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Let's look at Hawk's 2008 recruiting class

JimmyBuff

Well-Known Member
As we have witnessed six straight losing seasons and are coming off a 3-10 season its always interesting to see how we got here. Taking a look at the 2008 recruiting class: redshirt juniors last year or 4 year seniors you can see why our team struggled last year.


2008 recruiting class had 21 commits and was ranked the #15 ranked recruiting class in the nation by Rivals.


Chance Blackmon.........WR...... Redshirted freshman yr-transferred to Houston
Curtis Cunningham.......DT....... 4 year player, starter for some of it.
Ryan Dannewitz...........OT....... Redshirt JR. Started last year at RT.
Jameson Davis.............K.........Medical hardship
Ryan Deehan...............TE....... 4 year player. Started JR/SR year
Vince Ewing................DB....... Redshirt JR. Backup safety, special teams player
Bryce Givens..............OT........ Redshirted freshman yr. Started off and on for 2 years, kicked off team beginning of 2011
Tyler Hansen..............QB........ Started games at various times during 4 years here.
Steven Hicks..............DB........ Redshirted. Spent two years here and then left team with academic issues
Lynn Katoa.................LB........ Came here spring of 08, got into trouble, kicked off team, went to JC and never made it back to CU
Patrick Mahnke...........DB....... 4 year player. Started at safety and LB at various times
Jon Major.................. LB....... Redshirt JR. Been a starter for past two years, got injured early in his career
Shaun Mohler.............LB........ JC player. Starter here for 2 years
Will Pericak...............LB......... Redshirt Junior. Was moved to DL. 3 year started on the defensive line
Ray Polk...................RB.........Redshirt Junior. Was moved to secondary. Been a starter at free safety past two years
Doug Rippy...............LB.........Redshirt Junior. Not much production until this year. Starter until he injured his leg. Impact player
Darrell Scott.............RB........ Played okay as a frosh, injury prone, wasn't in shape, transferred out after soph year. Now at USF
Rodney Stewart........RB.........4 year starter. very productive when healthy.
Max Tuloti-Mariner....OL......... Started a few games but then was injured. Medical hardship
Paul Vigo................DB......... Redshirt Soph. Grayshirt. Has started one game, basically a backup safety now
Ryan Wallace...........TE..........Redshirted, transferred out after his R-Frosh year cause he was homesick


Stars ratings according to Rivals
5 Stars - 1 (D. Scott)
4 Stars- 7 (Deehan, Givens, Katoa, Major, Mohler, Polk, Tuioti-Mariner)
3 Stars- 9


This was the highest rated class we had under Hawk. It was heavily loaded with top LBs, 2 very highly rated offensive lineman and had 2 very good RBs in the class. Class was very weak in the defensive backfield even with Polk moving over to safety. No corners at all. No WR's at all. Pericak was moved to the defensive line and along with Cunningham were the only ones recruited from this class. Max getting hurt and Givens just being a hothead really hurt the offensive line since it left us with only Dannewitz who was exposed as a starter last year at RT.

Now their were some positives (I use that word loosely). Rodney Stewart was a pleasant surprise at RB. Pericak, Polk, Major, Rippy will all be back next year as 5 yr seniors on the defense which should be a help to our defensive numbers next year if we can solve some problems at corner and find a pass rusher. Hansen had his moments but seem to never get better with two coaching staffs.

Still looking at this class I'm not seeing any 1st round NFL talent which is shocking for a class that was allegedly "rated" number 15 in the country. Way too many holes and not enough impact players. You can clearly see why our secondary depth chart is what it is when looking at this class. No upperclassmen corners at all from this class.


BTW, Darrel Scott had 153 carries for 814 yards, 5.3 Avg and 5 TD's this year at USF.
 
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BTW, Darrel Scott had 153 carries for 814 yards, 5.3 Avg and 5 TD's this year at USF.

But, but, but, he's out of shape and didn't work hard here, blah blah blah.

Dscott got the shaft at CU. Glad to see him succeed at USF. It was pretty unfortunate to see how he was treated by the former staff here.
 
But, but, but, he's out of shape and didn't work hard here, blah blah blah.

Dscott got the shaft at CU. Glad to see him succeed at USF. It was pretty unfortunate to see how he was treated by the former staff here.

I think his frosh year he did come to CU out of shape and it caused some injuries. Beyond that its tough to tell cause he didn't play much after the Toledo game.


BTW one of his coaches is still in the football program.
 
But, but, but, he's out of shape and didn't work hard here, blah blah blah.

Dscott got the shaft at CU. Glad to see him succeed at USF. It was pretty unfortunate to see how he was treated by the former staff here.

40% of his yardage and every one of those td's came against: Ball State, Florida A&M, and UTEP.

Just like at CU he was great at stepping up against lesser competition.
 
Like a lot of five star recruits; long on talent but a little short on heart/desire/attitude/mental toughness. The things which recruiting services have a lot of trouble accurately measuring. Oh well.
 
jameson davis.............k......... medical hardship

steven hicks..............db........ actually, was at cu for 1.5 years...
lynn katoa.................lb........ never went to jc. Never played a down at cu.

darrell scott.............rb........ quit the cu team in middle of soph year. Has not lit the world on fire at usf.
Rodney stewart........rb......... lowest rated player in class, highest producer



hansen had his moments but seem to never get better with three qb coaches, 3 offensive coordinators and 3 systems in 4 years.

fify
 
But, but, but, he's out of shape and didn't work hard here, blah blah blah.

Dscott got the shaft at CU. Glad to see him succeed at USF. It was pretty unfortunate to see how he was treated by the former staff here.

He was out of shape and didn't work hard here. I'm sure if he hadn't just quit on the team as he did, he could have put up numbers similar to this here.

But, alas, he did quit in the team. In the middle of the season.
 
Nice work, Jimmy.

As Slider said above, that DB class is a major reason we struggled this season. We signed five players back there and only one has made any sort of significant contribution back there. Ouch.

The other missed opportunity in that class is at OL. We signed three quality players, including two blue chips. None of them are going to leave CU having made a positive impact on the field.
 
There were enough good players in that class to win despite all the attrition. It's a solid core. Problem is that there wasn't enough in the '09 and '10 classes to provide depth and fill holes. It wasn't a Top 20 class, but it was still pretty good.
 
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