The short answer is the Tigers are not slipping. This coaching staff has proved their ability to evaluate, recruit and close on good to great recruiting classes. Remember when O was hired at Ole Miss, all we heard was how good a recruiter he was and how we, along with everyone else in the SEC West were going to be out recruited by the nations top recruiter who had taken over in Oxford. Turns out his best recruits either don't qualify or come to Oxford from some far away JC and fail to live up to their hype. Now, with Nick back in the division, we are hearing the same thing. I think Nick is a far superior to O in recruiting and evaluating players, but for the next couple of seasons (until Nick leaves for another job) we will hear the same thing. But, the bottom line is the top tier SEC programs like LSU, Florida, Georgia, Auburn and Tennessee will continue to have good to great recruiting classes most years. Alabama, with its history and tradition will be back in the mix also.
Potential Class- QB Jordan Jefferson *** Darron Thomas *** RB Kye Staley **** Michael Abernathy *** WR Corey Surrency ***** DeAndre Brown ***** Chris Tolliver **** DeAngelo Peterson **** Tim Molton *** Jhyryn Taylor *** TE Tyler Edwards **** Matt Branch **** (will end up as OT if he grows) T Thomas Parsons **** G P.J. Lonergan *** Clay Spencer **** DE Chase Clement **** Lavar Edwards *** DT Cordian Hagans **** Justin Thompson ***** LB Kyle Prater *** Ryan Baker **** Kellen Theriot **** S Rocky Duplessis *** Derrick Bryant **** CB Ryan St. Julien **** Brandon Taylor **** Robby Green **** 27 Total Commits 3 Five Stars 15 Four Stars 9 Three Stars We also have shots at five stars Darrell Scott (UF or CU), TJ Bryant (FSU), and Chancey Aghereye (UT or UF), to go along with four stars Antoine McClain(Auburn), Matt Patchan (UF, Thug U), Jameel Owens (OU), and others. If we pursue Dallas Thomas, Jerico Nelson, or Prentiss Waggner they are ours.
I am a firm believer that "stars" are important in college football. However, they are only important at the close of the season, after the services have more information to use to evaluate them. Most of these guys are pretty much unknown quantities at this point, and the services are evaluating them based on little information.
I believe DT will be a **** ATH, and I don't know about us taking Jordan Jefferson... Abernathy is a FB (w/ pretty impressive videos too). We do need a FB in this class, but the question is w/ Prater & Baker committed at LB, do we look at Theriot as a FB now? Because Theriot's got some very impressive video as well.
Over the long-term, stars are important because they are a good general indicator of recruiting success, but the stars on an individual player are irrelevent.
I wouldn't say it's "irrelevant". If you look at recent NFL drafts, despite all the talk of how 2-stars and 3-stars do well, most of the high draft picks are in fact 4- and 5-star guys coming out of high school, and 5-stars rarely fail to be good college players unless they get hurt or choose another sport. I think there were only one or two 2-stars picked in the first couple rounds of the 2007 draft.
But that's because the services are taking their cue off the coaches - at the end of the year they've talked to enough high school coaches and seen who's getting pursued by who to know where to adjust their rankings. In essence, the end of year rankings, which are most accurate (but not accurate), are a reflection of the evolution of college D1 coaches' opinions. So the point is, when LSU accepts a commitment from a player in July or August, that player is good. That goes for any other major D1 team...regardless of how many stars they have.
It's important to keep in mind that the star system isn't designed to signify how good a player is today, but how soon he'll be able to contribute to a team. As example, they expect a 5 star player to be able to contribute his freshman year, a 4 star his sophmore year and on down the line.
Comparing the current (03/08/2007) Rivals team rankings with the 2006 final rankings is a bit surprising --- I hope the attachement is readable, I've never attached one before to this forum. Looks like Tenn, Florida, Auburn & So Carolina have a lot to worry about. Anyone know why these schools currently are so low in the recruiting rankings for this year?
