Who's Ready?

Austin Stock


Let's take the now officially-announced football class of 2016 position by position.

Today, I'll start with OL and WR, the two areas where Head Coach Pete Mangurian has said the incoming freshmen are likely to make the most impact.

OL

On April 24th Mangurian wrote: "Our incoming freshman, (offensive lineman), will create competition at this position, that is exactly what we need."

Here's the list of our incoming freshmen OL's, you tell me which ones look like they're ready to compete:

Eric Kuklinski 6-7 265 lbs.

Billy Lawrence 6-8 250 lbs.

Marshall Markham 6-4 265 lbs.

Keith Ramljak 6-4 265 lbs.

Austin Stock 6-3 270 lbs.

Each one of these guys has something obvious to offer. Stock may be the best overall recruit in the class, and since he plays center he probably needs to gain the least weight of any of the incoming frosh O-lineman. But before you pencil him in onto the 2-deep or even the starting lineup, remember the nice praise Mangurian had for sophomore Ryan Thomas, who also comes from a super high school program and was one of the top recruits in HIS class.

Speaking of great his school programs, Markham comes from the already proven commodity of Kinkaid HS in Houston. But at 265, he needs to gain about 20 pounds to really get into the game.

Lawrence is a force at 6-8, but he's maybe 50 POUNDS underweight on that frame. I think this young man is a project for Mangurian and OL coach Ed Argast, and there's a tremendous upside here. But, I'll be shocked if we see him with the varsity this fall.

Kuklinski and Ramljak look like good bets in a year or so, but they'd still be surprises to crack the lineup where even the lightest returning veteran is 13 pounds heavier than they are. 

Coach Mangurian is nothing if not a man of his word. But when he said these incoming frosh would provide "competition," I think he meant that in the literal sense. This guys will "compete," but probably not "overtake" any starting slots this year.

Also on April 24th, Mangurian said: "the wide receiver position will be the most effected by this incoming class."

Here is that incoming class:

Trevor Bell 5-9 170 lbs.

Chris Connors 6-1 205 lbs. 

Andrew Dobitsch 5-10 170 lbs. 

Isaiah Gross 6-3 180 lbs.

Scooter Hollis 6-1 165 lbs.

(transfer Jake Wanamaker will have to sit out the 2012 season)

Gross, who committed to CU switched to Yale and then came back to us seems like the pick of this WR crop. He's a speedster and has great stature at 6-3. 

On the other side of the height spectrum is Bell, who at 5-9 may be the "Wes Welker type" player Mangurian has been looking for, 

Hollis is extremely fast and it's a good sign that he's already made the switch from QB to WR before he even arrives at training camp. 

I'd say those three players have the best shot to crack the two-deep with Gross the leading candidate right now.