2011 Rivals/Scout/etc. National & Regional Rankings

[wadc45]

Honest, fun debates about rankings are fine...put let's not make it personal or start ripping each other or anyone on the site. Anyone who can't follow BP's simple rules will just get a break from the recruiting forum...

 

[HotMic]

Rivals ratings are just horrible.

 

[HorticullyBuck]

Worse than ESPiN?

 

[GeorgiaBuck2]

I would say yes.

 

[TDunk]

Worse than ESPiN?

Yes. You would think with their resources they'd be respectable, but it's shoddy. They rely on a few main guys and fill in the rest. Every service has it's downfalls, but they miss the mark way too much for the money they have.

 

[MaliBuckeye]

Worse than ESPiN?

Certainly, but nowhere near as easy to use and understand.

 

[OilerBuck]

I'm not offended by the ratings at all. I don't believe that a prospect gets downgraded JUST because they commit to Ohio State. There are always some big shake ups after all-star games, because big talent gets thrown into the fire together and the winner rises to the top.

I think ratings are a good way to initially gauge how successful your class is, and it helps national perception of talent...but does it REALLY change the quality of the player? Doran Grant is the same player outside of the top 100, that he was at #33. The only way that ratings really affect you, is if you need validation from others.

Recruiting services are good, and the variance between them PROVES how inexact and fluid the process is. Overall, I don't think people really appreciate how much work it is to take every high school player in the country and to project the elite ones YEARS into the future. They get it pretty close, all things considered.

I don't like to be the "look at AJ Hawk, Nick Mangold, and Malcolm Jenkins" guy, but the truth of the matter is that there will be disappointments and surprises in every class. We'll look at this class 5 years from now with a completely different opinion...those will be the ratings that matter.

 

[Taosman]

I've never heard anyone complain about Doran Grant's speed before the UA game. I think he was just being too agressive in his coverages. When you get all this talent on one field there has to be some adjustment to the high level of competition. Usually see it the most at WR and DB.

 

[OilerBuck]

Re: Grant...On Scout, it's been suggested that he's a bit too "bulked up" and it's affecting mobility. That affects his stock as a shutdown one-on-one corner, which Ohio State won't ask him to be. We'll take advantage of his discipline, ability to read plays, and ball skills.

Playing on an island, Doran may be rated lower...but in the 'Shoe, it could be a completely different story. Matching a player to scheme is more important than JUST getting athletes. Look at the Patriots' drafts over the past decade.

 

[Cincinnatibuck]

Pulled from Doran's thread:

Grant has more than speed
11:11 am ET -- Ohio State-bound corner Doran Grant continues to show that he's just not a quick, cover guy, consistently pressing and rerouting receivers at the line of scrimmage. Its something we questioned coming into the week, but he's proving it's a strength. Florida commit De'Ante Saunders has been very impressive. Stanford running back recruit Amir Carlisle is actually looking great at receiver.

 

[gracelhink]

(Sarcasm font on)
This may come as a shocker but. . .
Frankly I prefer the recruiting services down grade the tOSU recruits and lower the Buckeye team recruit ranking.
Past recruits have been rated too high. . . Jenkins, Lauranaitis, Hawk, Mangold, Holmes, Checkwa, Sanz, Russell, Pitman, Boekman, Youboty, Simon, etc. were rare anomalies, however . . .
If tOSU recruit rankings would only slip 15 places, in 2013 when Buckeyes claim their 9th consecutive Big Ten championship, the media and other voters might show their respect and appreciation for the significant coaching achievements by JT and award him a fourth place trophy in the Big Ten coach of the year category behind Ferentz, Dantonio, and Pelini. Oops forgot about Hoke, Beilema, and Fitzgerald. Okay a respectable 7th place finish for JT in 2013 Big Ten COTY. (sarcasm off)

 

[Diego-Bucks]

I think that in general, Rivals does a good job. They don't scout "nationally" very well though, most of their scouts are based and live in the South and Southeast. I think they give the benefit of the doubt to other prospects they don't know very well and just have video of (they rate Nick Vannett a 4-star though they haven't seen much of him) but for the most part I've noticed from asking Mike Farrell and some of the other Rivals folks that they just don't see Northern and Western prospects with any regularity. In fact, I think I read somewhere that Rivals currently was working without a Mid-West recruiting supervisor and only 2 scouts were working in the region. My numbers could be wrong, but I think Rivals uses a lot of help from other services/programs/scouts on the Northern recruits.

I think I read a chat transcript in November that said no Rivals scout had seen Steve Miller's games in person for his senior year but they often had 2 to 3 scouts at every one of Jadaveon Clowney's games.

That sort of distribution can't help but lead to a bias, but I think its a better way to look at the offer lists and heavy recruitment interest from other top-tier programs in order to validate a recruits "ranking". Rivals is a company, they need to sell a product. But they are limited in resources. They have less of a need in accuracy than in satisfying the subscribers.

 

[CHU]

Just curious if any Buckeye commit actually went up in the rankings/ratings with Rivals.com or ESPN?

Not that I care about either's (perhaps biased) opinion, but was just curious. I imagine most dropped?

 

[Diego-Bucks]

Just curious if any Buckeye commit actually went up in the rankings/ratings with Rivals.com or ESPN?

Not that I care about either's (perhaps biased) opinion, but was just curious. I imagine most dropped?

Aundrey Walker went up. Almost every other Buckeye stayed the same in the Rivals rating (might have moved up or down on the top100/250 charts). Jeremy Cash went from a 4-star 5.8 to a 3-star 5.7.

 

[wadc45]

Free Rivals - Three new five-stars in updated Rivals100

The Rivals100

Of note:

#1 Jadeveon Clowney (5)
#3 Curtis Grant (5)
#24 Braxton Miller (4)
#33 Doran Grant (4)
#37 Michael Bennett (4)
#56 Damian Swann (4)
#68 Kenny Hayes (4)
#113 Anthony Wallace (4)
#127 Aundrey Walker (4)
#174 Jabari Gorman (4)
#180 Darius Jenning (4)
#181 Nick Vannett (4)
#192 Chase Farris (4)
#222 Austin Traylor (4)
#231 Kevin McReynolds (4)
#235 Brian Bobek (4)

Steve Miller dropped out...

Final Rivals250: Breaking down changes

Of note:

#2 - Curtis Grant - 5
#34 - Braxton Miller - 4
#41 - Micheal Bennett - 4
#54 - James Vaughters - 4
#64 - Audrey Walker - 4
#68 - Kenny Hayes - 4
#102 Doran Grant - 4
#142 Chase Farris - 4
#167 Steve Miller - 4
#191 Darius Jennings - 4
#192 Nick Vannett - 4
#244 Andre Sturdivant - 4
#250 Brian Bobek - 4

Shazier and Story are expected to be 4-stars just outside the Rivals 250...