I was thinking about the season that Henry T. had as a true freshman and how caught up we get in rankings and wondered what he would look if we had the way too early re-rank of the players in this past class.
Beyond those top three I think there is a reasonable argument for Evan Neal, OL at Alabama, George Pickens, WR Georgia, David Bell WR Purdue, Jayden Daniels QB Arizona State, Nolan Smith at Georgia, Omar Speights, LB Oregon State, Drake Jackson DL USC, Clemson DT Tyler Davis, Breece Hall Iowa State RB, Jaylen Wydermyer TE, Texas A&M, George Karlaftis, DL Purdue, Kyle Hamilton DB Notre Dame and Demani Richardson, DB Texas A&M, Bryan Hudson C Virginia Tech, CJ Johnson WR, East Carolina, should all be in the conversation for 5 star status based on what they did in their first season as actual college players and their potential going forward.
Henry To'oto'o as we all know in a re-ranking at this time would be top 15 if not top 10 or higher and Wanya Morris has to be considered for 5 star status as well.
The irony, out of the 20 players I listed all of whom had stellar freshman campaigns, only 5 were Rivals 5 stars. Now we are Tennessee fans and we've seen plenty of freshmen All-SEC guys who never even became regular starters much less stars but I'd be surprised if these guys don't continue to produce. And of course some of the highly rated 5 stars still have plenty of time and almost certainly some will emerge as high draft picks.
Based on how much we put into 5 stars v. 4 stars v. 3 stars I thought this was interesting to consider what these guys actually did on the field one year out.
- Derek Stingley Jr. absolutely proved he deserved to be the number one overall ranked recruit in the class once he got onto the field.
- Sam Howell North Carolina QB played like a 5 star can't miss college prospect even though I don't think he was ever in anybody's discussion as a 5 star
- Kayvon Thibodeaux Oregon DE in my opinion probably did enough to be ranked #3 without a whole lot of argument
Beyond those top three I think there is a reasonable argument for Evan Neal, OL at Alabama, George Pickens, WR Georgia, David Bell WR Purdue, Jayden Daniels QB Arizona State, Nolan Smith at Georgia, Omar Speights, LB Oregon State, Drake Jackson DL USC, Clemson DT Tyler Davis, Breece Hall Iowa State RB, Jaylen Wydermyer TE, Texas A&M, George Karlaftis, DL Purdue, Kyle Hamilton DB Notre Dame and Demani Richardson, DB Texas A&M, Bryan Hudson C Virginia Tech, CJ Johnson WR, East Carolina, should all be in the conversation for 5 star status based on what they did in their first season as actual college players and their potential going forward.
Henry To'oto'o as we all know in a re-ranking at this time would be top 15 if not top 10 or higher and Wanya Morris has to be considered for 5 star status as well.
The irony, out of the 20 players I listed all of whom had stellar freshman campaigns, only 5 were Rivals 5 stars. Now we are Tennessee fans and we've seen plenty of freshmen All-SEC guys who never even became regular starters much less stars but I'd be surprised if these guys don't continue to produce. And of course some of the highly rated 5 stars still have plenty of time and almost certainly some will emerge as high draft picks.
Based on how much we put into 5 stars v. 4 stars v. 3 stars I thought this was interesting to consider what these guys actually did on the field one year out.
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