Ok...so everybody wants rankings. Everybody wants to know how its recruits stack up against other recruits. Do you look at Rivals? Do you look at Scout? Vandelay?
Well, why don't we take another approach. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at Rivals.com and review each MAC team's recruits and see what BCS schools were after those players. (Specifically what recruits list BCS offers). Afterall, who cares that Kent beat out Buffalo for a player. We want to know if our school is competing with the "big boys". Therefore, I looked at Rivals.com to determine the number of recruits each team signed and then looked at how many of those players had BCS offers according to Rivals. Here are the rankings:
1. Miami (36% of players signed to LOI had BCS offers; 8/22)
2. Toledo (35%; 8/23)
3. Akron (22%; 5/23)
4. Temple (19%; 5/26)
5. BG (17%; 4/24)
6. Ball State (13%; 3/23)
7. Ohio (10%; 2/20)
8. Kent (7%; 1/15)
9. NIU (6%; 1/17)
10. WMU (5%; 1/19)
11. CMU (4%; 1/26)
12. Buffalo (0%; 0/14)
tie. EMU (0%; 0/22)
Of course fans of each team may claim that more of its recruits had BCS offers. I know that Miami certainly had a few other guys that claim BCS offers that were not listed on Rivals, but I chose only to look at the data provided by Rivals.
Specifically, here are a listing of those recruits and the BCS schools that offered them:
Miami:
LB Bostic (UC)
DL Channels (IU)
DB Gafford (UC, IU)
LB Hardy (UK)
DB/WR Robinson (UC, Minn, UNC, Wisky)
DB Stephens (Iowa)
DL Stevens (Ill, IU, UK, MSU, Minn, Wake)
DL Stewart (IU)
Toledo:
DB Church (UC, IU, Iowa, MD, NC St, WV)
OL DeWalt (UC, WV)
OL George (UC)
OL Gewont (Kansas, UConn, Iowa St)
DB Jackson (Vandy)
DL Johnson (Duke)
TE Jones (Kansas)
QB Opelt (UC)
Akron:
RB Boone (Wake)
DB Davis (ILL)
WR Harvey (2005..many)
OL Jackson (WV, MSU)
RB Reed (UC, Ill, UNC, Vandy)
Temple:
DB Ferla (Kansas)
DB Griffin (BC, Rutgers, So. Fla)
OL Morris (UC)
WR Simmons (Louisville, Rutgers)
DL Smith (Rutgers)
BG:
LB Jackson (Ole Miss)
WR Mahone (UC)
DB Marshall (Iowa State)
DL Young (UC)
Ball State:
QB Davis (UC)
OL Purdy (IU)
DE Woodard (KY)
Ohio
LB Hubbard (So. Fla)
WR McCrae (IU)
Kent
RB Rainey
NIU:
OL Onyebuagu (IU)
WMU:
DL Moody (Auburn, Ole Miss, Ok. St)
CMU:
Maddux (UC)
EMU/Buffalo:
NONE.
CONCLUSION:
According to Rivals, the MAC signed 274 players. Of those 274 players only 39 had BCS offers (14%). At first glance, many may claim that recruiting is up in the MAC and I would agree that the top half of the MAC secured some quality players and competed against BCS schools for those players. However, in 2006 54% (21 of the 39) of those recruits with BCS offers that signed with MAC schools are found in the top 3 classes (Miami, Toledo and Akron). If you add in BG and Temple to the equation, then the MAC's top 5 teams account for 77% of all recruits with BCS offers. This means that the "haves" are doing well and the "have-nots" are going about business as usual.
Like you said, I am sure that Miami had more than 8 players with BCS offers and I know Toledo had more than those 8 players with BCS offers. Some of those offers came late in the recruiting process and probably didn't get listed by Rivals because of that. Others might just be because Rivals just missed it.
Overall though, that is a fairly good way to rank it. Offers from BCS schools mean more to me then the recruiting services because it shows that the BCS schools wanted the kid too.
That Temple almost made the 20% mark with a brand new coach and staff that had about 6 weeks or so to get it together speaks volumes. I can't wait until he gets a year or two under his belt. I think he too will be challenging for 35% come that time.
Owls Head Wrote:That Temple almost made the 20% mark with a brand new coach and staff that had about 6 weeks or so to get it together speaks volumes. I can't wait until he gets a year or two under his belt. I think he too will be challenging for 35% come that time.
By that time, UT and Miami will be challenging for 75% though. Just kidding. ;-)
One good thing that Temple will have going for it is that they aren't situated right with all of the other MAC schools. Even though the MAC recruits nationally in theory, each team has its areas that it seems to enjoy recruiting. Temple will have more of an open market for these recruits than a lot of the other MAC schools and it will probably pay off quickly.
A lot of those late BCS offers were to fill out their 24th, 25th spots when they miscalculated how many commits they could get. That sometimes has to be remembered when we mention how many kids got BCS looks and whether they had legitimate offers. Not trying to start a flame about the schools higher on the list. Lord knows, I have read every bad KSU flame on a few other threads.
Something interesting to note: Rainey is KSU's top LB commit. He did play running back on Percy Harvin's team. I don't know how other schools recruited him.
Off the NIU website:
Crider (TB) - Purdue, Indiana, Illinois
Onyebuagu (G) - Indiana
but, i'm not too worried about recruiting classes rankings. some of our best (IE Michael Turner, pj fleck, etc) were those who were offered only by NIU. Time will tell.....
KStud Wrote:A lot of those late BCS offers were to fill out their 24th, 25th spots when they miscalculated how many commits they could get. That sometimes has to be remembered when we mention how many kids got BCS looks and whether they had legitimate offers. Not trying to start a flame about the schools higher on the list. Lord knows, I have read every bad KSU flame on a few other threads.
You're right about getting BCS offers late, although I don't think it was because they miscalculated and more because they lost out on a recruit or two to another BCS school and needed someone at the last minute. Toledo had quite a few more than 8 and it was mostly because of late offers. Those 8 listed are players that got BCS offers rather early.
rocketfootball Wrote:KStud Wrote:A lot of those late BCS offers were to fill out their 24th, 25th spots when they miscalculated how many commits they could get. That sometimes has to be remembered when we mention how many kids got BCS looks and whether they had legitimate offers. Not trying to start a flame about the schools higher on the list. Lord knows, I have read every bad KSU flame on a few other threads.
You're right about getting BCS offers late, although I don't think it was because they miscalculated and more because they lost out on a recruit or two to another BCS school and needed someone at the last minute. Toledo had quite a few more than 8 and it was mostly because of late offers. Those 8 listed are players that got BCS offers rather early.
A big number of NIU starters--and great players--have been walk-ons.
One thing that Roudebush's comment about the MAC recruiting nationally got me thinking about. Akrons class had all of three kids from Ohio in it. THREE. Here is our breakdown in regards to states.
Florida-10
Georgia-1
Maryland-1
Ohio-3
Pennsylvania-3
Texas-1
Virginia-3
Now this can be looked at in many different ways. On one hand we are either not winning the Ohio wars, or just plain not even trying. Ohio is a big recruiting state though and it concerns me a bit that we aren't recruiting it heavy. On the other hand we are pulling nearly half of our class out of Florida which has just as much if not more talent than Ohio. We also got a stud QB out of Texas which is another hotbed of High school talent. When we went into Pennsylvania and Virginia we also landed big time guys with Boone (a top 50 RB) and Harvey (the stud WR). Just thinking outloud a little bit here but it is something interesting to note.
You can add two more Owls to the list of recruits who received BCS offers:
QB Jarrett Dunston had an offer from Duke, among others.
QB Vaughn Charlton had an offer from Vanderbilt, among others, and cancelled his official visit to Vandy after verballing to Temple.
Right there, TU moves into 3rd place when using the above method of evaluating recruiting classes.
Dan1831 Wrote:QB Jarrett Dunston had an offer from Duke, among others.
UC? Is that University of Cincy? I don't think an offer from them is that impressive.
I know this sounds biased, but NIU has the best recruiting class in the MAC this year.
MaddDawgz02 Wrote:I know this sounds biased, but NIU has the best recruiting class in the MAC this year.
An NIU fan thinking they have the best class? I don't think it sounds biased.
I happen to be a BSU fan and I think the Cards have the best recruiting class. How about Akron fans? Who do you guys think has the best recruiting class?
Dan1831 Wrote:You can add two more Owls to the list of recruits who received BCS offers:
QB Jarrett Dunston had an offer from Duke, among others.
QB Vaughn Charlton had an offer from Vanderbilt, among others, and cancelled his official visit to Vandy after verballing to Temple.
Right there, TU moves into 3rd place when using the above method of evaluating recruiting classes.
Dan, Rivals.com does not have either Dunston or Charlton as having any other BCS offers.
My analysis is done ONLY with Rivals.com data. After reading my post you'll see that I considered other potential offers:
Quote:Of course fans of each team may claim that more of its recruits had BCS offers. I know that Miami certainly had a few other guys that claim BCS offers that were not listed on Rivals, but I chose only to look at the data provided by Rivals.
I am so sick of these recruiting rankings. I could care less who got the best class in the MAC. All I know is that it means little come September.
Right, NIU only had 1 recruit that was recruited by BCS schools. This means NIU is going to make a triumphant return to the bottom of the MAC right?
NIUGAHuskie Wrote:Right, NIU only had 1 recruit that was recruited by BCS schools. This means NIU is going to make a triumphant return to the bottom of the MAC right?
According to Rivals......YES. I am sure you can look at another recruiting service and they will have NIU with several players that had BCS offers. These recruiting services can't possibly have correct and updated information on every player.......especially the players that are going to schools like the MAC. That is because they are in it for the money and most of the money is coming from the bigger BCS schools, not the MAC or lower level BCS schools.
That is why these rankings you see from the recruiting services don't really mean a lot. Plus, a player could just be a good high school player with a lot of potential and turn out to be a great college player because he got in the right situation with the right coaches to maximize his potential.
To be perfectly honest, I would much rather get a player that Miami, Toledo, NIU and some of the other strong non BCS schools are recruiting than someone from Cincy, Duke or other bottom feeder BCS teams, so I am not sure this ranking holds much water either!
factman Wrote:To be perfectly honest, I would much rather get a player that Miami, Toledo, NIU and some of the other strong non BCS schools are recruiting than someone from Cincy, Duke or other bottom feeder BCS teams, so I am not sure this ranking holds much water either!
Maybe true, but many of the kids that had offers from Cincy probably also had offers from some of the stronger MAC schools or other strong non BCS schools, but not any other BCS schools. It should probably also be noted that Duke brought in a pretty nice recruiting class, believe it or not. They had at least a few kids that were considered very good and had multiple BCS offers.