Ben Roberts: Benny Snell was rated 74th best RB in the nation. Nice breakdown how others are doing

akaukswoosh

Hall of Famer
Jan 14, 2006
79,013
120,647
93
Recruiting rankings can be a beneficial tool for gauging a high school football prospect’s standing among his peers and the relative strength of a college program’s incoming class of players.

Often, those rankings pan out. But it’s certainly not uncommon — especially in football — for a recruit to “outplay” his ranking once he gets to college. In most cases, that happens as a player gets older, stronger, smarter and realizes his potential a little later than those he was graded against in high school.


More rarely, a lower-ranked prospect emerges as an immediate star.

That’s what’s happening with Kentucky freshman running back Benny Snell.

He certainly wasn’t an unknown prospect coming out of Westerville Central High School in Ohio, but few could have envisioned the true freshman season that Snell is having for the Wildcats, especially with veterans Boom Williams and Jojo Kemp, as well as previous contributors Sihiem King and Mikel Horton, already on UK’s roster when he arrived in Lexington.


Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/sports/coll...-football/article111654132.html#storylink=cpy
 

bigblueindy

Freshman
Apr 10, 2007
517
72
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I will take a 74th running back like Snell any day. Stoops really got a jem. I predict this kid is going to be in the NFL. He can run through, over and around you. I have not seen to many true freshmen when they hit a SEC pile it moves. I just pray good health and a couple more solid years for him. He will break many running back records at UK I hope.

Bigblue
 

yoshukai

Heisman
Dec 21, 2002
27,198
36,935
102
Probably wrong but I was thinking Rose was the higher rated back of the 2 we signed.
 

BluffaloSlim

Sophomore
Jan 1, 2016
259
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Ahh we can agree to disagree..

This guy carried piles of bodies in his HS highlights and only went down until the fourth guy hit him.

I said in the thread he ran like Marshawn Lynch. I don't think he runs as much like Marshawn now but it's a similar imposing style.
 
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bluedog79

All-American
Mar 4, 2008
6,015
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I wouldn't trade Benny Snell for any other running back in the country. I've seen enough to know what we got. Stoops found his Cobb. A player who can punish the SEC.
Coach Stoops should try to recruit the best offensive linemen he can because we got a true star. Lineman should love Snell. He will make them look good.

I figured out what Kentucky needs to be good every year. 3 things.
1. a center
2. a Big body shifty running back
3. low turnovers
 
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ukalum1988

Heisman
Dec 21, 2014
12,165
31,418
113
Thanks to the OP for sharing this. I've ripped the LHL on numerous occasions going back 30+ years, but sometimes they do put some interesting analysis out there for us UK FB fans.

Agree with everyone else that Benny is a special player. His lack of recruiting hype makes it all the better; kind of like Randall Cobb in many ways.
 

cardkilla_rivals379685

All-Conference
May 10, 2002
2,076
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I really hope Rose is as good as Snell. My guess is that maybe Rose isn't as physically ready or didn't pick up all the other things a RB needs to do like blocking and reading plays correctly.
 

megablue

Heisman
Oct 2, 2012
13,480
13,080
113
I wouldn't trade Benny Snell for any other running back in the country. I've seen enough to know what we got. Stoops found his Cobb. A player who can punish the SEC.
Coach Stoops should try to recruit the best offensive linemen he can because we got a true star. Lineman should love Snell. He will make them look good.

I figured out what Kentucky needs to be good every year. 3 things.
1. a center
2. a Big body shifty running back
3. low turnovers
You make good points and those three (3) are certain needs, but it's nice when the competition is as weak as its been the last couple of years in the SEC East. I would add an accurate, long-distance field goal kicker to the list. We might be having a different conversation if Austin missed the FG against Miss State.
 

MirageSmack

Junior
Dec 17, 2006
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Benny likely wouldn't be playing anywhere else. He walked into the perfect situation. How many other true frosh in the country get that many direct snaps? Out lack of a sure fire QB gave him the chance, and he made good on it.
 

yoshukai

Heisman
Dec 21, 2002
27,198
36,935
102
I really hope Rose is as good as Snell. My guess is that maybe Rose isn't as physically ready or didn't pick up all the other things a RB needs to do like blocking and reading plays correctly.
I was thinking Rose had some minor injuries and they wanted to redshirt one of them so they went with Snell . I'm hoping Rose is close to as good as Snell !
 

IFerg1969

All-Conference
Oct 3, 2009
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I find it hard to believe there are 73 RBs in the country better than Snell at this point in the season. Maybe that's my blue tinted goggles speaking though.
 

BigBlueFanGA

Heisman
Jun 14, 2005
26,435
23,455
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Much like Randall Cobb, I'm pretty sure Benny was overlooked because of speed. The talk around Cobb coming out oh high school was he didn't have major D1 speed. Well, there's track speed and football speed, and then some guys are just players. Benny showed a 4.75 40 speed coming out of high school. I'm sure that single issue dropped him that low. But like Cobb, he has plenty of football speed and the kid is a player. We got another huge steal.
 

Blue63Madison

All-American
May 21, 2002
35,727
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Benny likely wouldn't be playing anywhere else. He walked into the perfect situation. How many other true frosh in the country get that many direct snaps? Out lack of a sure fire QB gave him the chance, and he made good on it.
He was making a huge impact before we started featuring him in the Wildcat. He was already taking carries away from one of the best running backs in the country. He didn't walk into a perfect situation. Not even close. He earned his time and he'd be playing just about anywhere in the country right now. He's that good.
 
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Black Diamond Cat

All-Conference
Apr 9, 2016
4,672
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Just show us that recruiting rankings are an inexact science. Benny Snell, Randall Cobb, Bud Dupree, Danny Trevathan, even Stephen Johnson would fall into that catagory !