Harvard has just announced its official incoming football class of 2020.
Considering the fact that the Crimson have been the best overall and certainly the most consistently strong football program in the Ivies for 20 years now, I'd like to be able to find some pattern in its recruiting classes that spelled success or at least hinted at some kind of winning strategy.
Sadly, the only thing that jumps out at you are the number of 1st team all state players, and there's no secret to trying to grab those kinds of players.
Longtime readers of this blog know I also judge recruiting classes by how many big and talented defensive tackles and talented running backs they can grab. This Harvard class has just one DT in Carter Hartmann, and he seems like a winner. But I don't see even one pure RB on this list. Surely, someone from this class, probably one of the players listed simply as "athletes," will step up at RB but if any other school but Harvard turned in a recruiting class without a clearly labeled RB, the fans would be calling for blood.
For the last couple of years, Harvard has had a few walk-ons not listed in these official announcements. I suspect that's happening again, which says a lot about the allure of the Harvard name because so many of even the top recruited athletes never see regular varsity playing time.
If any of you see something I'm missing about this class, feel free to tell me. But it just seems like Head Coach Tim Murphy and his staff are happy to receive a bunch of all state players and forego pursuing any other strategy or specific player profile.
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