Guru's Recruiting Evaluation
Guru’s Recruiting Round-up
Now that the coaching staff has signed the last recruit, we can evaluate this class on paper. First, the obvious strategy for coach Bustle was to recruit for both the immediate needs and also build for the future. The immediate needs will be addressed by the twelve JC recruits. The future will be the twenty high school signees that will be red shirted this year. Today we will look at two immediate areas of concern that this staff addressed during the 2003 signing period. The defensive line and the defensive backfield.
Defensive Linemen Signees
Top Signees
DL Travis Bass 6-1 240 (LA Valley JC)
DL George Benson 6-3 290 (Fresno City JC)
DL Darryl Blappert 6-7 275 (Pearl River JC)
Solid Signees
DL Ken Haynes 6-4 285 (SW Miss JC)
DL Travis Ferguson 6-2 285 (Skyline HS, Dallas Tex.)
Other Signees
DL Chris Cutler 6-3 268 (S. Grand Prairie HS Tex.)
DL Paul Eli 6-3 230 (Natchitoches Cent. HS LA.)
DL Jason Guidry 6-3 220 ( Memorial HS, Port Arthur Tex.)
The top signees from this group are the JC DL Travis Bass, George Benson and Darryl Blappert. Bass, Benson and Blappert will be given the chance to compete for starting positions along with Haynes. Bass is the type of DE prospect that this staff loves. At 6-1, 240 he has tremendous speed off the edge with a 4.6 40-yard dash. Bass had 15 sacks and 25 QB pressures his senior year. Benson is another quick lineman with a 4.85 40-yard dash. But he brings that quickness at 6-3,290 and that’s impressive. Benson recorded 8 sacks his senior year.
Blappert also has impressive speed with a 4.75 40-yard dash at 6-7, 275
pounds. Haynes also was very solid his senior year with 4 sacks and 3 fumble recoveries. All bring size and speed to the defense, with Blappert having the early advantage participating in spring. Travis Ferguson is the top high school signee and my sleeper of this group. Ferguson was considered a Texas Football preseason top 100 recruit leading into the 2002 season. He camped this past summer at Texas A&M’s football camp and was impressive. If not for an early season leg injury, Ferguson would have had offers from several Big Twelve schools. Cutler, Eli and Guidry are not as highly thought of as the before mentioned signees and may take a few years before they can make any type of contribution. Tomorrow I will cover the defensive backfield.
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