Looking back on the 2013 recruiting class

With the youth movement still on BC fans' minds, I thought it might be a good time to look back at the 2013 recruiting class. Due to Spaz's lame duck status, lackadaisical approach to recruiting, and his disregard for roster management, the class missed on some huge legacy and sibling opportunities (Bosa, Hayden Rettig, etc.). Throw in his firing and the transition to Addazio and you would think the class would be a total lost cause. It didn't turn out that way.

Considering how transition recruiting classes between two coaches invite problems, BC has done remarkably well during our three most recent transitions. While the coaching turnover always leads to recruit turnover, each coach was able to land a few key players in that transition class. Addazio's 2013 was a perfect example. Here are the 2013 commitments:

• Drew Barksdale
• Charles Callinan
• Jack Cottrell
• Truman Gutapfel
• John Johnson
• Kevin Kavalec
• Marquis Little
• Mackay Lowrie
• Matt Milano
• Tevin Montgomery
• Atem Ntantang
• Joel Rich
• Tyler Rouse
• James Walsh
• Myles Willis

The first thing that stands out is how small the class is. Just 13 commitments. That was a Spaz issue. Addazio added two flyers in Rouse and Walsh and then used the remaining open scholarships on transfers.

There has been plenty of attrition with Little, Lowrie, Montgomery, and Walsh all gone. Injuries and depth chart challenges have kept guys like Barksdale, Cottrell, Ntantang and Rich from being significant contributors. But the rest are some of our most important players.

Willis and Rouse have played from Day 1 and been leading rushers at various times. Callinan is not getting targeted, but has been an active player for two years now. Milano is probably our most improved player this season. Kavalec missed some time this year, but has shown flashes of greatness mixed with some nice consistency. Johnson is a key starter now. Gutapfel is also a regular contributor.

I don't think Addazio inherited a stacked roster by any means, but this one class has exceeded the low, low expectations that surrounded them two and a half years ago.

Lesson from the 2010 New Jersey recruits

NJ.com posted a look back on the state's top recruits from the Class of 2010. The focus of the article was Rutgers, but there is some BC stuff to learn too.

Three of the Top 20 guys enrolled at BC (Shakim Phillips, Steele DiVitto and Jarrett Darmstatter). They were part of Spaz's first full recruiting class. At the time it was encouraging to get three guys out of New Jersey but there was also a "what if" to the Garden State recruiting since we also missed on a few guys at friendly programs (Don Bosco). But with hindsight, it shows this whole group of New Jersey guys was relatively disappointing. Phillips multiple moves kept him from ever reaching the potential of his recruiting ratings. Darmstatter never became a big factor. Of BC's commitments, DiVitto clearly had the best career.

But looking back, not many of the guys in the New Jersey Top 20 exceeded or even met the expectations that came with their rankings. New Jersey is such a critical state for so many programs, so a weak recruiting year can impact teams all over the Northeast.

Overall this is a reminder that recruiting is not always as simple as "get all the best guys" in one area. Successful programs are the ones who are better at identifying talent than the recruiting services. They are also the ones that bring in good class after good class and have multiple regions where they find talent. That way one group that disappoints does not hamper the program long term.

What is Spaz leaving in the cupboard?

We won't know Spaz's fate until the new AD is in place, but I think most can agree Spaz will not be coaching BC five years from now. That prediction is not based on wins and losses. It is simply about age. Spaz must know this too. That's why I am glad he is still keeping some of our current true freshman on the sidelines, preserving their fifth year of eligibility. Obviously under pressure, Spaz could play everyone with the hope that one of the guys might make a difference. But he doesn't seem to be in a full "win now" mode yet.

Last year's recruiting class consisted of 17 players. Eight have yet to play and look like they are headed towards redshirts. Those eight are Jim Cashman,  George Craan, Win Homer, Malachi Moore, Mike Strizak, Frank Taylor, Nigel Matthews, and Joel Karim Zoungrana. Now preserving their eligibility is not Spaz simply looking out for their best interests or wanting to help his successor. Spaz may have good intentions, but most of the redshirts are lineman who are physically not developed enough to play the positions for which they were recruited. Others like Craan have been battling injury and some like Matthews and Strizak would break the depth chart at their positions.

Eight players might not mean much and it is unlikely that all will hang around for five years. But at least it is one less excuse for the 2015 and 2016 seasons (of course Spaz used the excuse for himself when talking to Avidon). The key for BC's future success is to get back to redshirting the majority of the class. I know that concept is becoming dated as players arrive on campus more mature and developed, but that added time can still be advantageous to a program like BC. A fifth year, 23-year-old marginal recruit is always going to be more valuable than he was as a true freshman. We just need a head coach who sees himself at BC long enough to invest in their and BC's future.

Where is the one that got away?

While we've struggled recruiting Massachusetts players this year, we've cleaned up in Connecticut and in Ohio. Those local kids (or other lay-up recruits) we miss generate plenty of frustration but they happen every year. What's fortunate about our misses though, is that very few have come back to haunt us. When was the last time a great recruit spurned BC and became a star? I can think of a few over the years, but most of the recruits that "got away" had middling careers elsewhere.

Some recent examples of guys who spurned us include Graham Stewart, Arthur Lynch and Joe Boisture. All three committed to BC at one point only to rethink their decisions and go to bigger programs. Stewart washed out at Florida and is now sitting out a transfer year at UConn. Boisture is out of football altogether. Lynch has been a backup at Georgia. He has a chance for a bigger role this season, but so far has not lived up to the hype that surrounded his recruitment. Even with our terrible offense, Chris Pantale has had a much more productive Tight End career.

The closest thing I can think of to a recent recruit who had success elsewhere is Virginia OT Oday Aboushi. But should he even count? He didn't spurn BC. Our admissions office turned him down after he verbaled to BC. Prior to that, you would have to go back to Dorian Bryant. But like Aboushi, his case was less about being seduced by a bigger, flashier program and more about not meeting BC's minimum standards for admissions at one point in time.

Where these guys all over-hyped by the recruiting services? Where they wrong fits at their post-BC choices?  I don't know. I do think a program like BC is probably more patient with players than some of the bigger programs. We won't rush a guy out of the program to free up a scholarship. We prefer to redshirt. And I think the nature of a program -- with good academic support and less of a big school mentality -- keeps kids from falling through the cracks. Every recruit thinks they are going to be a star, so selling them on development and a safety net doesn't sway many, but it should. If anything BC should use a guy like Marcus Grant -- a local kid who left a Big Ten program to come "home" as an example to Massachusetts recruits. Massachusetts kids keep leaving to play at the "highest level." Our counter should be that we will develop them for life and the NFL (the real highest level) and not chew them up and spit them out like a football factory.

I am sure that there will be a guy in the near future who decommits from BC and becomes a star. Or a guy we should have had who leads another team to glory. Right now I am just glad that we have very few regrets  when it comes to old recruits. Our recruiting still has major challenges, but that's one area where things have broken our way.

[Note to commentors: let me know if you think I missed any recruits who "got away."]