While most college football teams are looking at the “right now,” I’m going to go a different route and look at the future when it comes to Cincinnati’s roster, focusing on recent recruiting. As I wrote in an earlier article, the Bearcats didn’t make it into the top 50 for the class of 2015, according to ESPN. However, there’s still plenty to discuss inside of that No. 65-ranked group.
What appears to be the focus of recruiting? Given the struggles the team had last year defensively, you would think coach Tommy Tuberville and his staff would make a point to improve that side of the ball in their recruiting. However, that was not the case, as can be seen on ESPN’s recruiting page. In fact, the top four recruits for the ‘Cats were for the offensive side of the ball.
With many players on the offensive side of the ball heading into their senior year, or simply their last year with the team, it becomes clear that Tuberville found the guys he wanted to take over for players like Gunner Kiel, Chris Moore, Shaq Washington, etc.
The issue becomes whether or not this is the best route to improve the team for this season, coming off of a shared conference championship, and one that many would say UC didn’t deserve because it lost to one of the other co-champions and didn’t beat the other.
If it is looking to call the championship its own in 2015, then I can’t say it went the right route in recruiting. To me, the focus is to fill the current holes rather than filling future ones with the top guys that come in. However, I’m not the head coach and I certainly try not to question a guy that’s been coaching in college football as long as Tuberville has.
Now we’ll do a short breakdown of each of these top offensive recruits:
Ross Trail (QB-PP): 80 grade, 4 star; it looks to me like Tuberville found himself another Gunner Kiel. Trail isn’t coming in with the same credentials that Kiel did when he was recruited to go to Notre Dame, but he is most comfortable throwing from the pocket and will be most noted for his accuracy. Decision-making is yet to be seen, but that will have to be stellar in order for Trail to take UC to the next level.
Taylor Boose (RB): 78 grade, 3 star; Boose and Mike Boone are going to be the makeup of the most difficult backfield in college football to figure out. Not in terms of what they’re going to do, but just by name. Boose and Boone both measure out at about 205 pounds, but that’s after Boone put on roughly 20 pounds after being recruited last season. Boose could likely do the same and be used as the essential “bruiser” of the running back tandem. Boose could also redshirt this season, and allow a larger class gap between him and Boone, giving Tuberville the ability to know what he has for two years after Boone graduates.
Franklin Labady (ATH): 78 grade, 3 star; Labady was originally part of Cincinnati’s 2014 class, but fell to 2015 for one reason or another. Tuberville must be happy that he can just bring this guy in after losing him for a year. Labady is known for his speed and will likely be used as either an additional running back or he’ll be moved outside and play wide receiver, but due to his small stature, it’ll be hard to get him the ball if he doesn’t have an open field around him. But once the ball is in his hands, defenses need to be concerned. He can also bring a lot to the return game, much like Ralph David Abernathy IV did in the past.
Kahlil Lewis (WR): 78 grade, 3 star; don’t expect Lewis to be that flashy guy. He doesn’t have breakaway speed, but he can find the ball. He’s not tall, but has good length for his height (6-0). He may not see the ball much in 2015, given the fact that the top four returning wide receivers are all seniors and will likely handle the bulk of the duties. Whether Lewis redshirts or not in 2015, I would certainly expect a huge upgrade in duties in 2016, where he may jump to the top of the depth chart. Trail and Lewis will want to work this season at getting on the same page so when the team is transferred to them, they’ll be ready.
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