(Continuation of thread on Tyler Edwards being bumped down from a 4 Star #11 Ranked TE to the #26 TE, 3 Star on Rivals) My 2 points: 1. How does it hurt LSU? These Star Rankings are the perception of a coach & school's ability to land big name prospects. After Edwards was bumped down, Rivals gump bumped QB commit Brad Smelley from a 2 Star to a 3 Star. This gives the illusion that Smelley was as highly sought after a recruit as Tyler Edwards, which is simply not close to reality. 2. For those who do not believe Rivals is "Bama friendly", I have just 1 question. Why is Shannon Terry, Rivals.com CEO & President a staff member of BamaOnline?
I have to ask who really cares ? Bama has had top 15 recruiting classes the last few years. Top 10s in a few. Its not like Saban has all of a sudden turned recruiting around. They have always has great recruiting. And will in the future. Remember, Jacob Hester was a 2 star recruit. So I dont know if we should hang on 2 or 3 stars. Because we have some 5 stars that were nothing (Carter) and some 2 stars that were the heart of the team (Hester). Bama always has great recruiting, they had before Saban got there.
It is the same for Florida this year. If you have a lot of borderline 3 and 4 stars that will happen. I doubt Bama homers would give Auburn more bumps up and Bama more bumps down over the last few years if they were on some homer mission. And I can promise you Alabama fans are a lot more concerned with Auburn and Tennessee than they are with us. It is a one way fight...
Dude, I go to Alabama. They are not infatuated with LSU, like many of our fans believe...or mainly WANT to believe. My point about Florida was why would there be such a discrepancy with them? Is there also a Florida bias? Point is, there is always a team each year like that, and there is a Auburn grad high in Scout. Why isnt that considered? Here are some stats from Tigerbait.com about the "bias" this year.
I think the real question is why does anyone bug out over a few points in a recruiting season? The coaches don't look on rivals or scout before they evaluate a player and they sure as hell don't use the websites' opinions as a basis for issuing scholarships. I subscribe to those sites and admit to giving more weight to a 5* than a 4* but I don't have the luxury of being on staff at LSU, seeing tape on ALL these kids, and seeing them perform in camps. Does anyone doubt Miles' staff is capable of spotting talent and making the right fit for our team? We can't get the best player in every position in every year, but it seems like we get some pretty strong recruits, and combined with Miles ability to develop these players, he has managed to land in the Top 5 at the end of each season. And I don't mean recruiting season either. Regardless of bias or not, don't you think it just looks more stupid each year that teams like Tenn, ND, bama keep getting these killer classes and fail to achieve? If anything, that's karma, and rivals/scout can rank our kids wherever they want - we will just keep playing for championships.
Agree with the dude, or his dudeness. He abides Texas always has the #1 or #2 class, how many big 12 titles have they won. Fact is, sure its a good way to guess, but as I said look at the 2 star recruits who have excelled. Sure we want nothing but 5 stars, but to think 1 or 2 stars is going to predict a kids future is, Look at our history how many 4 and 3 stars have been the top players. Sure Doucet and them proved big time players as 5 stars. But so have 2 stars. Its the coaching that makes a kid good or not. Sure Talent is huge but no kid coming to a 2 time national champion is not going to have top talent. Coaching is the key once they get there which is why "Miles won with Saban's players" is the dumbest thing I have read in awhile. Josh Reed is another example. Rivals and those guys are not very accurate. Alabama always has a top 15 class, always has even before Saban, yet went 6-6 with a loss to ULM. Recruiting gurus are for entertainment purposes only in my opinion. I just hope we get class kids who dont try to steal jackets at bowl games.
Texas hasn't been in the top 4 since 2002 (#1 class). USC, however, is always #1 or #2. What about the bias to rank Cali players higher than maybe what they should be ranked?
Indeed. It has about as much significance as Bama winning the Spring Game Attendance championship. Having a top-10 recruiting class means you are getting the job done. The difference between being #3 or #6 is of little consequence.
