low probability of that happening based on the talent we have returning.

 

[Tu Geo]

We don't beat Houston until the QB is gone. One of the best in the country.

GO TU!!!

 

[aTUfan_rivals]

Looking for improvemrnt, and more wins, this year.

 

[TU Hurricane Warning]

I beg to differ about beating Houston. We had them, it wasn't until Lucas injury before we fell apart. We were scoring and had them off balance with the slot threat. Don't get me wrong it was going to be a battle, but we were more than in it.

 

[TU Hurricane Warning]

As for our class, i like it. Yes, it would have been nice to make more noise with highly regarded skill players or defensive playmakers but I think we will get there with some breaks and having more success. We just need to retain a good staff and the program will continue to grow.

 

[Rjjackson4]

Rjjackson, I was trying to speak metaphorically when I mentioned the other teams by making the point that in order to beat a quality ranked opponent, ALL you have to do is shut one or two players down and play well. If this year was a year where depth, talent, and experience all lined up I would agree with you on our chances of beating UH. Right now, I think there is a very low probability of that happening based on the talent we have returning.

Shon46 a player should never go into a game thinking he has already lost to his opponent. A player must play to his maximum effort no matter who is in front of him an All American Senior or Freshman out of high school. We got the players on the roster to make a run at Houston and the Conference Title.

 

[shon46_rivals360748]

Shon46 a player should never go into a game thinking he has already lost to his opponent. A player must play to his maximum effort no matter who is in front of him an All American Senior or Freshman out of high school. We got the players on the roster to make a run at Houston and the Conference Title.

Rjjackson4, I would agree with you 1000%. Every player in our locker room should feel the exact same but in my new role as I fan, I now evaluate teams with my head and not my heart. I will bleed blue and gold until the day I die but let's be honest, we have a long way to go to get back to where Graham had us.

 

[Lumpuckeroo]

Rjjackson4, I would agree with you 1000%. Every player in our locker room should feel the exact same but in my new role as I fan, I now evaluate teams with my head and not my heart. I will bleed blue and gold until the day I die but let's be honest, we have a long way to go to get back to where Graham had us.

I like the conversation, but I agree with Shon on this topic. Would love the upset, but TU is not upper tier in the conference yet, however we're heading in that direction ! Eight wins next year is possible but nothings easy.

 

[lawpoke87]

Coaching .... Top 2 or 3 in the conference

Talent ....middle of the pack.

 

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

The class was "ok" at best, in my opinion.

-Happy with the OL and DL
-VERY disappointed with the LB portion...especially due to how far they need to go...
-Suprised to not see as much receiver talent signed.

It just seems like we're behind the entire conference from a recruiting standpoint. I didn't expect that.

 

[TU Sepp]

This years recruiting class is a major step up over the last few years. 6 wins and a bowl game helped. Next year get 8 and recruiting goes up again. Get to 10 wins and we are back, recruiting will be bringing in the type of student athletes that will play for conference championships!
Hurricane Monty has a progressive game plan for recruiting and I trust him and the staff to make it happen.

 

[TulsaEye]

Some seem to think that one or two recruiting seasons is enough to get Tulsa where it needs to be talent wise. There are not enough openings per season to do that in a short time. This will be 3 even 4 season turn a round for recruiting talent for the team. Blankenship left the shelves bare except for a few spots. Hard to pull of miracles in recruiting when you have limited numbers of openings for recruits.

 

[canerush]

Tulsa will not EVER be bottom tier of the AAC and Phillip Montgomery will NEVER be fired from his job!

 

[ImaCanefan]

When have we ever been ranked in the top tier of a conference we belonged to recruiting wise?

 

[jesterondirt]

Only thing I can offer to this conversation, is that I have seen us do much more than we should have in the past, with much less talent than we have now.

 

[Rjjackson4]

We have some good redshirt freshman waiting for an opportunity to show what they can do. We have a few recruits who will contribute to the upcoming season. The next recruiting class will make TU a Monty Team.

 

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

Graham had us at (or near) the top of C-USA with his classes...

 

[TU_BLA]

It's always hard to tell if a coach could bring in decent talent or not and they were just a bad coach. Always thought Burns was a terrible recruiter until Kragthorpe win 8 games with Burns guys. Even this year Monty took a team of BB's recruits and won 6 games with them. Josh Pastner is one of the best recruiters in college basketball...Memphis fans still calling for his head (Travis Ford is the same way in Stilly).

 

[TUBballJunkie]

CUSA class rankings around Graham time:

2007: 8th
2008: 6th
2009: 5th
2010: 8th
2011: 4th

So no, we weren't at or near the top. We were in the highest 1/3 one of those years after several classed and always had the benefit of basement teams like Rice, Tulane, UAB we could at least count on below us.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

And timing wise Blankenship gets some credit for 2011 anyway.

 

[HuffyCane]

We know they can coach. We will find out if they can recruit in 8 months. There were enough deficiencies on the team last season that 3 or 4 true freshmen could and should come in and make an impact. We should be seeing that. Until then, they get a pass. If it doesnt play out that way, He had better win with the cards he has dealt himself.

 

[TulsaEye]

More size was absolutely needed as a priority on both Lines! The defensive line was definitely pushed around. But on offense, some teams simply exploded into Tulsa's back field usually resulting in a sack. There was a need for how Monty and company recruited.