Saturday down south ranks 2014 recruiting up to this point

[myusernamesucks]

And we are still near the bottom overall, and dead freaking LAST in the division.

Here’s a look at the 14 SEC schools and how they stack up against each other and the rest of the country for the class of 2014:

ALABAMA
Commitments: 21
SEC: No. 1
Nationally: No. 1
Top committed prospect: OL Cameron Robinson
Headlined by: LB Christian Miller, QB David Cornwell, ATH Bo Scarbrough
Related: US Army game has 24 SEC commits

GEORGIA
Commitments: 17
SEC: No. 2
Nationally: No. 3
Top committed prospect: DT Lamont Gaillard
Headlined by: RB Nick Chubb, QB Jacob Park, RB Sony Michel
Related: Georgia’s D-line class shaping up as nation’s best

TENNESSEE
Commitments: 25
SEC: No. 3
Nationally: No. 4
Top committed prospect: RB Jalen Hurd
Headlined by: DB Todd Kelly, LB Dillon Bates, DE DaVonte Lambert
Related: Elite JUCO O-lineman picked the Vols today

LSU
Commitments: 15
SEC: No. 4
Nationally: No. 10
Top committed prospect: DB Edward Paris
Headlined by: QB Brandon Harris, OL Garrett Brumfield, WR Trey Quinn

TEXAS A&M
Commitments: 14
SEC: No. 5
Nationally: No. 11
Top committed prospect: QB Kyle Allen
Headlined by: DB Nick Harvey, DB Dylan Sumner-Gardner, LB Josh Walker

FLORIDA
Commitments: 14
SEC: No. 6
Nationally: No. 14
Top committed prospect: RB Dalvin Cook
Headlined by: WR Ermon Lane, QB Will Grier, DB Duke Dawson

OLE MISS
Commitments: 21
SEC: No. 7
Nationally: No. 13
Top committed prospect: OL Rod Taylor
Headlined by: DB C.J. Hampton, OL Andy Bauer, RB Akeem Judd

AUBURN
Commitments: 15
SEC: No. 8
Nationally: No. 15
Top committed prospect: LB Tre’ Williams
Headlined by: DB Nick Ruffin, DB Derrick Moncrief, RB Racean Thomas
Related: Auburn commits stoked about the fast start

KENTUCKY
Commitments: 24
SEC: No. 9
Nationally: No. 16
Top committed prospect: QB Drew Barker
Headlined by: DE Denzel Ware, DT Cory Johnson, DB Mike Edwards

ARKANSAS
Commitments: 17
SEC: No. 10
Nationally: No. 24
Top committed prospect: OL Jermaine Eluemunor
Headlined by: DT Bijhon Jackson, QB Rafe Peavey, DB Henre Toliver

VANDERBILT
Commitments: 18
SEC: No. 11
Nationally: No. 26
Top committed prospect: QB K.J. Carta-Samuels
Headlined by: DB Kyle Gibson, DT Michael Sawyers, DE Lloyd Tubman

MISSISSIPPI STATE
Commitments: 19
SEC: No. 12
Nationally: No. 28
Top committed prospect: RB Aeris Williams
Headlined by: OL Jordan Harris, ATH Jamoral Graham, ATH Gerri Green
Related: Miss State recruiting rolling now

SOUTH CAROLINA
Commitments: 12
SEC: No. 13
Nationally: No. 33
Top committed prospect: WR Shaq Davidson
Headlined by: LB Bryan Allen-Williams, DT Abu Lamin, DB Darin Smalls
Related: South Carolina could be very happy Friday

MIZZOU
Commitments: 24
SEC: No. 14
Nationally: No. 37
Top committed prospect: DB Logan Cheadle
Headlined by: DB Tavon Ross, WR Nate Brown, ATH Thomas Wilson
Related: Mizzou commits stoked about the 5-0 start

 

[CadaverDawg]

I thought Carta-Samuels was Vandy's QB this year.

 

[myusernamesucks]

Austin. They have K.J committed. 4 star quarterback. Must be nice. Oh well, maybe we can beat out MAC for another private school offensive lineman between now and February.

 

[57stratdawg]

That wont change much with this staff. Just the way it is.

 

[myusernamesucks]

I know, and it's downright sad and pathetic. The talent gap gets wider and wider, and what happened last saturday starts happening more and more, to every other team and not just one or two. What a joke. Still dont have ONE out of the top 100 committed, and only two players rated a 4 star or better. It is comical. Someone, anyone, PLEASE tell me what we are doing on the recruiting trail. Please dont respond with "nothing" because that is obvious.

 

[bullythisblackbear]

I don't follow football recruiting much but everytime I see something it's about ole mess hosting more 4 and 5 star recruits. What is that all about. Never went to private schools but damn stop the damn hate. There are Caucasians that can play the game.

 

[myusernamesucks]

First of all, ole mess? Seriously? Secondly, here is the most recent private school OL committment.

Mississippi State	Verbal	Yes		None
Arkansas State	No Interest	Yes		None
Louisiana	No Interest	Yes		None
Louisiana Tech	No Interest	Yes		None
Mississippi	No Interest	No		None
Vanderbilt	No Interest	No		None
Wake Forest	No Interest	No		None

<tbody>
</tbody>

Yeah.

 

[bullythisblackbear]

Well if you tell me white men can't play then I guess it must be true. Why you upset about mess. Dat you yancy??

 

[skb124]

Did you watch the game last week?

The only positions LSU had a clear advantage were WR and QB. And that was the best QB and pair of WRs in the league. Our DBs struggled because they are young and played against those WRs. LSU's DBs didn't look too solid either. Our O and D line held their own as well as our LBs. I just don't see how you can look at that game and say that the talent gap is widening. I actually viewed it as the opposite.

We live in Mississippi, the recruiting sites don't give Mississippi prospects respect. While I do think recruiting rankings are a pretty good indication, in no way, shape, or form are they absolute predictors.

 

[KurtRambis4]

SDS?

What's mad magazine got them ranked? Seriously? SDS.

 

[myusernamesucks]

Well scout has us at 13th in the conference. Are they reliable enough for you? 12th or 13th doesn't make a damn bit of difference. We aren't going to win SEC games with MAC talent. Period.

 

[stinkfoot]

that's his brother i think.*

I thought Carta-Samuels was Vandy's QB this year.

asdfasdf

 

[HardyStreetAlumniClub]

I know, and it's downright sad and pathetic. The talent gap gets wider and wider, and what happened last saturday starts happening more and more, to every other team and not just one or two. What a joke. Still dont have ONE out of the top 100 committed, and only two players rated a 4 star or better. It is comical. Someone, anyone, PLEASE tell me what we are doing on the recruiting trail. Please dont respond with "nothing" because that is obvious.

Our staff is doing what they have always been doing. They recruit average-better than average players. All the while most SEC teams are recruiting better than average-great players.

This is nothing new. We all know our staff is one of the worst in the SEC with closing on great talent. Sure, we can land a Chris Jones every now and then when they fall into our lap. People keep saying that recruiting rankings don't matter...... I call ********. Over time, it's a good way to judge how you stack up with the rest of the country. It's more of an average thing to me. I don't go only by recruiting rankings to judge every single player, but they are not complete bogus. When averaged over time, they are a pretty accurate judge of how your University is doing in recruiting.

When a MSU fan tells you that recruiting rankings don't matter, he really means that we (once again) are at the bottom of the SEC in recruiting.

On another note, Dan's little cocky *** attitude has a lot to do with why we end up losing some players. It's also harder for him to get in "momma's" head because he is a Yankee. Southern coaches are better recruiters because they can relate to southern people. And the south is where a majority of our players come from.

 

[Seinfeld]

I agree with this. Last Saturday wasn't a whole lot more than great players simply making great plays. Sure, our secondary got burned a few times for first downs but the truly game defining plays were ones in which LSU's stud receivers just went up and got the ball. It wasn't like we just got steamrolled.

With that said, I fear more and more these days that we've reached our ceiling with this staff and while some will be content with 6-8 wins and a bowl game, others are obviously already starting to sour on it. I hoped the consecutive bowl games would do something for us on the recruiting trails, but there's been little evidence of that. So here we are at a crossroads in Mullen's tenure, and it will be interesting to see how the fanbase reacts. If we don't make a bowl game this year and Dan's seat start to heat up a bit, it will also be interesting to see how or if that impacts his recruiting. JWS sure put together a couple star studded classes when things got a little warm for him at the end of his career.

 

[Digging dog]

So we are counting stars this week*****

 

[KurtRambis4]

Well so

far we've won 13 SEC games with similar "MAC" talent.

 

[seb304]

far we've won 13 SEC games with similar "MAC" talent.

7 of which have been Kentucky and Mississippi

 

[myusernamesucks]

Both of which are drilling us in recruiting right now, and will pass us by soon. But don't waste your time with that clown. He doesn't have time for facts that don't fit his agenda.

 

[DirtyDog]

Beware the Recruiting Rankings

Beware the recruiting rankings. If you truly follow recruiting, then you know that the talent rankings by the sites is quite variable for individual players and has been historically inaccurate. In addition, the individual rankings are not statistically significant. They are indicators; thus the difference between 23 and 30 isn't very much but the the 30th ranked class is probably worse than the 10th. There is NOTHING absolute about the rankings. In fact, many of the ranking sites haven't even seen the players play in person. IMO, 247 is the best site. If you go back and look at our recruiting, you will see that we have traditionally been "out recruited" according to these sites, yet we have beaten many of the teams that have "out recruited" us on the field. Many of the 4 and 5 star recruits are used to dominating high school football fields but fail to make the transition to college, fail to develop further, or have off-the-field issues. Several recent Ole Miss recruits in recent years come to mind like the 5 star running back out of VA that barely made the field. You want to recruit the talent that has elite ability at the high school level, the potential for growth, the intellect to pass basic college classes, and the character to stay out of the worst trouble. Do I think we recruit great? No, but we are beating a lot of schools with bigger names and more money than MSU has.

I can tell you that I have watched the following players first hand this year against the same team:
Alex Woodall
Rod Taylor
Breland Speaks
Gerri Green

I can tell you from that first hand knowledge that I would rank them in order as: Gerri Green, Alex Woodall, Breland Speaks and then Rod Taylor. In one game, I don't know if they had personal issues or lingering injuries, but Gerri Green is a stud on a dud team. Alex Woodall was athletic at QB but did not dominate a mediocre defense so I think he was slightly overrated. Breland Speaks was NOT dominant against an undersized offensive line. He has the body, but did not dominate when he should have. Rod Taylor got abused by an undersized defensive front. He was not dominant either. I don't think the statistical lines tell the whole story when you watch the game. Gerri Green made the first 3-4 tackles of the game and then faded as the score got out of hand because his team is not good. He still chased down plays, but took some plays off. He was clearly frustrated. Thus, if someone tells me that Rod Taylor is the best player in the state of MS, then I would question whether they have seen him play. He is big and strong and may have the potential, but he did not dominate in the game I watched against players he should have overwhelmed.

Bottom Line: We aren't burning up the recruiting circuit, but we aren't stinking it up either.

 

[KurtRambis4]

I wasn't

debating that UK and OM were badass teams. Clown stated that we wouldn't win ANY SEC games with "MAC" recruiting. I just pointed out how we had managed to win 13 so far. Honestly. What's the difference between having the 13th ranked "class" in the conference and the 7th or 8th ranked class in the conference? It's subjective, at best.

 

[FlabLoser]

Bracky.

 

[MaxedOutMaroon]

My personal opinion is that it's pretty hard to recruit in Starkville and MSU. For one, Starkville is not a pretty, upbeat town, most of it looks run down and pretty ghetto. Plus it's small which helps for some athletes, but turns off some. (No larger cities within an hour) If you go to other college towns (Lexington, Tuscaloosa, Athens, etc (not Oxford)), it's hard to compare to those. Then you compare campuses, if you visit other SEC campuses, coming from a die hard, lifelong MSU fan, our campus doesn't compare. I feel we are currently fixing this issue, and we will see recruiting rise up to a new level. Starkville is finally starting to care and fixing roads, new buldings, etc. And MSU is finally figuring out that all different shades of brick looks bad and are currently renovating facilities (athletic and academic). So I believe in the next few years, recruiting will become easier. I know there's a lot more to recruiting than this, but it has a bigger impact than you think.

 

[futaba.79]

what a load of crap...nt

nt

 

[TheStateUofMS]

My personal opinion is that it's pretty hard to recruit in Starkville and MSU. For one, Starkville is not a pretty, upbeat town, most of it looks run down and pretty ghetto. Plus it's small which helps for some athletes, but turns off some. (No larger cities within an hour) If you go to other college towns (Lexington, Tuscaloosa, Athens, etc (not Oxford)), it's hard to compare to those. Then you compare campuses, if you visit other SEC campuses, coming from a die hard, lifelong MSU fan, our campus doesn't compare. I feel we are currently fixing this issue, and we will see recruiting rise up to a new level. Starkville is finally starting to care and fixing roads, new buldings, etc. And MSU is finally figuring out that all different shades of brick looks bad and are currently renovating facilities (athletic and academic). So I believe in the next few years, recruiting will become easier. I know there's a lot more to recruiting than this, but it has a bigger impact than you think.

What the 17 are you talking about!? Different shades of brick impact recruiting now? Our campus is beautiful btw. I have no idea what you're talking about "other schools campuses are prettier than ours" BS. I've been to a lot of the SEC schools and our campus is right up there at the top. I like our campus better than UT, Auburn, South Carolina and our campus looks very similar to Alabama and Ole Miss except I would say Ole Miss feels more crammed in than Bama and ours. I think UNC Chapel Hill reminds me of Miss St's campus.

 

[engie]

Honestly. What's the difference between having the 13th ranked "class" in the conference and the 7th or 8th ranked class in the conference? It's subjective, at best.

It's the difference between 15th and 28th in the overall composite rankings. Anotherwords, the sum difference is basically zero. Negligible. Just our fans splitting hairs over something because of a well-marketed "ranking" out there.

It's the difference between Auburn and Missouri on the field this year. Do you know who would win the game? Me neither...

 

[MaxedOutMaroon]

Cool.

 

[Tin Cup Cowboy]

I actually think that our staff is good at spotting talent and making good evaluations with players that might fly under the radar. The problem is when that talent gets more and more attention and better recruiters from other schools get involved, that is when this staff's deficiency shows up.

 

[engie]

I actually think that our staff is good at spotting talent and making good evaluations with players that might fly under the radar. The problem is when that talent gets more and more attention and better recruiters from other schools get involved, that is when this staff's deficiency shows up.

Agreed

 

[KurtRambis4]

Exactly

These 17ers that constantly harp on this ****, moreso that c34 did on Stans (IE that's the ONLY thing their posts consists of), would be tickled 17ing pink if we had the 8th ranked class. Yet, what is the difference bt the 8th and 13th, one...maybe two players (3 at most)...who may not even pan out? It's 17ing ridiculous.

 

[KingBarkus]

I was surprised to see Leonard Fournette had attended our football camp. Dude is a beast. I hope he goes to Michigan but I'm sure it will be lsu or Bama. Rich get you-know-what.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

Recruiting rankings mean nothing outside of the top 8-12 classes in the country

From the top 15ish to the top 35ish I'd say there's not that much of a difference. Those rankings aren't 100% accurate in the fact that some schools have smaller classes than others and one player can make a huge difference in rankings. I used to think Mullen wasn't recruiting that well, but after this year we're going to have 3 straight top 25 classes and 4 out of 6 years of top 25 rated classes which is plenty of enough talent to win. The big issue is that Dan hasn't proven he can COACH his way to a win in a big game. He's got the players to do it. Here's what I wrote in another thread a few days ago...

Here's a list of the schools that definitely have more talent than us (16)

Alabama, Oregon, Clemson, Stanford, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, USC, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Florida, UCLA, Ohio State, Auburn, and my two borderline, but I'll put them in anyway: Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Those are the ones I say before we step on the field they have better players overall than we do, and we'll have to play our best game to beat them. People cry about Auburn, but I think their D is good like I've thought before the season started and their offense is below average bc of QB play. The talent is there. We should have won, however. We played our best game defensively until the last drive when we sat back while they dinked and dunked us 90yds.

Teams we're evenly matched with talent wise: (16)
These teams is just whoever plays better that day could win the game.
Tennessee, Miami, Michigan, Texas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Louisville, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Nebraska, Baylor, Oregon State, Washington, and Missouri.

-A&M: All Johnny Football and Mike Evans
-Louisville:#1QB NFL draft running team in a horrible conference but do have good skill players, not sure about trenches tho.

You could argue A&M should be in the better talent pool, but once Johnny Football and Evans leave after this year (both RS Soph), they will drop into our talent pool. They have recruited better than us on paper, but in the trenches and at LB I'm not seeing it. So, in my opinion, we have top 32 talent somewhere scrambled between 17-32 which is what I think the recruiting rankings show. That's kinda funny.

Does anyone disagree with where I have our talent ranked?

 

[NCDawg.sixpack]

Our staff is doing what they have always been doing. They recruit average-better than average players. All the while most SEC teams are recruiting better than average-great players.

This is nothing new. We all know our staff is one of the worst in the SEC with closing on great talent. Sure, we can land a Chris Jones every now and then when they fall into our lap. People keep saying that recruiting rankings don't matter...... I call ********. Over time, it's a good way to judge how you stack up with the rest of the country. It's more of an average thing to me. I don't go only by recruiting rankings to judge every single player, but they are not complete bogus. When averaged over time, they are a pretty accurate judge of how your University is doing in recruiting.

When a MSU fan tells you that recruiting rankings don't matter, he really means that we (once again) are at the bottom of the SEC in recruiting.

On another note, Dan's little cocky *** attitude has a lot to do with why we end up losing some players. It's also harder for him to get in "momma's" head because he is a Yankee. Southern coaches are better recruiters because they can relate to southern people. And the south is where a majority of our players come from.

I agree-especially with your last paragraph. Not only Dan, but some other ones on the coaching staff, also. Dan came in telling us it was his goal to dominate Mississippi recruiting (This is our State), win "championships", and to get to Atlanta. After 5 years, does anybody believe we are closer to getting to Atlanta than when he first came in? I don't.

 

[boatsandhoes]

Their oline was drastically better.

 

[boatsandhoes]

Double post

 

[RocketDawg]

My personal opinion is that it's pretty hard to recruit in Starkville and MSU. For one, Starkville is not a pretty, upbeat town, most of it looks run down and pretty ghetto. Plus it's small which helps for some athletes, but turns off some. (No larger cities within an hour) If you go to other college towns (Lexington, Tuscaloosa, Athens, etc (not Oxford)), it's hard to compare to those. Then you compare campuses, if you visit other SEC campuses, coming from a die hard, lifelong MSU fan, our campus doesn't compare. I feel we are currently fixing this issue, and we will see recruiting rise up to a new level. Starkville is finally starting to care and fixing roads, new buldings, etc. And MSU is finally figuring out that all different shades of brick looks bad and are currently renovating facilities (athletic and academic). So I believe in the next few years, recruiting will become easier. I know there's a lot more to recruiting than this, but it has a bigger impact than you think.

Lexington and Athens are pretty nice, but Tuscaloosa really sucks. I don't think it's the quality of the town that gets the Number 1 recruiting class to Alabama. And Oxford is just like Starkville in the end ... a small town in Mississippi.

 

[myusernamesucks]

Mr. SEC gives his two cents worth

lo and behold, we are sucking hind tit according to him too.

Shocker, let me tell you.

With the football season nearing its halfway point, many a fan will begin spending more and more time studying his or her school’s recruiting successes. Or failures.Below, we look the successes and failures of each SEC program on our commitment “Big Board” (which technically is four “Big Boards,” but who’s counting). As always, we’ve use the star ratings provided by Rivals.com. Previous research projects we’ve done on the subject have left us feeling that Rivals’ rankings are the best indicator of future class success.
For each star Rivals.com assigns, we hand out a point. We also award 0-star recruits a point because those prospects simply haven’t had their game tape graded yet.
We break down the numbers three different way. We look at quantity (total points) in one table, quality (average points per commit), and high-caliber recruits (4- and 5-star recruits) in another. Then we assign points for each school’s position within those three tables to arrive at our MrSEC.com recruiting rankings. (The lower score the better, FYI.)
This time around, we’ve also included an extra line in the quantity ratings which shows how points each school has gained or lost since our September 5th commitment comparator.
We start with those quantity rankings…

School	Commits	5-stars	4-stars	3-stars	2-stars	1- & 0-stars	Total Points	Pts +/-
Tennessee	26	1	12	11	2	0	90	+6
Alabama	21	1	14	6	0	0	79	+4
Kentucky	24	0	8	15	1	0	79	0
Georgia	17	1	12	4	0	0	65	+4
Missouri	24	0	0	15	9	0	63	+12
Ole Miss	20	0	5	13	2	0	63	0
Vanderbilt	18	0	5	13	0	0	59	0
LSU	15	0	9	5	1	0	53	+4
Arkansas	17	0	3	13	1	0	53	+3
Auburn	15	1	7	5	1	1	51	+1
Florida	14	0	9	5	0	0	51	-3
Texas A&M	14	1	7	6	0	0	51	0
Miss. State	17	0	2	8	7	0	46	+5
S. Carolina	12	0	6	6	0	0	42	-4

<tbody>
</tbody>

Now we check the quality rankings…

School	Commits	Avg. Pts/Commit
Georgia	17	3.82
Alabama	21	3.76
Florida	14	3.64
Texas A&M	14	3.64
LSU	15	3.53
S. Carolina	12	3.50
Tennessee	26	3.46
Auburn	15	3.40
Kentucky	24	3.29
Vanderbilt	18	3.27
Ole Miss	20	3.15
Arkansas	17	3.11
Miss. State	17	2.70
Missouri	24	2.62

<tbody>
</tbody>

Next we turn our attention to the high-caliber rankings…

School	Commits	4- & 5-stars
Alabama	21	15
Georgia	17	13
Tennessee	26	13
Florida	14	9
LSU	15	9
Auburn	15	8
Kentucky	24	8
Texas A&M	14	8
S. Carolina	12	6
Ole Miss	20	5
Vanderbilt	18	5
Arkansas	17	3
Miss. State	17	2
Missouri	24	0

<tbody>
</tbody>

And finally, we tally everything up to arrive at our own MrSEC.com recruiting rankings…

MrSEC Rank	School	Quantity	Quality	High-Caliber	Total Points
1	Alabama	2	2	1	5
2	Georgia	4	1	2	7
3	Tennessee	1	7	2	10
4t	Florida	10	3	4	17
4t	Kentucky	2	9	6	17
4t	LSU	8	5	4	17
7	Texas A&M	10	3	6	19
8	Auburn	10	8	6	24
9	Ole Miss	5	11	10	26
10	Vanderbilt	7	10	10	27
11	S. Carolina	14	6	9	29
12	Arkansas	8	12	12	32
13	Missouri	5	14	14	33
14	Miss. State	13	13	13	39

<tbody>
</tbody>

 

[Tito Cheeseburger]

Lexington and Athens are pretty nice, but Tuscaloosa really sucks. I don't think it's the quality of the town that gets the Number 1 recruiting class to Alabama. And Oxford is just like Starkville in the end ... a small town in Mississippi.

When I think small town Mississippi, I think dead and decaying downtown, lack of young people, abundance of overweight people, and Prohibition-Era attitude towards opening bars and restaurants. That is the opposite of Oxford. Starkville has changed some for the better, but my impression is that it still retains more conventional small town Mississippi than Oxford has because it is more apart from the university.

Im not making a value judgment on what's better.

 

[OliveBranchDAWG]

2 things:

1. This is where we are gonna miss Brewster. He was the sole reason we landed some of our biggest recruits last year. i.e. Fred Ross & De'runnya Wilson.

2. Reading this thread makes me hate our fans. We will more than likely finish with our 3rd straight top 25 class at years end. So everyone chill out.

 

[myusernamesucks]

Here is the problem with finishing in the top 25.

While it's nice and all, most of the conference will also finish in the top 25, and the ones that do will finish ahead of us. So, really, being in the top 25 and near last in the conference is not that good at all.

 

[HD6]

Koenning played a huge role in landing Fred Ross.