“The stars come with recruitment by the big schools, the SEC in particular. But some of those top five programs, when they get involved with a kid, it seems like their rankings go up. He’s good and super talented, but a lot of that stuff is tied to recruitment more than people that see him every day doing what they do and understanding all the strengths and weaknesses they bring to the table.”
In Green’s specific case, the explanation is even simpler: He hadn’t been fully evaluated yet.
“We’re a little bit more reactive on junior college rankings than proactive, because junior college is a little different animal than high school,” said Barton Simmons, 247Sports’ director of scouting.
Green held offers from dozens of major programs, including Georgia, Florida, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Utah. But once a prospect commits, Simmons said 247 tries to react with a full evaluation as quickly as possible.
But Green’s specific leap?
“Yeah,” Simmons said, “That’s unique to this time of year.”
In 247Sports’ case, they’ll put together a more comprehensive list and evaluation and publicize it just before the season begins.
But when a player like Green bursts onto the scene, Simmons springs into action. A full evaluation means verifying his height and weight, which was available for Green. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, his size is exceptional for a cornerback. It means asking around on coaching staffs who have seen him play for their input.
“This whole business is about information gathering,” Simmons said. “Sometimes, juco is a little bit tougher. We often don’t have quite the same level of information. We’re not seeing them in a camp circuit in the spring and summer. We’re not hitting as many games in the fall. They’re not quite front and center in our minds.”
It also means verifying his athletic ability by finding an 11.04 100-meter dash time from high school and a 21-foot long jump from back when Green was a two-star receiver recruit that has planned on heading to Arkansas State.
Even that status, though, can be deceiving.
“A guy like that, had he been academically qualified, he probably didn’t have the offer list he deserved coming out of high school, just because he didn’t have the grades. If he’d had the grades, there’s no telling what that offer list could look like,” Simmons said. “That can be misleading when you look at a high school profile versus the juco profile. You have to give them a fresh start.”
He also found video of Green dunking from just in front of the free throw line during a basketball game. The only football film available for review, though, was Green’s five-minute highlight tape, which featured all coverage and no tackling, but did showcase the ball skills and awareness that made him a good receiver in high school.
“That’s a really compelling profile, and that’s really what gave us the thinking and mindset to throw a four-star grade on him,” Simmons said. “If we gather the fact that the guy is soft and doesn’t want to be physical in the run game, that might change our opinion. Or maybe we find out he’s got a lot of toughness and he’s extremely physical and maybe we’ll bump him even higher.”
