Little hope/optimism

[tapsgator]

247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/

I don't know if they're updating or what but 5 minutes ago they had the national rankings up and we were 10th, if you shift over to SEC you can see that we sit at 4 in the SEC.

That's really impressive all things considered, Mullen deciding recruiting had a season after he got his show cause, back to back losing seasons, Mullen being left in place to finish the season and suddenly everybody decommitted from the class and some of our more talented upper classmen transferred out, the Rashada/NIL fiasco, and so on. To still be top 10 is pretty amazing. If we hold onto the current class we'll move up a couple spots in 24, if we add to it or have more success in the portal we can make a run at top 5. Remarkable turnaround off the field, here's hoping something similar happens between the lines.

[Rock Gator]

If we could could just show some improvement, even to 7-5 or 8-4, it would really help with the '24 class. A couple of top 5 classes in a row would go a long way toward mitigating sub-par coaching. Jimmys and Joes, you know.
RG

[tapsgator]

So it is updated now, looks like we're 15th which is probably about the average of our last 4 classes so I guess that stands to reason. 5th in the SEC, 2nd in the East, not an exact science but that makes the 5.5 win total seem like it should be there.

Yeah, 8-4 would be a huge boost and 7-5 definitely works, especially because it would likely be on the back of kids who would be coming back. If you look at our 2 deep really the only ones that project to leave are Pearsall (senior) & Marshall (Junior with late 1st-early 2nd grade). There are guys who could blow up that are draft eligible like Cam Jackson and Sapp & Prince on the D-line, maybe Eguonku and George on the OL, and then maybe Montrell Johnson, but in all those cases there are young guys behind them that were at least as highly regarded out of high school and in most cases ranked higher. We'll lose some to the portal but those will probably be guys buried on the depth chart. Either Mertz will excel and be back or fall flat and transfer, but I think it's pretty likely we will be looking at the portal if Lagway needs a year. What I like is that most of the class seems solid and as long as we don't look like the shit the bed games and moments from 2022 on a regular basis the class should hold in top 5. If we look like the flashes of good from 22 we can build and turn ourselves back into a perennial contender for the recruiting title.