[these are my thoughts on our recruiting class, not on Kelly's recruiting effort or future.]

I think the most important thing in lookng at recruiting classes is first, the overall quality of the athletes, and second, trying to ensure the class is well distributed between the various positions.

I don't think you want to get hung up on individual projections, because each kid is an unknown. Roughly speaking, I think a five star will turn out to be a good college player about three times out of four, a four star about
one out of two, and a three star will turn out only about one out of four.

Some look at that and decide recruiting and recruiting rankings are just crap shoots and should be ignored; to me, the uncertainly over any one prospect means that acquiring multiple guys with more favorable odds is of even greater importance than it might first appear.

Relying on a single guy to fill any one hole in the roster; or having to depend on projects, is a very, very dicey business. Of course, development matters greatly; Kelly certainly will almost develop players better than Weis; but I assume Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops will be trying to develop their players, as well.

I think ideally you would just about fill out a two-deep over the course of two classes, with the class skewed a little bit towards the more athletic positions. Ideally, you would have a 4/5 star guy at just about every position, and have multiple ones at about half of the positions (around 30 4/5 stars over the course of two years).

It's hard to believe we've only been admitting EEs for only 5 years. It would be a stunning disadvantage to still eschew this opportunity. This year, for example, there's a tremendous confluence of our EEs and holes in our depth chart. It's pretty easy to imagine Rees taking the reins of the #2 QB spot, Tai-ler Jones making his way onto a starting spot in the four or five wide formations, and one of Badger/Boyd/Wood trio making the two deep, thanks in large part to their head start in spring ball.

Overall, on the first count, I think the class comes up a little short in terms of having guys with superior athleticism. As to the second, with the exception of the defensive line, I think it's very well distributed and shouldn't leave us with any other glaring holes moving forward.

Quarterback: Between the numbers and Kelly's track record, there's reason to be optimistic. Massa's lack of arm strength is concerning to me.

Tailback Roberson is a pretty average TB recruit, but that's probably acceptable in light of last year's haul. I'd like to see us improve our #s at TB moving forward and move the excess to safety, slot receiver and linebacker.

Wide Receiver Jones seems like a pretty polished prospect. Jackson seems like a very average recruit to me; as does Smith. Moving forward, we should be able to get premiere athletes here.

Tight End Welch is a good prospect. We never seem to have much trouble getting TE prospects.

OL A good haul. Good cohort, good size. Three a year is about right, and Heggie could end up over here.

DL Nix is a great recruit. Heggie is a project. The biggest issue with this class in the context of our roster is that defensive line recruiting is thin. We're in a position now where we're very much dependent on both Louis Nix and Tyler Stockton developing into good players; and we have to then rely on significant physical development out of the DL projects in order to have a functioning line a couple years. For example, I like Schewnke a lot, but he's at least 30 pounds from contributing on the d-line.

I think the 3-4 probably will hurt us with some defensive end recruits like Justin Trattou and Blake Lueders. Most of the differences between 3-4 and 4-3 DEs are probably overstated, but I think it can be an effective recruiting tactic for our opponents to tell DE prospects that they'll be double-teamed all the time and won't get to rush off the edge (even though it's largely not true). However, I think that disadvantage can be outweighed. First, because we can offer traditional DT recruits (like J.R. Ferguson) the chance to play DE instead of DT. Second, and even more promisingly, I think we can sell kids on playing the Bert Berry/Shawne Merriman rushbacker position. In terms of recruiting high school juniors and seniors, I think there are a lot of tremendous athletes who project as 3-4 OLBs (think of Christian Jones, Martez Wilson, Sergio Kindle, Justin Tuck, etc., etc.)

Rushbacker The strength of the defensive class. I think we can build future classes around recruiting these rushbacker prospects. This year, for example, I think the Moore/Shembo/Utopo/Schwenke group all fit that profile of 230-240 pound kids who can move. A reasonable amount of them will turn out to be good college LBs or even DEs. I'll take Schwenke as my "sleeper" recruit, because he's a good prospect, and having him turn out would really help this class.

Quarter-H-Backer Spond seems like a pretty good athlete, but between his time at QB and his concussions, he's certainly a project. Same with Robeck. He's 225 already and I have a hard time projecting him as a safety. Either could end up a TE or H-back, but those recruits are kind of a dime a dozen, at least here. Suffice it to say I'd be more excited to have Anthony Barr in the "athlete" column.

Safety First I think we'll see Collinsworth start at safety due to need, and his physical doppleganger Badger will start there this spring. They're both seem pretty average physically. My bets guess is that Collinsworth will end up at slot receiver by the end of his career, but who knows.

Cornerback Other than gauging speed, I've never had any luck trying to evaluate CB prospects. Wood and Boyd's physical profiles are both pretty average for this position.