Emfinger-Fraud Reveled

[Stallion]

Max the Joke just released his Post Signing Day Top 500 recruits in the country. Of this group 88 players did not sign with a Division 1 school AND THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE THE PLAYERS LISTED AS ACADEMIC RISKS OF NON-QUALIFYING. Now through my research I do know that a small percentage of the Texas Recruits among that 88 are in fact not qualifier but it would be less than 1/3-I assume that percentage is abourt right throughout the country-but those numbers are embarrassing to anyone who takes this guy seriously. There were approximately 3000 Division 1 scholarships given out in this years class and for him to miss on that many kids who he claims are in the Top 1/6 of the national recruiting class demonstrates that his rankings shouldn't even be used for toilet paper. For what its worth, SMU had 5 players in the "Top 412" with Wolcott, Cleveland, Zach Hall, Massey, and Meeks but what is more ridiculous is that not a single one of those kids were ranked higher than 2 star-AND the one kid who was a 3 star-Justin Boren-did not even make the list. I going to show you some more incredible inconsistencies in this buffoons ranking this weekend to show you how he has artificially inflated the rankings of his "clients" like Baylor, UH, and La Tech by using his own rankings.

[This message has been edited by Stallion (edited 02-21-2003).]

[Stallion]

FRAUD EXAMPLE NO.1- Emfinger is an analyst for the Baylor Insiders website-now remember the SMU kids listed above who made his "Top 412" but were not given a 3 star rating. Now check out these Baylor recruits who didn't make his Top 412 but were given a 3 star on the Insiders network-S Kyle Sears, S Nick Fellows, TE Terrance Parks, S C.J. Wilson, LM Jon Michael Morgan, and Kicker Ryan Havens. This will not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed this guy over the years but I thought some of you would be interested how the Insiders is grading its "clients" on a curve. Unbelievable!

[50's PONY]

Stallion,
You are absolutely correct! If you have their total access pass you get access to Insiders, Heartland, and Emfinger. What they don't tell you is that all 3 use the same information from the same site. Its a sham. Half of their lists never got updated. When Massey committed they had him going to T.C.U.. I emailed Emfinger 3 times to tell him that it was S.M.U. -- not T.C.U. -- and they finally changed it. They think nothing about S.M.U. as illustrated by the Heartland list of schools they automatically cover -- which included Houston. I emailed Garvin many times to find out why S.M.U. was not on the list and never did get an honest answer. Insiders basketball coverage is pretty good (Dave Tellep) and the Student Sports site is interesting but the rest of it is a big joke. This week I asked them if I could get a pro-rata refund if I cancelled and they said NO! Needless to say I will not be renewing next year. I remember the days when Emfinger was about the only one and he would come to Dallas to give his signing day report to the Mustang Club. If you quesationed anything he did and wonder why one of our kids was not on the list the kid would then automatically appear with the next printing. He said what you wanted to hear and that is why I am agreeing with you. Rivals seems like the best service out there right now.
You did a good job on your analysis.
50's PONY

[Sic_em]

I agree that Emfinger should definitely be taken with a big grain of salt. It seems that he is really in the business of just telling people what they want to hear.

Of those 5 BU guys mentioned above, it's strange to me that he picked those 5 to be 3 stars. IMO, BU had other guys who should be ranked ahead of some of those...OL Chad Smith from Allen, OL John Mahaffey from Tyler Lee, LB Marcus Foreman from Midway and CB Braelon Davis from Carter.

I think Kyle Seals is legit...he had 108 tackles in 8 games before injuring his arm. Switched from Missouri to Baylor last minute.

Havens is one of the better kickers in Texas. He won a kicking challenge this summer over Zach Myatt and others.

C.J. Wilson didn't play football his junior year but was named Def. POY over his teammate Nebraska signee Adrain Turner in Dist. 16-4A which includes Ennis and Corsicana.

Nick Fellows is a definite stretch to rate 3 stars. He does have speed and is a great 400M guy. He was named to the DMN Top 100 Area list.

LB Jon-Michael Morgan is from Shreveport Evangel. He didn't get much recruiting pub because he committed to BU very early and enrolled mid-term. I don't know much about his numbers but Evangel is one of the better HS programs in the Southwest and not a bad school to get your foot in the door recruiting-wise.

[Stallion]

Sic Em those guys you mentioned were 3 stars-I was drawing a contrast between the SMU kids that made just about every single Top 100 list including their National 412 and yet didn't get a 3 star when other lesser known recruits did. The big problem with Insiders is that they don't adjust their ratings based on the actual offers and visits recieved by the players. Sears is a legitimare prospect as he also committed to TCU before the other schools mentioned but I don't think he rates with the consensus opinion on Meeks, Massey. Cleveland and Hall.

[Phil Fan]

First of all, what kind of a random list is a Top 412? Talk about reaching for an obscure statistic.

Secondly, I know someone's written it here before, but here's another example of what a clown MaxE is: In that waste of good trees that he calls a recruiting guide, he has done a profile on his son since his son was about 9 years old. Why anyone buys his rag is beyond me. He knows as much about recruiting as I know abouut brain surgery.

[Stallion]

The Top 412 was a joking refences to Max Emfinger's Top 500 in which 88 players didn't even sign a Division 1 scholarship.

[Phil Fan]

Ah - got it. Sorry, I was a little slow yesterday!

[EastStang]

I read an article in the Washington Times several weeks ago. It talked about a kid who had hyped himself somehow and Emfinger gave him a high rating. It turned out he wasn't even a starter on his high school team. Rivals followed suit, only when a college called his coach for film was the jig up. He got visits to Michigan, Ga. Tech, and it was Florida who figured it out the day before his official visit with them.

[INFINITYRR]

All these services seem worthless at times, with pandering by the players or player's parents. I have seen that on the Texas Tech board that they all upset that their recurits were down graded just before signing day. Too bad that there isn't a service that keeps information based on size, weight, 40, and vertical with football stats reported by the HS coaches on a game by game basis.

[Stallion]

...I keep wanting for some one to explain why upgrading or downgrading is necessarily a bad thing if its based upon additional information. The truly awful services are the ones that stick with the Preseason Top 100-that's how SMU was able sign such "Top 100" recruits like Luker and Danaher who were never really recruited at all by other Division 1 schools.

[INFINITYRR]

If the rating change is only based upon the school that a recruit signs (up LATech, Baylor, Houston, A&M-down SMU,TTech) with than that rating change are a bad thing. Performance on the field is what makes a difference. These guy's don't know anything more than what someone tells them. It is time for SMU to show it on the field.

[Charleston Pony]

This thread highlights why Bennett's hiring will ultimately prove to have been a good one. He and his staff are well connected with H.S. coaches in Texas, and those guys are the BEST sources of information. These recruiting services are great for fanatics like us, and some of them do better than others in keeping up with what the real talent evaluators think. For a program like SMU, that is not going to go "toe-to-toe" with UT and A$M for the "can't miss" prospects, those relationships with Texas H.S. coaches will prove invaluable over time. Give Cavan credit for having hired Coach Ringo, a past president of the T.H.S.C.A. Give Bennett credit for retaining him.

[PonyPride]

Charleston makes a good point - Bennett's relationships with the coaches will be instrumental in the program's development, in my opinion. When I talked to all the HS coaches for the PonyFans.com Recruiting Roundup, the common theme that came from the interviews with the coaches was their respect and genuine fondness for Coach Bennett. Almost to a man, the high school coaches said something about how they knew their player would be in good hands with Coach Bennett, or what a great coach and a great man he is, or about how his track record speaks for itself. There seems to be a universal respect and admiration for Coach Bennett among high school coaches, and that can only help as Coach Bennett brings better and better players to SMU.