Star gazing

[RV]

In surfing UK recruiting sites I have seen many fans expressing perplexion and frustration that our recent success has not turned the heads of enough 4 and 5 star recruits to fill a class so I'd like to try to make three points.

One
The state of Kentucky only produces about a dozen Division 1 signees yearly with only one or two fours stars every other year or so. Not nearly enough talent even if we could sign them all which up to now has not been the case.

Two
Our football 'success' has occurred in only the past 16 months or so. Yes - think about it. Barely over a year ago we were coming off three losing seasons under Brooks - 4-8 in '03, 2-9 in '04 and 3-8 in '05. We had just been annihilated at the hands of LSU in a game in which they could have named the score (ended up 49-0). We were 3-4 at the time and things looked very bleak for the team and coaches. Rumors were swirling about imminent change. Message boards were all speculating on who the new coach might be and our remaining schedule was daunting with trips to Mississippi State, Tennessee and Georgia visiting the Cats. A winning season looked almost impossible. Given those circumstances it's highly unlikely we were on the radar of many highly rated high school juniors.

Three
There are approximately 2,500 high schools seniors signed to division 1 scholarships each year. There are rating services that rank these players and give them a 'star' rating. I won't go into how flawed I believe these rankings are for that is subjective and you can believe them or not. The point is that they only rate 250 total in the 4 and 5 star groups. That's only 10% of the entire class. Even if they were rated perfectly, getting out of state 4 and 5 stars to look at Kentucky in these past few months would have been miraculous but even at that we have had some lookers.

That said, I am perfectly satisfied in signing 3 star players (the top 750 in the country). I'm also satisfied that the kids we recruit will be upstanding citizens and are more than capabable of playing in the SEC. I know that as our success continues we will be able to sign some of those higher rated players that have not given us much of a look in the past.

One other thing I know. We have lost out on some good kids lately. Welcome to the big leagues. It's way too early to panic.

[CarterHall]

Read and you shall find the answer. The GREAT RV has told it like it is.

[WildcatRick]

Well said and spot on!!

[poodoo]

That said, I am perfectly satisfied in signing 3 star players (the top 750 in the country). I'm also satisfied that the kids we recruit will be upstanding citizens and are more than capabable of playing in the SEC. I know that as our success continues we will be able to sign some of those higher rated players that have not given us much of a look in the past. QUOTE
**************************

Well-said, RV, and the pasted paragraph, in particular. GO CATS! GO COACH BROOKS!

[gerntz]

Did you hear Aaron Boyd is 4*? WOW!

[PeachtreeCat]

Both Guy and Boyd were included in the AJC's Super southern 100 in yesterday's paper.:icon_smile::thumbup:

[Wildcat97]

We all need our expectations put into perspective now and again.

[Trueblujr]

While we definately get the most out of the talent we bring in, I still think there has to be a reason why schools like LSU, USC, Ohio St, Florida, etc are consitently in the top 10 and winning National Championships, there is a correlation between their recruiting class rankings and the teams rankings in the BCS polls.

I know we beat LSU but honestly who believes if we played them 10 times we would win more than twice.

Don't misinterpret me, I love where our classes have gotten us to and I love how we manage to find a lot of gems, but I still think we need to keep making inroads with the top players, I don't think anyone would complain if we managed to land 3 or 4 four and five star players each year.

We're getting there I guess.

[gerntz]

"there is a correlation between their recruiting class rankings and the teams rankings in the BCS polls."

Agree, but it's far from perfect. I'd guess the R2 at ~0.75.

[sojourner]

Don't misinterpret me, I love where our classes have gotten us to and I love how we manage to find a lot of gems, but I still think we need to keep making inroads with the top players, I don't think anyone would complain if we managed to land 3 or 4 four and five star players each year.

We're getting there I guess.

I think we are getting there as well. We now have, or will have, a full complement of scholarships awarded. And awarded to players who can compete at the SEC level. We have been able to red-shirt to help build depth. We have 2 and 3 star recruits to help solidify the base.

In short we have the quality depth to be a factor in the league. While we need more talent to win the league at least I can see the progress we have made and the blueprint for how to get there.

Step by step. There are no short cuts. We made that mistake before.

[Diz]

Actually I think most of our top players were 2* recruits. Woodson was a 3 star, but I really suspect most of our top seniors and top returning players were recruited as 2-star ratings. Some of that was because they chose Kentucky instead of Tennessee or Georgia.

That said, there were few 3-star recruits over the past three years. I believe you will quickly see that we have more this year than any class since Brooks and joker began recruiting for the Cats. We certainly have a higher percentage of 3-star recruits.

I know what we got out of the 2-star guys and I know we will get a little more out of these 3-star guys. That really doesn't matter if the recruits don't know how to behave and discipline themselves.

Character is what puts the stars away. Our guys love the game and the coaches get them ready to play it.

[CarterHall]

Recruiting gurus rate players. Fans subscribe to services. Recruiting guru has large # of subscribers that follow a particular school. That school's recruits get superior ratings to keep the subscriptions renewed. Not all but many subscriber #'s help determine what school has top ratings.

One more thing, these gurus will not admit this has anything to do with anything but I'll bet you that if 1,000 UK fans decided to join 1 service at one time the rating for our players would increase over time.

[DonnieKat]

Actually I think most of our top players were 2* recruits. Woodson was a 3 star, but I really suspect most of our top seniors and top returning players were recruited as 2-star ratings. Some of that was because they chose Kentucky instead of Tennessee or Georgia.

That said, there were few 3-star recruits over the past three years. I believe you will quickly see that we have more this year than any class since Brooks and joker began recruiting for the Cats. We certainly have a higher percentage of 3-star recruits.

I know what we got out of the 2-star guys and I know we will get a little more out of these 3-star guys. That really doesn't matter if the recruits don't know how to behave and discipline themselves.

Character is what puts the stars away. Our guys love the game and the coaches get them ready to play it.

Woodson was a four star per Rivals.

[RCS]

http://cfn.scout.com/2/726003.html
Here is a re-ranking of the 2004 recruiting class. Lots of movement here. Miami and FSU went from #3 & #4 to out of the top 20 in this. Six teams went from 30+ to top 15. Just keep this in mind.

[gerntz]

Recruiting gurus rate players. Fans subscribe to services. Recruiting guru has large # of subscribers that follow a particular school. That school's recruits get superior ratings to keep the subscriptions renewed. Not all but many subscriber #'s help determine what school has top ratings.

One more thing, these gurus will not admit this has anything to do with anything but I'll bet you that if 1,000 UK fans decided to join 1 service at one time the rating for our players would increase over time.


It's a chick & egg thing though, isn't it? I mena the top 20 attendance schools are mainly top 20 in on-field ratings & thus have most interest in recruits & thus subscribe in the highest numbers?

[Ukosumu]

Recruiting 5-star athletes is not an exact science. Here is an article listing the 5-stars from 2004.

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/7762724/Revisiting-the-5-star-recruits-from-2004

[sardiscat]

I remember hearing Derrick Ramsey talk about all the absolutely great players who are completely overlooked by recruiting services and coaching staffs alike just because they play for schools in really bad inner city areas where nobody wants to go to take a look at them or in really out of the way rural areas where nobody thinks its a productive use of time to go looking for players. He said you could easily field a championship caliber team made up of players who didn't get any scholarship offers from major conference schools. That is why there are so many players in the NFL who went to colleges that are off the beaten track.

[I. Melvin]

OK, how many of our recruits are 3-stars?

We can dismiss the ranking system, but I think we'll find that those programs with 5's, 4's and 3's consistently rank at the top when all is said and done.

We can't let this momentum dissipate because of lackluster recruiting. We've hibernated enough in my lifetime.