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Rivals does NOT get them all...

ZERO star ranking QB
Height: 6-foot-7
Weight: 220 pounds
40-yard dash: 4.8 seconds

From his HS coach: "Nick is a late bloomer like his Dad. He has been six-foot-7 since he was 14 years old. Everything came together for Nick this season. He is a very accurate thrower and makes good decisions."

Nick Lomax has commited to Boise State. Nick’s dad wasn’t recruited out of high school except for Portland State and things turned out well for him. His father, Neil Lomax, played a little quarterback, too!

Four or five of our guys had zero stars until this week.

Mike Damone wrote:Four or five of our guys had zero stars until this week.

Exactly my point, Mike. Rivals is a repository of recruiting information-- not a measurer of talent. Some on this board consider it gospel for things to come.

There are kids every year that may not be highly rated by the recruiting services that sneek through the cracks. The point made on this board by myself and a few others is that you are in real trouble when 1/2 to 2/3 of your recruiting class is made up of these type of players. Sure Boise St. may have reached on a kid but I will bet paychecks they have 2/3 of a class that have received offers or high interest from BCS programs (or at least competitive non-BCS programs, i.e., Fresno St., etc.). That is why teams like Boise St. stomp our rears and have winning seasons. There is a reason SMU is not competitive. It did not and does not happen by accident.

Of course they aren't going to have in-depth analysis on everyone. Some will slip through the cracks, some will be late bloomers, etc. But, Rivals does pretty good job measuring talent. Take a look at the rankings over the past few years and it compare it to the talent on the field.

Rivals isn't the bible, but it does a damn good job following recruits. The stories on players, interviews, game films, etc. are all quality. It also does a good job keeping up with where players have visited and where they have been offered-not just where a player is interested or where they say they've been offered.

Nobody ever says that Player A who doesn't have any stars or isn't highly recruited can't be a superstar. Diamonds in the rough certainly do exist. The thing is that the odds aren't great for that to happen. And its difficult to compete when you're constantly hoping for those odds to pan out.

Recruiting services evaluate talent by reading about them and by talking to people who have seen them. You can bet everything you own that Bobby Burton isn't out there watching the DeSoto/Cedar Hill showdown of the week.

Mike Damone wrote: It also does a good job keeping up with where players have visited and where they have been offered-not just where a player is interested or where they say they've been offered.

Sorry Mike, I disagree. Everything on rivals or any recruiting site is based upon what the recruit reports regarding offers and interest shown from schools...it is against NCAA rules for the schools to talk about who they are recruiting or offering.

PK wrote: Sorry Mike, I disagree. Everything on rivals or any recruiting site is based upon what the recruit reports regarding offers and interest shown from schools...it is against NCAA rules for the schools to talk about who they are recruiting or offering.

.

Exactly, PK.
And, even if it was legal, what fool recruiter would tell Rivals about some "Sleeper" stud out in San Angelo.

Johnny Rock wrote:There are kids every year that may not be highly rated by the recruiting services that sneek through the cracks. The point made on this board by myself and a few others is that you are in real trouble when 1/2 to 2/3 of your recruiting class is made up of these type of players. Sure Boise St. may have reached on a kid but....

So, Rock, when Boise goes for for a low-rated kid it's a "reach", when SMU does it the coaching staff are dumb [deleted] who cannot recruit?

I think Rock is saying when a kid is 6'7 and 220 and has NFL Genetics you are not out of line offering a ship when the rest of your class is 3 and 4 star players.

LakeHighlandsPony wrote:I think Rock is saying when a kid is 6'7 and 220 and has NFL Genetics you are not out of line offering a ship when the rest of your class is 3 and 4 star players.

Lake, thanks for explaining Rock to me.

I read this thread to be a diss toward Rivals rankings. The kid, with his size & family pedigree, is not a stretch- it's a bad ranking by RIVALS. I thought that was the point.

Of course, there are some on this board who can explain away other schools 'stretches' while challenging some of our own recruits who 'grade' out the same. That's why I asked Rock.