The Lions' Pride

Sean, do you know why they "only" signed 12 guys out of 15 available slots? We all know every scholarship is precious now, and we also know there is no way to catch up next year with 18 signings. Did they keep those 3 scholarships in their back pocket, as a carrot to dangle in front of all of those walk-ons?

each year, early enrollee's can be back dated to count against the prior class. Like our 5 early enrollee's this year that counted towards 2012 class, we can take 3 next year that can be counted towards the 2013 class....thus we can take a total of 18 next year. We're given 15 scholarships per recruiting year (EE's count towards the prior recruiting year).

Okay, I see what you guys mean. But I'm wondering why he didn't just fill those 3 slots this year, and question whether he'll be able to get 3 better recruits next year than he could have gotten this year, coming off of a pretty good year for the team, and all of the Coach of the Year awards. I'm still optimistic going forward, but I think this was the optimum time to try to lure guys to the program.

The sanctions killed any chance at top recruits this class since most top recruits were off the board by the time BOB showed what he could do. In future classes, they know he was COTY, etc. when they start looking at schools, and the impact of the sanctions on their careers will be less severe by the year

I'd say its a bigger risk to take iffy recruits this year and gamble that they will turn out to be gems

There are going to be major depth issues regardless. 65 ships is just incredibly challenging. I'd rather save ships for better players when the depth issues will exist no matter what. It's actually not really a gamble. Getting the best pieces is much much more important than hitting the number every year IMO.

Put it this way, if we use those three ships, they probably go to Clay (RB going to Kent State; very good in high school, but no major offers and very lightly recruited), a LB who is a good player, but not likely to do too much and maybe another DT who didn't have many offers.

I would guess the chances that they land 3 better prospects in those slots next year is pretty high, and it appears BOB agrees. It's not too much of a gamble when you really look into it, unless BOB thinks he won't have much success in the next class.