We’ve been talking about the Syracuse Orange’s football recruiting momentum of late. But for every kid that does commit, there could be another one-time target that could potentially fall by the wayside. This is not unique to SU, but is the case for every school. It’s the unfortunate side of these things, but a fair one considering how involved the process is today.

On Sunday night, three-star Virginia (Stafford) running back Damone Drew announced his commitment to Syracuse on Twitter, but was informed by the staff (running backs coach Mike Hart) that he no longer had a commit-able offer. Syracuse.com’s Stephen Bailey followed up with Drew to get more details. He shared:

“It got declined. Just because we haven’t been in contact for a while. So it just got passed up.”

“The only time they were pushing hard was the time I visited.”

Syracuse currently has one running back in the fold — Michigan product Allen Stritzinger — though that will only make four scholarship backs on the roster come 2017. George Morris II departs, while Stritzinger would join Dontae Strickland, Jordan Fredericks and Moe Neal in the backfield. Bailey believes the team could take another one or two players at that position this cycle. Which could mean some good news down the line (potentially) for Drew.

As you may recall, Devon Clarke committed to Syracuse last July, but his pledge was not accepted by the staff. Later on, he ended up joining the Orange anyway after the coaching change. For Drew, who has offers from Appalachian State, Cincinnati, Temple and Virginia, among others, it’s somewhat of a good sign — despite being far from a guarantee.

247Sports has a full list of known offers the Orange have out right now, including a ton of running backs, a bunch of which have already made verbal (non-binding) commitments . One of those players is Florida product Isaiah Miller, who indicated yesterday that he’s planning a campus visit to SU soon.

***

Who knows if this is the last we here about Drew and the Orange. But as Dino Babers’s Orange staff starts throwing a wider recruiting net, occurrences like this may become a bit more frequent. Offers are based on team needs the moment they’re tendered, and can shift on a dime. If the past couple months are any indication, we’re in for a busy five months before National Signing Day.

Earlier today the AP Poll did something rather impressive. In celebration of the 80th anniversary of the college football AP Poll it released its all-time poll under the following criteria:

To determine the all-time Top 25, the AP formula counted poll appearances (one point) to mark consistency, No. 1 rankings (2 points) to acknowledge elite programs and gave a bonus for AP championships (10 points).

No, Purdue was not in the top 25, but it was comfortably in the top 50

Since Purdue does not have an AP National championship that equals 246 appearances in the top 25 out of 1,103 polls (roughly 22%). for those keeping score at home here is how the B1G stacks up:

1. Ohio State (852 polls, 105 No. 1s, 5 championships)

6. Nebraska (717 polls, 72 No. 1s, 4 championships)

7. Michigan (806 polls, 34 No. 1s, 2 championships)

12. Penn State (589 polls, 19 No. 1s, 2 championships)

19. Michigan State (375 polls, 29 No. 1s, 1 championship)

24. Wisconsin (334 polls, 1 No. 1)

25. Iowa (307 polls, 7 No. 1s)

36. Purdue (237 polls, 5 No. 1s)

37. Minnesota (160 polls, 18 No. 1s, 4 championships)

40. Maryland (192 polls, 6 No. 1s, 1 championship)

50. Northwestern (172 polls, 5 No. 1s)

51. Illinois (181 polls)

72. Indiana (55 polls)

86. Rutgers (38 polls)

Now for the depressing part: Purdue has not been ranked since reaching No. 23 on September 30, 2007. Only Indiana (dating back to 1994) has a longer streak in the conference of not being ranked (yes, even Rutgers and Maryland, go look here). Purdue last received a vote September 23, 2012, which is at least more recent. Indiana hasn’t even received votes in the AP polls since 1994.

As the calendar turns to August, college football fan bases often begin to form a trichotomy of sorts (yes, I just made that word up). Generally speaking, there are the optimists, the pessimists (usually a weak contingent for a lot of fan bases but particularly strong in Gopher-dom), and the realists.

The optimists and pessimists often eschew statistics and sound analysis in favor of unsupported claims about the upcoming season. They throw out grandiose predictions, either overly positive or overly negative, without so much as a single number to back up why they think their team will win x number of games out of 12 (or 13 or 14 or 15…). And since we have nothing better to talk about during the build up to the 2016 season, this practice is perfectly understandable. There’s nothing wrong with boldly proclaiming a Rose Bowl or pronouncing gloom and doom at this juncture, when we know so little about what is actually going to take place on the gridiron.

But let me take you back to that third group of people, the realists, and look at what they tend to do when making announcements about the season. They usually have some statistical information, whether it’s returning number of starters or some other factoid that gives them an informed opinion. They may look at the schedule and make hypotheses based on the opponents’ number of returning starters. They may identify the perceived strengths and weaknesses of multiple rosters and compare how those will mesh against each other. Whatever they do, they attempt to quantify their reasoning for their thinking.

I am here to tell you today that for the 2016 Minnesota Golden Gopher football season, the optimists and the realists can be one in the same. And the reason I say this is because there is statistical evidence that points to success in a variety of aspects in relation to the 2016 season. Head Coach Tracy Claeys has been known as a mathematician due to his educational background and his approach to football in his limited time at the head of the program. So it would make sense that he falls into the realist group that paints a pretty good-looking picture of the Gophers’ 2016 season.

While I can only claim to be an amateur statistician, below I will provide you a few reasons why the realist statisticians and the wide-eyed optimists could be slowly converging into the same fan group as the 2016 season quickly approaches.

1. General Upward Trajectory of the Program

By looking at the trend of the Minnesota’s advanced statistical profile over the last five years, we can see that it has trended upward. Here is a graph to illustrate this because pictures are kind to the eyes and graphs are fun.

Yes, technically in this graph, it has actually trended “downwards” but that is because the Golden Gophers’ rankings have improved among FBS programs (where a lower ranking means you are doing better, obviously). While the continuation of this trend could be considering unlikely due to a coaching change, keep in the mind that two highly influential contributors to the past five years of incrementally increasing success are still on the coaching staff in key roles: now head coach Tracey Claeys and now defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel. The success on the field in the form of more wins than previous five year periods have contributed to more success recruiting. This has meant more talent up and down the roster. This general upward trend is evident in the consistent improvement in the advanced statistical profile of the team. With continuity on defense, a strength the last 3 years or so, it is well within the realm of possibility that this trend could be predictive of 2016 results.

2. Parsing through Bill C’s Projections

Bill C. of Football Study Hall does a statistical preview of every FBS team before the games start. Here is Minnesota’s. We’ve linked to this previously (way back in June) but it is important to highlight again because there is not a single game where the Gophers have less than a 32% win expectancy. I don’t know every specific that goes into these numbers but they take into account previous years of data, strength of active recruited classes, and a myriad of other things. The fact that before a single snap has been taken and Minnesota has at least a 30% chance at grabbing a win in every single game they play should be reason enough to be seeing a rosier picture compared to last year’s results. Another important number in Bill C’s projection is the 7.5 projected wins for the Gophers. While this doesn’t necessarily serve as a “baseline,” it’s nice to see that the statistical models that take into account things like current talent level and schedule peg us to be well above another 5 win regular season.

3. Dissecting the Schedule

Last year, according to S&P+, Minnesota played the 5th hardest schedule in all of FBS. If we were to average the projected S&P+ rank of each of Minnesota’s 2016 opponents to give us a general idea of how good the competition will be in 2016, that number is close to an average rank of 61st. (NOTE: This discounts the FCS squad from Indiana State that the Gophers will face on September 10th.) While it may be an over-simplification, this means that on a week-in, week-out basis, Minnesota will be facing the equivalent of an average FBS program or in other words, Illinois, who ranked 61st in S&P+ in 2015. If we remove non-conference opponents from the conversation, the average rank only drops to 54th (Louisiana Tech was the 2015 equivalent). After last years gauntlet, I’m sure no one will be apologizing for the relatively easy schedule, but it is just another statistical fact that points towards an increased win total in 2016. One last note on the schedule that could provide the Gophers with a respite: though they have more away games than home games in conference play this year, the Gophers do not have consecutive away games throughout the entire schedule. This is a interesting nugget that lends itself to another Minnesota advantage.

4. Pointing Out the Obvious About Injuries

In 2015, it felt like every other series there was another Gopher hobbling off the field. Every Monday seemed like fans were waiting on pins and needles to hear an inevitable announcement about another player missing the rest of the season with some sort of injury. While football is a violent game where injuries are absolutely unavoidable and should be expected throughout the course of practice and a 12 game regular season slate, the absurd quantity of injuries to key players up and down the two-deep for Minnesota (one stat I saw cited 22 players on the 2-deep missing multiple games, but I never found a 100% accurate number)  is simply not repeatable from a statistical perspective. The probability of players from the two-deep missing as much time as they did in 2015 is not statistically significant meaning it is highly unlikely to happen again. Since we start the preseason with assumptions anyways, having seen no meaningful snaps, let us assume average health/injury luck for the 2016 season. This would indicate that Minnesota will be able to build upon a healthier roster, contributing to a higher quality of play.

5. Experience at Skills Positions

Disregard everything that has been said about Mitch Leidner leading up to the 2016 season. Forget anything you’ve heard, positive or negative, and just consider this: he has 722 career collegiate passing attempts and has played in 35 collegiate games. He has an enormous amount of experience compared to his peers. At quarterback, experience matters, especially when you don’t have access to the five-star recruits that powerhouses like Alabama, Ohio State, and others do. Even though changes in offensive scheme are taking place, there is something to be said about having a heavily experienced quarterback at the helm that gives a college program an advantage.

Furthermore, the offense returns 88% of its carries from 2015. The combination of Shannon Brooks and Rodney Smith at running back and Mitch Leidner at quarterback give the Gophers a plethora of experience carrying the ball, not to mention the huge stockpile of young options to soak up any further opportunities provided by load or injury. The running game will be well taken care of with quality experience returning to the fold.

Lastly, though the receiving core loses WR KJ Maye, who accounted for 30.4% of targets last year, the Gophers return all other major contributors including WR Drew Wolitarsky (15.6% of all targets) TE Brandon Lingen (11.9%), and promising sophomore WR Rashad Still (8.8%) who came on strong at the end of last season as a true freshman to become the team’s third most targeted option. Though Maye was a valuable player, his catch rate was only 58.4%.  Compare that to Wolitarsky’s 62.9% and though the Gophers are losing their biggest target and play maker in Maye, they may be able to improve as a receiving unit overall with the return of the rest of the unit.

Conclusions

Obviously, this brief breakdown only focused on the positive statistics. The Gophers aren’t returning some absurd number of starters and they don’t have a highly touted recruiting class coming into their junior year. They do have some weaknesses in their roster construction (like the defensive front four). But there does appear to be a decent amount of evidence at a macro level that suggestions Claeys and Co. have a strong chance at obtaining at least 8 wins. While some might then argue that 8 wins is a baseline for the season, I’d look at the glass half full while  citing the statistic that the Gophers have only won 8 games 5 times in the last 40 years as a reason to be happy with 8 wins for the 2016 season. It is for this reason that I think the statistics do, in fact, paint a pretty picture for the Gophers for this upcoming season. But should the fates of the awkward-shaped ball smile upon Minnesota this year, 8 might be just the beginning.

Decided to put together a quick introduction to Fall Camp and the things I will be looking for with all the starting players (and a few reserves sprinkled in). Usually just a sentence per player, but adding more if I can’t help it.

Lets start with some weigh-in reactions. Three cheers for a training table! It is definitely paying dividends, especially with the younger players who are completely taking to the system. Also, I have heard great things about the nutritionist that Clemson hired. Finally someone is completely dedicated to helping players eat right and it is paying off.

Positives: Deshaun Watson at a svelte 218.

Lineman looked pretty good compared to years past. Guillermo at 305 after being in the 360+ range a little over a year ago is phenomenal. Hyatt is at 299 and Fruhmorgen is at 300. You all know how high I have been on Fruh and he will start at RT, should be much improved and has filled out his upper body. Crowder is the heaviest lineman at 333 (a little heavy but I will take it). No one is using their scholarship as a free meal ticket anymore. I said during his recruitment not to write off Tremayne Anchrum and that he would have a chance to contribute on this year. Well, he weighs in at 289 without a ton of bad weight. Pollard looks like he can physically contribute too at 310. Simpson wins the off the bus award. Wish he came in earlier to learn more of the system. Very happy we beat out USCjr for him for the future.

TE’s have all bulked up. Leggett is at an eye popping 259–but no real fat on his body. If he can block this year and keep his speed, wow. Garrett Williams is at 250 and will be a beast blocking this year. He was in the 220-230 range last year. All of the TE’s looked good including Shadell Bell who has been working with the TE’s for awhile now. Glad to see the young man have the maturity to see that this is where his future will be brightest. He will need time but can be a pass catching threat in the future. Also the reason we aren’t taking a TE in the 2017 class.

On defense you have Jadar Johnson at 217. Van Smith is at 202, up from 180 last season (probably played in the 170’s though).

This freshman defensive class has come in on fire. Lamar at 236. Shaq Smith at 235. That is perfect right there.

DB’s all very impressive with Mullen at 187, Wallace at 187 and Simmons at 221!? Mullen and Wallace weigh more than all the other CBs not named Tank. Simmons is the heaviest Safety on the roster. Impressive and gives those guys a chance to contribute in the two-deep and certainly on special teams.

Can we just start calling Dexter Lawrence at 342 pounds “The Mountain” or “The Mountain That Rides” (GOT reference)? My goodness he is going to be fun to watch for three years.

Really there are a ton of positives.

Negatives: These are picky but that is what I do. Gallman at 210. Would have liked to have seen him at 215 or 220. None of our RBs are at 220 again this year. I did like Feaster at 207, which is around where you want him for his entire career with his speed, 210-215 eventually. Thought Choice would be above 206.

Jabril Robinson is at 259. Not good. I said during his recruitment that I didn’t think his frame could hold weight well enough to get to the 290-300 pound range. He was listed last year at 280 but is going in the wrong direction. He is a redshirt Sophomore so he has been in the program long enough. Dexter is taking those snaps until he can get his weight up. Jordan Leggett weighs as much as Jabril right now.

LaSamuel Davis is at 208 and needs to get in the 230 range to have a chance to contribute. Like I said when he signed, this is a long term investment and there shouldn’t be any expectations put on him at this point.

TJ Chase looks ridiculously cut (abs for miles), but most likely will redshirt just because he is at 164. Tough to come in so late but congratulations to that young man for persevering–lots of talent.

Amir Trapp is only 161, but that is up from the 150 pounds he came in as, so it is really a positive. Edmond should be more than 178 at this point in his career. Physicality at the point of attack has been what has kept him off the field. Fields surprisingly dropped some weight to 181, which is a bit concerning.

On to the players, here is what I am looking for in Fall Camp:

QB

DeShaun Watson–How is he carrying the 218 pounds? Does he have any improvement in speed? Accuracy. Started off a bit slow in this area last year. Chemistry with Mike Williams. (Very sad knowing this is Watson’s last season as a Tiger. Enjoy it!)

Kelly Bryant–accuracy and reading through his progressions. We know he has the wheels but his time is now to improve decision making and touch on the ball.

RB

Gallman–just continue to stay healthy, increased strength gains?

Who grabs the backup slot? How much has everyone improved in pass pro (believe it or not, Fuller is currently the best at pass pro on the roster)?

Feaster–grasp of offense, will make some “wow” plays in camp, but can he learn the offense enough to get 5-10 snaps a game (think wheel-route). Blocking? Toughness between the tackles with shoulder? If he can answer those questions then you have a pass catching RB who can take it to the house every time he touches the ball. Yes, I am still insanely high on Feaster’s potential this year.

WR

Williams–no questions other than health. Will be alpha WR, back to 222 pounds. Beast.

Renfrow–had a Freshman lull midway through the season. Up to 182 pounds, can he withstand rigors of entire season at that weight? Does he do more punt return?

Scott–tracking the deep ball.

Cain–are you completely out of the doghouse? Can you please stay as far away from it as you possibly can? (missing the weigh-in had nothing to do with discipline, he is fine)

McCloud–up to 183. Hold on to the football, stay healthy. He has had a great summer, now to translate it to the field. Breakout pick on offense?

OL

Crowder–is he completely healthy? Can the weight stay down and how is his pass blocking progressing?

Guillermo–is a stud but struggled with some of the better nose tackles last year (thank goodness Louisville’s Sheldon Rankins is gone!). Can he take the next step and blow guys off the ball?

Hearn–I was wrong about you…our jack of all trades who steps in during the Orange Bowl and plays quality reps at Tackle. Weight is down. Can he be an upgrade over Mr. Clemson?

Hyatt–just how big a jump can he make in second season with full offseason of work? 299 sounds good to me.

Fruhmorgen–superior technique matched with strength gains?? Lets see you put it altogether please.

Mav Morris–Can he improve as a run blocker?

Falcinelli–ready to step in for depth at Center or Guard positions? Will need him at some point this season.

Noah Green–making big improvements after health scares, can he work into the 2 deep and get meaningful snaps this year?

TE

Leggett–can he block just a little better? Scary at 259 pounds and little body fat.

Williams–how is he progressing as a pass catcher?

DE

Ferrell–pass rush moves and getting to the QB. Using length to set the edge. Lawson and Dodd were so good at this by season’s end last year, I fear we are a bit spoiled.

Bryant–staying healthy. Has had minor injury problems in short career. Can he continue his pass rushing at the end of last season. Both of these guys have to learn to play a ton of snaps this season.

Yeargin–weight is up. Can he mentally take the next step with assignments and polishing technique. Can he keep Christian Wilkins at DT?

Kelly–comes in at 259, how much of the playbook is grasped? How many snaps can he pull early in the season?

Register-can he be more than a warm body and contribute anything this year?

DT

Wilkins–how do you handle potentially playing some DE? How many packages can BV dial up for you, how much can you stay on the field? How has a year in the weight room helped overall strength (last summer/fall had wrist injury)?

Watkins–pad level, pad level, pad level. If he can get this down, he can go early rounds NFL.

Pagano–how do you handle Dexter Lawrence nipping at your heels? Increased leadership? Quality player that doesn’t get the respect he deserves from fans.

Lawrence–how quickly do the double teams come in practice? Will “The Mountain” stick as a nickname?

Huggins–at 300 pounds, looks like a DT. How much has his pad level and leverage improved? How many snaps can he carve out?

LB

Boulware–slimmed down about five pounds. Leadership/experience of the team and defense. How is he sideline to sideline and covering backs, TEs? Improved in coverage?

Joseph–Goodson had a ridiculously productive season. Can Joseph step in and have the same kind of impact? Can he stay healthy this season, not the same player he was in summer and camp once he got injured last year.

O’Daniel–breakout? Can he gobble up snaps vacated by Travis Blanks? Can he finally stay on the field? Seems like it a 220. Everything I have heard says he will make the jump.

CB

Tank–must, must stay healthy. We forget that last year was his first year starting, needs to lead a young secondary.

Fields–can he put it all together mentally? Can he earn coaches trust and be consistent?

Carter–is he going to stay at Corner, Nickel or provide depth at Safety? More natural as a Safety but lacks ideal height and bulk at the position for BV scheme. Can any of the young guys, particularly Mullen, challenge for PT?

Safety

Van Smith–everyone is obviously very high on him entering camp. Should be more physical with added weight but look for gains that come from experience at the position. Still needs to work on not being baited and getting out of position at times.

Jadar Johnson–with added bulk (up to 217) can he cover sideline to sideline and develop more toughness in run support? Always opportunistic in passing game, will he need to be more conservative?

Simmons–strong candidate to avoid a redshirt based on summer workouts. You can see that with the chiseled 221 pounds. Mentally can he handle it because there is a clear opportunity. Same goes for Muse and Johnson.

Wiggins–a Nickel right now who doesn’t trust his knee yet. How soon before he works back into the rotation. Will O’Daniel keep all the Nickel backs off the field?

More in the comments as Camp nuggets start to flow in…

Monday marked the start of a new era in college football recruiting. College coaches can now publicly endorse (like, retweet) prospective recruits’ tweets, and they can do it as much as they please.

Prior to Monday, coaches could only privately (DM) communicate with prospects on social media and could not publicly mention recruits who had not signed with their school.

SB Nation has a more in-depth piece on the new rule and what it means for college football.

One of our followers on Twitter sent us this photo with an explanation of what is and isn’t allowed under these new rules.

@RedditCFB via @TheSunDevils pic.twitter.com/6NtdQshwMo

— Wakeland Sports Mgmt (@WHSSportsMgmt) August 1, 2016

ASU head coach Todd Graham (or whoever runs his Twitter account) responded to this new rule by retweeting 18 tweets from recruits who had either committed to Arizona State or the school has offered. The first player Graham retweeted was 4-star quarterback commit Ryan Kelley.

Graham also retweeted blue chip Arizona recruits Austin Jackson (OL) and K.J. Jarrell (S), both of whom are considering the Sun Devils. Graham retweeted two Archie Perry tweets as well.

Perry is the father of current ASU safety Armand Perry and also the father of former ASU commit Alex Perry. Ten of the 18 tweets Graham retweeted were from local players or their family members.

ASU Recruiting Coordinator Donnie Yantis one-upped Graham by posting 19 retweets, although many were the same tweets that Graham had retweeted.

It is interesting to compare the social media plan — or lack thereof — that the Sun Devils instituted with that of programs from across the country. TCU’s Gary Patterson retweeted over 100 tweets from players within a few hours. Tennessee had multiple members of its staff with over 100 retweets and Miami was also very active.

As of Monday night, no Sun Devil position coach retweeted a single recruit, including OC Chip Lindsey, who has been a very active recruiter for the Sun Devils. New additions to the staff such as T.J. Rushing, Jay Norvell and John Simon were also very quiet on social media Monday.

Like Graham, most college coaches from around the country just retweeted players committing to their school or being offered by their school. Though Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin took the time to take a jab at SEC rival Tennessee.

Tennessee loaded with top-level recruits — but they’re leaving the state https://t.co/gSTNhKtftJ

— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) August 1, 2016

Each year, Athlon Sports flexes some of its access to provide unique insights by way of getting the opinions of teams from opposing coaching staffs. The promise of anonymity is upheld in an effort to get full candor.

Hearing what other SEC coaches have to say about A&M confirms a lot of our assumptions and biases heading into 2016, but also yields some fresh perspectives. Here’s what the coaches had to say:

“I don’t know much about their quarterback situation, but obviously they’ve had turmoil there with all the transfers. Maybe going back to one guy and removing some of the ego from that situation will help from a chemistry standpoint.”

As an observer from afar, I believe much of the poor chemistry in the locker room was fixed the moment Kyler Murray left College Station. There are question marks and unknowns surrounding Trevor Knight, but here is what we do know:

• He’s been around major, successful college football for four years
• He is mature beyond his years and rooted in humility as evidenced by how he departed OU and supported the program as a backup on their run to the College Football Playoff.
• Unlikely to pass out in a bush (be good in the comments) on Northgate.
• One of a few people in history that have made a Nick Saban defense look horrible.

“Schematically, they’re real simple. They play fast to try to get you off-kilter, but they’re simple. They changed coordinators, but they hired the exact same offense in my opinion with Noel Mazzone. He’s not overly complicated either. I just don’t know if they’ll be better at QB.”

I choose to believe simple = good. This is the Leach/Sumlin/Kingsbury/Briles through-line. What will likely piss off the Aggie Internet here is the indication that we’ve rehired the Spav offense. UH OH. Thing is, the lion’s share of our issues on offense the last couple years have been tied to youth, inexperience, and a culture as petty and vapid as the set of Real Housewives of Dallas.

Mentioned again – what do we have in Trevor Knight?

“Maybe they’ll play two backs more with Mazzone; knowing him from when he was at UCLA, he had some split back-type stuff. But at the end of the day, they’ll probably do a lot of the same stuff, just with a different guy calling the plays and a new QB.”

This is from a totally different coach scouting A&M… Interesting trends.

“Offensive line-wise, we thought they were weak, but in that offense they don’t do a whole lot of complicated blocking schemes. They’re just not as talented as they were in Kevin Sumlin’s first couple years. They don’t have a Jake Matthews or Luke Joeckel or some of those linemen they had in the past. I don’t know if they missed in recruiting or what.”

I’ve been vocal in saying we were awful on the offensive line last year. Poorly coached, soft, technically a mess, lacking cohesion, and devoid of grit and toughness. Is there an easy fix to this? Sumlin’s job hinges greatly on this question.

Also: yeah, we missed on recruiting at that position for a couple years. When you miss in the trenches, you pay dearly.

“They’re really good on the defensive line obviously, and a guy to keep an eye on is the Daylon Mack kid. He’s a really special talent. Our offense was as worried about him being disruptive as they were about Myles Garrett.”

Analysis:

“Clearly John Chavis had a big impact in the way they played last year, but if they don’t figure out the quarterback situation, it’ll be tough to beat the better teams in the West.”

Well, Trev. They’re all yours. Here’s your opportunity to be great.

Gig ’em.

Samaje Perine came to Norman in 2014 after spurning offers from Nick Saban and the like. He was a four-star back out of Hendrickson HS in Pflugerville, Texas who was considered the second-best back in OU’s class behind the ballyhooed Joe Mixon. After Mixon’s suspension and Keith Ford’s injury issues, Perine was thrust into the spotlight and did not disappoint.

Perine didn’t take his foot off the gas for the rest of his freshman season, as he raced to 1713 yards and 21 touchdowns. The season happened include a 427-yard outing against Kansas, the greatest rushing performance in FBS history.

Inexperienced offensive line play resulted in a slow start to the 2015 season for Perine, but he eventually regained his freshman form. After struggling with some ankle issues late in last season’s campaign, he should be ready for a huge season behind a more seasoned front five. He currently sits at 3,062 yards for his career, which is 10th all time at OU and just 1,056 away from Billy Sims’ school record. With a healthy season, Samaje is all but a lock to be OU’s rushing king.

2017 Recruiting Class | National Rank: 107 | Commits: 2

Offense: None

Defense: CB: (1/?), NB: (1/?)

CB: Noah Daniels
NB: Jalen Pitre

2017 Wishlist:

RB: Toneil Carter

APB: Anthony McFarland Jr.

WR: Omar Manning (75% TCU, 25% TAMU)

WR: James Robinson

WR: Damion Miller

WR: Jhamon Ausbon (69% TAMU, 25% Auburn, 6% BU)

WR:CeeDee Lamb

ATH: Jamyest Williams

ATH: Eyob Bekele

OL: Walker Little

Former Commits:

QB: Kellen Mond

OL: Jayden Peevy

TE: Kedrick James

WR: Hezekiah Jones

DT: Marvin Wilson (47% LSU, 29% UT, 6% BU)

DT: Deiontae Watts

DE: K’Lavon Chaisson (son of former Baylor LB Kelvin Chaisson) (50% BU, 33% LSU, 17% TAMU)

DE: Robert Beal

LB: Anthony Hines (50% OU, 29% UT, 14% BU)

CB: Deangelo Gibbs

CB: Chevin Calloway (100% BU)

S: Jeffrey Okudah (57% tOSU, 14% BU)

S: Grant Delpit (86% LSU, 14% BU)

Former Commits

S: Donovan Stiner

Players Removed (who didn’t commit to Baylor):

CB Adam Beck (Houston), OL Grayson Reed (TAMU), OL Tyrese Robinson (Oklahoma), WR Jaylon Jackson(Colorado), RB Eno Benjamin (Iowa), OL: Austin Deculus (LSU), WR: Hezekiah Jones (TAMU), QB: Kellen Mond (Auburn)

I know this list looks like it’s just a bunch of the top recruits who have shown interest in Baylor, and that’s exactly what it is. This list will change through the recruiting cycle. It’s the list of recruits who could commit to Baylor and not make me surprised.

Updates:

CB Noah Daniels (7/20): Committed to Baylor today! After months of bad news, it looks like the sun shine is arriving! The 6’0 cornerback from League City, Texas is tall and fast. Just what Baylor needs going forward! The 3-star cornerback runs a 4.51 40-yard dash. That is *flame emoji*

After a lot of thought , I am proud to announce my Commitment …#SicEm !!! ✅ https://t.co/mkIhZwTlvh pic.twitter.com/uxv8ybGPJl

— Noah Daniels (@NoahDB21) July 20, 2016

WR Hezekiah Jones (7/29): Announced his commitment to Texas A&M today via Twitter. If you want to see the video, be my guest.

Changelog:

8/1: Created the August Recruiting Notes thread