Hits & Misses
Hit: Julian Edelman (WR) — Originally unranked. Outcome: NFL Starter. Despite coming in without much fanfare or expectation, Edelman emerged as one of the stars of the class. His development into an NFL Starter far exceeded initial projections.
Hit: Brian Lainhart (S) — Originally unranked. Outcome: All Conference. Lainhart's rise to an All Conference player was a notable success, particularly considering he was not among the originally ranked recruits.
Miss: Quinton Rainey (RB) — Originally ranked 986. Outcome: College Starter. Rainey, one of the higher-ranked recruits in this class, didn't quite live up to the expectations, settling into a solid but unspectacular college career.
Miss: Darren Rogers (ATH) — Originally ranked 983. Outcome: Contributor. Rogers, another higher-ranked recruit, had a lesser impact than expected, contributing but not standing out in the team's performances.
Development Story
In terms of development, this Kent State class demonstrated an interesting pattern of unranked recruits outperforming their initial projections. The prime example of this was Julian Edelman, who emerged as a distinguished player in the class despite his unranked status upon entry. Another unranked recruit, Brian Lainhart, also exceeded expectations by becoming an All Conference player.
However, it wasn't all rosy. The two highest-ranked recruits, Quinton Rainey and Darren Rogers, didn't quite match up to the initial expectations. They had respectable college careers, but their performances didn't reach the heights one might expect from their initial rankings.
Outcome Summary
Overall, the 2006 Kent State recruiting class can be considered a success, outperforming the initial expectations. The S2S rerank moved up significantly from the original ranking, reflecting the fact that several recruits, especially the unranked ones, performed better than initially expected. Despite a lack of blue-chip recruits, the class managed to produce players who made significant contributions to the team.
The key takeaway is that this was a class that exceeded expectations, particularly with unranked recruits delivering strong performance.