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Only half of the 2004 area top 50 players finished at the schools they signed with out of high school. Fewer reached an all-conference level, proving that projecting high school players as college talents is hit or miss. There were 3 SMU signees on the list, take a look.

Full story

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/colleges/smu/stories/020309dnspohsclass2004.409d3c1.html

Not really that shocking since 50% is probably higher than the % of students from the general population that graduate from the school they start at. It is a good explanation of why you need a deep talented recruiting Class though because attrition is inevitable. You guys that want to come out of your shell once a year and pull your head out of your [deleted] and proclaim recruiting doesn't matter because Johny Pro-Caster claims Blue Chipper Johnny B Good from 2004 flamed out are IDIOTS. Get it-you don't have any clue. And these stories are ALWAYS written by guys that start their stories with "I don't pretend to know anything about recruiting....." Then they proceed to write the same story every year because they are lazy asses who don't want to look at the bigger picture and see the obvious correlation between recruiting and winning and losing.

Stallion,

I was shocked by the amount of players that ended up transferring to schools like ACU, WTA&M, SFA, etc, and the amount of players who never actually enrolled at that big time D1 school they got a scholly to.

Was this class an aberration or is this normal for area top 50 players?

PS - hope you weren't referring to me above. I know that good recruiting equates to winning, just see TCU. I was quoting the story in my post.

It also illustrates that SMU need to have its tranfer rules in order and be willing to pick up these kids.

Dooby wrote:It also illustrates that SMU need to have its tranfer rules in order and be willing to pick up these kids.

That was my point...all these kids that signed with Miami, UNC, and other far away schools would've been better staying close to home and attending SMU.

For a long time I have thought the smart thing for a 5 star to do is to go to a school that has quality coaches and will need to play him early and often. If you are a 5 star and go to the big time program with all the other 5 stars you may end up sitting on the bench. On the other hand if you are the only 5 star you will play. The NFL will find you if you play. They will not if your on the bench. Look at all the schools where the starters for any NFL team came from and you will see only a small percentage came from the big time schools and I think that is because many talented players get buried. Maybe one reason for the transfers is they realize this.

take a second look-most of those kids from "small schools" were recruited by Top programs but never qualified, transferred, flunked out, kicked out or dropped out etc. The vast majority of the NFL's Top players are from BCS programs (or could have been). Guys like Randy Moss who started at BCS but ended up at then Division 1AA Marshall are all over those rosters. One of SMU's few NFL Players came from Division 1AA too but that's a mirage. Other guys like Joe Flaco started at Pitt ended at Deleware. I'm sure Rhett Bomar and Rynn Perilloux will get their shot this year but they started in the BCS. This is extremely common.

http://www.athlonsports.com/college-foo ... -the-draft

Over the last 20 years of the NFL Draft over half of the NFL Draftees have come from LESS THAN HALF of the BCS schools and about the top 1/4th of all Division 1A schools. :

The NFL draws talent from 628 NCAA schools at the Division I, II and III levels, plus NAIA and junior colleges. However, just 31 NCAA Division I schools generated nearly 50% of the 5,395 draftees.


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football ... over_N.htm