2013 WR Kevin Spears Commits to LSU

I am glad that both services gave him 4 stars, but I think this just goes to show that even these services are full of BS. It all depends on who sees this kid play, who sends in film, etc.... HOW could a kid with over 1,000 yds receiving, and with the "skill set" and upside that both services now say he has, not even be ranked, and now that he has a verbal to a Div 1 school, he magically becomes a 4 star? I think it speaks volumes about Spears, but also shows the flawed ranking system. He jumped into the ESPN 300? 2 months after the season was over and was not on the ESPN top 1000 during the season. Comical at best

 

Glad to see a New Orleans kid not go to SDS im still having flashbacks with Marshall Faulk.

 

he's tall and skinny like two of my favorite All-American WRs: Justin Hunter and AJ Green






Justin Hunter at Under Armour All-American Game




AJ Green at Under Armour All-American Game



compare to Spears:

 

the recruiting services disagree on how tall he is:
Scout: 6-4, 195
Rivals: 6-3, 190
ESPN: 6-2, 191

but to give you an idea of how tall he is, here is a pic of some people in front of the same locker:

 

it's like Frank Wilson (who was named the Rivals.com National Recruiter of the Year in February of 2011) said a year ago about the recruiting services and recruiting rankings:

"Here's what I can tell you. It's hard from me to take credence in a guy who's scheduled to evaluate in Louisiana, and he's based in Oklahoma and he's assigned four different states [and Louisiana alone has 400 high school football teams, which is about 9,000 starting high school football players every year]. And he doesn't come to Louisiana in three years. He's never been to Pointe Coupee. He's never been to Baldwin. They don't even know where it is. So how can you possibly give a ranking to someone you've never seen?"

"We have to trust our evaluation, because ... we're watching them at their school, and we're getting them on our campus in the position-specific drills that we'll teach them or we'll ask them to do when they get to LSU."

"We make the determination as a staff. We're not concerned if he's a two-star and not a five-star. That makes for good reading, and we certainly love those guys' profession. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who it is — Sports Illustrated, Rivals, Scout, whomever. They're not going to determine who we should offer. We're going to offer based off collectively as a staff the guys we evaluate. This is what we do."


what makes it even more funny is that Frank Wilson was the head coach of OP Perry Walker from 2000-2003... and he had three players on his team that all went on to the NFL, Pro Bowl WR Mike Wallace, Keenan Lewis, and Kendrick Lewis. look how they rated as recruits:
Pro Bowl WR Mike Wallace -- 2 star by Rivals, and a 2 star by Scout -- went to Ole Miss, got drafted 3rd Round
CB Keenan Lewis -- 2 star by Rivals, and a 0 star by Scout -- went to Oregon State, got drafted 3rd Round
S Kendrick Lewis -- 3 star by Rivals, and 3-star by Scout -- went to Ole Miss, got drafted 5th Round (he transferred from OP Perry Walker to Gainesville, Ga)

then, Frank Wilson went to Ole Miss as their RB coach, his RB was First-Team All-SEC RB Benjarvis Green Ellis, who just ran for a 1,000 yards for the Bengals this season. Green Ellis is from the same New Orleans high school as Frank Wilson and TM7, (St. Aug), and look how he was rated as a recruit:
--0 star by Scout
--0 star by Rivals

another St Aug guy that started with Benjarvis Green Ellis in high school was OT Selvish Capers (6-5, 308 at the NFL combine), a 7th Round pick who blocked for Pat White and Steve Slaton at WVU. here's how Rivals and Scout had him rated as a recruit:
--2-star by Rivals
--2-star by Scout

and look at another New Orleans guy, WR Chris Henry, who was a 3rd Round pick after being only the 2nd player in WVU history to catch for 1,000 yards a season, and was a solid NFL WR for 5 years before he died in an accident. this is how he was rated as a recruit:
--0-star by Rivals
--0-star by Scout

another New Orleans guy is 4th Round pick OT Troy Kropod, who played with Craig Steltz at Rummel. this is how he was rated:
--2-star by Rivals
--2-star by Scout

another New Orleans guy, OT Corey Hilliard was drafted 6th Round, Rivals rated him a:
2-star

another New Orleans guy is 7th Round pick CB Chris Horton, who played with Marquise Hill at De La Salle. this is how Rivals rated him as a recruit
2-star

another New Orleans guy is 7th Round pick OG Lance Louis. this is how Scout rated him:
2-star

of course, look at CB Tracy Porter of Port Allen, hero of Super Bowl XLIV for the Saints. he was a 2nd Round pick, and this is how Rivals rated him as a recruit:
0-star

another CB out of Louisiana, Jonathan Wilhite was a 4th Round pick. this is how Scout rated him as a recruit:
2-star

CB Korey Lindsay of Baton Rouge was an All-American that went in the 7th Round. this is how he was rated:
0-star by Scout
2-star by Rivals

DE Hall Davis of Baton Rouge went in the 5th Round. Rivals had him as
2-star

OG Chris Williams of Baton Rouge was a 1st Round pick and First-team All-SEC. this is how he was rated:
2-star by Rivals
2-star by Scout

DE Keyunta Dawson of Shreveport went in the 7th Round, Scout rated him a
2-star

DT D'Anthony Smith of Leesville went in the 3rd Round, this is how he was rated:
2-star by Rivals
2-star by Scout

 

I tend to listen to coaches I know and trust. If I get to see a player in a few games, even better.

 

Tiger_fan, you sure do a lot of research....Don't think it goes unappreciated !!

 

Here's some posts on Spears by Tennessee fans in a thread on VolNation:

12-16-2012....

Very impressive film

sort of reminds me of Hunter

looks to have better hands then Hunter

Sign this kid up I don't care if he is a 1/2 star

The kid has a pretty good film

I agree. His film is fluid and I like the way he
catches the ball at its highest point. Seems
to have good spatial awareness as well.

Ive been a scout coach ghsa while in high
school and then remained the scouting and
gameplan coach for two more years after I
graduated. This kid is good.
...
he has the potential to be really special. i hope we get him.

He reminds me of Javon Walker. (1st Round pick and Pro Bowl WR)

I can see that. I also see a little Darick
Rogers in him if he can hit his potential


12-22-2012....

I would not compare his
style to Hunter, more like Rueban Randle.


01-15-2013....

LSU offered.

Gonna be a star at LSU.


01-19-2013....

Committed to LSU.


Today....

Just received his 4th star on Rivals. How
does a kid go unrated without a profile all
year long (at a school like Holy Cross) and
then all of a sudden once LSU stumbles
upon him and offers him, he jumps to a 4
star? Not a high 3 star. A 4 star! Give me a
break. These recruiting services are about
as sketchy as they come.

He made the same jump as Mathieu did
when LSU signed him. Not rated to 4 star.

Spears has the tools to be good, whether
he was rated or not.

If I recall correctly, Mathieu did not get a 0
to 4 star rating two weeks prior to NSD. I
am not saying the kid isn't a good football
player. I actually compared him to Javon
Walker. The point I am trying to make is that
the bias from these recruiting services is
very much apparent. If Tennessee offers a
kid who doesn't have a profile, and we've
offered a few as of late, he automatically
becomes a 2-3 star. In this case, since it
was LSU that offered, he jumps to a 4 star.
Why not a 3 star? He didn't even have a
Rival's profile until about a month ago. It's
just very shady business in my opinion.
Rank the kids on their ability, not by what
school offers them.

I would just like to know how this board
would view recruits if stars did not exist.
Player profiles make it fun, but I bet their
would be alot less stress come NSD.

 

Exactly! What does it matter anyway? Sounds like in the end, he has been appropriately scouted and his number of stars won't change anything about his ability.