Monday, January 30, 2012

Vanderbilt assembling impressive offensive line

Maybe you heard that athlete Chris Moody, who verbally committed to Vandy last week, just flipped and committed to South Carolina.

And maybe you're aware that Josh Dawson, who committed to Vandy last summer, appears poised to flip and pick his home-state Georgia Bulldogs.

And oh by the way, he's being recruited by Todd Grantham, that jackass who got in a screaming match with Franklin after last year's game in Nashville.

Hey, no sweat. Regardless of what happens in the next 18 hours before the faxes start rolling in, James Franklin has put together a stellar recruiting class.

Offensive tackle Kevin McCoy verbally committed to us today and appears unlikely to change his mind. This puts the finishing touches on a terrific class of offensive linemen:

• Andrew Jelks (6-7, 270)
• Kevin McCoy (6-6, 280)
• Will Holden (6-6, 280)
• Adam Butler (6-5, 288)
• Blake Fromang (6-8, 280)
• Barrett Gouger (6-5, 285)

Here's how Scouts ranks them:
1. Jelks: 3 stars, No. 43 tackle
2. Holden: 3 stars, No. 49 tackle
3. Butler: 3 stars, No. 62 guard
4. McCoy: 3 stars, No. 77 tackle
5. Fromang: 3 stars, No. 84 tackle
6. Gouger: 3 stars, No. 100 tackle

Here's how Rivals ranks them:
1. Jelks: 4 stars, 5.8 rating, No. 31 tackle
2. McCoy: 3 stars, 5.7 rating, No. 37 tackle
3. Butler: 3 stars, 5.7 rating, No. 41 tackle
4. Holden: 3 stars, 5.7 rating, No. 52 tackle
5. Gouger: 3 stars, 5.6 rating, No. 68 tackle
6. Fromang: 3 stars, 5.6 rating, unranked

And ESPN:
1. McCoy: 3 stars, 79 rating, No. 51 tackle
2. Jelks: 3 stars, 78 rating, No. 59 tackle
3. Gouger: 3 stars, 78 rating, No. 61 tackle
4. Fromang: 3 stars, 78 rating, No. 71 tackle
5. Butler: 3 stars, 78 rating, No. 43 guard
6. Holden: 3 stars, 78 rating, No. 74 tackle.

I think the best way to judge a class — without beaming yourself into the future to see which players have the best college careers — is to look at who else offered these guys scholarships.

Here's how they rank according to offers:
1. Jelks: Alabama, Texas A&M, Miss State, Stanford, Tennessee, Louisville, Missouri
2. McCoy: Florida, Auburn, Louisville
3. Holden: Florida, West Virginia, Louisville
4. Fromang: Cincinnati, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisville, Virginia Tech
5. Butler: UCLA, Oklahoma State
6. Gouger: Wake Forest, Memphis

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

After being on Coach Hand's case at the first of the year, I admit the OL made a LOT of strides during the season. Get all these guys in here and keep them learning together and VU should have a formidable wall around whichever of the 11 QB's and 17 RB's that line up behind them. It would be great to can have a cut-blocking, late-hitting OL machine for the rest of the SEC to whine about.

Dimon K-H said...

In recent memory, many of our offensive linemen have been converted defensive ends (Burrow, Jelesky, Seymour, Lauer) or guys who needed to add a ton of weight (Johnson, Bridges). Now we're starting to get big, skilled O-linemen - 11 in the past two years! - who may need a redshirt year to polish their skills and learn the system but not to do a total body makeover.

Anonymous said...

Jelks is another Wes Johnson, plays with great leverage and strength. He will grow much bigger than Wes though, and have a nice NFL career.