Recruiting Rivals: Post NSD Evaluation

[GatorJ]

Really good read. Two paragraphs really stood out to me.

25 - As in 25% or 1/4 of the four and five-star rated prospects in the Sunshine State signed with Florida. That's right, after getting beaten up in-state during the last cycle, the Gators rebounded in a big way to sign 11 of the 44 in-state prospects who were rated four-stars or above by Rivals.


65.2 - The percentage of this Florida signing class ranked as four and five stars. Though, again, Florida didn't land the elite of the elite prospects, they did rebound in a big way in that 65.2% of the signees were four-stars. In the 2016 cycle only 40% of Florida's signees were four and five stars. Though he came in late, in the 2015 cycle only 33.3% of the Gators' signees were four and five stars. UF almost doubled that percentage this time around.

 

[alcoholica]

I had forgotten about the Clemson OT

 

[AugustaGator]

mine in relation to this message board....

Is this class as good as those we saw under Urban Meyer, Ron Zook and Will Muschamp?

No it isn't.

However, to look at it just in those terms is a bit short sighted.

 

[CaribGator]

I was happy that the suckage wasn't as bad as it looked going in to NSD, butters pulled one out of his arse again. But as shown in this analysis of the day:

"Florida may not have hit on any of the very elite receivers they were in the running for " -WR didn't hit our top targets again,
"While they probably didn't get the numbers that they had hoped for here, " - OL

offense overall "You would have liked to have seen more skill position firepower added. Instead Florida has some kids who look like they could be upgrades over current players (Telfort and Gamble), but no one really stands out as someone who can come in and immediately upgrade an offense that is in desperate need of being upgraded." - they forgot to factor in Clarabelle...

"It is hard to get excited about this bunch when you compare what Florida ended up with to what they were in the running for earlier in the recruiting cycle. " - LB , didn't hit our top targets again
"They didn't get some of the top kids they were after " - DB , they said it for me

So Carib's analysis is that this staff struggles to recruit, usually late to the table, rarely gets their Plan A, so they have to settle for Plan B and even Plan C. We did fill some holes, but fell farther behind our rivals in landing top talent, impact players. We need serious upgrades on the coaching staff to both recruit better and perform better on the field (looking at you Nuss & Nord). I would say this cycle stopped the downslide, we should start our climb back to elite if we can beat ranked teams. No reason not to win the East again next year with our schedule. (which will probably give butters at least another year..)

Go Gators

 

[deuce]

Congratulations on finding the suckage!

 

[GatorBart]

Congratulations on finding the suckage!

Some folks like to focus on the negative.
But I'm gonna point out some suckage in that Rivals article.
First off, we get two solid WRs that both attended All-American games and they give us a B-? WTF is that!? They really give little to no respect for Green. I hope he reads this stuff and will come in with a chip on his shoulder (he's more polished than JRob and I think he's going to be better than Hammond and Swain). And compare that B- WR rating to the B+ TE rating. We got one TE rated at 5.8 on the Rivals scale and get a B+; we got two WRs, rated 5.9 and 5.8, and get a B-. That don't make no sense!
Secondly, they give the DLine an A, LBs a C-, and DBs an A (though as Carib pointed out, we missed on a couple of top DB targets); so that's 2 A's and a C-; and they go ahead and give the Defense and A overall. I guess the C- at LB has no affect on the grade for the overall Defense. I think I'd a given the Defense a B+ overall.

 

[GatorJ]

Some folks like to focus on the negative.
But I'm gonna point out some suckage in that Rivals article.
First off, we get two solid WRs that both attended All-American games and they give us a B-? WTF is that!? They really give little to no respect for Green. I hope he reads this stuff and will come in with a chip on his shoulder (he's more polished than JRob and I think he's going to be better than Hammond and Swain). And compare that B- WR rating to the B+ TE rating. We got one TE rated at 5.8 on the Rivals scale and get a B+; we got two WRs, rated 5.9 and 5.8, and get a B-. That don't make no sense!
Secondly, they give the DLine an A, LBs a C-, and DBs an A (though as Carib pointed out, we missed on a couple of top DB targets); so that's 2 A's and a C-; and they go ahead and give the Defense and A overall. I guess the C- at LB has no affect on the grade for the overall Defense. I think I'd a given the Defense a B+ overall.

A couple of our linebackers may become strong safeties. I don't necessarily mean from this class. Just in general. We really screwed up by missing on linebackers in last year's class.

I agree with you on the grade on defense. We needed to close on an elite linebacker. We did not. No way you can grade the defense as an A. But as we know games are won in the SEC on the lines of scrimmage. And they did a spectacular job on the D line. I don't think we've ever had a class with this much size at DT.

If we end up getting Lingard next year (fingers crossed), we may end up having the best stable of running backs we've ever had at UF. Potentially. The two best of course being with John L Williams in the 80s and Fred Taylor in the 90s. But the potential is there.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Some folks like to focus on the negative.

Those rivals.com people are such negators.

 

[GatorBart]

Those rivals.com people are such negators.

Actually, Rivals over-rated the Defensive recruiting. I was the neGator on that part of their article.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Its a pretty good dline class and a decent db class.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

And compare that B- WR rating to the B+ TE rating. We got one TE rated at 5.8 on the Rivals scale and get a B+;.

On Rivals positions that dont contribute as much, like FB, TE, and kickers are rated lower. The highest rated TEs tend to be 4stars and the highest FBs are 3stars.

It makes sense if you think about it. Two similar teams, one adds the top HB and one adds top FB. Who has the better class.? On Rivals, the HB class will bc he is a five star and the top FB is a three star. On Scout, ESPN, or 247, the both are five stars.

Im not sold on Green either. Fast but needs to work on his hands and technique. Same could have been said about Reidel though.

 

[GatorBart]

Im not sold on Green either. Fast but needs to work on his hands and technique. Same could have been said about Reidel though.

Yeah, I get where you're coming from on the grading of positions.
But I think the above describes JRob. It think Green is a good route runner and positions himself well to make the catch.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I might have it backwards. I remember watching Green and Robinson and thinking one was big and physical and one was fast.

My memory isn't what it used to be.

 

[GatorJ]

I might have it backwards. I remember watching Green and Robinson and thinking one was big and physical and one was fast.

My memory isn't what it used to be.

Green has a stockier build. Robinson is tall and lean. From everything that I've read, Robinsons big need is to gain strength. He has one of the higher ceilings of any receiver in the draft. In Rival's preseason rankings he and Grimes were one and two in the country.

 

[bayou gator]

For the most part, I'm pleased with the results... if not overly excited about the methodolgy, that got us to NSD. I'm hoping Mac isn't so late to try to establish relationships with elite recruits next year. I really like the guys that we signed, and I like how they fill many of the holes on our roster. In my opinion, our biggest concern should be that we are so thin at LB. If we could've signed a couple of elite LBs in this class, I'd feel really good about the future. I love the DTs, but we need some heat seeking missiles to play behind those guys. Hopefully, we can add some serious studs next year.

With this year's NSD results, and the addition of Seider to the staff, I'm starting to feel better about our future with Mac. He's definitely earned some grace. Next year might be a step back, but hopefully a good foundation is being laid for the future. What happens at QB will play the biggest role. Hopefully one of our young'uns will grow up, and become the leader we need going forward.

As always, Go Gators!

 

[BMF]

I had forgotten about the Clemson OT

Are we getting this kid? And if we do....can he play right away?? This would be huge!!

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

It is a given that the more 4 and 5 stars you have the greater your chances are of being successful. But the star ranking system doesn't take into account some critical factors that a coach might not be able to judge until he gets the player on campus.

Michael Jordan said "Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence win championships." This is so true. You have to have the talent, but is that 4 star you recruited coachable and intelligent?

 

[alcoholica]

Are we getting this kid? And if we do....can he play right away?? This would be huge!!

No idea on either. He had some family health issues, and he's from Tampa I think. So it's possible he gets a waiver, but I wouldn't say likely.

 

[GatorJ]

Not that I give a crap about Scout's rankings…

But if anybody follows recruiting they know that FSU has been annihilating us in the Tampa area for the last four years.

I don't even think we pulled a recruit from Hillsborough County last year.

So it was nice to see this:

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Not that I give a crap about Scout's rankings…

But if anybody follows recruiting they know that FSU has been annihilating us in the Tampa area for the last four years.

I don't even think we pulled a recruit from Hillsborough County last year.

So it was nice to see this:

You know, I wasn't real impressed with Clown Town's class.

Cracks in the armor appearing?