National Signing Day 2010: TCU Loses One, But Has Best Class Of All-Time

TCU got some bad news on National Signing Day when 4-star recruit, Josh Huff, decommitted and signed with Oregon. Huff was likely to play either defensive back or cornerback for TCU. Another Oregon recruit, Dontae Williams, was good friends with Huff and has been persuading him to come to Oregon as well, and it likely was a big factor to why Huff left.

But the good news for TCU's recruiting class, is that it was the best class in TCU history going by how highly sought-after the players were. Never in TCU history has it had every single recruit 3-stars or higher, until now.

With very few Seniors leaving, TCU didn't have many scholarships available, but they made the most of each and every one of them.

First, there is Florida recruit Ethan Grant who will likely play RB for this TCU squad. Grant was the RB in the USA vs. World game that aired on the NFL Network on January 30. Coaches said that Grant was easily the fastest player participating in the game. Grant, who is a 4-star prospect, just adds to an already stacked TCU backfield of sophomores Matthew Tucker, Ed Wesley, and superstar grayshirt freshman Dwight Smith.

At receiver, TCU got two very good ones. Four-star recruit Curtis Carter is said to be the fastest High School player in the state of Texas. Think about what Jeremy Kerley does for this TCU team, and that will likely be Carter's role on the team. TCU got a big-time playmaker when he de-committed from Nebraska to play at TCU.

The other receiver, Chris Hawkins , is a bigger target than Carter. He's another guy who de-committed from a school (Minnesota) to play at TCU. He has a very high vertical and outstanding hands. He'll likely be their red zone target for years to some.

At quarterback, TCU shocked the country when Matt Brown said he was de-committing from Arizona to play at TCU. Brown is a highly talented dual-threat quarterback, who according to rivals.com is the 4th best scrambling quarterback in the country. Brown will have the ability to run the spread option that TCU loves to run so much.

TCU loaded up on athletes in this recruiting class, getting six of them. One of them I mentioned earlier in Curtis Carter. The others are Matt Anderson , Tavaras Battle-Smith, Stephen Bryant, Sam Carter, and Antonio Graves. Anderson could play many positions, and nobody really knows what he'll be until he shows up in the spring. If I had a guess, it would be that he'll play either safety or linebacker.

Tavaras Battle-Smith will likely play cornerback for TCU. Cornerback was probably the biggest need going into this class, and Battle-Smith has the potential to be a very good one in the future.

Stephen Bryant is another guy that could play many different positions. My best guess would have him at Tight End, because of his big frame, but that would just be a guess. He would be a big time threat at TE, with a 6'5" frame and running in the mid 4.5's in the 40-yard dash.

Sam Carter is another very talented prospect. He was a quarterback in high school, but it's unkown if he'd play that for TCU. He may be the most versital player in the recruiting class, as he could play nearly every position on the field.

Antonio Graves is one guy that I'm stumped on. I have a feeling that he'll play safety, but I'm really not sure. All I know is that he's a great athlete and a fearless player.

On the offensive line, TCU recruited big, led by 6'4", 315 pound tackle, Michael Thompson . Thompson is very big, but he also runs a 4.9 in the 40-yard dash. Thompson was an early signing to TCU back in June, but that didn't stop him from playing, becoming one of the most improved players in the country. If he keeps up his improvement, he could ultimately be one of the best linemen that this class has to offer.

The other offensive linemen TCU got is Nykiren Wellington . Wellington is 6'6", 275, with a lot of room to get bigger. He'll likely take at least a year or two to develop, but if he can add some more weight and keep his speed up like he'll likely be able to do, he can be a lot like Marshall Newhouse was for TCU the last few years.

From the offensive line, over to defensive line, TCU got two very good players. One is defensive tackle, David Johnson , who was he first commitment, at this time last year on February 4. Johnson had an outstanding senior season, and was very sought after, but he kept his word and stayed with TCU.

On the outside, they got defensive end, Clifton Murphy . Murphy has the perfect frame and ability to play defensive end at the college level, at 6'4" running a 4.7 40-yard dash. He had 28 tackles-for-loss as a senior last year, and he will like to carry that onto the field next season. With three seniors on the defensive line next season, he likely won't see much playing time as a freshman, but look out for him as a sophomore.

TCU filled their linebacking needs very early, getting two players last February in Marcus Mallett and Blake Roberts . Mallett is quicker and more agile of the two, but Roberts is bigger and more powerful. Mallett will like to take the role that Daryl Washington had this season, while Blake Robers will likely have the role that Jason Phillips had in 2008.

The secondary was the most important position for TCU to fill in this recruiting class, after losing three players from last year's team. They did that in a big way, getting Elisha Olabode, Jonathan Anderson, and Kevin White.

Elisha Olabode is a little bit of a tweener between cornerback and safety, but it's early enough that he could easily play either position. He might be the most talented player of the secondary recruits.

Jonathan Anderson is a bigger guy, and will likely play one of the two strong safety positions in TCU's 4-2-5 defense. Those positions do a lot of blitzing and help out in run support, and he has great ability to do both of those things.

Kevin White is the third recruit, and he's the fastest player of the three. He'll be playing cornerback and try to take over the role that Rafael Priest played in his four years at TCU.

On Special Teams, TCU got one of the best deep kickers in the country in Ryan DeNnuci , who is a big time kickoff specialist. In high school, he would consistently kick it 5+ yards deep into the end zone with good height on the ball. He also has a very good work ethic, so he will only improve and help TCU out a lot on field position.

With those three players, along with Tavaras Battle-Smith who will likely play cornerback, TCU reloaded their secondary in this recruiting class. That more than makes up for the loss of Josh Huff, who was likely to play cornerback as well.

The big thing about this TCU class, is that you also have to include RB, Dwight Smith , who was a grayshirt player last season. A grayshirt means that you attend school, but you are not playing football, therefore not taking up a scholarship, and you will be on the team the next year as a true freshman. Dwight Smith has a very good chance at not only being the starting RB as a freshman, but to be one of the top freshman running backs in the NCAA.

Smith will be the fastest RB on this TCU squad, and one of the most productive in Texas high school football history. He ran for a whopping 2,820 yards and 41 touchdowns in a single season as a senior, having an 11.8 YPC along the way. Those are unbelievable numbers. And those numbers aren't even including the Texas State Championship game where he rushed for 25 times for 272 yards and 2 TD's, and average game for Smith's standards.

Including Smith in this class, makes it by far the best class in TCU history.

Looking Ahead to 2011:

Yes, TCU had their best recruiting class of all-time in 2010, but they're looking to make it better in 2011. And not just better, but far and away better. At TCU's Junior day, they had 22 ESPNU Top 150 recruits show up with a lot of interest including top 5 overall prospects in the state of Texas, LaDarius Brown and Malcolm Brown .

TCU already had their 1st commitment, with very tall and athletic receiver, Cameron White , who will likely be a 4 star prospect once the Junior rankings are out. It's a great start to what TCU fans hope can be an unbelievable recruiting class in 2011.

If TCU can even get a few of the players that showed up on Junior day to commit, they will have an unbelievable class with many 4-star athletes, and even a few 5-star players. It's an exciting time for TCU recruiting, as they're really solidifying themselves as a big named football program and a place that top recruits want to play football.