Analyst Roundtable: Reviewing and projecting the 2017 recruiting class

The Rivals analyst roundtable returns as our team of experts gives their takes on the 2017 class.

MORE: Best small 2017 class | Inside the 2017 Rivals.com state rankings

“History suggests it will be a quarterback, but I’m not sure here. Of course I’ll be wrong because this is impossible to predict, but I’ll take a long shot and put my metaphorical money on a running back. I think Florida State commit Cam Akers is the best player in this class. And while I was out-voted in our rankings meetings, I’ll back him as an eventual Heisman candidate.

“The catch is now that I’ve put in print, I’m nearly positive it won’t actually happen. Sorry, Cam.” - Southeast analyst Rob Cassidy

“I’m going with a signal caller, and I’ll take dual-threat quarterback Kellen Mond. I know I’m in the minority when it comes to thinking he’s a five-star, but there are parts of his game that remind me quite a bit of Deshaun Watson. If the Aggies can surround him with Clemson-like talent, I think he can make a strong push.” - National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell

“The quarterback play in the SEC is going to get exponentially better in the next few years. The young signal callers like Jacob Eason, Jalen Hurts and Jake Bentley have set the stage for an impressive group of 2017 recruits to make big impact. Jake Fromm at Georgia has a chance to be a star but has to deal with Eason ahead of him. Tua Tagovailoa has to wait at least two more years since Hurts just led the Crimson Tide to the National Championship as a freshman. In the balanced, spread offense that Texas A&M runs, Kellen Mond could be set up well to excel early and catch some teams off guard.” - Mid-Atlantic analyst, Adam Friedman

“It might be a little counter-intuitive to take a running back other than Najee Harris, since we have him ranked No. 1 overall, and I think he has a great chance of winning the Heisman but I'm going with Florida State commit Cam Akers. If there is a high school comparison to Dalvin Cook, it would definitely be Akers as he's an incredibly special running back who can put up huge numbers for the Seminoles. Cook never got the credit he probably deserved being so dominant at Florida State. Akers could have an even bigger career so I'm going with the five-star Seminole pledge.” - National recruiting analyst Adam Gorney

“Najee Harris. I know, it's not original, but I have called him the best running back I've covered in-person since Adrian Peterson. He's also going to Alabama and big running backs from Tuscaloosa have been a favorite with the Heisman committee lately.” - Midwest analyst Josh Helmholdt

“This isn’t a real exciting answer, but I think that it has to come down to Najee Harris or Cam Akers. Really, I think Akers is the more likely pick between the two, because you know what you’re getting with him. We saw Dalvin Cook give himself a shot to be in the conversation this season and there were discussions about Akers perhaps having even better potential than he when it comes to his role in Florida State’s offense. I think Najee is the more interesting recruit in terms of what he brings to the table as a player, but it’s straight-forward with Akers that he is almost certain to stack up yards and touchdowns in Florida State's offense.” – Texas analyst Nick Krueger

“My money would be on Cam Akers. Even though it would take an incredible career to do something not even Dalvin Cook could do while at Florida, I think Akers is walking into a situation where it's a possibility. Obviously the smart money when it comes to picking a future Heisman Trophy winner is on a quarterback, but that's how special of a prospect I think Akers is as a running back.” - Southeast analyst Woody Wommack

“Things would have shaken out differently if college football in the state of Texas was less of an unmitigated disaster. I won’t rehash the tragic events at Baylor and the resulting fallout because it diminishes the real story. That said, Texas A&M limped to the finish. Texas had a coaching change. TCU underperformed expectations, and Texas Tech’s season warmed its coach’s seat.

“I feel like every major school in a recruiting hotbed being down to down adjacent certainly impacted the recruiting cycle. The top 10 committed players in the current Texas state rankings are all pledged to out-of-state programs. That’s not a coincidence.” - Cassidy

“That’s a good question. To me it has been the continued NCAA investigation into Ole Miss. We are seeing Ole Miss recruiting take a big step backwards and I think it’s because of the investigation. Many thought it was over last spring but, after the debacle with Laremy Tunsil at the NFL Draft, it continued. I know it’s not exactly a 2016 college football moment, but in the recruiting world nothing kills recruiting like an NCAA investigation that lingers or a scandal. Baylor’s sexual assault scandal would be right up there for me as well.” - Farrell

“Rather than pointing to a specific game, injury, or commitment, take a look at the coaching moves in the state of Texas. The year for Longhorns started off on such a high note and ended with the unceremonious firing of Charlie Strong. Tom Herman made Texas sweat before accepting the job. Baylor landed their new head coach in Matt Rhule from Temple. Houston, instead of hiring somebody like Les Miles or Lane Kiffin, promoted Major Applewhite to head coach. These coaching moves had a big impact on the 2017 class and the ripple will be felt down the road as well.” - Friedman

“This could be a controversial pick but the scandal at Baylor really had a huge impact on the Bears' 2017 recruiting class, which was decimated as former coach Art Briles was let go and that story played out through the season. To his credit, Matt Rhule of Temple took the job and has quickly reinvigorated the program landing a bunch of top prospects in recent weeks leading up to signing day. Rhule and his staff have landed 13 pledges since Dec. 2,8 including four-star defensive back Harrison Hand out of New Jersey. Baylor is still toward the bottom of the Big 12 team rankings but it could have been much worse.” - Gorney

“The winter all-star games are the best evaluation tool because they provide the combination no other evaluation opportunity prior can: real football against a field of top-flight FBS prospects. Tough call on which one was more impactful, but since it was the only one I covered and had a more talented roster, I'll say the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.” – Helmholdt

“From where I’m at, it’s the season that Matt Rhule had at Temple. When he was the man hired to take over at Baylor, some thought he was a curious choice, despite the success he had with the Owls. He’s been able to parlay that success into re-establishing confidence with in-state recruits that, in truth, weren’t being pursued by the staff that was in place this season anyway. Despite the controversy with the school and program, many recruits were still interested in picking up an offer from the Bears, and Rhule has done an admirable job salvaging this class by identifying a number of players that had been overlooked while also flipping others with the promise of a more significant opportunity at Baylor.” –Krueger

“There were a lot of big moments in the 2016 season that impacted recruiting, but I think the firing of Les Miles played a major role in how things will shake out down the stretch. Had Miles been fired and then his replacement just been a short-term guy and then LSU conducted an prolonged search, it would have likely killed their 2017 class. Instead, by keeping Ed Ogeron and most of the same staff the Tigers were able to maintain an excellent class and add some big pieces down the stretch as well.” - Wommack

“I guess the top of the running back class. This class seems to be loaded with players with NFL potential at the position. The three five-stars (Cam Akers, Najee Harris and Khalan Laborn) are among the top overall prospects in the class and each is capable of being a high first-round pick. The top four-stars, such as Stephen Carr, are also impressive high school prospects with bright futures.

“Other than that, it’s the fact that this class took the word 'savage' and helped make it cool before beating it into the ground in a way that makes me never want to hear it – or anything that’s sounds like it for that matter – ever again.

“Using the word 'savage' is the new dabbing. Thanks, class of 2017, for setting the term on fire on your way out the door. I’m sure brands and lame politicians will be using it in the year ahead.” - Cassidy

“The offensive tackle group is as strong as I’ve seen it in years and these kids are huge. Trey Smith is just inside the top 50 of the Rivals100 and he’s considered small compared to guys like Alex Leatherwood, Isaiah Wilson, Walker Little and Foster Sarell. I think we will see numerous first-rounders at that position from this class.” - Farrell

“The depth along the offensive line was outstanding this year. There are legitimately five or six offensive tackles that could easily project as first round draft picks. The versatility that some of these defensive ends bring to the table is very exciting and creative defensive minds could use these players to develop new types of defenses. Overall it felt like there were more season-ending injuries to highly ranked players this year.” - Friedman

“One thing that stands out about this recruiting class is how many high-end running backs there are led by Najee Harris and Cam Akers but followed up closely by Khalan Laborn, D'Andre Swift and Stephen Carr. It reminds me of the 2013 class with Dalvin Cook, Joe Mixon and Christian McCaffrey or in 2014 with Leonard Fournette, Nick Chubb and others. Maybe NFL teams are devaluing the position but there are so many talented running backs in this class, it cannot be overlooked.

“A second thing about this class is how there is not a clear No. 1. I've argued for Harris because I think he could be special but an argument could be seriously made for probably the top seven players. I think Stanford offensive line commit Walker Little is as good as anybody.” – Gorney

“There are a number of interesting things that stand out to me, although I’m not sure if any of it means anything in particular. I think it’s pretty extraordinary that Episcopal High School in Houston had two of the top seven players in the country in Marvin Wilson and Walker Little. I thought the recruiting saga with Iowa this season was peculiar - going from having two Rivals100 players in Eno Benjamin and Chevin Calloway as well as high three-star players like Gavin Holmes and Beau Corrales all decommit over issues taken with the methods of the staff. From a talent and potential perspective, collectively, I don’t think we’ll look back on 2017’s quarterbacks as being as elite as our rankings may suggest they are.” –Krueger

“The hype around this class started earlier than any previous class I can remember, and a lot of that hype was centered around Dylan Moses, who was prematurely billed as the best high school football prospect in years. At the end, he clearly was not even the best in this class, though I firmly agree with our final rating of him as a five-star prospect.” - Helmholdt

“I think it's a pretty good class but the longer I do this job the more fondly I look back at the class of 2014 in terms of tremendous overall talent. More than half of the five-stars in that class has declared early for the NFL Draft and I don't think I've seen that type of talent in the three classes that have followed it. Going forward it will be interesting to see how this class pans out but I think it has a long way to go to match 2014.” - Wommack