Speculating on the rise of our Army All-Americans

CATFANFOLIFE87

Heisman
Apr 8, 2008
17,710
22,416
0
I was wondering how much our team ranking might change after our Army commits get their ratings updated. Just for fun I made a guess at what they might change for each.

Landon Young- Currently a 6.0 four star and ranked #54 in the country. I think Landon gets his 5th star and ends up ranked around 15th nationally making him the #2 OT in the country. His ranking is worth (135+43=178 points). If his ranking rises as much as I think it might his ranking would be worth (150+65=215), a change of 37 points.

Drake Jackson- Currently a 5.8 four star and not in the top 250. I have a tough time coming to any kind of guess for Drake. He has repeatedly beat the best of the best in one on ones but gets knocked for his size. Baveon Johnson has a chokehold on the top center spot. Drake will probably jump Connor McGovern for the #2 center. The problem is there is a 164 spot difference in the 250 between Johnson and McGovern at #1 and #2. I think Drake gets back into the 250 and ends up ranked around 200th nationally making him the #2 C in the country. His ranking is worth 105 points right now. If he rises as much as I think he might his ranking would be worth (105+13=118), a change of 13 points. He could rise more though if he's completely put to bed the concerns about his size

Kash Daniel- Currently a 5.7 three star and not ranked in the top 250. Kash will get his 4th star and I'm guessing will end up ranked around 195th nationally making him the #6 ILB in the country. His ranking is worth 90 points right now. If he rises as much as I think he might his ranking would be worth (105+15=120), a change of 30 points. Being named a captain for the Army game is a big honor though he may be poised for a bigger jump than I'm giving him credit for.

The total change to our team ranking would be (37+13+30=80 points). Our team ranking is 21st right now with 1660 points. Assuming the point totals of teams ahead of us and just behind us don't change (won't happen but we can pretend) the added 80 points would rise our team ranking to #18 ahead of Oregon.

This is all a futile exercise because the rivals analysts are unpredictable. The team rankings will all be in flux because prospects committed to every team in the top 25 of the rankings will rise and fall. We may lose or gain a flip that affects our team ranking as well. I tried to be conservative because I think all three have a chance to rise more than I guesstimated. The bump these players get will probably be just enough to keep us in the conversation of staying in the top 25 of the team rankings when they're final. It's a very impressive feat given the disappointing finish to the season

Disclaimer: I don't really have any idea what I'm talking about. This is purely to generate discussion and for others to speculate where these guys end up in the rankings.

Where do you think each guy ends up ranked and where do we finish in the team rankings?
 
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Snowcats86

Heisman
Dec 17, 2010
5,648
18,464
103
I do see all three of them getting bumps- who knows how much but they will definitely will get bumped. Not sure if Young will be enough to get that 5* but I really hope so. I dont see anyway that Jackson and Daniel dont both end up in the Top 250 with Daniel adding a 4*. Great to see all three doing so well in the Army All-American practices- great publicity for the team and help recruiting.
 
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jauk11

Heisman
Dec 6, 2006
60,631
18,638
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Nice rundown, appreciate all your digging and math.

There are only about 35 five stars a year, so Young rising that much is speculation, but he certainly is getting a lot of positive press and is one step away, so it is possible. All in all, they are all adding great press and publicity to UK's class, definitely could have an influence on recruits this year, but probably more on next year's class.

UK is likely to fall several spots as signing day nears even with upgrades, to be expected as the top teams fill out their classes, and several have a lot of slots to fill, most can wait on the five stars, and the five star and other top rated recruits can also afford to wait.
 

fuzz77

All-Conference
Sep 19, 2012
12,163
1,423
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Not sure that Rivals is going to change any of the 2016 ratings at this point. They made a round of updates after the end of the season...that's probably it for this class.
 
Oct 1, 2001
5,199
1,898
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Not sure that Rivals is going to change any of the 2016 ratings at this point. They made a round of updates after the end of the season...that's probably it for this class.
Regardless of perceived ratings, all three are high quality players with an All America status. Folks, these are Kentucky kids going to UK. Just a few years ago, all three would have gone out of state.
 

Poetax

Heisman
Apr 4, 2002
29,410
20,887
0
One thing that I love is Drake is always going to have that chip on his shoulder while folks say he can't because of his size. By the time he leaves Kentucky I believe he will be a major distributor for this program.