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Dumb question. Even with their defections they had a top 15 recruiting class. Unless they go bowlless this year, then they will have hope in their eyes.
Yes, but 1) several of their 4 stars didn't get in, and 2) it was a scattershot class rather than one that targeted their roster weaknesses. They've now completely whiffed at DT 3 years in a row. They picked up a couple of projects last year and then they have maybe 2-3 on the roster from 2011 and 2012. So this year they're going to start out thin and all season long will be a single injury away from big trouble. I don't know what the hell they're going to do next year if they don't land any quality JUCOs. Think our 2008 rush defense where DBs were leading the team in tackles because our DL was manhandled and then our LBs were getting pasted by 300 lbs blockers.
QB might be worse. Last year, they had very little talent on campus to work with, though Swoopes showed a few -- and I mean a very few -- flashes of competence. Then Gentry, a solid prospect out of New Mexico, committed to them and things were looking up. However, rather than trying to build on Swoopes' few positives, grooming Gentry, and moving forward, Strong threw the kitchen sink at a high schooler committed to another school (which pissed off Gentry and ensured that he went to Michigan) and publicly promised Kyler the starting job. Now Gentry's gone, Swoopes has been humiliated by and received a vote of no confidence from his coach in front of the entire sports media (made worse by the fact that Strong couldn't even remember Swoopes' f***ing name after a year of coaching him), and then Strong had to grab some kid that was moved from QB to WR as a high school senior.
Games are won in the trenches and with a good QB. Their OL recruiting has been decent but nothing special, their DT recruiting has been awful, and their QB recruiting was going well until Strong shot himself in the deek at the 11th hour, which now downgrades that to awful too.
Now Strong's next chance to correct those issues is 2016. Obviously you don't expect much from true fish regardless, and age and experience are huge advantages with the LOS positions and QB, so you're realistically looking at 2017 or even 2018 before those positions will have a chance at looking better. And that's only if he cleans up at DT and QB this year.