What Do Recruiting Rankings Mean?
Posted By Admin on February 3, 2012
The dust has settled on National Signing Day and while there a few kids still left to sign most of the class rankings are being finalized, at least in regards to who signed an LOI with each school. We’ve got the Scout Rankings, the Rivals Rankings and the ESPN Rankings in the bank right now. As Chris Huston, the Heisman Pundit, points out the rankings today aren’t exactly the classes that we’ll get by the time these kids enroll in summer and through camp.
that said, what we have is what we have right now. The preliminary evaluations are in and now we get to figure out what it all means. Were you team’s needs met? Did you sign a fullboat of kids? How many of these guys will contribute immediately? Where are the developmental projects that can pay off in the future?
There’s a lot to assess as the kids come in and first and foremost “needs” must be discussed because ultimately it is a word that gets tossed around a lot but means nothing if it is not used correctly. College football is not the NFL. There are parallels but by and large the differences in roster management are so striking that they make the word “need” mean two very different things.
In the NFL “need” is an immediate thing. Drafting someone to contribute immediately. You’re bad at the linebacker spot, so you get a guy or two who you expect to help now. You need a franchise quarterback so you spend big bucks on that guy early in the draft. Linemen needed to shore up that pass protection get picked to play. Sure, there are developmental guys that you gamble on and hope grow into the projected position or players you transition into a new role but that’s not what your “needs” are centered on.
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