Really good day for our program. We got 4-5 top 200 draft prospects in this class and three UA All-Americans. That's a REALLY good class. Sort of reminds me of 2015 in that this is a changing of the guard type class for us. Coming off of a very similar season too. After the draft- this is easily a top five class.

Getting Jarrengelo Clijinte and Bradley Loftin was absolutely huge for us. Both have a chance to be front line SEC starters. Clijinte will bring a lot of attention because of the fact that he is ambidextrous. Loftin has a chance to be a first rounder for us. Evan Siary may end up being a steal for us. He has had some health issues but he could be another steal in this class. He could also end up being like CC Watson and never get healthy. I also like Will Gibbs and Max Miller too. Both have a chance to be rotation guys for us and are very good pitchers. I like adding Logan Forsythe- he was at one time thought to potentially be the best player in the state his 9th grade year, as well as McLain Ray and Austin Tommasinni and Brock Tapper all from strong programs in Mississippi. That's a good core to build a solid bullpen around.

Highfill is our catcher of the future. He'll catch some this year and then take over completely as a sophomore. Bryce Hubbard is another good prospect at catcher too- I wouldn't be surprised if he moves to another position like Hunter Stovall or Luke Hancock to get his bat in the lineup.

We lost Jett Williams and Jackson Parker but David Mershon is a really good defensive shortstop/second base prospect from a baseball family and Jay Murdock has a ton of power and reminds me of Bruce Castoria. My question is whether he can play third base or not with Hines and our other potential first base prospects coming in? Murdock I think will be a fan favorite by the time he leaves. We have some good MIF prospects in the next class like Ethan Pulliam that we can pair up with this class.

Getting Dakota Jordan to school was huge. I was a little worried about him going in the draft once he dropped football. He can play any outfield spot for us and may start next year. Hollis Porter is super athletic and could be a surprise player for some people. Bryce Chance essentially falls to this class after he redshirted and I think he could play outfield for us.

Getting Colby Holcombe was huge for us. Hopefully he is the anti- Andrew Walling and becomes a front line ace for us. Foxhall is on the clock here after the Walling disaster. Another year of massive injuries and lack of development - see Fristoe and KC Hunt- then I can't see how we keep him. There is too much talent here for "coincidence" to happen.

The players drafted- I've heard that there is still a chance that we keep Hunt, Kam James, and Hancock. If we get Brandon Smith back that's also a good thing. The others are basically signing. Congrats to RJ Yeager for signing with the Cardinals! I wouldn't be shocked if he makes it. Going to be interesting to see if NIL gets involved with some of these veterans and helps us keep them.

We've done very well in the portal. Losing Bill Knight stings some- but worst case scenario we're looking at Dakota Jordan starting in CF/LF with Ledbetter starting CF/LF and Slate Alford at third. If Kam James comes back we can now start him in the OF- I would go with LF with Ledbetter in CF in that situation. We still may pull the trigger on Ethan Groff too. Aaron Nixon, Ledbetter, and Ahmani Larry are going to fill major holes for us next year. I think we add 3-4 more players from the portal depending on how things go with some of our veterans.

We still are in Ok shape with Paul Skenes who is going to visit Arkansas and Oregon State over the next two weeks. Don't expect anything on that front until August. Expect some names to pop up later this week too. I don't think Lemonis is going to play around very much with the portal.