Much has been made of the 11 or 12 guys who graduated last week and are transferring out as graduates. But here is a photo of seven guys, all of whom got degrees last Friday, and five of whom will be back on the gridiron this fall...
From left: Maxwell Worship, Gavin Schoenwald, Malik Langham, Amir Abdur-Rahman, Brendon Harris, Elijah McAllister, Ben Bresnahan.
These guys represent a band of brothers that signed in 2018 under Derek Mason. After four years, it's probably fair game to evaluate that 22-man recruiting class. Of those 22, 14 were still around four years later. Five of them will return for another year in 2022: Worship, Schoenwald, McAllister, Bresnahan, and B.J. Anderson. (Langham played his freshman year at Florida before transferring in; he'll be back next year also.)
There were three 4-star recruits in the 2018 class: Alston Orji, Brendon Harris, and Cam Johnson. I would say the five that had the best careers in the class were Johnson, Bresnahan, Tyler Steen, Harrison Smith, and Dashaun Jerkins.
Of those 22 there were probably only 12 who earned consistent playing time over the course of four years: Johnson, Bresnahan, Steen, Worship, Schoenwald, Abdur-Rahman, Harris, McAllister, Jerkins, Dan Dawkins, Harrison Smith, and Lorenza Surgers. Injuries plagued a couple of these guys, like Orji, Anderson, and Abdur-Rahman.
A couple of others, like C.J. Bolar and Ja'Veon Marlow, contributed a bit before transferring out.
Biggest surprise in the class: Harrison Smith, who had no rating on the services when he signed. He goes down as one of the better punters in school history.
Biggest disappointment in the class: Alston Orji, who never lived up to his high billing.
Best player in the class: arguably Cam Johnson, or maybe Jerkins. Or maybe Bresnahan. One thing is certain: Brentwood Academy was very, very good to Mason that year, providing him with Johnson, Smith, and Schoenwald.
Some other forgotten guys in Mason's class of 2018:
K Javan Rice: graduated in three years, never really played.
DB Tre Douglas: played one season, entered the portal DURING his sophomore season.
OL Carlton Lorenz: never played.
OL Wyatt Smock: never played, transferred to Louisville after one season.
LB Salua Masina: never played.
QB Allan Walters: never played.
My overall rating of this class: solid C. Provided Vandy with a dozen or so solid players, but no true SEC stars, and was ultimately deficient on linemen on both sides.
Remnant of a recruiting class, 2018
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Re: Remnant of a recruiting class, 2018
I should amend that to read, “played very sparingly”; he never got much chance to contribute, and transferred out.