Per 247Sports, most of our guys had their recruiting grade updated. Nearly everyone took a step down. I know for a lot of fans (myself included), it seems like we were taking a chance with Jones, Gatlin, and Nichols because they were low three stars. We were assured their ranking would go up because they just hadn’t been evaluated. All three are now two star recruits after evaluation. Now, I know not to always trust the rankings, but this can’t be a good indication. I know Beilema does a great job of developing talent, but we may need a few of these guys to be ready as soon as they get on campus. Just a little concerning from my viewpoint.
Very concerning, I know they are instate guys, which I love to see. But no SEC school should have 3 two star recruits. The odds of a two star ever contributing are pretty low, drew Morgan was an example of one who did, but we all knew he was pretty special. I have a hard time swallowing 3 two stars, fairly un-impressive class.
Was it last year’s Super Bowl that featured more two star players than three, four, and five star players?
I’ll take them and be so very glad.
I’d love to see where that was the case, highly doubt it, personally. I would imagine it was more along the lines of a record number of 2 stars in the game itself.
I think a more relevant question, or statistic, is how many 2 stars have played in the National Championship game recently? I doubt bama has more than a handful if any, and I doubt they play. Idk clemsons story, but I know they recruit around a top 10 level.
I’m happy for the kids, would never take away that.
I’m just realistic, and know that multiple two stars as main choices will not get us to the SEC championship anytime soon. Now if we have one every year that is a spot filler/project, I’m fine with that. But it’s concerning that our main targets are 2 stars, even though I don’t think their offer list reflects a two star. I hope they become great razorbacks, time will tell.
Don’t think Arkansas is taking a chance on three guys they saw at camp. The best evaluation is a camp setting.
I don’t totally discount stars, but I also don’t necessarily think the stars mean anything for a given player. I’m sure you’re right about Bama having few or perhaps no 2-star players. However, I’m not certain they got their stars before or after they got offers from Bama. The recruiting services might do a passable job at evaluation, but I just bet there are players they’d rate as 2 stars until they found out Saban wanted them. Then they’d go to 3 or 4 in a heartbeat. Saban knows how to evaluate. I bet our coaches do, too. But unless Bama or some other high-profile program offers, there’s a good chance they can be underrated by recruiting services.
I believe the stat I saw was that there were more 2-star prospects playing in the 2017 Super Bowl than 5-satr prospects.
As for the three in-state guys mentioned, these were not lightly-recruited guys. All of them had multiple Power 5 offers from the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Pac 12.
Arkansas did a thorough evaluation of them all and did not offer until the final phase of working with them in camp.
I don’t have a problem with any of the three offers, regardless of the number of stars.
Coaching staffs will also be better eval guys than sports writers or fans.
Best eval to me is offers. If multiple coaches have seen you or your film and want you then you’ve got tools. The better the programs are that offer you, the better your tools are. Finding guys (and signing them) who have the tools is only part though. Those guys still have to develop. It’s not a perfect science or we’d never have a bust in the various drafts, but 1st rounders flame out and undrafted free agents make teams. Mitch Mustain flames out, Drew Morgan excels. Happens every year for somebody.
There’s a link below to an article on last year’s Super Bowl. It discusses NE and Atl starters and their number of stars as High School recruits.
The Patriot starters on offense consisted of 1, 4-star and 1, 5-star. The Defense was was identical to the offense, with 1. 4* and 1, 5*. The other 18 starters were 0, 2, or 3 stars high school recruits. Atlanta was similar to NE, with 1 5*, and 3, 4*. So, out of 44 starters in the Super Bowl, there were 8, 4 and 5-star recruits and 36, 0, 2, or 3 star recruits. That’s 36 of 44 (82%) starters who were 3-star or lower recruits.
Thank you for actually doing some research instead of letting the “Negative Nancy” speculation drive a pre-determined narrative about UA football. So sick of that crap. Your post is much appreciated.
:ugeek:
Thanks for the link, that’s pretty neat.
But as I mentioned, I find it quite irrelevant considering the razorbacks’ are not in the NFL.
As mentioned I think the national championship would be a better comparison.
I don’t think anyone is taking a 2 star player over a 5 star who is in their right mind. I’ve been a razorback fan my entire life and we have a fan base that has accepted tolerance to mediocrity and call people “Negative Nancys” ifthey point out otherwise.
Sure 2 stars can develop, that’s generally their path and only path. The NFL has a lot less players than CFB, so only the elite make it, and that takes a lot more than god given ability it takes work ethic. That’s where a lot of them step in.
But, it’s easy to see for me, we will not be competing for any kind of championship until we recruit at a top 15 level. That’s a plain and simple thing, all of the schools that are in competition for either the SEC or national title recruit at this level. We won’t get there recruiting at 25-40 level.
I don’t get too caught up in stars, but I do look at it and hate to see too many 2*. I pay much more attention to the offer list. That tells you a lot more about what several programs think.
I do know that we have not paid near enough attention to speed and quickness the past few years and it showed in a very slow defense that was just plain bad and a long way from SEC standards. That had better be changing.
I would trust the coaches over anyone else.
As far as there offer sheets that is misleading as well.
Some coaches blanket offer tons of kids as soon as possible and then see what sticks.
CBB can evaluate better than most, if you look at who we offer and then the closer it gets signing day the big dogs offer.
Case in point Munson last year and scotta the year before, Ala tries to get them both
The people on 24/7 are saying it was because they moved scout to their site and screwed up the system.
So that is NOT the true rating
Imagine that Scout screwing something up
Good to know. I don’t like coming off as a Negative Nancy, because I’m not. I’m a huge fan of getting guys that care more about the school than getting drafted. I think it shows better on the field. My only concern from the lower ranking, and I guess it wasn’t clear in my original post, was the potential for not contributing to the depth chart immediately. After all, stars only project the ability to come in right away, not potential talent. But I digress.
The big error/mistake is to take the ratings as gospel.
You might as well believe mutual funds are your
best investment strategy.