The New Car Smell Effect is extremely real in recruiting. For that first full recruiting class, a new head coach has nothing to sell but hope and playing time. Which is to say: he has everything to sell. He hasn’t lost a game yet, and the good times don’t stop when that first loss inevitably arrives, or the second, or the third, or the eighth, or the... you get the point.
PJ Fleck went 1-11 in his 2013 debut at Western Michigan. The 2014 class he signed led WMU to a 13-1 season, a MAC title and a Cotton Bowl appearance in 2016. Tom Herman went 7-6 at Texas in 2017; his 2018 class rated No. 3 in the country. Kirby Smart went 8-5 in his 2016 debut at Georgia, and his 2017 class also rated No. 3.
The list goes on and on and on, and after this weekend it could include Jeff Traylor.
The first-year UTSA head coach started slow(-ish) on the recruiting trail. Hired on Dec. 9, 2019, he did not land a single 2021 commitment in his first five years on the job.
Turns out he was saving them all for this past weekend.
UTSA reeled in seven new Roadrunners on Friday and Saturday:
- Longview, Texas, running back Kaden Meredith
- Longview, Texas, outside linebacker Kybo Jamerson
- Woodville, Texas, inside linebacker JaCorey Hyder
- Houston cornerback Brian Mayes
- Converse, Texas, guard Kamron Scott
- New Braunfels, Texas, inside linebacker Caden Holt
- Mission, Texas, quarterback Eddie Lee Marburger
Meredith and Jamerson are listed as 3-star recruits, per 247Sports. The remaining five do not carry stars next to their names. (This often means the recruiting services haven’t evaluated a player yet, not necessarily that they’ve taken a look and decided a player isn’t worthy of a rating.)
Now we can all go to sleep. This has been a very good weekend. #BirdsUp 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙 #embRACE21
— Jeff Traylor (@CoachTraylor) April 19, 2020
The 247Sports composite rankings, which still only lists UTSA with four pledges, ranks the ‘Runners at No. 67 nationally and second in Conference USA.
