ESD Recruiting Rankings by Average Per Recruit, Etc.

#26
#26
This is the NIL era. This mean much less than it did before. Hoarding 5 star talent is harder. They leave for immediate playing time or more NIL money. The portal is the real action. Proven college players are up for auction, not speculative high school kids. We better get more active in the portal.
This.

Agree 100%. The portal is where it is at. 5-stars leave programs all the time. Utilizing the portal makes the talent gap much smaller and signing days more irrevelant.
 
#27
#27
Nope, we didn’t make up any ground or separate ourselves from mid pack. The Hype is going to have to pick it up next year.
We are not done. We still have at least 1 bigtime HS guy in play and the portal, with players still having till 1/2 to enter this cycle THEN the May period. The fat lady has not even started to warm up. Throwing in the towel now shows either a lack of knowledge or spine.

Meeting needs and biggest bang for the buck grades come out when the eligible fall roster is announced. No awards for manning up and overpaying HS kids just to throw your chest out. Strategic use is exemplified by UT filling a need with a bigtime portal TE, while forcing KY to pay to keep theirs. Double win.
 
#29
#29
No, it was definitely a good class. We were in the mix for several elite players down to the end. Just got to keep working hard and hope Nico is the special QB we think he is. Another year like 2022 would do wonders for recruiting.
This

Swing 9-3 to 10-2 with Nico looking like a stud, and the rest will take care of itself. It's hard to beat the big boys when they mostly all have a decade long trend of success and playoff appearances.
 
#31
#31
We are not done. We still have at least 1 bigtime HS guy in play and the portal, with players still having till 1/2 to enter this cycle THEN the May period. The fat lady has not even started to warm up. Throwing in the towel now shows either a lack of knowledge or spine.

Meeting needs and biggest bang for the buck grades come out when the eligible fall roster is announced. No awards for manning up and overpaying HS kids just to throw your chest out. Strategic use is exemplified by UT filling a need with a bigtime portal TE, while forcing KY to pay to keep theirs. Double win.
No one else is done either though. Here are the rankings if you throw in portal commits to date also. Doesn't change things much:

 
#32
#32
No one else is done either though. Here are the rankings if you throw in portal commits to date also. Doesn't change things much:

There are a few teams in the top ten that stand out with how many 4 & 5 star players signed (Bama, UGA, OSU, TX etc). UT isn't quite there yet but when you look at AVG star rating per player, we appear to be in good shape and comparable with some other programs in the top ten. The hope is that Heupel's evaluations are good and there aren't many misevaluations in particular with OL, DL, and QB. If there are too many misses with those position groups, then it doesn't really matter how good the other signees turn out to be. We all know where the games are won in this league. Obviously, we all want to be recruiting with the elite teams in the top five but can't complain too much with being at 11th either.
 
#33
#33
Their average recruiting ranking was within 1 point of ours and they got 6 and 7 more bodies signed respectively so that's why overall they are ranked higher, though we have a higher average recruiting ranking. Likewise, A&M and Florida are ranked behind us overall, but have higher average recruiting rankings but we have 3 and 5 more bodies signed respectively.
My take on this, though we're not "elite", is that we're making progress year over year. Solid class last year and solid class this year, and we are somewhere in and around the neighborhood of where LSU, TaM, FL, OK are, and were virtually in the middle of these teams last year. We retained some good talent on the OL/DL and signed good numbers to the trenches. Also, if we're still hampered by NCAA, then that impacted our numbers. So, I think we're in good shape to keep making progress...if Nico plays well, he will help us in the next couple cycles to be more in the top 5ish slots. Consistency year over year in top 10-13 gives us talent to compete, while building to a higher threshold.
 
#34
#34
This.

Agree 100%. The portal is where it is at. 5-stars leave programs all the time. Utilizing the portal makes the talent gap much smaller and signing days more irrevelant.
I also think this, plus expanding playoffs to 12 teams now allows more teams to recruit to the playoffs. Let's face it, for the last 10 years or so, it's been a playoff club of OK, UGA, Bama, OSU, Mich, Clemson, and ND or every few years, which has given an advantage to these teams. New SEC/Big 10 gauntlets, NIL, portal and expanded playoff structure, in my opinion over a period of time is going to level the playing field more than knowing in preseason that the NCAA champ will be one of 2-3 teams.
 
  • Like
Reactions: casual-observer
#35
#35
As this is a point of interest/discussion after early signing day, with the overwhelming majority of the recruits for the next class (who will be freshmen in 2024) having signed yesterday, here are the conference numbers by average recruit ranking, which like it sounds is the average ranking for each recruit in the class, regardless of the number of recruits signed.

Also in parentheses is the number of recruits signed, the overall recruiting ranking (nationally) and nationally by average recruiting ranking. The source is the 247 composite which averages the rankings of the various recruiting services.

1. Georgia, 93.58 (28 commits, # 1), 1st nationally by avg. recruit ranking
2. Alabama, 92.82 (25 commits, # 2) 3rd nationally by avg. recruit ranking
3. Texas A&M, 92.25 (16 commits, # 17) 4th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
4. Texas, 92.24 (22 commits, # 5),5th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
5. Auburn, 91.99 (21 commits, #7) 6th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
6. Florida, 91.31 (18 commits, #16) 9th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
7. Tennessee, 91.07 (21 commits, # 13) 11th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
8. South Carolina, 90.89 (16 commits, # 20), 12th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
9. Oklahoma, 90.81 (28 commits, #8), 13th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
10. LSU, 90.49 (27 commits, # 11), 16th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
11. Ole Miss, 89.58 (21 commits, # 21) 20th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
12. Arkansas, 89.09 (17 commits, # 17), 23rd nationally by avg. recruit ranking
13. Kentucky, 88.92 (21 commits, #25), 24th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
14. Missouri, 88.83 (20 commits, # 24), 25th nationally by avg. recruit ranking
15. Miss State, 87.73 (22 commits, # 35), 32nd nationally by avg. recruit ranking
16. Vandy, 86.97 (20 commits, # 40), 39th nationally by avg. recruit ranking


Note, the "team talent composite" which takes into account all portal entries/departures, etc. usually comes out about a week before the season starts. This is last years as an example (2023):

Nice. Vandy impressing as well. Never hurts to have numbers too. Sometimes the 3 * end up pretty good. I think that’s what Tillman was. That said, still says a lot about who we got and leaves plenty open for transfers.
 
#36
#36
This is the NIL era. This mean much less than it did before. Hoarding 5 star talent is harder. They leave for immediate playing time or more NIL money. The portal is the real action. Proven college players are up for auction, not speculative high school kids. We better get more active in the portal.

I agree that holding on to highly rated talent will be difficult. The transfer portal is doing the same thing that roster limits did mid to late 70’s
UCLA stuffed their basketball roster with excellent players just to keep other schools from getting them. Pitt‘s last season with Johnny winning the NC has over 100 players on scholarship. NIL, portal, coaches pay, and tv are bringing in another era of college ball.
 
#37
#37
This recruiting class is great. Folks need to put things into perspective. Lets revisit the ageless quote from Bill Parcells' exit from the Patriots: " “If I’m going to be asked to cook the meal, I’d like to be able to pick the groceries.” The recruits are the groceries. CJH and staff are the Chefs. Our staff has proven they can develop talent and field a successful team. Look at it through the Texas A&M lens. Recruiting classes: 2021 - #8; 2022 - #1; 2023 - #15, This is the same team that just broke the buyout record. You can have all the prime beef ya want, but it no good burnt to a crisp.

As it has been said, we are also limited to the number of scholarships we can offer due to NCAA sanctions, thanks Cornbread! To finish as high as we did while being handicapped is a success. Go Vols!
 
  • Like
Reactions: norrislakevol
#38
#38
I agree that holding on to highly rated talent will be difficult. The transfer portal is doing the same thing that roster limits did mid to late 70’s
UCLA stuffed their basketball roster with excellent players just to keep other schools from getting them. Pitt‘s last season with Johnny winning the NC has over 100 players on scholarship. NIL, portal, coaches pay, and tv are bringing in another era of college ball.
Is it though? What evidence of that is there really? It's the usual suspects at the top of the rankings (recruiting and on the field). I'm asking, not being a smart alleck. What you say makes sense, but we haven't really seen it so far that I can tell.
 
#40
#40
1. I think the only schools that really separated themselves from the pack were Bama and UGA, maybe Texas. Everyone 4-8 is about the same.
2. What matters most is quarterback. If Nico is that dude, we are beating almost everyone, including 1 of Bama or UGA.
Agree and this is the case every year. I'd also add Ohio State to the 3 you mentioned that separated themselves. Outside of the top 4, I'd argue that anyone in the top 15 or so have similar classes. But the recruiting services make a lot of money splitting hairs to produce rankings that are gobbled up by fans including myself. What matters most is how we recruited against the rest of the SEC and for that Alabama/Georgia/Texas finished at the top and Tennessee/Florida/Auburn/A&M/LSU/Oklahoma all finished in the second tier with very similar classes.
 
#41
#41
I didn't say we did terrible just that there is a whole lot of room for improvement.
Do you consider the sanctions, penalties, and negative recruiting our staff faces on the trail? If not, you should take a look to get an understanding of what Heupel faces.
 
#42
#42
This.

Agree 100%. The portal is where it is at. 5-stars leave programs all the time. Utilizing the portal makes the talent gap much smaller and signing days more irrevelant.
We have had some 5 star players in the past who needed to enter a portal if one had been available.
 
#43
#43
No one else is done either though. Here are the rankings if you throw in portal commits to date also. Doesn't change things much:

Nobody is going to be DONE till after the May portal period. I look for a small run of new players around the country in this cycle (before Jan 2) reacting to the ESD and NIL offerings creating dissatisfaction, and yet another in May after depth charts in spring practice also incentivize some really good players, behind other really good players, to look for opportunities at contenders with defined holes as well as some really good lower classification guys looking to move up the food chain. Sure hope Spyre has some money in the bank if we still have some holes. The reason I have not been bent out of shape losing on high end HS guys.
 
#45
#45
Do you consider the sanctions, penalties, and negative recruiting our staff faces on the trail? If not, you should take a look to get an understanding of what Heupel faces.

What negative recruiting were they facing, investigation is done, sanctions announced so what negative ammunition do opposing coaches have? We're on an upward trajectory with opportunities to play early for freshmen and we're only down 2 or 3 scholarships over the next couple of years so that shouldn't make that much of a difference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mtnvol80
#46
#46
Nope, we didn’t make up any ground or separate ourselves from mid pack. The Hype is going to have to pick it up next year.

It may not be nice to say but I think Hype can only do so much after a Milton year. IF Nico shows the promise we expect next year, I think it will be a lot easier - but still hard in a completely new world for recruiting. Milton's short comings and his short tenure as QB1 did not give marginal recruits the extra they needed to sign with us, IMO. With Nico lighting it up with receivers who can actually catch, we may get some of that hype and swagger back on the offense.
 
  • Like
Reactions: midnight orange

VN Store



Back
Top