For everyone throwing rocks at our recruiting class

[JasonB]

While Rivals only has us with 1 three star....

ESPN ranks 15 of our recruits as 3 star players.

For historical purposes, here are the players on our roster who were two star on Rivals but rated in the 70s or higher on ESPN:
Montes
Nabushosi
Cramer
Reed
Loftus
Carroll
Pope
Seals
Rice
Hughes
McCarty
Miller
Chamagua
Darrius Richardson

3 star players that are rated in the upper 70's are expected to be a quality starter at the BCS level, while 70 is borderline BCS prospect. All of our 3 stars are between 72 and 77.

[mrydel]

You lost me at Loftus.

[JasonB]

You lost me at Loftus.

What in the world happened to him this year?

[Pony81]

We are sitting in arguably one of the top 3 recruiting areas in the country.

We can't expect to get the top 100 National football recruit kid. Nor can we go toe to toe with the top national programs.

But the 2 nd tier kid - the ones OSU, BU, TCU,BU feast on are within our reach. These kids want to play close within driving distance of home, get coached up, and play some pro ball.

If SMU could attract a coach that would hustle for these kids with the street cred that he can coach them up to a pro career. Then we could be a top 25 team.

One coach - currently unemployed - could do this.

Butch Davis.

[gostangs]

great idea. lets start taking to him now. strike a deal and announce it in October. Let him have time to get a kick [deleted] staff together and get rolling.

[SMUguy]

You lost me at Loftus.

What in the world happened to him this year?

Kind of looked like a golfer who gets "the yips." We know he can punt after what he did last year and at the start of this year, but he just never got straightened out this year.

[JasonB]

I think a more realistic scenario is that you put together a staff that is great at evaluating those 75-70 rated players, pull in a bunch of that level of three star players. Then get three more assistants like Phillips who can each attract one higher level recruit every year (upper 70s/low 80s), and, finally, make the situation attractive enough to actively recruit high end transfers from other schools that over-stock.

With the trend of more high end talent going to bigger schools, that last bit is going to be more important than ever. It is part of the reason for the success of both UCF and Rice this season.

Someone who was ranked as highly as Gilbert is probably a little too much to expect, but we should be targeting two Shead-level players every season. 4 star recruits who just got stuck on the bench. I know he fumbled all over the place and got hurt a lot this season, but he will have a positive impact next year. If we aren't pulling in two of those every year, the reputation of the coaching staff or school isn't good enough.

[SMU2007]

I'd lose my mind (in a good way) if we hired butch. Idk if the admin would go for it with his history of recruiting "issues"

[Pony81]

JasonB is on the mark by recomending a recruiting plan.
2 -3 highly recruited transfers per year
15 - 3 star . Should be able to bring in these 2nd tier recruits with our location, academics, facilities.
2 -4 star. Really focus on 5 or 6 guys and hope you hit on 2.

I just don't see this as unrealistic - even in the AAC. Given our location in a talent rich area, the fact that most kids want to stay in the area so their people can see them play, our facilities which are on par, and our academics.

But you need a coach - like a Butch Davis - who can attract quality assistant coaches / recruiters and can identify and coach up talent. Butch has shown a knack for identifying talent.

[LA_Mustang]

Again, I usually pay attention to the Rivals ranking but regardless of the star ranking is what schools have offered. IMO, that is most telling factor. Unfortunately, a majority of our recruits have no BCS school offers, and several only have one D1 offer - SMU. It's tough to sugarcoat that fact.

Just checked again, 9 of our 17 commits have SMU as their only division 1A offer

[Stallion]

there is a big difference in getting 15 3+Stars
in 2012 when the State of Texas had about 270
1n 2013 when the State of Texas had 200
in 2014 when the State of Texas so far has only 150

Don't get blinded by the stars-understand what the stars represent-if we got 15 of the Top 150 players in Texas we'd go 11-1 every year-that would be an incredible haul because just about every kid would have multiple BCS offers. Right now we are signing a bunch of kids easily in the Bottom half of the Texas recruiting pool of about 370 each year

[JasonB]

Just as an FYI, I really like the ESPN system.

At Rivals, they ask analysts to look at a 45 second to 3 minute clip of a player and provide them with a star rating and numerical ranking.

At ESPN, they have a full scouting writeup about the player, project his fit and interest level in college, and have a clear guideline of what the numerical rankings mean.

IMHO, because the system is more clearly defined and they detail out why a player got a particular ranking, the ESPN method is more useful than the rivals rating system when trying to determine the level of player.

From an ESPN perspective, there is a significant difference in our recruiting class versus that of a UNT or Rice, but you don't see that extreme difference on Rivals.

[Rebel10]

What about offers? JasobB is trying to make it look better for Jones as he always does but when you have half the class with no FBS offers like this current class then you are on a downward path. Also that is not how they rate recruits at Rivals. The Scout, Rivals, 247, and ESPN all do it about the same with their combines etc. Cramer being ranked as a 3 star is laughable for ESPN and we found that out when he got to SMU. Who has Phillips recruited outside of kids that went to Lamar or that transferred from Lamar? Recruiting starts from the top. We need a head coach that can recruit to start the trickle down effect and not the reverse.

As pointed our clearly that 9 of our 17 commits have SMU as their only division 1A offer.

[Stallion]

Jason really likes ESPN because they have ridiculously over inflated their grades. 271 3 stars or above in a Texas Class that usually produces about 370 Division 1A recruits. About 85 of ESPN's 3 stars are actually in the Bottom Half of the Texas crop.

SMU's highest rated player grades at 77. There are 134 Texas High School Players rated ABOVE 77. So SMU has gotten ZERO players from the Top 1/3rd of the Texas crop

SMU-Total Commitments ESPN-20

2 out of Texas Top 150
_______________________ Hypothetical TOP HALF OF TEXAS CROP (370 / 2 = 185)
3 out of Texas Top 186
6 out of Texas Top 209
8 out of Texas Top 234
________________________ Hypothetical BOTTOM THIRD OF TEXAS CROP (370 x 2/3=247)
13 out if Texas Top 249
15 out of Texas Top 234

Top 1/3- 0 commits
Top 1/2- 2 commits
Bottom 1/2- 18 commits
Bottom 1/3rd - somewhere between 7+ recruits perhaps slightly higher

Now these calculations are slightly skewed because it includes out of state (ex. Florida) recruits in Texas calculations and probably includes players that don't qualify but it gives a good idea. Also, I treated JUCO Tuiasosopo as if he were a high school recruit

[feelthehorsepower]

While Rivals only has us with 1 three star....

ESPN ranks 15 of our recruits as 3 star players.

For historical purposes, here are the players on our roster who were two star on Rivals but rated in the 70s or higher on ESPN:
Montes
Nabushosi
Cramer
Reed
Loftus
Carroll
Pope
Seals
Rice
Hughes
McCarty
Miller
Chamagua
Darrius Richardson

3 star players that are rated in the upper 70's are expected to be a quality starter at the BCS level, while 70 is borderline BCS prospect. All of our 3 stars are between 72 and 77.

You make a good point. Can everyone just stop listening to whatever Rivals has to say? It is ran by Longhorns and not reliable. Our coach is getting the kids we need for our system. A program that has been dead since 1987 does not just come to life in 6 years (2008-2013). Give it time, June went 5-7 in 2005 and then jumped to 11-3 the following year and a sugar bowl in 2007 which they lost but STILL THE SUGAR BOWL!.