PonyFans.com

Okay, I'm confused. I went on thinsiders.com and checked out the SMU commits that they had listed. This is what they had:

They have their respective positions, national rank, star rating, name, and stats. In that order.


-------2003-------

WR 131 ** Joey Sturdivant
(Parkview HS)
Lilburn, GA 6-2/185/4.45 01/13/2003 SMU

TE 94 ** Cory Muse
(Millwood HS)
Oklahoma City, OK 6-3/208/4.6 12/20/2002 SMU

QB NR ** Chris Phillips
(Bishop Lynch HS)
Dallas, TX -/260/- 11/07/2002 SMU
OL 165 Bryan Turner
(Lee HS)
Tyler, TX 6-2/280/5 10/06/2002 SMU

RB 74 ** Richuel Massey
(Hillsboro HS)
Hillsboro, TX 5-9/205/4.5 09/15/2002 SMU

What's the deal with that? First of all they had Joe as a WR. I don't see that happening. Also, the star ratings are out of whack from what's been posted on this board. Not to mention that they obviously don't have all our commits listed. Out of curiousity, I checked out how it compared to last years recruiting class and....more confusion.

-------2002-------

RB 44 *** Anthony Barnett
(David W Carter HS)
Dallas, TX 5-8/170/4.4 SMU

OL NR * Dustin Morton
(Conroe HS)
Conroe, TX 6-4/280/5.5 SMU

DT NR * Darrian Billups
(Bowie HS)
Arlington, TX 6-5/290/- SMU

DE NR * Randy Denman
(Dayton HS)
Dayton, TX 6-2/265/- SMU

CB NR * Robert Gilmore
(Trinity Christain HS)
Cedar Hill, TX 6-2/175/- SMU

WR 125 ** Daniel Francis
(Lincoln HS)
Port Arthur, TX -/170/4.45 01/30/2002 SMU

DE 65 *** Brent Karrington
(Highland Park HS)
Dallas, TX 6-3/255/4.78 01/19/2002 SMU

OL 77 *** Darrin Johnson
(North Dallas HS)
Dallas, TX 6-6/275/4.8 01/11/2002 SMU


So, again, what's the deal? I thought Barnett was our only three star last year. Could someone clear this up for me?

Not to worry. The difference is between rating services. Most people are looking at Rivals, you're looking at the Insiders.

Also, Sturdivant WAS a pretty darn good WR in high school, but most are projecting him as a Safety.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by PerunaPunch:
<B>Not to worry. The difference is between rating services. Most people are looking at Rivals, you're looking at the Insiders.</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah I realized that, but it seems so vastly different.

I guess I would trust Rivals more because they seem to be more up to date. It is also further proof that these rating services are not an exact science.

why look at Insiders (max Emfinger) Max has lost alot of his credibilty as an objective "talent" scout.

Bingo. In fact, I thought Darrin Johnson was completely off these services radar screen until A&M jumped all over him.

Then it was like... Gee, there must be something to the Johnson kid.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by PerunaPunch:
<B>Bingo. In fact, I thought Darrin Johnson was completely off these services radar screen until A&M jumped all over him.

Then it was like... Gee, there must be something to the Johnson kid.</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

OHHH I get it. Basically he ranks players on particular schools interest and not on talent. So if A&M is interested, that automatically gets you 3 stars. Miami might get you 4. He doesn't do his research, or as Stampede seemed to imply, he doesn't really scout talent. He just strokes the big schools.

A little insight into the value of Max Emfinger as a recruiting analyst. He puts our a really bad magazine for recruiting every year, and each year he's included his son - even when his son was in elementary school. Emfinger is a complete joke.

Believe me the Rivals Network is preferred by the fans of just about every school. The Insiders seems to really concentrate on the Top 100-200 players in the nation, they rarely update offers as opposed to interest so you can gauge interest and fail to keep their rankings up to date. They are incredibly sloppy and unreliable source in comparison to Rivals. BTW a player should be evaluated based on the number and quality of the offers he receives whether he signs with UT or A&M or not. The coaches are the professional evaluators, the services are journalists. If a kid gets an offer from A&M, UT and other big name schools and has plenty of options then his rating SHOULD go up. If he is a SLEEPER with no other offers but SMU loves him I don't feel he should be rated high unless there is a consensus. The coaches are the professionals!

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 01-16-2003).]

I gotcha, Stallion. That actually does make more sense than my previous post. It also clears up the difference in Rivals and Insiders. Thanks for everyone's insight.