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Well this is the first recruiting post of the new year. Nothing crazy has really happened in the last week, but we lost a QB in Alex Ogle, who announced his intentions to transfer to Western Arizona last week, and Kellen is currently playing in his second career start, and playing pretty well I might add. We'll leave the Kellen commentary for another post.
The loss of Ogle could be big. Why you say? Well that leaves us with 3 scholarship quarterbacks. Finley will be coming back from an injury and Rypien will be the starter, despite comments regarding a QB battle in the spring. Stuart is in a good place. He's not going to be the starter, but he could very well see time in every game. He isn't as much of a threat to throw, but he can certainly cause some damage with his feet. Finley can run better than Ryp, but I would give Ryp the edge passing. Finley can throw better than Stuart, but Stuart gets the edge for speed. Not to discount Micah Wilson, who is coming off a stellar senior season, but I have to think he takes a red shirt this year. I can very easily see the coaches nabbing a JC QB to cover one of the classes. The next few months will be interesting for sure.
We've covered QB, WR, RB and TE from a personnel standpoint on offense, which only leaves the offensive line. Currently, we have 17 OL on the roster:
Rees Odhiambo, RS Sr, 6'4 309lbs
Marcus Henry, RS Sr, 6'3 293lbs
Jehren Ertel, RS Sr, 6'6 276lbs
Mario Yakoo, RS Jr, 6'4 329lbs
Dan Urquart, RS Jr, 6'7 324lbs
Kellen Buhr, RS Jr, 6'1 282lbs
Steven Bagget, RS Jr, 6'3 282lbs
Travis Averill, RS Jr, 6'3 299lbs
Hunter Nettles, Jr, 6'3 318lbs
Andrew Tercek, RS Soph, 6'1 281lbs
Archie Lewis, RS Soph, 6'3 289lbs
Mason Hampton, RS Soph, 6'3 290lbs
Tennessee Su'esu'e, RS Frosh, 6'1 301lbs
Andres Preciado, RS Frosh, 6'6 277lbs
Eric Quevedo, Frosh, 6'4 297lbs
John Molchon, Frosh, 6'5 295lbs
Garrett Larson, Frosh, 6'4 282lbs
I want to preface this with the notion that the OL is not my strong suit. I can't look at a player and tell whether he is a guard or a tackle, and I can't always tell you if they play guard, tackle or center. Part of that is I'm terrible. The other part is BSU likes to shift players around. Having said all of that, let's begin.
This year, we lose All-Conference center Marcus Henry and All-Conference left tackle Rees Odhiambo. Jerhen Ertel graduates as well and played as a backup. We also lost Troy Bacon mid-season and Eli McCullough before it even began. Henry and Odhiambo will be big losses as they were the most experienced lineman on the line. The line was underwhelming this year. That opinion was voiced multiple times throughout the season. It was a surprise as we didn't lose anyone from last year's team, which was pretty dominant. So this years team should only have been better, right? They had their ups and downs for sure, but they have room for improvement. McNichols didn't have the greatest running lanes available to him and Rypien spent more time on the ground than we would have liked to have seen. Not all of those instances are on the OL as Ryp still had some freshman moments and held on to the ball too long.
Returning starters include Yakoo, Averill, Lewis and Baggett. Hampton, Buhr, Preciado, Tercek an Tennessee were all listed on the depth chart at some point as well. Depending in the shuffling, we have a starting line up of Lewis at LT, Averill at LG, Hampton at C, Baggett at RG and Yakoo at RT. Again, that could, and probably will, shuffle. Preciado (LT), Tercek (LG) possibly C, Buhr (RG) and no idea who the backup RT would be. Tennessee was last listed as 3-deep at RG, though I recall hearing him playing or being recruited at C at one point.
Larson, Quevedo and Molchon are all coming off their red shirt season and all of them could see the field. I've heard nothing but good things about all of them, especially Larson. Nearly all true freshman redshirt, but if there were ever a season to test those waters, I'd say it would be this one with Kole Bailey and Ezra Cleveland coming in. Both insanely athletic and both seemingly bred to play OL. Anyone with more experience with the offensive line care to chime in?
2016 Recruiting Class
No new highlights this week. Please continue to enjoy the videos below. EDIT: Damien reminded me of a pretty cool article regarding the top 10 players in Arkansas. While there isn't a ton of info, Crockett shows up at #5. Upon further inspection, another Boise State target, John Tate, shows up at #6.
Cedrick Wilson, WR, 6'3 190lbs
Joel Velaquez, K, 6'0 220lbs
Derriyon Shaw, DE, 6'3 220lbs
Ali'i Niumatalolo (2017 class), ILB, 6'1.5 230lbs
Nick Crabtree, TE, 6'6 247lbs
Damarea Crockett, RB, 5'11.5 211lbs
Tyson Maeva, ILB, 6'0 230lbs
Desmond Williams, S, 6'0 190lbs
Reid Harrison-Ducros, CB, 5'10 165lbs
Ezra Cleveland, OT, 6'6 270lbs
Julian Carter, WR, 6'2 175lbs
Robert Mahone, RB, 5'11 190lbs
Kole Bailey, OT, 6'4.5 285lbs
Robert Lewis, CB, 5'10 170lbs
Chase Hatada, DT, 6'2.5 255lbs
Micah Wilson, QB, 6'3 200lbs
Daniel Auelua, DT, 6'2 285lbs