2020 Recruiting Thread

[ELA]

I took a look at the top 20 in the Rivals100 class of 2002 rankings for shits and gigs to compare it to the list ELA posted from the 90s from twitter.

Doesn’t look all that much different to be honest. Lots of wtf how was he ranked so high in there too.

1) Vince Young, QB - Texas
2) Haloti Ngata, DT - Oregon
3) Lorenzo Booker, RB - FSU
4) Ben Olson, QB - Miami
5) Reggie McNeal, ATH - Texas A&M
6) Chris Davis, ATH - FSU
7) Ryan Moore, WR - Miami
8) Marcus Vick, QB - VT
9) Leon Washington, RB - FSU
10) Ciatrick Faison, RB - Florida
11) Kai Parham, DE - Virginia
12) Gerald Riggs Jr, RB - Tennessee
13) Rodrique Wright, DT - Texas
14) Michael Johnson, RB - Virginia
15) Justin Blalock, OG - Texas
16) DiShon Platt, WR - FSU
17) Ricardo Hurley, LB - South Car.
18) Nathan Rhodes, OT - Washington
19) Brandon Jeffries, OT - Tennessee
20) Trent Edwards, QB - Stanford



Honestly, doesn’t look much different from that 90s list to me. Actually, looks kinda worse. FSU and Tennessee had lotta 5* busts right there. Holy moly.

Yeah, you're right.

[Mdot21]

Ohio State loses out on 5* RB Bijan Robinson out of Arizona. He was thought to be a heavy lean to the Buckeyes, but just announced for Texas.

Have to think that with Urban gone- who always had a run heavy approach- that OSU might not be as attractive to RBs now. Ryan Day seems more of a pass heavy coach. Kinda showed with those ridiculous #’s Haskins and those WRs put up last season. Which, I’m all for that style of offense. Don’t get me wrong. I love pass pass pass. Open it up. Ryan Day’s offenses are brilliant. But when your QB is throwing for 5,000+ yards and 50 TDs- elite high school RBs who want touches might start to think hey, I probably won’t carry it that much there.

[MrNubbz]

Kids flip flop all the time he was in/out,in/out a couple of times.Might be all USC by February

[Mdot21]

Kids flip flop all the time he was in/out,in/out a couple of times.Might be all USC by February

Truth. Never matters til they sign. And now with the transfer portal and waivers and true freshman like that Bru McCoy transferring from USC to Texas back to USC in the span of a month- it’s just become an even bigger shit show than it already was.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Full agreement on this point. I think it's probably gotten better whether we change the year or not. Still I think the services predict the arrival of significantly more "generational athletes" than actually exist. And I think that if you view the Top 20 from, say, 2015 in 2035 that you'd be similarly struck by how many utterly anonymous names are listed.

When I was doing a lot of fantasy football stuff over the last few years, it was amazing to see just how many "generational" players came along. Typically at least 1 player at a particular skill position (such as RB or WR) every single year.

I believe they don't understand the concept of "generational", instead substituting "just really good".

[CWSooner]

Ohio State loses out on 5* RB Bijan Robinson out of Arizona. He was thought to be a heavy lean to the Buckeyes, but just announced for Texas.

Have to think that with Urban gone- who always had a run heavy approach- that OSU might not be as attractive to RBs now. Ryan Day seems more of a pass heavy coach. Kinda showed with those ridiculous #’s Haskins and those WRs put up last season. Which, I’m all for that style of offense. Don’t get me wrong. I love pass pass pass. Open it up. Ryan Day’s offenses are brilliant. But when your QB is throwing for 5,000+ yards and 50 TDs- elite high school RBs who want touches might start to think hey, I probably won’t carry it that much there.

I think you're right.  A lot of top RBs won't want to go to a school known for throwing the ball around.
BUT it sometimes happens anyway.  OU successfully recruited Adrian Peterson in 2003-04 despite being an Air Raid offense with a Heisman winning QB and a Heisman runner-up QB in the last 4 years.
We haven't had an Adrian Peterson since then, but we've had guys like DeMarco Murray, Joe Mixon, Samaje Perine, and Rodney Anderson who were pretty dang good.
Maybe the selling point is that defenses will be so focused on the passing game that the RB may not get 300 touches, but he will have a high ypc stat.

[Mdot21]

I think you're right.  A lot of top RBs won't want to go to a school known for throwing the ball around.
BUT it sometimes happens anyway.  OU successfully recruited Adrian Peterson in 2003-04 despite being an Air Raid offense with a Heisman winning QB and a Heisman runner-up QB in the last 4 years.
We haven't had an Adrian Peterson since then, but we've had guys like DeMarco Murray, Joe Mixon, Samaje Perine, and Rodney Anderson who were pretty dang good.
Maybe the selling point is that defenses will be so focused on the passing game that the RB may not get 300 touches, but he will have a high ypc stat.

elite HS players always tend to go where they think they will get the most touches/playing time.

Alabama kind of flipped that on it's head, they talk 5*'s into sitting on the bench for 2 years somehow.

[847badgerfan]

elite HS players always tend to go where they think they will get the most touches/playing time.

Alabama kind of flipped that on it's head, they talk 5*'s into sitting on the bench for 2 years somehow.

Heh.

[betarhoalphadelta]

elite HS players always tend to go where they think they will get the most touches/playing time.

Alabama kind of flipped that on it's head, they talk 5*'s into sitting on the bench for 2 years somehow.

It actually might make perfect sense.

Football is a violent, dangerous game. The NFL by rule won't let you participate until you're 3 years removed from high school. So why not go to Alabama, learn from great coaches, have great S&C coaches and weight training, have opulent facilities, and avoid the wear and tear on your body until your junior year? At that time you can showcase your skills on the highest stage in CFB (i.e. the playoff), and get drafted potentially even higher than those players who started 3 years at a lesser school because you're less "used up"...

In basketball, 5* players want immediate PT, because they have one year to show their skills for draft scouts. In football, the best "business decision" might be to delay PT until nearer the time in which they become draft eligible. 

[Cincydawg]

The school with the most 5 star players on the roster today is not Alabama last I checked.

https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/

This is from 2018, and OSU would be up one since then and UGA down one, not counting 2019 freshmen.

I think at running back, you might well want to sit a year and learn and then play two years, or even just one.  They probably will use you on special teams.

I think at QB you want to play from the start if you can, same with OL and WR and maybe defense.

[Mdot21]

The school with the most 5 star players on the roster today is not Alabama last I checked.

https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/

This is from 2018, and OSU would be up one since then and UGA down one, not counting 2019 freshmen.

I think at running back, you might well want to sit a year and learn and then play two years, or even just one.  They probably will use you on special teams.

I think at QB you want to play from the start if you can, same with OL and WR and maybe defense.

crazy to think that USC and Florida State are #4 and 5 on that list. Supposedly have the 4th and 5th most blue chip players of any team in the nation- and I'd be willing to bet good money both those teams suck complete ass this year.

[FearlessF]

so, were the recruiting ratings wrong, or is there a lack of decent coaching causing the suck ass?

maybe a combo of both?

[Anonymous Coward]

Coaching is clearly more important than recruiting in terms of winning. Well, let me rephrase. Both are positively correlated with winning. Top coaching with mediocre-or-worse classes gets you to any "success" more easily than Top 10 classes with mediocre-or-worse coaching.

However, mundane as it is, you need both to get to the top. Successive top 10 classes are **necessary but not sufficient** for NCs.

[Cincydawg]

No doubt coaching is critical, both at the top and in the staff.  I think there also is a lot going on with "team chemistry" as well, something that may be more random in nature.  I'm not sure a great coach can win an NC these days with mediocre recruiting, say 25th in the 247.  I think they can be 11-2 obviously, really good years, but it's tough to make the FF and win without top level coaching.  I think Clemson had some classes in the teens when they won the first time.

And some of this of course is finding a QB who is way better than expected, a Baker Mayfield type.