5 year recruiting averages

Hail State

Sophomore
Dec 27, 2009
475
119
43
Can someone with the information readily available give me the past five year recruiting ranking average for the SEC West teams? I'm so sick of the media dismissing us in every single game purely on a talent basis. It's the go to, default, lazy, tired take nowadays. While teams like Arkansas get the benefit of the doubt. I want to see the numbers.
 

Hoover Dawg

Redshirt
May 16, 2016
1,584
0
0
Can someone with the information readily available give me the past five year recruiting ranking average for the SEC West teams? I'm so sick of the media dismissing us in every single game purely on a talent basis. It's the go to, default, lazy, tired take nowadays. While teams like Arkansas get the benefit of the doubt. I want to see the numbers.
Go to 247sports.com, write down the rankings for the past 5 years, average them. Boom, there you have it, lazy. 5 minutes, max.
 

Msubulldogfan1

Freshman
Sep 12, 2013
8,835
80
48
I agree with OP. I would like to see the averages too but I'm too lazy to do it myself.

Someone look them up.
 

stateskills

Redshirt
May 23, 2006
185
0
0
Blend of Rivals and 247 Compostite

Five Year Average

Alabama - 1
Auburn - 6
LSU - 7
Ole Miss - 9
A&M - 14
MSU - 25
Arkansas – 29

2 Year Average
Alabama – 1
Auburn - 4
LSU – 8
Ole Miss – 15
A&M – 13
MSU – 23
Arkansas – 25
 

Junction John

Redshirt
Oct 22, 2014
3,249
0
0
Big picture, 23 is pretty damn good. We would be very happy with that if we were in any other division in any league in the country.

Damn, we run with a tough crowd.
 

Bulldogg31

Redshirt
Dec 9, 2013
8,263
0
0
Recruiting rankings are subjective at best. If Bama or Auburn tell the ranking services a kid can play, he becomes a 4- star or 5-star.

If State likes a 3-star he gets no bump.

Case in point...Lamar Jackson, QB at Louisville. Most services had him as a 3- star, Rivals may have been 4-star. His last 2 visits were UL and State. Kid now has about a dozen TD's this year and is getting Heisman talk.

Meanwhile Byron Cowart, who Auburn and Bama said was the best player in the country and a 5-star DE, is still trying to get on the field as a sophomore for a mediocre Auburn defense.

Looking at the rankings, there is no way S Alabama stays on the field with us. Or Troy with Clemson. Or Nicholls with Georgia. Or C Michigan with Okie St. Etc.
 

aTotal360

Heisman
Nov 12, 2009
22,663
16,672
113
That's the problem. We can have the 18th best class in the country and potentially finish last in our division. We have to recruit better in respect to our peers, not in respect to NC State and Cal. Otherwise you're just the tallest midget.
 

Hoover Dawg

Redshirt
May 16, 2016
1,584
0
0
That's the problem. We can have the 18th best class in the country and potentially finish last in our division. We have to recruit better in respect to our peers, not in respect to NC State and Cal. Otherwise you're just the tallest midget.
How do you propose to tackle this feat? By peers I mean Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M respectively. We already recruit (all things even) with Ole Miss and Arkansas. And don't say CHEATING. We aren't going to do that, at least not on the level of Ole Miss in order to recruit with those peers.
 

Hoover Dawg

Redshirt
May 16, 2016
1,584
0
0
Recruiting rankings are subjective at best. If Bama or Auburn tell the ranking services a kid can play, he becomes a 4- star or 5-star.

If State likes a 3-star he gets no bump.

Case in point...Lamar Jackson, QB at Louisville. Most services had him as a 3- star, Rivals may have been 4-star. His last 2 visits were UL and State. Kid now has about a dozen TD's this year and is getting Heisman talk.

Meanwhile Byron Cowart, who Auburn and Bama said was the best player in the country and a 5-star DE, is still trying to get on the field as a sophomore for a mediocre Auburn defense.

Looking at the rankings, there is no way S Alabama stays on the field with us. Or Troy with Clemson. Or Nicholls with Georgia. Or C Michigan with Okie St. Etc.
Over the long haul the rankings get it close. As close as anything else we've got.
 

dickiedawg

All-Conference
Feb 22, 2008
4,606
1,576
113
Per this, State was 25th in 2016 (6th in west, 9th in SEC, both by a wide margin behind A&M).
5 year average had us at 27th nationally, also 6th in west and 9th in SEC.
2 year average has us up to 23rd nationally, still 6th/9th.

We're recruiting basically neck and neck with Arkansas, and behind Florida, Tennessee and Georgia (plus everyone else in the west).
Incidentally, if you did a 2016 power rankings we're probably exactly the same place in the pecking order, though most would flip flop us and Arkansas and Auburn would fall a bunch of spots.
Also Ole Miss is outperforming its recruiting relative to the rest of the SEC, which surprises me. They are 9th OVR/4th SEC (2016), 20th OVR/7th SEC(5 year) and 15th OVR/7th SEC (2 year).
 

missouridawg

Junior
Oct 6, 2009
9,407
309
83
What this really shows is how terrible of a coach Gus Malzahn is. He is really bad as a head coach.
 

aTotal360

Heisman
Nov 12, 2009
22,663
16,672
113
Work harder and stop taking things for granted.

Take AJ Brown for instance. I don't know how much of a chance we really had, but I do know that OM had coaches and assistants at SHS for 5 days straight leading up to NSD and the dead period. We were sending him texts. OM cheats, but they also work their *** off. Meanwhile, Freeze is hopping on jets to Canada with a shaman and drums in the 11th hr trying to land Kasago. Those guys won't take no for an answer. Look at Lashley, Mullen and Hev made an embarrassingly weak effort in recruiting him because it was assumed he was "in the bag". Lashley partially picked Bama because Saban was the last coach he saw.

We're not "light years" behind in our division like some people think. We just lack a few elite guys to push us over the top. And unfortunately, the elite guys is what Mullen seems scared to talk to.

This "we develop" player maybe true, but it's also an excuse.

What do you suggest? Just be happy we have a team and enjoy the view?
 

Bulldogg31

Redshirt
Dec 9, 2013
8,263
0
0
Long term results on the field, which closely mirror recruiting rankings.

For every Bama or Ohio State there's a Texas or USC.

For every Kentucky or Missouri there's a Michigan State or Louisville.

Look at Iowa. Their last four classes ranked 44, 51, 56, and 59th. Currently ranked 13th in the polls and finished as a Top 10 team last year. That should t happen.
 

BiscuitEater

Redshirt
Aug 29, 2009
4,178
0
36
Look at Iowa. Their last four classes ranked 44, 51, 56, and 59th. Currently ranked 13th in the polls and finished as a Top 10 team last year. That should t happen.

You should have included a couple of **. Agree that Iowa has and continues to do a good job BUT no one in the Big 10 plays an easier schedule than Iowa did last year. No Michigan .. No Ohio State .. they lost to Mich State and got humiliated in the Rose Bowl by Stanford.

Realistically, think MSU would have done better with that schedule than Iowa did.


Illinois State
Iowa State
Pitt
North Texas
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Maryland
Indiana
Minnesota
Purdue
Nebraska
Michigan State
Stanford
 

tb5.sixpack

Redshirt
Aug 18, 2016
10
0
0
That is what people say who don't recruit well.

Recruiting rankings are subjective at best. If Bama or Auburn tell the ranking services a kid can play, he becomes a 4- star or 5-star.

If State likes a 3-star he gets no bump.

Case in point...Lamar Jackson, QB at Louisville. Most services had him as a 3- star, Rivals may have been 4-star. His last 2 visits were UL and State. Kid now has about a dozen TD's this year and is getting Heisman talk.

Meanwhile Byron Cowart, who Auburn and Bama said was the best player in the country and a 5-star DE, is still trying to get on the field as a sophomore for a mediocre Auburn defense.

Looking at the rankings, there is no way S Alabama stays on the field with us. Or Troy with Clemson. Or Nicholls with Georgia. Or C Michigan with Okie St. Etc.

Over the long haul, teams with the best recruiting rankings are the teams winning the most games. There have been tons of stats that show that.

And yes, i know Boise St beat Oklahoma one time and Utah beat Alabama once, but over the long haul teams that recruit best have the best players and win the most. That isn't rocket science or bias against poor Ol State.
 

Hoover Dawg

Redshirt
May 16, 2016
1,584
0
0
Work harder and stop taking things for granted.

Take AJ Brown for instance. I don't know how much of a chance we really had, but I do know that OM had coaches and assistants at SHS for 5 days straight leading up to NSD and the dead period. We were sending him texts. OM cheats, but they also work their *** off. Meanwhile, Freeze is hopping on jets to Canada with a shaman and drums in the 11th hr trying to land Kasago. Those guys won't take no for an answer. Look at Lashley, Mullen and Hev made an embarrassingly weak effort in recruiting him because it was assumed he was "in the bag". Lashley partially picked Bama because Saban was the last coach he saw.

We're not "light years" behind in our division like some people think. We just lack a few elite guys to push us over the top. And unfortunately, the elite guys is what Mullen seems scared to talk to.

This "we develop" player maybe true, but it's also an excuse.

What do you suggest? Just be happy we have a team and enjoy the view?
I've outlined my plan numerous times on this board.

"Work harder..." I highly doubt that is the issue with our coaches, since we've recruited the exact same throughout our history.
 

Junction John

Redshirt
Oct 22, 2014
3,249
0
0
I would add a difference in our attitudes toward recruiting. Ours vs. theirs.

Call it 'working harder' or 'taking things for granted', or whatever, but MSU (Mullen, Hevesy being the prime examples) hasn't traditionally taken recruiting as seriously as some schools because of the head coach's mindset. The easiest example on the other side is Freeze, but there are others too. It's way more complex and intricate than this, because you're dealing with individual personalities, but in general:

Mullen wants to get "good guys" - guys that stay out of trouble, guys that don't mind working hard, guys that may have been a little under-talented coming out of high school but were willing to get better by outworking the other guy... all the cliches we are proud of AFTER the fact, when - or IF - he actually pans out and becomes successful (see: Dak, Beckwith, Gabe Jackson, AJ, etc etc etc.), but that we all complain about during recruiting. He doesn't want to deal with prima donnas. And I would estimate Hevesy's not wanting to deal with pre-madonnas is 10x Mullen's. They feel like they can always train up a 3-star that will work hard, so they "don't worry about stars". So, they have way less motivation to go do crazy or embarrassing things like camp out at a school for 5 days straight to sign a wide receiver.

This is not true with the Freezes of the world. He will go all out to get a highly talented, can't miss kid, no matter what his background or work ethic is. He follows the "jimmys and joe's, not x's and o's" mentality. He knows having the more talented kids on the field wins most games (and makes him look like a good coach) most of the time, so he's willing to (almost has to) take chances to make sure he gets the big name guys.

Mullen needs to move a little more to the middle in recruiting, or do like Saban and hire some high-end recruiters to do that part for him. Then introduce them to Hevesy, Sallach and the "developers" after they sign... I'm hoping that's what's going on with T-Buck and other new guys.
 

TheStateUofMS

All-Conference
Dec 26, 2009
10,500
2,503
113
You should have included a couple of **. Agree that Iowa has and continues to do a good job BUT no one in the Big 10 plays an easier schedule than Iowa did last year. No Michigan .. No Ohio State .. they lost to Mich State and got humiliated in the Rose Bowl by Stanford.

Realistically, think MSU would have done better with that schedule than Iowa did.


Illinois State
Iowa State
Pitt
North Texas
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern
Maryland
Indiana
Minnesota
Purdue
Nebraska
Michigan State
Stanford



GAAHHHHHHH, that is so bad!
 

Bulldogg31

Redshirt
Dec 9, 2013
8,263
0
0
You should have included a couple of **. Agree that Iowa has and continues to do a good job BUT no one in the Big 10 plays an easier schedule than Iowa did last year. No Michigan .. No Ohio State .. they lost to Mich State and got humiliated in the Rose Bowl by Stanford.

Ok, if you don't like Iowa, how about these? None recruit top 15 classes routinely:

Houston
Washington
Stanford
Wisconsin
Louisville
Michigan State

All finished last year ranked in Top 12, ahead of these Top 10 recruiters:

Oklahoma
Tennessee
Georgia
LSU
TAMU
Notre Dame
Texas
USC
And Ole Miss

My point is, these rankings are subjective at best. Player development is a much bigger factor than initial recruiting rankings, which is why I shake my head when pundits say LSU is WAY more talented than Mississippi State.

It's not true when you look at the 22 who take the field. Miles recruits more stars, but Mullen is better at player development. That's why we've been fairly evenly matched the last few years.

It's also why Miles is about to get fired.
 
Last edited:

Hoover Dawg

Redshirt
May 16, 2016
1,584
0
0
For every Bama or Ohio State there's a Texas or USC.

For every Kentucky or Missouri there's a Michigan State or Louisville.

Look at Iowa. Their last four classes ranked 44, 51, 56, and 59th. Currently ranked 13th in the polls and finished as a Top 10 team last year. That should t happen.
Good job fixating on the outliers. Over just about any period of time, chances are, throughout history, Texas and USC will have better winning percentages than Michigan State or Louisville.

I mean what the hell, are you really trying to argue the differences in those 2 sets of programs? Get the f outta here.
 

Sutterkane

Redshirt
Jan 23, 2007
5,100
0
0
Great, now someone compare these averages with USC, Texas, Michigan, and Florida and tell me how we fared if we're one of just those 5 in the mix.

Then do the same thing with TCU, Baylor, and any other school that recruits "worse" or around what we do but performs better on a national scale because they have better coaches.
 
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