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Found on Smitty’s Desk: Another Look at Recruiting Rankings

Posted on: February 2, 2012

FOUND ON SMITTY’S DESK

If you’ve ever wondered what Hauser, Hawk and I are looking at while we’re broadcasting, here’s your chance. I thought I would pass along some of the notes and research I do so that you can see it for yourself. Form your own opinion and make it heard at 864-573-1400 or find us on twitter @espnsmitty and @mrjshawk.

I found it curious that Georgia’s 2012 recruiting class was ranked 5th by ESPN, 6th by 247sports.com but 19th by Rivals. I think averaging the rankings from the three services might give us a clearer picture of what kind of raw talent these programs are bringing in. Since you’re at work making the world brighter, I did the math for you.

The numbers below reflect the average rankings from rivals.com, 247sports.com and ESPN.

1. Alabama (No. 1 in all three services)

2. Texas

3. Florida State

4. Florida (Nice haul despite underachieving 2011 season)

5. Ohio State (Urban Meyer picks up where he left off as a recruiter)

6. Michigan

7. Miami (FL)

8. Oklahoma/Stanford (The Cardinal impress with top-10 class under David Shaw)

10. Georgia

11. Southern California

12. Texas A&M (Move to SEC may have aided the Aggies)

13. LSU (Lowest ranking for Bayou Bengals under Les Miles)

14. Clemson

15. Auburn

16. Oregon/Notre Dame (Never know what to believe with the Irish)

18. South Carolina

19. UCLA

20. Tennessee

Some interesting splits: ESPN has Clemson’s class ranked 9th, 247sports.com has them at 22. ESPN has Notre Dame’s class ranked 10th, rivals.com has them at 21. We mentioned Georgia above; ESPN has the Dawgs’ class ranked 5th while rivals.com has them at 19th.

Conference notes: Ohio State and Michigan are the only Big Ten teams ranked in the top 20 and they’re both in the top six. Texas and Oklahoma continue to dominate Big XII recruiting, as well. The SEC has eight of the top 20 classes. Three of the top 14 classes are from the ACC and it’s the usual suspects: Florida State, Miami (FL) and Clemson. The states of Alabama, Texas, Florida, California and South Carolina have multiple teams in the top 20.

2 Responses to “Found on Smitty’s Desk: Another Look at Recruiting Rankings”

  1. Mark
    February 2, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    What about Scout.com (I think the most accurate) and MaxPreps?

  2. bbaltes
    February 2, 2012 at 4:11 pm

    Thanks for reading and commenting Mark. Smitty used rivals.com and 247sports.com because we have close ties with writers from those sites and the info was readily available. But he’s no slacker and promises to expand the rankings tomorrow.