The 2009 recruiting class is only two years removed from signing on the dotted line, but I would like to give it a midterm grade. Scout rated this class as *18. Two giant black marks occurred before anyone even hit the field when Mizzell and Downs failed to make the grade. Those two were arguably the cream of this class. I'm not sure if the rankings reflect this or not, but for the purposes of this post. I will ignore them.

I love baseball analogies, so I will rank the class thusly:

GRANDSLAM - XR27  turning a 3* WR into an NFL corner = clear all the bases

HRs - GR5 ; gamechanger with swagger - LONNIE; tailback unselfishly playing FB and doing all the little things right.

JENKINS - still a little small, but gets to the QB in a hurry

TRIPLES - THOMPSON- came through when we needed him;  D-HOP ;all those touchbacks and a game winner

McDANIEL; had to come in and play like a GAM when he wasn't yet and filled position of dire need

DOUBLES- SMITH, HAULSTEAD & McALLISTER; I think these three have all-conference potential

SINGLES - STORK, HICKS and ORLEUS;  add quality depth at positions of need

FCs - SECORD, BRIGHT, DEMPS; haven't found their niche and probably won't

STRIKEOUT- HARLEY; great measurables that didn't translate to the field; PRIOR; tough grade, but he's gone and not contributing

Yes it is too early to assign a final grade on these kids (besides SO's). But I think Jimbo and Co. have to evaluate in the here and now, so why shouldn't we? Overall, I think this is an amazing class given its size and youth. This class was during Bobby's tenure, but seems to have Jimbo's fingerprints all over it. Only real complaint I would have is signing Downs and Mizzell if you knew they wouldn't qualify (given limited numbers)