Recruiting Rewind, Class of 2015

[CoachRob]

Happy Jan 15th! Today we will break down and take a look at the recruiting class of 2015. Coming off of an 7-5 1st year of FBS, including 6 straight to finish the season, here's what that February signing day looked like:

Head Coach: Scott Satterfield
Total Commits: 21
Sun Belt Rank: 7th
National Rank: 112th


-Zireycus Letman WR *** 85 - Nation’s #11 ranked JuCo WR out of GMC. Appeared in 12 games w/ 3 starts in ’16. Appeared in 5 games before suffering a season-ending unjury in ’17.
-Daniel David Pro *** 82 – Lasted just 1 semester. Transferred to Kennesaw State in Dec., saw action all 4 years.
-Alex Taylor OT *** 81 – Redshirted in ’15, Transferred to South Carolina State to complete playing career in ’19.
-Desmond Franklin ATH *** 80 – 33 game starter from ’17-’19 at Saftey. 1st Team All-Sun Belt in ‘18
-Dezmin Reed OLB ** 79 – JuCo out of GMC. Appeared in 8 games in ’15, no stats found for ’16.
-Josh Thomas ATH ** 79 – STUD … 30 career starts at S from ’15-’19. Reshirted ’17 due to season ending inj. 1st team All-Sun Belt in ’19, 2nd team All-Sun Belt in ’18. Two-Year team Captain Jr. & Sr. years. Signed with Buffalo Bills following 2020 Draft.
-Markeyvious Adams WR ** 78 – SC #30 ranked player in class of ’15. Redshirted in ’15, played in 24 games for App from ’16-’18. Entered Transfer Portal in ’19, did not commit.
-Devin Papenheim SDE ** 78 – Redshirted in ’15, appeared in 9 games in ’16, switched to TE before ’17 season. Appeared in 20 games from ’17-’18. Entered Transfer Portal in ’19, did not commit.
-Jake Easter ATH ** 77 – NC # 54 ranked player in class ’15, Appeared in 1 game as QB in ’16, Switched to WR in ’17, no game action. Unknown finish to collegiate career.
-Tee Sims SDE ** 77 – JuCo out of GMC, suffered a season-ending injury in ’15. Started in 13 games from ’16-’17. 1st Team All-Sun Belt in ’17. 9.5 sacks in ’17 ranks 10th in App single season History.
-Edward Davis ILB ** 77 – Redshirted in ’15, Appeared in 11 games in ’17. Unknown finish to collegiate career.
-Victory Johnson OT ** 76 – STUD … 4 yr starter ’16-’19, 3-time 1st Team All Sun Belt OL ’17-’19, Team Captain Jr & Sr year.
-Bo Alexander OT ** 76 – Enrolled in ’15, Transferred to Arizona Western JuCo from ’16-’17. Committed to Houston in ’18, Appeared in all 25 games as OT/TE from ’18-’19.
-Akeem Davis-Gaither OLB ** 76 – GOAT … Sun Belt DPOY & 1st Team All-Sun Belt in ’19, 2nd Team All-Sun Belt in ’18, All-America Selection (4th Team , Phil Steele), 4th rd Draft pick (107) by Cincinnati Bengals in 2020 Draft.
-Mondo Williams CB ** 76 – JuCo out of Iowa Western, Appeared in all 15 collegiate games ’15-’16. 1st Team All-Sun Belt ’16.
-Collin Reed TE ** 76 - 26 game starter from ’17-’19, 11 Career TD ranking 4th among TEs in App History.
-Tea Hayes CB ** 76 – 33 game starter from ’15-’18, 3rd team All-Sun Belt in ’18 & 2nd team All-Sun Belt in ’17.. 1st signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars in '19, has spent time on numerous practice squads including the Carolina Panthers from '19-'24.
-Brody Barrett DT ** 75 – Redshirted in ’15, played in 29 games for App from ’16-’18.
-Anthony Flory OLB ** 74 – 2 yr starter in ’17-’18. 3rd Team All-Sun Belt in ’18. DMVP of Dollar General Bowl in ’17.
-Michael Rubino K ** 73 – Nations 8th ranked kicker in class of ‘15. Primary KO specialist from ’17-’18. Primary place-kicker in ’16. Transferred to UNC as Grad student in ’19 season, appeared in 9 games primarily as a KO specialist.
-Chris Favoroso OLB NA – Redshirted in ’15, Transferred to Arizona Western in ’16, Transferred to Montana in ’17, appearing in 11 games. Transferred to Duquesne, started 10 games as SR in ’19.


Class Breakdown:
Saw playing time- 17/21
# of starters for 2+ yrs- 10/21
# of All conference- 8/21
Spent time in NFL- 3 total
Transferred before Sr Year- 7 total
Unknown finish to collegiate career- 2 total
Position breakdown of All conference: OT, DT, ILB, OLB, CB-2, S-2

When you can recruit an entire secondary of All conference players ... you're going to win a lot of games.
Fun Fact: Those in this class who redshirted and played next 4 years, they went 54-12 in those five seasons, part of just the fifth class in college football history to win five bowl games and four conference championships.

[BambooRdApp]

Got to love the name like Victory and then deciding to play sports

[EastHallApp]

Thanks for the breakdown, and the walk down memory lane. Ah, the good ol' days...

Quite a foundational group there. It's great to see all those all-conference players, but also funny to remember the ones who you were sure would be studs but just didn't work out. Man, I thought with Mock Adams and Zy Letman on the outside, our passing game was gonna be unstoppable.

[AppGrad78]

Didn’t Alex Taylor spend a few years in the NFL?

[Saint3333]

8 of 21 were All-Conference players, that remarkable! Thanks Coach!

[AtlAppMan]

CoachRob is the statistics guru for Apps recruiting history. This is great info. I think it brings tons of clarity to the questions of how did our recruiting classes actually perform. Thanks for your time investment. By the time you get all these together you can have Grok summarize all the data into a fantastic analysis of App State recruiting.

[rbarthle17]

Wasn't Rubino the Holes PK when we beat them in Chapel Hill?

[QueencityApp]

That Georgia Military pipeline was strong back then year after year. Thanks for putting these together. Some of these guys ended up being absolute studs for us. It’s been great to see some names I’ve forgotten about!

[BambooRdApp]

Wasn't Rubino the Holes PK when we beat them in Chapel Hill?

He left App after 2018 season.
UNC 2019.

[CoachRob]

CoachRob is the statistics guru for Apps recruiting history. This is great info. I think it brings tons of clarity to the questions of how did our recruiting classes actually perform. Thanks for your time investment. By the time you get all these together you can have Grok summarize all the data into a fantastic analysis of App State recruiting.

Let's not go that far, haha. Nothing special, just took some googling and time. Most of the info I stole from App's athletic site.

[CoachRob]

So these players that I could find out what happen with a google search: Jake Easter & Edward Davis, anybody in the know can help fill in the blanks with these guys?

BTW, if there's anything that may be inaccurate on the OP, please share and I'll correct/update the list.

[BambooRdApp]

So these players that I could find out what happen with a google search: Jake Easter & Edward Davis, anybody in the know can help fill in the blanks with these guys?

BTW, if there's anything that may be inaccurate on the OP, please share and I'll correct/update the list.

Small item..it is Josh not Joah Thomas

[CoachRob]

So these players that I could find out what happen with a google search: Jake Easter & Edward Davis, anybody in the know can help fill in the blanks with these guys?

BTW, if there's anything that may be inaccurate on the OP, please share and I'll correct/update the list.

Small item..it is Josh not Joah Thomas

Thanks, that's user error that spell check didn't catch.