Remember when we talked about what would be the needs of the class? Well, I was working on my yearly eligibility charts and wondered if we could express need mathematically and not by just guessing. So I came up with a pretty simple formula, which is the number of years available divided by the number of players. Because I’m not sure who is on scholarship and who isn’t, I included scholarship and non-scholarship players.

The numbers under the “Years” column are the average of the number of years available at that position and the numbers under the “Years + RS” is the average of the number of years including available redshirt years. This is pretty simplistic I think and verifies what we somewhat thought when we looked towards the next class.

It’s pretty clear that the inside receiver position, running back and wide receiver position are all positions of need. Not a lot of years left and not huge numbers in terms of players.

This is also a bit deceiving because this would appear that defensive tackle is in good shape, and it is you consider the number of years available, but that’s why I also included the number of players at that position. So, from a pure numbers standpoint, defensive tackle is an absolute need, especially when you consider that the defensive ends have 11 players available. Granted, I have Nelson Mbanasor at defensive end and that could change how these numbers work as well, but I think that’s where he plays for now, although I do believe he’ll transition to defensive tackle.

Still, the offensive skill positions will need to be replenished in 2018, plus the defensive tackle. Just one more way to consider each position and where players are needed.