Post-National Signing Day South Carolina Recruiting Roundup: TEs

This post continues a series reviewing our recruiting class. Today we cover TEs.

Jerell Adams. Adams is the nation's 17th-rated TE. The coaching staff will likely consider him at DE, so TE may be a moot point here, but he's certainly a viable prospect at TE, too.

Rory Anderson. Anderson is the nation's 26th-rated TE. His footage shows strong pass-catching abilities and a willingness to make a catch with tacklers bearing down on him. At least from the footage, he appears to be the best receiver of this bunch. However, at 6'4 / 200, he probably needs to put on a few pounds before he's ready to play TE in our offense, which requires lot of blocking now that we've moved to a run-first approach. I expect a redshirt for him.

Drew Owens. Owens, the 19th-rated player at his position, is the guy in this group who I see as most likely to see early PT at TE. He has the size to step in immediately and since he comes from an offense similar to the one we're running, he should be able to learn the scheme quickly. His footage showed a nice blend of blocking skills and the ability to come down with tough catches.

Grade: B+. TE and the TE / FB position we're using in some of our zone-read formations has become a key position in our offense and is expected to play a major role in blocking for Stephen Garcia, Marcus Lattimore, and our running backs. With Patrick DiMarco graduating, it was key that we sign good players here, and we definitely did that with these commitments. All three are potential contributors and, considering that we signed three, this may be the deepest TE class in the nation. I would have liked to see someone who looks a bit more like the kind of elite TE who can be both a great blocker and a solid receiver, too.That said, I am glad that we seem to be more interested in guys who look like they can help our running game as opposed to guys like Jared Cook who were just huge receivers.