It is for that reason that many of us are skeptical despite the optimism of many of you who follow things more closely. That is why I'll reserve my optimism for when we beat out several good programs for recruits or when we actually win some games on the field.
Despite my skepticism, Lovie was a great hire at that time. Sometimes good decisions don't work. This one may still prove to be a winner, but I'll wait and see.
Since you can't always rely on star power, getting recruits that have offers from other good programs is definitely a strong way to measure recruiting success. The bolded above has already been done so rejoice!
2017 Class with other good offers:
Ricky Smalling - Wisconsin
Kendrick Green - Iowa, Arkansas, Notre Dame, Ole Miss
Delshawn Phillips - Arizona
Larry Boyd - Arkansas, Missouri, Purdue, Wisconsin
Owen Carney - Arkansas, Duke, FSU, Georgia, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Miss State, Purdue, Tenn
Carmoni Green - UNC, Florida, Washington State
Lere Oladipo - MSU, Missouri, PSU
Tony Adams - Missouri
Louis Dorsey - Baylor, FSU, LSU, UNC, South Carolina, WVU
Mike Epstein - Cincinnati, Louisville, Michigan, WVU
Bobby Roundtree - IU, Louisville, MSU, Miss State, NC State, VT
Ra'Von Bonner - Cincy, Iowa
2018 Class with good offers:
Calvin Avery - ASU, Arkansas, FSU, Miss State, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, TCu, Texas, Texas A&M, USC, Washington
Kievan Myers - Colorado, Miss St, Missouri, WVU
Khalan Tolson - Cincy, Louisville, Michigan, MSU, Miss St
Ron Hardge III - Miss St, NC State, Pitt
Most of those guys in the '17 class came near the end of the recruiting year so hopefully we get several more good pickups as the year comes to a close. Also, this list doesn't include ALL "good" offers or even "average team" offers. I also left some P5 schools off simply because they "aren't good".
As you can see, we have found several players that are sought after by good programs. And, luckily, some of the guys without a lot of major offers (Bennet Williams and Nate Hobbs) have been diamonds in the rough.