I will admit, on paper, AU's class wasn't the "disaster" I believed it would turn out to be, and it seems you guys closed out sort of strong. I'm a little skeptical about how some of those guys will pan out at the next level, but we will find that out soon enough. It will be interesting next season to see if Chizik will continue to hit the Midwest area, or if he will choose to go head to head with Alabama alot. I'm interested to see how Chizik fares with the in-state blue chippers. The in-state talent pool will be even more shallow for the 2010 class than the 09 class, so this will be important. There are a few guys in AU's class I wouldn't have minded having:
Lutz - Fucking beast.
Coleman - We didn't offer, but wouldn't have been a bad addition imo.
Petey - Showed in the Under Armor game that he's a head hunter. After watching him, I was a little jealous that you guys were getting some skill there. I'm glad we ended up getting him.
Atchison - Has a ton of upside and was another I was glad we could pluck from you guys.
A trend that I have noticed under Chizik is you guys seem to be recruiting a different type of player on offense than what we recruit. I've noticed that most of AU's most recent signees are guys that played multiple positions and could project at multiple positions in college, mostly at the WR/RB position. WR and RB is a huge need at AU imo, so it shouldn't have been difficult to bring guys in at that position, and it wasn't. Those players may be perfect for the system Malzahn wants to run, but the question is, will the system work against SEC defenses? I was correct, however, on two of my predictions:
1. AU wouldn't see too many of the guys that decommitted coming back. For that matter, Heavens signed with somebody else on NSD. However, you guys did get Coleman back, but I think that was more so because of his uncle.
2. Alabama fans would have much more to brag about on NSD than AU fans. Whether you want to say our class was #1, #2, or #5, it really doesn't matter. We brought in a shitload of talent where we needed it, and thats what counts. I think the only one I was truly disappointed about was Massie, who many had a good feeling about. I think alot of that was supported by things he said, but in the last few days before NSD there was alot of smoke from Ole Miss. They have more of a need at OL and less talent, it was an easy decision. Good pickup for Nutt.