My recruiting rankings analysis, for those who care...

[JasonB]

I'll preface this by saying I think Coach Jones did a great job with limited time...

There has been a lot of talk about trying to figure out how we did compared to others, and all that jazz.

What I did, was I looked at 3 sites (Rivals, Scout, and ESPN) and came up with a rating system for each player based on 4 categories:
- Number of stars given by Scout
- Number based on ESPN rating (90+=5, 80+=4, 70+=3, 60+=2, rest=1)
- Number of stars given by Rivals
- Number based on offers reported by rivals.

Offers were rated by this formula:
- 1 = 0 or 1 other offer by non-BCS
- 2 = multiple non-BCS offers or a BCS offer
- 3 = multiple non-BCS offers and a BCS offer
- 4 = 2/3 BCS offers
- 5 = 4+ BCS offers.

Based on those numbers, I calculated the average rating for each player, and each school in SMU's division, plus TCU.

Here are the results. The do not include JUCOs or Transfers:

School-----ESPNAve---RivalsAve---ScoutAve---OfferAve---TotalAve
Houston------1.63---------2.15--------2.26---------2.42---------2.11
TCU----------1.61---------2.23--------2.07---------2.38---------2.07
Tulsa---------1.63---------2.26--------1.94---------2.10---------1.98
Rice----------1.76---------2.05--------1.94---------1.76---------1.88
SMU----------1.68---------2.12--------1.72---------1.76---------1.82
Tulane-------1.42----------2.00-------2.10---------1.36----------1.72
UTEP---------1.36----------2.04-------1.72---------1.13----------1.56

As far as our division is concerned, Tulane and Houston have seperated themselves, and Rice and SMU are right in the middle. Yeah, I realize that UTEP relies a lot on transfers and JUCOs, but I was surprised at the weak class they pulled in.

Our recruits that would be considered strong would be Robinson, Thompson, Jones, Free, Banjo, and Ellison. Loftin and Emshoff are solid recruits as well.

Of course, keep in mind that our lowest rated recruits are Pittman, Line, Huahulu, Chase, and Boyd... each of whom Jones specifically mentioned as having a chance to play next year.

[SMU21TCU10]

Im impressed with the effort you put into that ... i have a lot more confidence in June's recruits than the ratings show cause i really feel like him and his staff are excellent at picking overlooked talent

[Big Hoss]

Impressive stuff, JasonB!

I know Coach Jones said those guys have a chance to play, but at 244 (Chase) and 251 (Boyd), if those two guys get on the field, we might be in trouble - that's seriously skinny for a college lineman. That evokes memories of the late '80s and early '90s, when we'd sign undersized linemen and Coach Gregg or Coach Rossley would talk about how big they might become after they grew for a few years.

Maybe the difference is that we don't have to wait on Chase and Boyd to grow into their frame to have a big O-line. We have some sizeable guys coming back, plus new recruits Emshoff and Nwangwu are already bigger, both at 6'4" and at 271 & 314 respectively.

[OR-See-Nee]

1. Jones knows how to develop talent
2. Jones said this year's class is better than any he had at Hawaii

Whether number 2 is coachspeak or sincerity, I don't know, but JJ's track record speaks for itself.

[Argyle Pony]

We might be surprised at some of the scout team members and returning regulars after one year with vic....I feel our teams will be in shape and more developed because of him and his theories...I just feel that we are fortunate to have him as our trainer...Go Mustangs!!!

[Webmaster]

I've had the pleasure of meeting JasonB on several occasions. He's one of the most knowledgeable and well-versed posters on this forum. Well done, an interesting bit of work.

Might be interesting to run the same research by class (senior, junior, sophomore, etc.) based on anticipated graduation year. That'd give you relative star power of recruiting classes and would adjust for the limited playing time and temporary boost of JUCOs and transfers.

[smu diamond m]

1. Jones knows how to develop talent
2. Jones said this year's class is better than any he had at Hawaii

Whether number 2 is coachspeak or sincerity, I don't know, but JJ's track record speaks for itself.

He actually said something along the lines of "as good as any at Hawaii", no?

[TheBestAvailable]

Impressive stuff, JasonB!

I know Coach Jones said those guys have a chance to play, but at 244 (Chase) and 251 (Boyd), if those two guys get on the field, we might be in trouble - that's seriously skinny for a college lineman. That evokes memories of the late '80s and early '90s, when we'd sign undersized linemen and Coach Gregg or Coach Rossley would talk about how big they might become after they grew for a few years.

Maybe the difference is that we don't have to wait on Chase and Boyd to grow into their frame to have a big O-line. We have some sizeable guys coming back, plus new recruits Emshoff and Nwangwu are already bigger, both at 6'4" and at 271 & 314 respectively.

These Freshmen OLinemen will NOT touch the field during a game next season! All coaches tell players they have a chance to play but it is simply coach speak.

I saw Emshoff and although his measurables sound good on paper(for a new signee) his body is not Division 1 O-Line Ready.

The Defensive linemen have a chance to play because the transition is a little easier for that position but more than likely all of the Offensive Linemen redshirt.

[gostangs]

I agree no OL will play - and we dont want them or need them to. DL is another matter - I could see some time there just becuase we have gapping holes there. I would guess a couple of those guys will be circulating in throughout the year.

i liked the graph - I just think in our case it really lowers our average rating to exclude transfers and Juco's - and this is the first yr it would have moved our needle to even track that. This is the single biggest good news item from this class and from JJ - it is the key to our early term success - lets hope for some more good news in this area before next year.

[ReedFrawg]

Im impressed with the effort you put into that ... i have a lot more confidence in June's recruits than the ratings show cause i really feel like him and his staff are excellent at picking overlooked talent

No doubt....it's the same reason I don't sweat TCU's poor recruiting rankings every year. You just have to trust that the coaches will sign the right players and, most importantly, that they know how to develop them. Patterson and Jones have shown they can do that.

[expony18]

my rating:
1. JUNE JONES
2. EVERYONE ELSE

[smu diamond m]

Well said ex

[SMU_is_bowling]

I agree no OL will play - and we dont want them or need them to

I disagree about needing them to play . . . we may just need them to, our o-line was not that solid last year and we lost some Sr. starters (most notably OT's) and I am not sure if the freshmen will be good enough to start or not, but our O-line depth seems to me to be pretty weak.

I would love to redshirt them all and let them get bigger/stronger/adapted to the college game, but we really do not have that luxury right now. IMHO

[smu diamond m]

Feed them. They'll be big by August.

[SMU_is_bowling]

hopefully alot stronger too . . . big is good, strong is better.