Looking At Bearcat Football Recruiting Trends

Right now the Bearcats have the commitment of just one player, Malik Clements of Danville, Virginia who committed way back in February. It has been a near three month drought without a commitment from anyone. Contrary to the rhetoric it is common for the Bearcats to have just a handful of commits before the summer camp takes place in June. What follows are all the recruits who have committed on or before today's date (May, 6th) in previous classes going back to 2004 .

The 2010 and 2012 classes are clearly the exception to the norm, which is the Bearcats picking up a handful of commits in the early months of the cycle. Doing major work during the summer with their camp and holding steady through the season while keeping a couple of spots open for later in the process, banking on over recruiting and coaching changes to make available high quality guys late. Kevin Mouhon is a good example of what can happen by keeping slots open for later in the process. Another good one is Chris Ferguson the Bahamian import by way of Orlando who has been playing football for less than a year. Thats a commitment that came out of nowhere and gave more fuel to the fire for those who think Tubs is mailing it in. But at the end of the process the Georgia Bulldogs were sniffing around Ferguson.

It is perfectly reasonable to have some questions about the way that Tommy Tuberville is going about recruiting, because he is doing things differently than any of the previous administrations have. They aren't beholden to the local schools the way that Brian Kelly and, to a lesser extent, Butch Jones were. There is a ton of experience and deep recruiting connections on this staff, but its in the south. They have a lot of confidence that if they can't get that high level local kid they can go and find an equivalent talent somewhere else. They won't settle for a marginal talent just because he is from Cincinnati. That's not a bad attitude to have when everyone but Colerain is shutting the Bearcats out of the program.

This is Tuberville's second full recruiting cycle as the head coach of the Bearcats. Previously that has been when recruiting has taken off for the Bearcats. It could very well happen that way again, but its still really early. Signing day is still nearly 9 months out.