Dan Brooks, Best Hire of the Year

I like Harbison and Steele but I got to say the best hire of the year so far for me has been Dan Brooks. He is a monster on the recruiting trail and I think he is someone you can trust to evaluate and develop talent along the defensive line. At the beginning to the year we were talking about how thin we were on the inside but by the end of the year we were getting help from Chavis, Moore, Cumbie, to complement the play of Jenkins and Thompson.

So we just landed Tra Thomas who is a three star DLineman but another solid pick-up. With the addition of Watson and hopefully Gibson, this class is shaping up nicely and I think that we are going to land Ethan Farmer, just cause Brooks is that good. The class of 2011 already seems solid, so recruiting is going well. The only missing piece, especially with Jake Nicolopulous tragic circumstances (we are all hoping for the best), is help at Linebacker. Landing Parker makes us that much better next year. Maye is average, Conner gone, Willard may help next year along with Hawkins, but Scotty Cooper has to be the biggest disappointment for me at linebacker. Those knee problems have hurt his career. I am sick of waiting till next year for a good Linebacker.

So we have to lock down Vic Beasley but it seems the rest of the class is pretty set. I see us pulling off a few more fireworks here at the end. I think our staff is hungry for some talent and putting in some extra effort to get it. Pearman is earning his stripes getting Watson and hopefully Gibson. Also I think that the loss of Wolford hurts SC more than anyone is saying. He was their best recruiter and was breathing some new enthusiasm and life into that program along with Ellis Johnson. Glad he left.

Geographically we are doing better this year in Georgia but arent pulling anything out of Florida like in years past--I think that is because Swinney is unable to work his magic, but I am looking forward to him closing strong. I think our in home visits are going to get us four more solid recruits. Look for Farmer, Max Garcia, White, Parker and possibly Woestmann down the homestretch. Not a spectacular year but a solid one if these coaches can be trusted with their talent evals over some of the star ratings.