Rivals conspiracy true?

[MustangIcon]

I checked rivals this morning and noticed that every one of our recruits is ranked as a 2 or 3 star. Correct me if I am wrong but I could have sworn someone, maybe Sowe, listed by Rivals was rated 0 stars when we signed him.

If this is true (which again correct me if I am mistaken) maybe there is some truth to Stallion's 'Rivals insider ranking bumps for SMU' theory. If it is indeed true, I think a few people on this board might have to eat their words. In any event I am all for anything that gets our recruiting class ranking up. The more exposure and publicity the better. Go Mustangs!

[Stallion]

a "0" star doesn't mean what you think it does. It just means that none of their "talent evaluators" have seen or focused on the recruit in person or on film in order to give them a rating. A 2 star is a minimum rating. A 5.0 which Sowe got is the lowest 2 star rating. Essentially they are saying his a big sleeper. Probably less than 5-10% of the recruits don't receive at least a 2 star. Rivals this week is going thru some reevaluation ratings in which they get their evaluators together and determine whether certain players should be upgraded and given a rating. TCU's rating in particular has shot through the roof. Several were definitely justified -a couple I guess you could argue about. But I believe they are now up to 8 or 9 three stars compared to two 3 stars for SMU.

[Pony Fan]

stallion, I agree with your thoughts about that rivals probably didn't know much about some of these kids (which I have stated before that there is no way to keep up with every kid that is being recruited), but look at some of TCU's class. TCU's safety commitment, Colin Jones, 5-11, 187, 4.65 went from 2 to 3 stars overnight, with offers from TCU, Purdue and Baylor. I mentioned the tight end commitment went from none to 3 stars with only an offer from them. Not an exact science. I will take our 2 star 4.5 guys vs a 4.65 3 star guy any time.

[me@smu]

Was going to post on this same topic. Rivals came out with their latest ranking revisions and essentially all SMU commits now are at least two stars!

Phillip Burley went from a 5.5 rating to a 5.6 though dropped from 51st rated athlete to 59th.

[Stallion]

that was one that raised an eyebrow but SMU was after Colin Jones. It wasn't so much that all of a sudden they raised his rating. They were obviously going through scheduled meetings on players to upgrade because they were raising players grade all over the board. I think it might have to do with rerating National position rankings where they will rate the Top 60 or so at each position. I note that they have reranked these position rankings. For example TCU QB Andy Dalton-after an outstanding senior year is now ranked much higher in the National QB rankings and that coincided with him being given a 3 star. Alex Ibuliye of TCU also went to 3 stars after getting between 15-17 offers including SMU.

[SMU Football Blog]

Was going to post on this same topic. Rivals came out with their latest ranking revisions and essentially all SMU commits now are at least two stars!

Phillip Burley went from a 5.5 rating to a 5.6 though dropped from 51st rated athlete to 59th.

My understanding is that the definition of "2 stars", and Stallion can correct me on this, is that the player is a legitimate I-A prospect. I don't plan on reviewing all the classes of the non-BCS teams, but I expect that there will be very few, if any, no star or 1 star players in their classes. In other words, almost anybody that signs a LOI with a I-A school is going to get 2 stars.

[Pony Fan]

I don't think we were ever interested in Colin Jones, due to speed.

[Stallion]

that time on Colin Jones is bad-he was a Regional qualifier in both the 100 and 200 Meter dash in 3A. He committed early to TCU but SMU was in the race as were several other big name schools not listed in his bio.