Those of us who spend far too much time following recruiting felt like the 2019 class was a very good class. And people who get paid to rank recruiting felt it was a top twenty class (16th). I thought Furman was ranked low, my reason Wayne Anderson wasn't ranked in the top 300 by Hero Sports.
Jumper - came in early, gained weight and it seems has lived up to the hype (12 offers from FBS).
Toomey and Johanning - I had the pleasure to watch Jake play at SJCS. He was a man among boys. His position coach Eric Nash (former Wofford OL coach) and Jon Wheeler (former linebackers coach Wofford) told me he could play at Furman or Wofford right away. Toomey committed to Army, changed his mind and signed with Furman. The guy has a nasty streak and is strong. My guess these guys are the prototype of what Clay and Pete are looking for in offensive linemen. We knew Furman needed some of these young linemen to step up and build depth.
Josh Agbenou - someone told me before I saw him in uniform - you look at Josh and say - why is he here, Agbenou looks like an FBS linebacker, a trim 6-2 230, he's physically imposing. This didn't surprise me, but get ready, we have more linebacking studs coming in next year.
Jones and Ryan - I think a lot of people slept on these two. Jones was a top 300 ranked recruit (12 offers) enrolled early and played well in the spring. Jones comes in with the ability to be a backup, play special teams and he can be a backup receiver. We all better feel lucky to have Hugh Ryan. For him, it came down to Furman and Wofford. I'm stunned he was so underrated. If you watched him play at Dutch Fork he was the man in the defensive backfield, in the Shrine Bowl he was supposed to be the odd man out in the Sandlapper backfield. Ryan IMO was the star in a heralded defensive backfield (seven tackles, one sack).
Chizik and Brinson - 1st team AJC and 1st team Alabama Sportswriters, tells me you must be pretty good.
And that leaves us with Wayne Anderson. The only reason I can think that Anderson wasn't listed on the top 300 recruiting list - is he was listed as a junior a defensive back recruit. With the retirement of Morehead, the door was left open for Anderson. GF will jump on this - Anderson would benefit a redshirt he's around 185 I big by next season he's over 190. But that's not going to happen - Anderson is the KOR.
I chalk all this to excellent recruiting, and I don't think it's over. The 2020 recruits will come in and challenge. The coaches want this, its how Furman will get better.