[SamuelMcF]

If we’re looking beyond ‘22, then the 1-DL classes in 2018 and 2019 (which were very unfortunate) aren’t that relevant. Most football players don’t stick around beyond 4 years anyway. Per your post, the DLs since ‘20 include Phillips, Armitage, Franklin, Buckey, Rowell, and Caughey. I’d want more, but 6 is not an exceedingly low number for 3 years. The dire depth the team has now arises from 3 years (‘18-‘20) with 1 DL each, and one of those 3 is ineligible. So the question is whether the team wants to spend more valuable scholarships on DLs like Buckey, who had zero P5 offers besides Stanford. Those offers can work out well, but there is a cost to making them.

Shaw has never used all 85 available scholarships, so my answer will always be yes to ensuring the 2nd-3rd most important position on the entire field has adequate depth. That said, I think we can do better than a zero P5 offer DL in this class. (Any further elaborating at this point would be paywall territory.) If not, fire Reynolds and take another 2-3 P5-level recruits in 2023 - there should never be just 1 in a class again after what we've seen. Buckey's younger brother has a 4.0 and offers from Cal and Michigan.

[SamuelMcF]

If we’re looking beyond ‘22, then the 1-DL classes in 2018 and 2019 (which were very unfortunate) aren’t that relevant. Most football players don’t stick around beyond 4 years anyway. Per your post, the DLs since ‘20 include Phillips, Armitage, Franklin, Buckey, Rowell, and Caughey. I’d want more, but 6 is not an exceedingly low number for 3 years. The dire depth the team has now arises from 3 years (‘18-‘20) with 1 DL each, and one of those 3 is ineligible. So the question is whether the team wants to spend more valuable scholarships on DLs like Buckey, who had zero P5 offers besides Stanford. Those offers can work out well, but there is a cost to making them.

Shaw has never used all 85 available scholarships, so my answer will always be yes to ensuring the 2nd-3rd most important position on the entire field has adequate depth. That said, I think we can do better than a zero P5 offer DL in this class. (Any further elaborating at this point would be paywall territory.) If not, fire Reynolds and take another 2-3 P5-level recruits in 2023 - there should never be just 1 in a class again after what we've seen. Buckey's younger brother has a 4.0 and offers from Cal and Michigan.