ESPN bumps us up into top ten

[Sib18]

LSU, Tennessee, Illinois enter top ten

By Tom Luginbill
Scouts Inc.

Not too much movement at the top of the rankings, but three new teams, LSU, Tennessee and Illinois, have made the biggest splashes and entered the top ten. With just four weeks until national signing day, official visits of undecided prospects are starting to heat up, and so will the commitments.

LSU has had a nice start to the new year after they received a surprise defection in CB Phelon Jones (Mobile, Ala./McGill-Toolen) from Miami in December. This was followed up by commitments from two defensive stalwarts in DE Luther Davis (West Monroe, La.) and Joseph Barksdale (Detroit, Mich./Cass Tech), both of whom announced during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

While Tennessee lost out on S Harrison Smith (Knoxville, Tenn./Knoxville Catholic) and WR Golden Tate (Nashville, Tenn./Pope John Paul II) to Notre Dame, it won the battle by landing LB Chris Donald (Huntington, Tenn.), CB Eric Berry (Fairburn, Geo./Creekside), DE Ben Martin (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) and WR Gerald Jones (Oklahoma City, Okla./Millwood), all of whom fill significant needs on their roster.

Ron Zook continues to pound the pavement on the recruiting trail and had a very successful December for Illinois with commitments from DE Martez Wilson (Chicago/Simeon), TE/DE D'Angelo McCray (Jacksonville, Fla./Andrew Jackson) and DT Josh Brent (Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic).

Another team worth mentioning is South Carolina, who will be hard to knock out from among the top-ranked recruiting classes. With seven ESPN 150 commitments, not too many more big names may jump aboard, but it has filled holes with SEC championship-caliber players. Many may look back at this class three years from now as the class that got it over the hump.
(previous top-ten rank in parenthesis)
1. (1) Notre Dame
ESPN 150 prospects: 9

2. (2) Texas
ESPN 150 prospects: 11

3. (3) USC
ESPN 150 prospects: 9

4. (5) South Carolina
ESPN 150 prospects: 7

5. (4) Florida
ESPN 150 prospects: 7

6. (-) LSU
ESPN 150 prospects: 5

7. (-) Tennesee
ESPN 150 prospects: 4

8. (8) Georgia
ESPN 150 prospects: 5

9. (6) Georgia Tech
ESPN 150 prospects: 2

10. (-) Illinois
ESPN 150 prospects: 4
Dropping out of top ten: Michigan, Auburn, North Carolina. Recruit Tracker Automated Rankings

 

[VolBobOrangePants]

WTF?!? irish #1? When did NBC take over ESPN?

 

[ssims6]

I thought we had more than 4? Campbell and Melancon are in there 150 I thought.

 

[OrangePappy]

I thought you rated classes top to bottom, not how many in the top150.

 

[Sib18]

NAME
POS
HT
WT
RANK (by position)

GRADE​

Eric Berry
CB
5-11
195
CB #1

90​

Ben Martin
DE
6-5
225
DE #7

81​

Gerald Jones
CB
6-0
170
CB #9

80​

Todd Campbell
WR
6-1
185
WR #17

80​

Chris Donald
OLB
6-2
215
OLB #3

80​

Rolando Melancon
DT
6-2
265
DT #9

79​

Da'Shaun Barnes
S
6-3
200
S #15

79​

Daryl Vereen
RB
6-0
202
RB #21

79​

C.J. Fleming
CB
5-11
170
CB #14

79​

Josh Hawkins
RB
6-1
190
RB #24

79​

Darris Sawtelle
OT
6-5
275
OT #25

78​

Anthony Anderson
S
6-0
175
S #34

77​

Rufus Williams
DE
6-3
225
DE #52

76​

Art Evans
WR
6-0
182
WR #71

75​

Dennis Rogan
CB
5-11
161
CB #41

74​

B. J. Coleman
QB
6-4
190
QB #87

73​

Tyler Maples
WR
6-2
180
WR #120

71​

Donald Langley
DT
6-2
280
DT #77

70​

Brett Vinson
WR
6-2
180
PG

69​

 

[sickemsmokey10]

I LMAO @ Chris Donald being an "80" and #3 OLB, aswell as Brent Vinson being a 69

 

[therickbol]

ESPN puts no resources into recruiting. This ranking is meaningless.

 

[Volsguy12]

so they're tellin us there is 89 better QBs in the nation then Coleman?? yea right.

 

[Chattownsfinest]

ESPN and Luginbilli is absolutely horrible. All they do is watch tape, they see none of the guys in action until the AA game. They had Everson Griffen one of the best DEs I've seen in years coming out of HS at like #70 in the country because they didn't think he had a consistent "motor". Then they saw him dominate the AA pratices and game and they moved him to #30, when he should be no less than #5 and said something like he "had his motor running, hope he keeps it up".

Also they have Golden Tate at #11 and the #2 WR in the country, which is the funniest thing I've ever heard. They watched his tape where he dominates all those guys in that horrible division he plays in, and that's all they needed. Meanwhile he was the third best WR on his team at the O-D bowl.

 

[sjt18]

WTF?!? irish #1? When did NBC take over ESPN?

ESPN has consistently been pro ND. They probably get their rankings from the Irish sports information office.

 

[grivira]

ESPN has consistently been pro ND. They probably get their rankings from the Irish sports information office.

Even after ND gets destroyed in the LSU game, All I heard was nothing but nonsense (delete 300 cussing word here)

 

[Volunteer_Kirby]

Luginbill has no clue what he is doing.