With the early signing period come and gone, and with over three weeks left in the recruiting dead period, ASU’s 2016 class while not complete is rapidly taking shape as its remaining slots are becoming scarce. Let’s go ahead and examine the needs and viable prospects at the various positions as the Sun Devils will soon enter the home stretch of the 2016 recruiting process.
Before we delve into this topic, here again are some links for quick reference regarding the 2016 class:
Commit list
Visit list
Rivals.com Recruiting Glossary Thread which also includes the recruiting calendar and the National Letter of Intent signing dates.
Probably the biggest element that needs explaining/clarifying is, how large will this 2016 recruiting class be?
As we mentioned in our snapshot earlier this month, we expect ASU to sign somewhere in the vicinity of 22-23 players in its 2016 recruiting class.
Could the group be as large as 24? Legally (from an NCAA standpoint of course) it can.
Will it be? Remains to be seen and if it did it probably won’t be at that number on National Letter of Intent (NLI) day, February 3rd 2016.
Here’s why.
The approach is no different than last year’s class. ASU won’t fill this 2016 recruiting class with “warm bodies” just to get to 24 signees on NLI day. In order for that to happen it would have to literally hit on each and every high caliber target on its board and the law of averages, if you will, is making that unlikely to happen.
So the more realistic goal is to get to 22 signees or so on NLI day and in the process landing a good number of the prospects that are high on your board.
Then after NLI day pursue the player transfer market and see if you can’t land this year’s version of Devin Lucien, and at the same time seek out the remaining 2016 prospects that haven’t committed and maybe you can land yourself this year’s version of Tim White.
Therefore, the list of viable prospects in this snapshot will be smaller than expected. Could we see more names be added in January? Absolutely. But for now, I’m only going to list the prospects I feel that have some kind of measure of viability, and again that list won’t include as many names as previous snapshots.
So let's go position by position and see who is committed, and what viable prospects are currently on the board for ASU. Starting with the offense:
Quarterback
2016 Class Commits:
Dillon Sterling-Cole
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Now that Sterling-Cole is committed and isn’t wavering from his commitment following the departure of Mike Norvell, ASU won't recruit any other signal callers in this class.
Running Back
2016 Class Commits:
Tre Turner
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Two at the most. With underclassmen comprising the core of this position, ASU is in good shape even if they just inked Turner. If a highly rated running back expressed strong interest, ASU likely wouldn't turn him down.
Viable Prospects: There is a possibility of flipping one running back that currently is committed elsewhere. Will reveal that name when it’s appropriate at a later date.
As a reminder, Morie Evans who signed a Letter of Intent with ASU last February as part of the 2015 class is attending Navarro College in Texas and thus isn’t considered a greyshirt. He is a possibility to join ASU down the road once he earns his AA degree.
Wide Receiver
2016 Class Commits:
N’Keal Harry
Jeremy Smith
Kyle Williams
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Four or five. As we all know this is currently a position in need of depth, which is good news for newcomers and prospects alike.
Viable Prospects:
Devaughn Cooper – we haven’t heard much on this Arizona commit since he was offered the other month. Time will tell if something does materialize in January on this front.
Offensive Line
2016 Class Commits:
Marshal Nathe (mid-year transfer)
Tyson Rising (mid-year transfer)
A.J. McCollum (mid-year transfer)
Cohl Cabral
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Up to five players. Good chance we will see three junior college prospects in this group of 2016 signees.
Viable Prospects:
Garett Bolles – By far the no. 1 priority at this position and by all accounts Bolles has been very receptive to ASU’s recruiting efforts. ASU is seemingly getting a January official visit from the offensive tackle prospect and that very well could be Bolles’ last official visit to any school before signing day. The Sun Devils and the rest of his suitors are more than willing to wait for this May graduate to render his decision.
Breontae Matthews – The Fullerton Community College lineman is certainly a backup plan here for ASU. He has expressed his strong interest in signing here, but obviously only in the event that ASU feels it may strike out with Bolles would they pursue Matthews more vigorously than they are right now.
Tight End
2016 Class Commits:
Jared Bubak (mid-year transfer)
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Two at most.
Viable Prospects: None at this point. It is possible though that a new name we haven’t seen before as a prospect could surface.
Next post will analyze the recruiting picture on defense and special teams.
Before we delve into this topic, here again are some links for quick reference regarding the 2016 class:
Commit list
Visit list
Rivals.com Recruiting Glossary Thread which also includes the recruiting calendar and the National Letter of Intent signing dates.
Probably the biggest element that needs explaining/clarifying is, how large will this 2016 recruiting class be?
As we mentioned in our snapshot earlier this month, we expect ASU to sign somewhere in the vicinity of 22-23 players in its 2016 recruiting class.
Could the group be as large as 24? Legally (from an NCAA standpoint of course) it can.
Will it be? Remains to be seen and if it did it probably won’t be at that number on National Letter of Intent (NLI) day, February 3rd 2016.
Here’s why.
The approach is no different than last year’s class. ASU won’t fill this 2016 recruiting class with “warm bodies” just to get to 24 signees on NLI day. In order for that to happen it would have to literally hit on each and every high caliber target on its board and the law of averages, if you will, is making that unlikely to happen.
So the more realistic goal is to get to 22 signees or so on NLI day and in the process landing a good number of the prospects that are high on your board.
Then after NLI day pursue the player transfer market and see if you can’t land this year’s version of Devin Lucien, and at the same time seek out the remaining 2016 prospects that haven’t committed and maybe you can land yourself this year’s version of Tim White.
Therefore, the list of viable prospects in this snapshot will be smaller than expected. Could we see more names be added in January? Absolutely. But for now, I’m only going to list the prospects I feel that have some kind of measure of viability, and again that list won’t include as many names as previous snapshots.
So let's go position by position and see who is committed, and what viable prospects are currently on the board for ASU. Starting with the offense:
Quarterback
2016 Class Commits:
Dillon Sterling-Cole
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Now that Sterling-Cole is committed and isn’t wavering from his commitment following the departure of Mike Norvell, ASU won't recruit any other signal callers in this class.
Running Back
2016 Class Commits:
Tre Turner
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Two at the most. With underclassmen comprising the core of this position, ASU is in good shape even if they just inked Turner. If a highly rated running back expressed strong interest, ASU likely wouldn't turn him down.
Viable Prospects: There is a possibility of flipping one running back that currently is committed elsewhere. Will reveal that name when it’s appropriate at a later date.
As a reminder, Morie Evans who signed a Letter of Intent with ASU last February as part of the 2015 class is attending Navarro College in Texas and thus isn’t considered a greyshirt. He is a possibility to join ASU down the road once he earns his AA degree.
Wide Receiver
2016 Class Commits:
N’Keal Harry
Jeremy Smith
Kyle Williams
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Four or five. As we all know this is currently a position in need of depth, which is good news for newcomers and prospects alike.
Viable Prospects:
Devaughn Cooper – we haven’t heard much on this Arizona commit since he was offered the other month. Time will tell if something does materialize in January on this front.
Offensive Line
2016 Class Commits:
Marshal Nathe (mid-year transfer)
Tyson Rising (mid-year transfer)
A.J. McCollum (mid-year transfer)
Cohl Cabral
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Up to five players. Good chance we will see three junior college prospects in this group of 2016 signees.
Viable Prospects:
Garett Bolles – By far the no. 1 priority at this position and by all accounts Bolles has been very receptive to ASU’s recruiting efforts. ASU is seemingly getting a January official visit from the offensive tackle prospect and that very well could be Bolles’ last official visit to any school before signing day. The Sun Devils and the rest of his suitors are more than willing to wait for this May graduate to render his decision.
Breontae Matthews – The Fullerton Community College lineman is certainly a backup plan here for ASU. He has expressed his strong interest in signing here, but obviously only in the event that ASU feels it may strike out with Bolles would they pursue Matthews more vigorously than they are right now.
Tight End
2016 Class Commits:
Jared Bubak (mid-year transfer)
Projected number of players signed in the 2016 class: Two at most.
Viable Prospects: None at this point. It is possible though that a new name we haven’t seen before as a prospect could surface.
Next post will analyze the recruiting picture on defense and special teams.
