Recruiting Rankings Are Never What They are Cracked Up to Be
April 22nd, 2009 - byWe have had some lively discussionswith readers on this blog debating the importance of Star Rankings offered by recruiting services like Rivals.com. Randy Taylor, NCSA’s resident expert on Rivals.com and other recruiting services believes:
Based on 30 years in college football with time as a recruiting coordinator having several top 5 ranked classes I can tell you this about sites like Rivals. They have about as much impact on who we recruited as the local newspaper’s all conference teams.
The value came when we wanted some inside information on a kid so we could get an advantage over our opponents. The local Internet guy would tell us what he knew or even make a call based on questions we asked him.
When we offered a guy his star ranking would go up. In fact, recruiting coordinators around the country are schmoozing the local guys to get their class ranked higher to make them look better at their signing day booster party that night. Many head coaches are doing this too.
Another point I think is important is about the combines. Whenever we got a 40 time we’d add a tenth to a tenth and a half. In fact, the height and weights are even suspect in a college coaches mind. Is the vertical jump or shuttle being done correctly or consistently? If they don’t witness it or have a trusted source there they don’t fully trust it.
I remember several years ago one of the Internet sites combines had the 40s measured wrong and were only 38 yards long. There were some really really fast kids at that event!
The down side of this whole phenomenon is that when you get top ranked classes you better win a lot. Having a bunch of five star guys that don’t meet your teams needs isn’t going to help you win at the highest level.
Let’s just enjoy these sites for what they are, media outlets covering college football’s second season.
Some of our readers politely disagreed, so I thought I would share some more insight from Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples.
As recruits, last year’s first-rounders averaged a star rating of 3.42 (out of five) and included five five-star prospects. This year, the players selected in the mock first round by SI.com NFL writer Don Banks boasted an average star rating of 3.59. The group included seven five-stars, four of whom are projected to go in the top six.
Even though the Rivals rankings should get more accurate as recruiting coverage becomes more refined, the recruiting gurus still will miss players such as Clay Matthews, who walked on at USC and blossomed into a star, but those misses will become more rare as the years pass.
The misses will inevitably become more rare as the Internet continues to shrink the recruiting landscape but its extremely important to realize just how far off these Star Rankings can be. Three players in Sports Illustrated’s Top 10 only were ranked as 2 Star Players. The so called experts doubted they would ever be a starter in college, much less be ready to collect $10 million dollar signing bonuses.
My point is this: Don’t get hung up worrying about what the experts think. If you think you can play, you need to take the extra steps to get noticed by College Coaches not Internet sites.
