HELLO AGAIN, EVERYONE! Yes, it is me, the long-lost former blogrunner of this, the greatest Baylor blog named OurDailyBears.com in the history of Baylor blogs named OurDailyBears.com.

For several weeks/months/whatever now, I’ve been trying to come up with a way to get myself back involved with the blog on a manageable basis, mostly without result. Then a lightbulb came on: monthly recruiting threads. So here I am, intending to resurrect one of the most popular recurring features in ODB history to take advantage of Coach Rhule’s recruiting successes and give myself a bit of an outlet to get back into the ODB game.

Let’s do this.

247Sports' Crystal Ball:

Baylor's 2018 Crystal Ball Prediction List -- Quick reminder: yes, we are actually talking about the 2018 recruiting class. Unbelievable, I know, but true.

Check back on these often; the predictions update every day.

2018 Recruiting Class -- National Rank: 12, Commits: 13

Word of caution on these rankings: it’s early, and the team rankings are mostly a function of the number of commits you have. Miami, for example, is #1 right now with 17 commits. They have a 92.22 average grade for those 17, which is good, but not great. We have a 85.39.

That’s not to throw cold water on the incredible job Rhule and company are doing; I just don’t want people to wonder why the national rank goes down in the future as more teams add commits.

Now let’s look at our current commits.

OFFENSE: QB (0/2), RB (1/2), WR (4/5), TE (0/1), OL (3/5)

RB: Stanley Hackett
RB/WR: Joshua Fleeks
WR: Tyquan Thornton
WR: Kalon Barnes
WR: Jackson Gleeson
OL: Casey Phillips
OL: Ylijaah Hall
OL: Jackson Kimble

I’m guessing a bit on how many we’ll take of each position above, and with certain of our guys still left on the board, numbers don’t matter. If they want to come, we’ll take them (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, TOMMY BUSH!).

Biggest offensive need remaining is QB, where we have two primary targets. They’re listed below.

DEFENSE: DT (1/2), DE (0/2), LB (0/2), NB (1/1), CB (1/3), S (2/2)

DT: Joshua Landry
NB/S: Christian Morgan
S: JT Woods
S: Delarrin Turner-Yell
CB: Mark Milton

Most sites have Milton, who plays on both sides of the ball in high school, listed as an athlete. Considering what he’s said on Twitter, I’ve gone ahead and listed him at corner. Woods and DTY are both probably safeties, whereas Morgan could slide around.

Again, forecasting our needs at this point is difficult, and there will always be guys that we’ll take without asking questions (sup, Anthony Cook?).

2018 Wish List:

This list will change considerably over time, so check back. Basically, it’s my best guess of what the class would look like under the best possible (and reasonable) circumstances. It won’t have all of our top offers-- just the guys that we appear to have a decent shot at getting. If someone is committed, it’s in parenthesis without a number. If it has a number, it’s a prediction from 247Sports’ Crystal Ball.

QB: Tanner Mordecai (100% Baylor) | Jalen Mayden (100% Miss State)
RB: Craig Williams (100% UofH) | Keaontay Ingram (100% Texas)
TE: Bralen Taylor (50% Baylor) | David Priebe (50% Baylor)
WR: Tommy Bush (80% Baylor) | Jalen Preston (100% A&M)
OL: Cameron Wire (100% LSU) | Victor Curne (100% TCU) | Rafiti Ghirmai (100% LSU)

DT: Keondre Coburn (88% Texas)
DE: CHECK BACK
LB: Joseph Ogunbanjo (100% Baylor) | Brian Johnson (100% Baylor)
CB: Anthony Cook (62% Ohio State)
S: DeMarvion Overshown (100% Texas)

Like I said, this list is a work-in-progress, particularly on defense. I need to do a lot more digging on the DL to figure out who we’re after and/or might actually get.

There are some big names on this list, including Overshown and Cook. Please note, trolling opponent fans, I am not predicting that we will get these guys. That’s why it’s called a “Wish List,” not a “Seymour’s Prediction List.”

Updates:

2018 Recruiting:

S DeMarvion Overshown: Released a Top 15 while I was writing this post. Baylor made it.

I’m not going to go back and add all the updates that should have been in here from this month if the thread had existed, but I may add a few. I’ll also try to keep this thread updated going forward. As always, if you see something I don’t, throw it in the comments!

RECRUITING THOUGHTS: 2018

Baylor is off to a fairly incredible start to the 2018 class with 13 commits as of 5/18/2017. Last year is a bad example to use considering all of the upheaval, but in prior years, we had 8 (2015) and 10 (2014) commits around the same time with a staff that had been here for several years.

The biggest need we have right now is at QB. I feel confident saying we probably won’t get Mayden (all signs point to MSU), and that makes keeping Mordecai at home all the more important. Mordecai is no slouch, either; recently, he got an offer from OU to bolster his list.

MORE. TO. COME.

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Changelog:

5/18/2017: Created May Recruiting Thread.