Kent State 2004 — Recruiting Outcomes

Hits & Misses

Hit: Cedrick Maxwell (LB) — Originally unranked. Outcome: College Starter. Maxwell's development into a reliable starter for Kent State was a positive outcome for an unranked recruit. Hit: Fritz Jacques (CB) — Originally unranked. Outcome: College Starter. Despite lacking an original ranking, Jacques made a significant contribution to the team as a regular starter. Miss: Joey Barcus (WR) — Originally ranked 1132. Outcome: Contributor. Although Barcus contributed to the team, his performance didn't fully live up to his relatively high initial ranking. Miss: Phil McNeal (DL) — Originally ranked 1246. Outcome: Bust. McNeal failed to make a significant impact at the college level, a disappointing outcome considering his initial ranking.

Development Story

The 2004 recruiting class for Kent State was primarily composed of unranked players, with the team focusing on developing raw talent rather than banking on highly ranked recruits. The fact that several of these unranked recruits, like Maxwell and Jacques, became solid starters is a testament to the player development capabilities of the program. However, although the team managed to cultivate some unheralded talent, the performance of their higher-ranked recruits did not meet the expectations, as evidenced by the performances of Barcus and McNeal.

Outcome Summary

Given the original ranking of 101, it's fair to say that this class has slightly underperformed expectations, as indicated by the S2S rerank of 102. The higher-ranked recruits didn't manage to make a significant impact, which likely contributed to the slight drop in the rerank. The main takeaway from this class is the successful development of unranked recruits into college starters, which helped to partially offset the lack of impact from the ranked recruits.