National Signing Day - College Football

[ABQCOWBOY]

True. Another factor that many people overlook is the biased nature of the various recruiting services, which tends to overrate players committed to P5 programs while downgrading those who go to G5's. A couple of examples courtesy of a poster at coogfans.com (blue line is 247Sports own ranking, green line is a composite from multiple services):

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v72/gocoogs/Cowboys/D_KING_zpsmpcmoyya.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v72/gocoogs/Cowboys/C_LARK_zpsfkykh0ry.jpg


http://247sports.com/player/deriq-king-34181

http://247sports.com/player/courtney-lark-36241

Good point, that happens. At the end of the day, a coaching staff may find a kid that they feel as if they can work with. If you can reach a player and get him to play to his full potential, that kid can turn out much better then a 5 star that doesn't ever reach his potential.

Over the years, I've watched BPs Mountaineers do this with several players. They are not unique, there a few Coaching Staffs out there that do this.

Tom Herman might be one of those guys. Better lock him up! He's got ties to Urban and Mack. You never know who might come calling if he continues to win. I know he just signed a new deal in 2015 but it's only a 2.5 buyout. A big time program would pay that and probably more for a good young Coach maybe?

 

[jterrell]

There were more 3 star players at the Super Bowl than 5 star. --obviously there are hundreds more 3 stars each year then 5.

At the end of the day getting the kid to campus and getting him through 3 to 5 years is key for him and the team.
Some kids like Jonathon Gray (sorry UT fans) just choose wrong fits.
He could have walked in at Tech as a Legacy and started 4 years behind a better OL and with a far better QB.
Instead he competed with Malcolm Brown who was also fabulous behind a very overrated OL and a non-existent QB.

Fit is very important.
Tech gets a lot of WRs that would have been far better off going to UT.
Tech is really deep at WR but any DL UT signs would start day 1.

 

[jimmy40]

There were more 3 star players at the Super Bowl than 5 star. --obviously there are hundreds more 3 stars each year then 5.

At the end of the day getting the kid to campus and getting him through 3 to 5 years is key for him and the team.
Some kids like Jonathon Gray (sorry UT fans) just choose wrong fits.
He could have walked in at Tech as a Legacy and started 4 years behind a better OL and with a far better QB.
Instead he competed with Malcolm Brown who was also fabulous behind a very overrated OL and a non-existent QB.

Fit is very important.
Tech gets a lot of WRs that would have been far better off going to UT.
Tech is really deep at WR but any DL UT signs would start day 1.

Jonathon Gray would have been better if he wasn't the easiest guy to tackle maybe ever, couldn't break a tackle to save his life and I have no idea who overrated UT's oline the last 5 years, no one drafted since '08. Malcolm Brown thought he was Adrian Peterson, tried to run over everyone but couldn't.

 

[jterrell]

Jonathon Gray would have been better if he wasn't the easiest guy to tackle maybe ever, couldn't break a tackle to save his life and I have no idea who overrated UT's oline the last 5 years, no one drafted since '08. Malcolm Brown thought he was Adrian Peterson, tried to run over everyone but couldn't.

Gray and Brown were two of the highest rated players to come out at RB in a decade.
They absolutely dominated high school comp.

UT fell apart in every way and those guys never reached anywhere near their potential.
That OL was in shambles. Mack signed too many guys based off sophomore measurables.
And what he got were a lot of soft guys.

Charlie has already recruited better than Brown did the last 5 years of his tenure.

Gray set a NATIONAL record for 205 high school rushing touchdowns. He wasn't easy to tackle then....

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

just a little tidbit on regional recruiting numbers:

The state of Texas produced 52 four- and five-star players. Texas signed just one of the top 10 players in the state while Ole Miss and Baylor grabbed two each, but the Longhorns did sign 12 of the state's top 50, which is very strong. Twenty of the 52 blue-chippers went out-of-state.

That leaves 42 elite players from the state of Florida, a number which is a bit low as it was a down year in the Sunshine State. Of the 42, 25 stayed in state, with Miami (10), Florida State (eight) and Florida (four) leading the way. Auburn was the top out-of-state team for grabbing Florida players, with three, while Ole Miss, Ohio State, Tennessee and Clemson each added two.

The state of California had 45 four- and five-star players, of which UCLA signed 11, USC signed eight and Stanford, Washington and Michigan each grabbed three. In total, 31 of California's 45 blue chip prospects went to Pac-12 schools.

Down in Louisiana, the state's talent seems to be rebounding a decade after Hurricane Katrina, with 21 four- and five-stars. Of that, a ridiculous 11 of the top 13 signed with the LSU Tigers, and 13 of the 21, with no other team signing more than one. That was an absolute lockdown.

-Bud Elliot

 

[jimmy40]

Gray ran through holes the size of the football field at Aledo, Brown did the same at Cibolo. They won't be the last All World high school running backs to not amount to much. Brown did stick with the Rams this year though I believe.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Gray is not the same back he was when he came to Texas. His achillies injury hurt him. He just doesn't have the same explosion he had before. I think that, more then anything, is what kinda killed him. Brown, he should have been drafted IMO. He had the best fumble per carry ratio, by far, then anybody in the draft. He's not a breakaway runner but his a guy who is going to give you 25 carries and get those tough yards.

 

[jimmy40]

Gray is not the same back he was when he came to Texas. His achillies injury hurt him. He just doesn't have the same explosion he had before. I think that, more then anything, is what kinda killed him. Brown, he should have been drafted IMO. He had the best fumble per carry ratio, by far, then anybody in the draft. He's not a breakaway runner but his a guy who is going to give you 25 carries and get those tough yards.

Brown averaged 14 carries a game in college and was dinged up a lot, not sure where he's going to average 25 a game.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Brown averaged 14 carries a game in college and was dinged up a lot, not sure where he's going to average 25 a game.

I don't think he has to AVERAGE 25 carries a game. He has to be a guy who can give you 25 carries in any given game and he is a guy who is very capable of doing that if you ask him to. He's not going to be the starter. He's going to be a backup, at least at this stage of his career.

However, I have always believed that Brown was one of those backs who needed more Carries to be really effective. Brown had 11 games, while at Texas, with over 20 carries in his career. His AYPC in those games was a very respectable 4.8. He had 5 games with 25 or more. His AYPC in those games was 4.2.

Brown was dinged up at Texas but he played through a lot of those injuries and he actually played well. The reason he didn't have more carries, while at Texas, is because he shared the carries. Texas hasn't really used a single primary back for awhile but that may be getting ready to change with Chris Warren next year.