Under the radar...Purdue got a top 25 class...ranked #5 in B1G. It's been a long time since we were on that list.
Cudos to Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M of the SEC as having the the top three ranked 2019 recruiting hauls so far including yesterday and also I'm feeling pretty good about ESPN listing Bama, Ga, Michigan and Florida as the winners on the early signing day of the 19th. The Gators made up some ground up to #16 and still have a few spots left to add a few more top rated unsigned players in Feb. that could boost them closer to the top 10 at the end and that would be a pretty good recruiting year.
It's been a long time I think since Michigan had the #1 class in the Big 10. Maybe Urban leaving is a signal that UM will retake the dominance of the league back from Ohio State. I'm still puzzled by the UCLA class, it's just awful I don't know what Chip Kelly is thinking. Also USC did not get a USC type of class. Some have said that their top targets are all Feb kids and they will zoom up the rankings, I'm sure the way the season went wasn't helpful given that it created doubt if Helton would be retained and what would happen with the position coaches that were out there recruiting. Miami and FSU also had unremarkable classes, Miami had a great class last year but this year the season didn't go as expected starting with the LSU game and recruiting was really bad with some of their commits changing their minds. FSU hasn't not had a top 10 class in I can't remember. Again I'm sure the season and the questions that have come up as to whether Willie Taggert is in over his head haven't helped.
Dave, we had a small class this year (15) due to the number of openings. A lot of holdovers from last year. Nothing to do with Meyer leaving for the most part. Next year our available scholarships will be back to normal. Unfortunately recruiting ratings are based on class size.
I was reading some posts on ND Nation about recruiting back in the day, In Ara's time at ND of course Purdue was a top program and Ara was criticised a lot for letting so many Chicago Catholic league kids go to Purdue, turns out whoever was the Purdue coach in the early 60's hired two of the most successful HS coaches in the Chicago Catholic league and created a pipeline that Ara couldn't break. Times have changed though and it would seem to me that Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Neb all have the same recruiting philosophy now they search for gems and develop them. Wisconsin and Iowa have done that pretty well and I suspect that is what Purdue will need to do as well.
Has to be him, he was a great coach and had some great teams at Purdue. Those of you who want to experience a Coach Eddie O recruiting press conference follow this link and enjoy! Coach O yells at people to keep noise down during news conferenceCoach O yells at people to keep noise down during news conference
Don I think the recruiting rankings these days have a little better data collected that give them more legitimacy but still they leave a lot of room for both surprise failures and successes later on in these recruit's careers. However, more and more when teams like Alabama, Georgia , Clemson and Ohio State keep coming in at or near the top of the recruiting rankings and then do it also on the field in the fall it makes it look more like these rankings mean something. So it's also about star ratings and cumulative point totals in the quality of recruit column. Not the end all..... but it sure doesn't hurt to have top ten rated classes year after year instead of languishing back in the 20s and 30s etc.
I do think these ratings mean something. I know that there are always 5 stars who don't pan out, and 3 stars who become all-americans. But in general, as Dave pointed out, you look at the teams that are now constantly at the top, Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson and lately Georgia are not only getting a ton of highly rated players but they are coaching and developing them so that every year they literally reload their squad with great young players.
I think I saw that Alabama has all 4 & 5 stars with the exception of a kicker. I think just as important is filling holes left from graduation.One thing that Saban seems to do is load up on defensive linemen and then rotate 7 or 8 during a game, so Alabama always seems to need DL's.
Kp, I agree that filling positions of need should be a part of these rankings but are there any services that have assigned a point value to a team having done a good job at that? The old days of the gurus just arbitrarily ranking recruiting classes probably had more of that.
Well Oregon got some good recruiting news, their QB (Justin Hebert) will be returning for his senior year. He's been projected as the 1st QB off the board in the NFL 1st round...so he's giving up some serious money to play another year of college football. It's a risk, Matt Leinart came back for his Sr. year after winning the Heisman and being projected as a top 5 pick in the draft, he dropped a bit after his Sr. year although he did still end up being a 1st round draft choice.
Well this Christmas at the former in-laws was interesting. There's always the faction of the family that believes ND plays absolutely no one and in fact, only teams that play SEC teams are someone who has played any sort of 'real competition.' Vandy doesn't count in their eyes, but they'll be chanting "SEC SEC SEC" if the 'Dores win their bowl game. Anyway, that contingent thinks that Clemson-ND game will be fun to watch because 'we don't know anything about either team. They look good, but they play no one.' Then there's my son's great aunt who was beaming with pride and couldn't say enough good things about ND. Her son is the head coach at Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa where their QB/Punter just signed with ND as a punter and it's all anyone can talk about down there. That was certainly an odd twist.
Corey, are your in-laws all Auburn fans? I don't get it, they are all SEC fans but they are excited about a kicker from Tuscaloosa signing with Notre Dame? Something doesn't jive!
Oh no, it's all Tide for that Peterson side of the family. The first indication I've ever seen of any sort of splinter from that was the pride that Trisha was showing about one of her son's players going to ND. I think Uncle Gus and my late ex-wife were Auburn fans, but they were always the black sheep of the family. It is kinda funny, the younger generation has this 'if you ain't Tide, you ain't ****' kind of attitude. The older generation is still Tide first and foremost, but they have a healthy amount of respect for Notre Dame and Penn State. They don't like those 2 schools, but they do respect them.
I am pretty happy with what our new coach accomplished this cycle and think we add a few by February. Also we have some pretty highly rated recruits lined up for 2020 and 2021. Mullen seems to be laying the groundwork for the Gators to become relevant again. In fact if we win our bowl game against Michigan we will finish the year ranked higher than anytime since 2009 if my memory serves me correctly.