The offseason is a cold, dreary time for introspection, single malts, and feigned interest in basketball.

I am just now getting back into life’s routine after a month of aimless drifting with a band of kooky drunks colloquially referred to as “Louisianans’” after our pantsing in Shreveport. Signing Day is this week representing the annual salve of hope in Aggieland analogous to Spring Training or an Obama presser.

The fanbase’s key worry with the Sherman hire aside from his FUPA and his “damn liberal Yankee roots” was if he held the energy and acumen to be an effective recruiter amongst the likes of Texas, OU, LSU, et al. While landing a kid who held offers from any of those programs is a good get, the real recruiting problem birthed under Fran was not that A&M was losing battles to the aforementioned programs. Rather, we were losing kids to Lubbock, Stillwater, and – gasp – Waco.

That shit just can’t happen.

As I have stated before, I am still withholding judgment on Shermy. In terms of recruiting, things appear to be headed in the right direction. He has surrounded himself with solid recruiters, most notably Randy Jordan and Van Malone, and some talent is beginning to finally trickle into College Station.

The 2010 class is garnering all the attention that makes fans soil themselves with top 15 rankings by Rivals, Scout, and Field and Stream. Sure, Fran often pulled in highly rated classes on paper, but Sherm is doing it differently. Fran was into filling a class with some sexy skill (even if they were pussies and/or convicts) OL and defense be damned. We have paid dearly for this strategic oversight for the past couple years as we witnessed an offense sputter behind a line comprising mouth-breathing lard ass walk-ons. I won’t even bother giving an objective explanation of what we’ve seen on defense. Sherm is addressing the needs (and there are many) and people are starting to notice.

Let’s take a look at the offense signees.

QB

I’m not certain where we go at QB when JJ departs. Tannehill figures to get the starting nod for a year unless Dorman can finally process the content in NFL Playbooks For Dummies. We have taken three QB’s in this class and none of them are going to get you too jacked up – yet.

Clay Honeycutt | 6’3” 195 | Dickinson, Texas
Clay is already on campus and will participate in Spring Drills. His high school numbers certainly won’t turn many heads. He is a decently athletic kid who could project out at WR if he finds himself buried on the depth chart. Sherm offered him early and Clay didn’t hesitate to commit. No idea if he ever sees the field. He elected to wear a graphic tee for his Rivals photo, so his best attribute might be some cocky doucheness that pushes the QB’s in front of him and causes his teammates to loathe him. Plus, Clay Honeycutt is a cool name.

Matt Joeckel | 6’4” 220 | Arlington, Texas
Matt was a must-sign if it meant securing his brother, Luke, at OL. A great kid by all accounts, he is also already in College Station. His senior season stats – 3145 yards, 40 TDs, 6 INTs – against solid Metroplex competition can’t be dismissed. He has an ideal frame and is relatively mobile for his size. He will compete for a starting roll a few years from now.

Jameill Showers | 6’1” 200 | Killeen, Texas

Showers is also on campus. After a promising junior campaign, Showers suffered a broken collarbone that sidelined him during his senior season. Showers was the first verbal commit of the 2010 class and has already built some relationships with the other commits. It is hard to project his value due to the injury, but he seems to be a good program guy with some potential. If football doesn’t work out, the name “Jameill Showers” can land him a spot on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.

RB

We have a product to sell to running backs and they seem to be buying. Amongst a conference that is still content on spreading it out, we actually do a little old-fashioned running the damn ball. Telling a RB recruit that he won’t have to pass protect 75% of the time and might be able to run behind the near-extinct FB is a pretty good sales pitch. We pulled three very solid RBs in this class and I’m excited to see them compete with each other over the coming seasons.

D.J. Jones | 5’11” 210 | Denison, Texas

Impressive offer list and just embarrassingly gaudy high school numbers. He is the ideal size for the offense we run as he can produce between the tackles and catch some balls out of the backfield. Despite the depth we currently hold at RB, I fully expect D.J. to see action as a freshman. A great get.

Mister Jones | 6’2” 205 | Littleton, Colorado
Yes, his name is Mister Jones. As in Mr. Mister Jones. I learned the Counting Crows penned their biggest hit after this young man. Hype surrounding recruits coming out of the state of Colorado always has to be tempered. These kids face competition against guys whose primary sport is “shredding the gnar” and loading a bowl. That said, Mister has promising measurables and could even add value in the slot. His non-football related goals include earning a PhD and a subsequent name change to Doctor Jones.

Ben Malena | 5’9” 201 | Cedar Hill, Texas

A stumpy bowling ball with a good motor. After a huge junior year, Ben was a bit hampered his senior year and saw a statistical drop off. Nevertheless, we are in no position to pass on a kid of his talent and he simply adds to the wealth of young skill position players we have in the program. (Yes, I said wealth).

WR

This wasn’t a huge need position for us this year and Sherman and Co. handled it as such. We did land a kid that I would deem slightly underrated that could contribute as a freshman.

Nate Askew | 6’4” 213 | San Antonio, Texas

Askew steps onto campus with ideal size. He holds a rather impressive offer list, but it seems like he flew under the radar somewhat. He had a nice showing in his hometown at the All American Bowl and we are fortunate to have him. Maybe someone else has insight why a kid of his stature wasn’t more highly regarded early on?

OL

This is where I get amped. Just a kickass job by the staff pulling arguably the best OL class in the country. Much like our sales pitch to RBs, we have alluring opportunities for elite OLs – play early, pro offense, run block, and kick a little ass. Ideally you don’t like to toss OL into the fire as true freshmen, but we are appallingly thin in the trenches so we’ll lean heavily on these kids early.

Luke Joeckel | 6’6” 280 | Arlington, Texas

The fact he is already on campus could easily allow him to start as a freshman. Great size for a tackle. He excels as a run blocker and brings a nasty streak that isn’t easily coached. His frame can carry some extra mass which will surely be the goal of the S&C staff. If you’re digging for a flaw, you can take a look at his pass blocking mechanics, but you’re getting picky. Arguably the best of the five OLs we took.

Garrett Gramling | 6’6” 325 | Denton, Texas
This kid is already massive. He pulled some solid offers and gives us much needed depth. He is raw, and will be a bit of a project, but Sherman sees the size and potential to turn him into a contributor and perhaps a starter down the road.

Shep Klinke | 6’7” 290 | Katy, Texas

Malone and Sherman were on this kid early and we got a verbal nearly a year ago. 6’ freaking 7”. It is nice to know that in Joekel and Klinke we have our tackle positions solidified for 3+ years. Just an absolute monster. Like Joekel, we’ll add another 30 pounds to his frame. He has long arms that simply manhandle DEs. As expected, a boy named Shep is a scholar of sorts – he tallied a 1430 on his SAT, double the total the author of this post scored.

Jake Matthews | 6’5” 275 | Missouri City, Texas

Helluva get for the program. This kid is well-deserving of the high praise and accolades he has received over the past couple years. He comes from a family of winners, and I don’t think this can be understated. We are fighting like hell to change the attitude and culture of the program. Scipio at Barking Carnival wrote a great piece on Matthews last year that indicates why a kid like this is so crucial for where we are trying to go as a program. Not only is Jake a superb talent, he brings the attitude and intangibles that I think will turn him into a captain and cornerstone for the team. His attributes scream for his position to be center in my opinion, but he can play anywhere on the line. Hard to believe he was a quarterback at one point in high school, but this athleticism and versatility has served him well. He needs to add some upper body strength, if anything.

Cedric Ogbuehi | 6’5” 270 | Allen, Texas
A former DE, Cedric is still learning the position. He is tremendously athletic for his size which bodes for him to play tackle for us down the line. His 270 listing might be a bit of a reach at this point. Barring injuries in the two-deep, I think we shirt him. He has just begun scratching the surface of his talent and he earned All State honors at Allen High. It is great to see the staff making inroads in the Dallas area after Fran burned all the bridges.

Conclusion

Impressive haul on the offensive side of the ball. Fans are overly excited about the OL and rightfully so. Fans tend to forget how crucial the OL is until it doesn’t exist. I think Askew is the sleeper of this bunch, and I’m looking forward to seeing which quarterback develops and emerges from the others. We continue to load up at RB almost to the point of dismay and concern of some fans. Listen, we aren’t USC. We are in no position to be shunning four star recruits.

I realize this post is dripping with a little maroon Kool Ade (or maroon Lean for our Houston readership), but the staff did a bang up job with this offensive group considering we are coming off of 4-8 and 6-7. We filled needs and recruited good kids. I’ll broach our efforts on defense in the coming days – ***spoiler alert*** it’s not as good – but I’m curious about your takes on this crew of kids.

Gig ‘em.