Ranking Mack's classes

B

bazbo

500+ Posts
My take on Mack's 12 classes

1) 2002
2) 1999
3) 2009
4) 2007
5) 2003
6) 2000
7) 2001
8-10) 2004,2006,2008 fairly even
11) 2005
12) 1998

Thoughts?
 
I don't quite remember everyone from those classes enough to make any kind of comment, but if you could give a lil synopsis of the goods, decents and busts and their best accomplishment it'd be pretty cool.
 
A little more data on my choices:

I am confident on the top 3 and the bottom 2, but the other 7 classes bleed into one another in my eyes.
2002 is a no-brainer, one of the strongest classes of modern times. Even with the attrition in the first 2 years, it had star power at the top and was deep. Won NC.
1999 - when you sign the national player of the year on both O and D, it's one of your best classes. Could have played for a national title in 2001.
2009 - star power at the top, deep and balanced. I believe this is Mack's 3rd best class. Impressive that we lost no early commits, or any commits along the way.
Other years are mostly even, although Rivals has classes ranked anywhere from 5-20, but those rankings have as much to do with quantity (2006) than quality.
2004 - simply an off year for Mack, I'm sure do to several up years and lack of anticipated playing time by in-coming players.
1998 - Mack's first class put together in about 6 weeks, highlighted by the Texas City posse.
 
Though they weren't all superstars on the field, we owe alot to the Texas city kids. They got that first class started and helped make Mack a legitimate recruiting force in Texas. That '98 class was still a step up from where we had been.
 
1998 was a great class when you consider the circumstances. Aggy has never recruited like that when they brought in a new coach.
 
1. 2002
Featuring: Vince Young, Justin Blalock, Rod Wright, Aaron Ross, Lyle Sendlein, Kasey Studdard, David Thomas, Selvin Young, Brian Robison, Selvin Young

Busts: Marquis Johnson, Edorian McCullough, Bryan Pickryl, Marco Martin, Garnet Smith, Robert Timmons, Michael Williams

Contributors: Larry Dibbles, Aaron Harris.

Note: Chase Pittman transferred to LSU

Very solid class and some key guys on offense (QB, RB, TE, 3 OL). Many guys though did not pan out and if VY not in this class it drops to a couple spots

2. 1999
Featuring: Chris Simms, Cory Redding

Busts: Gonna need some help with the rest of this class regarding busts, and solid contributors

Class featured the top offensive player in the country and the top defensive player in the country. Really helped put UT back on the map.


3. 2001
Featuring: Cedric Benson, Cedric Griffin, Michael Huff, Derrick Johnson, Jonathan Scott

Busts: Kendall Briles, Rufus Harris

Contributors: Will Allen, Mike Garcia, Matt Nordgren, William Winston

My brian is a little fuzzy over who wre the highly touted guys in this class that didn't quite work out. A few real stars in this class but not much else behind them. Was a top 5 class at the time but didn't quite develop into that. One of big reasons that Texas struggled vs. OU for a few years.


4. 2003
Featuring: Tony Hills, Tarrell Brown, Tim Crowder, Dallas Griffin, Michael Griffin, Limas Sweed

Busts: Tyrell Gatewood, Erik Hardeman,

Contributors: Erick Jackson, Robert Killebrew, Billy Pittman, Scott Derry, Brandon Foster, Thomas Marshall

A few stars at the next level and a handful of solid contributors.....some who were starters but not real stars


5. 2005
Featuring: Jamaal Charles, Henry Melton, Roy Miller, Jermichael Finley, Quan Cosby, Roddrick Muckelroy, Colt McCoy

Busts: Chris Brown, Michael Houston, Jerrell Wilkerson

Contributors: Aaron Lewis, Chris Hall, Charlie Tanner, Trevor Gerland

Very small class but some real special players. Also a few guys who reall played well during their team but likely won't make it to the NFL. This class is almost as even with the 03 class and only time will tell if the guys at the top do well in the NFL.


6. 2004
Featuring: Frank Okam, Cedric Dockery, Brian Orakpo, Jordan Shipley, Adam Ulatoski

Busts: Myron Hardy, Greg Dolan, Bobby Tatum, George Walker

Contributors: Andrew Kelson, Ramonce Taylor (nearly listed as a bust), Nathan Jones, Chris Ogbonnaya, Derek Lokey, Ryan Palmer, Peter Ullman, Rashad Bobino

A little less star power but deeper on the solid contributors front than the 03 class. Just had a bunch of guys that were not quite good enough for the NFL but very good college player.


7. 2000
Featuring:Nathan Vasher, Roy Williams

Contributors: Brock Edwards, Phillip Geiggar, Tony Jeffrey, B.J. Johnson, Stevie Lee, Chance Mock, Sloan Thomas

Great WR class at the time. Some solid contributors in Jeffrey, Mock, Geiggar.



Cannot rank the recent class just yet. 06, 07, 08, 09 are still in development.

06 Standouts and notes:
Eddie Jones, Sergio Kindle, Chykie Brown, Vondrell McGee, Deon Beasley, Lamarr Houston, Jared Norton. Lot of busts in this class (Webb, Burnette, Joseph, Payne, WEbber, Henry) and will likely go down as 6th or 7th best class in Mack's tenure. Very disappointing.

07 Standouts and notes:
Tray Allen, Curtis Brown, Michael Huey, Cody Johnson, Earl Thomas, Malcolm Williams, Brandon Collins, Kyle Hix, James Kirkendoll, Foswhitt Whitaker, Sam Acho. Still unknown in John Chiles, Aundre McGaskey, Keenan Robinson, Christian Scott, Ben Wells, Russelll Carter, Blaine Irby, Ahmard Howard, Michael Wilcoxon. The star potential hasn't fully realized itself. Some guys are still only soph's and haven't fully developed but could be stars or just solid contributors. Could be a top 3 class when all is said and done.
 
The Texas City kids coming here was like a statement. I think they were headed to A&M before Mack, weren't they?

The statement? There's a new sheriff in town.
 
There's a new sheriff in town, and Arsee is not even a deputy anymore. Well, maybe Deputy Dawg.
shocked.gif
 
It's weird that 2002 class had so many "busts" among national top-100 recruits, and still qualifies as Mack's best. Only time will tell if this group ('09) surpasses it.
 
I should have given my approach in the first post. I was ranking classes in February and at August matriculation.

After further analysis, I realized I made a mistake. It was the 2005 class that wasn't as strong as Mack's usual classes. I still differ on 2004 - the year we lost Peterson and Bomar to OU.
 
Well ranking classes at signing doesn't make any sense. Some of those guys wash right out, have injuries, never produce or develop,etc. Ranking them years down the line to see what UT got out of them and then what they did after college makes more sense to me.

2005 class was small but it was close to top 5.
 
I agree with hornpharmd. You never know how a group of recruits are going to do because of the injuries and other circumstances. The future is just uncertain. I remember after our NC year in 1963 that the experts said we had a great recruiting class in 1964. However, Coach Royal himself admitted he got complacent in his recruiting and this class went through three straight 6 - 4 seasons. Fortunately they got back on their recruting and became a powerhouse again but it does show that you never know. It is what happens on the field in the future that counts.
 
Maybe it makes more sense to grade groups of classes, as in two or more years in a row that produce results. After all, a team is made up of players from more than one class. The 2005 team had VY, but also JC, for example.
 
2006 is a big damn waste, IMO. Whoever was in charge of vetting that group took a big swing and miss.

Maybe it was just a weak year throughout the state, but there are truly only 4 guys from that class who have made more than an "above average" impact on the program. And one of them's a kicker.

2010 could go down as one of the top 4 by the time it's over. Maybe better.
 
especially coming off a national championship and pimping vince to recruits. we should have had a usc like class the next few years..
 
I don't agree with that. The 2006 class was mostly recruited in what February of 2005. So the results on the field of 2005 (MNC year) had little result on the shape and end standing of that class.

I agree that there were a bunch of misses. However there are also some really good kids in that group. The 05 MNC really showed itself when it brought all of the talent in the next month that signed for the eventual 07 class. That class could end up rivaling any of Mack's other classes. Sure it doesn't have a QB but if you take out the QB in all of the classes and compare them, this ones stands out to me. Jones was the biggest loss of that class based on the need. Other than that thought there is a ton of talent in that class.
 
IMO the Huff class is #1 over the Vince class and the Simms class. You could make an argument that the 01 class included 4 of the top 35 players in Texas History, and 2 of the top 10.
 
Good point. However Aaron Ross is either a wash with Huff or better. The 01 class still have Derrick Johnson so I'll give you that one.

However the 02 class had VY which enabled it to win 2 BCS bowl games including a national title. It also turned the tide against OU.
 
That's a rough analysis of the '06 class, considering it was Rivals #5 with two 5* and eleven 4* at time of signing, and an overall star rating of 3.60. It's a bottom 5 Mack class, but it's contributing to 10-11 win seasons.

And yes, the way we've started 2010 Mack has a chance to sign a class that compares to his top 5 classes.

If Muschamp sticks around long enough to inherit the program the cabinet will be full, and he'll have a tough act to follow to continue the recruiting machine.
 
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