I started following recruiting in the early 80's thanks to Gator Bait.
It sounds so antiquated now but I used to look forward to the recruiting edition arriving in the mail each January. This edition would include David Stirt's "Cream of the Crop" list each year that featured the top 20-25 players in the state. The accuracy of this list, compared to the performance of these players, was very impressive. Typically, 80-90% of these players would turn out to be NFL caliber.
What I liked about it was that it appeared to be objective versus some of the homer crap we get now that tries to convince you that every player UF gets, is one of the best. There would be years in the 80's when we might get 1 or 2 players on the list while Miami and FSU cleaned up. This would help me to manage my expectations in the late 80's. Conversely, once SOS arrived, we would see UF get their fair share of these players and the results on the field validated the list.