Class Comparison

[RockyMountainOySker]

I tend to look at offer lists (the # and which schools) as a decent way to judge the quality of player in a class. Yes....sometimes that holds no merits, (take Enunwa and Mitchell in this class - basically no offers but I've constantly heard these are the 2 biggest steals in the class) but in the end, I feel it is a better place to start than just star gazing.

I get annoyed with both sides of the "star" argument. Of course a higher percentage of 5 star kids are drafted higher, make All-American teams, etc. but that is b/c the number of kids getting 5 stars in high school is significantly lower making the percent sky rocket.

Of course there are more 3 star kids getting drafted and on All American teams in general, but that is because there are 10,000 3 star kids every year.

You have to look somewhere else to get a good idea of how good this player could be....

Now before all of you start throwing names at me that didn't have any offers but turned out amazing..........again..........this is just a place to start and it is certainly not full proof. It also means nothing with early commits.

I picked Missouri, because as of yesterday, Rivals rated their class the 17th best class in the country. Nebraska is currently rated 33rd.

Below you will find Missouri's commitments and their offers followed by Nebraska's:

Missouri

Jimmie Hunt (WR) - MU, KU, KSU

Nick Demien (OL) - way too many to list obviously a stud.

Kony Ealy (DE) - MU, Ark, Ark State, GT, IL, Memphis, Ole Miss, NU

James Franklin (QB) - MU

Tyler Gabbert (QB) - MU, CSU, IU, Iowa, ISU, KU, NU, Oregon, Wake, Wyoming

EJ Gaines (DB) - MU

Anthony Gatti (OL) - MU, IU, KU, Ole Miss, Vandy, Wake, Wis

Tristan Holt (DB) - MU, Baylor, LaTech, Southern Methodist, Texas Tech

Henry Josey (ATH) - MU, TCU, UTEP

Mitch Morse (OL) - MU

Marcus Murphy (RB) - MU, ISU, KU, Minn, Ole Miss, Rice, Southern Meth, TCU, Tulsa, Utah, UTEP

Jared Parham (LB) - MU, Ark, Buffalo, UNC, Texas Tech

Darvin Ruise (ATH) - MU, East Carolina, GT, South Carolina, Tenn

Xavier Smith (DB) - MU, CSU, North Texas, TCU, Tulsa, Wash State

Lucas Vincent (DT) - MU, KU, KSU, NU, SDSU, Wis

Kentronte Walker (DB) - MU

Eric Waters (TE) - MU, Baylor, Houston, KU, Rice, UTEP

Braylon Webb (DB) - MU, Houston

Greg White (ATH) - MU, Ark State, Louisiana-Monroe

According to this philosophy (most offers to BCS schools), Demien and Ealy are the best players in the class.

Although I think MU's class is very good, I'm surprised by that they only have a couple kids with major schools on their offer lists. Only Nick Demien had the opportunity to go just about anywhere. Darvin Ruise, Kony Ealy, Tyler Gabbert, Jared Parham, Marcus Murphy, and Anthony Gatti had nice offer lists.......but no major program outside of Nebraska (Ha!) offered any of them. Sure Arkansas or Georgia Tech...even Oregon (Gabbert only).......but not a single one of these teams has played for a NC in a long time.

Nebraska

LaVonte David (LB) - NU, Baylor, FIU, Houston, KU, KSU, North TX, Southern Miss, Tenn, Tulsa

Jemarcus Hardrick (OL) - NU, Ark, LSU, Ole Miss, South Florida, Southern Miss

Andrew Rodriguez (OL) - NU

Chase Harper (TE) - NU, Baylor, ISU, KSU, Miami

Chase Rome (DT) - could go every where - highlights....NU, Flordia, Mich, OU, OSU, Tenn, UCLA

Quincy Enunwa (WR) - NU, Wash State

Ciante Evans (DB) - NU, ASU, IL, Iowa, KU, OSU, TCU, TX AM, TX Tech, Utah

Mike Moudy (OL) - NU, CSU, KU, KSU, Northwestern, Stanford, WY

Donovan Vestal (DE) - NU, AZ, Ark, Baylor, Houston, KU, KSU, MU, OSU, Rice, Southern Meth, UTEP

Jay Guy (DT) - way too many to list. highlights....NU, Cal, Mich, Ole Miss, TX AM, TX Tech, UCLA

Harvey Jackson (DB) - NU, ASU, Baylor, Duke, Houston, MU, OSU, Purdue, Rice, Southern Meth, Utah

Joshua Mitchell (DB) - NU, CSU, Idaho, SDSU, UTEP, Wash State

Walker Ashburn (DE)- NU, OSU, Stanford, Southern Miss, Southern Meth, Toledo, LL, LM, McNeese St

Tobi Okuyemi (DE)- NU, Iowa, KU, Kentucky, Mich, Mich State, Minn, Vandy, Wis

Tyler Evans (WR/DB) - NU, Ohio, Princeton

Jake Cotton (OL/DT) - NU - what a surprise

According to this philosophy, the best players in the class are Rome and Guy - both DTs - thanks Suh!

Although there are a number of kids with just a few options, it is obvious that the NU class in general has way more options of high quality programs to choose from. Only Rome (especially), Guy, Evans, and Hardrick had multiple major programs asking for their services. The difference is the classes lands with the 3 star kids. Both classes have some stellar players but the options for our kids are higher.

I personally would put NU's class up against MU's any day. MU does have many more kids on the offensive side of the ball, so in the end this comparison might be a stretch. I'm not saying NU's class is better than MU's. I'm saying that MU's class shouldn't be number 17 and we shouldn't b3 33rd. Maybe both should be around the 25-30 range....

Again this isn't full proof by all means. Just a thought I had this morning and thought I would write it down.

What do you think? Is MU's class really the 17th best class in the country? Is Neb's really 33rd?

Edit: Added player positions

 

[irafreak]

Nice summary. Failed to mention one thing though....the pinkel factor.

Wish the position titles were listed.

 

[RockyMountainOySker]

Nice summary. Failed to mention one thing though....the pinkel factor.

Wish the position titles were listed.

Thanks. I'll edit that in for sure...when i get the time. That above post took way too long...time to work.

 

[NUance]

I tend to look at offer lists (the # and which schools) as a decent way to judge the quality of player in a class. Yes....sometimes that holds no merits, (take Enunwa and Mitchell in this class - basically no offers but I've constantly heard these are the 2 biggest steals in the class) but in the end, I feel it is a better place to start than just star gazing.

...

Again this isn't full proof by all means. Just a thought I had this morning and thought I would write it down.

What do you think? Is MU's class really the 17th best class in the country? Is Neb's really 33rd?

Yeah, I look at a guy's other offers too. It may be a better indication of talent than stars. Sometimes.

But like you say, it is not fool proof. Like Rodriguez. He committed early and therefore did not get any other offers. At least I think that's why he didn't get any other offers.

 

[fro daddy]

couple of things. 1. When MU offers early and a kid commits nearly on the spot and shuts down recruiting you will not see new offers show on their profile. I.E. James Franklin and Gaines. Franklin is one of the top QB prospects out there. #4 Dual threat in the country. Top 40 player in TX and by all accounts and opinion from the Rivals staff has an excellent chance to move up that list to inside the top 30. Gaines was a camp offer and shut off recruiting right away. Top 9 MO kid that will move up. Morse commited in April.

#2 not all offers are show on the public profile. Darvin Ruise for example had 30 offers. Nearly every ACC and SEC school was on that list. His final five were LSU, TENN, GT, MU and ECU.

Commiting early and being a very solid commit has as much to do with your offer list as your talent. Also one thing to consider is the number of offers your school gives. I mean, what did NU offer, like 20 different QBs. Some schools dont hand out offers like flyers. Some do. You might see NU show up on 100 different kids for offers where TX shows up on 30.

When you take into consideration that both schools have vastly different styles in recruiting that also changes things. MU has developed a nice little rep for finding kids nobody else has on their radar. They rairly go after the big time kids that are not local. Just a different style, not wrong, or inferior, just different from NE's style.

But props for doing the leg work on your post. And very thoughtfully put together

 

[NUance]

Also one thing to consider is the number of offers your school gives. I mean, what did NU offer, like 20 different QBs. Some schools dont hand out offers like flyers. Some do. You might see NU show up on 100 different kids for offers where TX shows up on 30.

NU offered 16 QBs this year. MU offered 8. Mizzou got a solid QB commitment from James Franklin way early in the process. Pinkeye didn't need to keep recruiting QBs. NU did not have that luxury. NU kept in touch with QB recruits all along because our QB recruit came from a family with a reputation for reneging on their commitments. Maybe next year our staff should be more cautious about the integrity of recruits we go after.

 

[EZ-E]

Commiting early and being a very solid commit has as much to do with your offer list as your talent.

Also one thing to consider is the number of offers your school gives.

I mean, what did NU offer, like 20 different QBs. Some schools dont hand out offers like flyers.

Some do. You might see NU show up on 100 different kids for offers where TX shows up on 30.

When you take into consideration that both schools have vastly different styles in recruiting that also changes things. MU has developed a nice little rep for finding kids nobody else has on their radar. They rairly go after the big time kids that are not local. Just a different style, not wrong, or inferior, just different from NE's style.

But props for doing the leg work on your post. And very thoughtfully put together

A lot of people dont realize that this was a defense heavy year from the beginning for NU.

These were my thoughts exactly SkersChicago. I took a look at their 4 star kids and realized that they were not very heavily recruited. You would think that Holt: 4 star Mizzou pledge from TEXAS would be a bit more heavily recruited than he was. That just doesnt add up. A four star kid from TEXAS with very few offers. Could mean that he is overrated. NOT SAYING HE IS. OR HE MAY BE A GRADE RISK. You would have to think that he would have to have at least been in contact with some more big schools even if he was a grade risk though.

But I believe that our ranking is watered down a bit because of the lack of players in this class. I dont think that we will get into the top 20. Even if we do land 2 out of the following 3: Owa, Cooper, Heard.

Mizzou should only be taking 2-3 guys correct? Their class is at 19. They have something like 14 WRs coming back right???? But yet they stand a good chance to add 4 in this class. Hunt, Carter, Lucas, Sasser. To me, that seems very odd. The only two that I would imagine you would make room for if they wanted to come are Carter and Lucas. Sasser and Hunt arent exactly "cant miss" talents. They are good additions but not exactly kids that one would make room for.

Good post fro daddy. I broke it up so I could comment further on your thoughts.

I tend to look at offers lists as well. I do agree with you that if a kid commits very early that not many offers will show up on his list. Husker fans see: Andrew Rodriguez and Ryne Reeves.

But at the same time if the kid is good enough he will still continue to compile offers. See: Tyler Moore 2011 Husker pledge. I do agree that Tyler Moore is a complete different situation because he is the top junior OT. A kid that talented of course will still be sought after. But offers lists do mean something is what I am getting at.

NU also has been very "opportunistic" in their recruiting methods if you will. We find kids that nobody else gives the time of day to. See: Eric Martin 2009 pledge, and Quincy Enunwa.

Quick story regaurding Eric Martin- the kid if from SoCal. Carl Pelini was at a spring football camp I believe that Pete Carrol also attended. Eric Martin was there and he was going against some USC recruits. Not sure about their names. He dominated them. He was the talk of the camp. After every play Eric made Pete Carrol would look at Carl Pelini and shake his head. Pete the cheat knew he missed out on a good one.

We can still pull some of the top talent because of our tradition and our gameday atmosphere. If we can get kids on an official on a day that there is a night game in Lincoln.... :thumbs then our chances increase ten fold. The staff is really able to locate the talent they want and offer them early so the kid has a feeling of loyalty towards them and then hold on and make the kids top 3. We will get our fair share of talent that way.

Anyways good posts Fro and Skers. Good discussion.

 

[EZ-E]

Also one thing to consider is the number of offers your school gives. I mean, what did NU offer, like 20 different QBs. Some schools dont hand out offers like flyers. Some do. You might see NU show up on 100 different kids for offers where TX shows up on 30.

NU offered 16 QBs this year. MU offered 8. Mizzou got a solid QB commitment from James Franklin way early in the process. Pinkeye didn't need to keep recruiting QBs. NU did not have that luxury. NU kept in touch with QB recruits all along because our QB recruit came from a family with a reputation for reneging on their commitments. Maybe next year our staff should be more cautious about the integrity of recruits we go after.

Turner and Smith are the main two qbs that I see in the 2011 class. Many people knock on Turner's height but I believe he is only 16 years old. He should end up around 6ft2-3 hopefully. Great athlete. We were his first offer, he was up here for the OU game :thumbs so we are in a great position to land him.

 

[Observer]

To add to this discussion I will say this.

Sometimes the number of offers a particular recruit has depends entirely on what schools are needing presently and how they perceive a recruit fitting into their scheme.

Certain kids have the opportunity to play 2 or more positions potentially within a particular program, such as a kid that wants to play CB but may be getting offers from certain schools to play WR and so on and so forth.

From my observations, typically when Mizzou recruits a kid they do so with the intention of playing them in a specific position. Other schools on the other hand may want that kid for another position and are turned down early in the process by that recruit and thus an offer is not extended.

As fro mentioned earlier, Pinkel and staff have always had a knack for finding recruits who are not heavily recruited and turning them into very good players. Sean Weatherspoon is a great example of this. He was a 2 star kid who had offers from the following: MU, Iowa State, TCU, Tulane, and Houston. None of those programs were particularly great back in 2005/2006. On paper most would have looked at him and said that he was an average recruit who would get some playing time later in his years but that was it. As it turns out he was a great player who will be playing on Sundays.

In summary, rankings and offers don't always tell the full story of what a recruit will be worth, they exist only as a measure. Personally I would have liked to get some higher level recruits on the defensive side of the ball for MU, but thats not the way the staff chose to go. Even so you can have the best athletes on the field, but if your schemes and coaching isn't up to par, you probably aren't going to have great success in those areas (take Notre Dame for example). I'll take our (MU) class over NU's no question this year, but I'd rather have Carl coaching our defense than our DC Steckle.

 

[TheCheshireCat]

I'll take NU's class and to each their own. Pelini's have made a name for themselves defensively and we can see the product on the field. Held OU to 3 points, KSU to 3 points, MO to 12, and UT to 13. Most of the champions the last few years have won because of their defense. Look at UF and OU. Most prolific offense with tons of skill players, dominated by Florida's D. Once the Pelini's get the guys they want on defense, we'll be even better and more efficient. Defenses are always harder to fix than offenses. Once we get a good QB in or a few good skill positions, we'll be on the warpath. I have no doubt if Gabbert had stayed at NU we'd be at least 12-1 this year. Offensive skill players are fun to watch but they're not as valuable as a well-functioning defense.

Either way, the North should start to get some respect in the next few years. We already have with the nation watching Nebraska's D. Missouri will be good next year, and I am actually pretty scared of what Kansas can accomplish with Gill as coach. If nothing else, he'll be able to bring in some good talent. Nebraska has already paved the way toward evening the North/South disparity with victories over OU and arguably a victory over UT. Let's hope the rest of the North can make this consistent.

 

[MUTigerFan]

Mizzou should only be taking 2-3 guys correct? Their class is at 19. They have something like 14 WRs coming back right???? But yet they stand a good chance to add 4 in this class. Hunt, Carter, Lucas, Sasser. To me, that seems very odd. The only two that I would imagine you would make room for if they wanted to come are Carter and Lucas. Sasser and Hunt arent exactly "cant miss" talents. They are good additions but not exactly kids that one would make room for.

They do have 14 returning WR's. However, 3 are walk-on types who likely will only play special teams at best. 2 will be seniors and 3 juniors. So at the upper end, pretty thin. And overall pretty inexperienced. So, of 11 receivers, 2 or 3 probably just won't cut it, and will see little field time. That leave about 8 or 9 for a team that puts 3 or 4 receivers per play. You need depth. I'd love to see Hunt, Carter, Lucas and Sasser all commit. Mizzou is a throwing team and will be for the foreseeable future.

 

[RockyMountainOySker]

I'll take NU's class and to each their own. Pelini's have made a name for themselves defensively and we can see the product on the field. Held OU to 3 points, KSU to 3 points, MO to 12, and UT to 13. Most of the champions the last few years have won because of their defense. Look at UF and OU. Most prolific offense with tons of skill players, dominated by Florida's D. Once the Pelini's get the guys they want on defense, we'll be even better and more efficient. Defenses are always harder to fix than offenses. Once we get a good QB in or a few good skill positions, we'll be on the warpath. I have no doubt if Gabbert had stayed at NU we'd be at least 12-1 this year. Offensive skill players are fun to watch but they're not as valuable as a well-functioning defense.

That's the thing.....we needed defense in this class which no one seems to realize. It's very hard to compare MUs and NUs classes because we are staked full of defense and they are stacked full of offense.

I really think both classes are full of quality gets and both should be rated between 25-30 on rivals as classes. I have a hard time thinking MUs class is the 17th best class in the country. If Lucas commits, I'll be eating my words.

 

[MadcatNU]

Mizzou should only be taking 2-3 guys correct? Their class is at 19. They have something like 14 WRs coming back right???? But yet they stand a good chance to add 4 in this class. Hunt, Carter, Lucas, Sasser. To me, that seems very odd. The only two that I would imagine you would make room for if they wanted to come are Carter and Lucas. Sasser and Hunt arent exactly "cant miss" talents. They are good additions but not exactly kids that one would make room for.

They do have 14 returning WR's. However, 3 are walk-on types who likely will only play special teams at best. 2 will be seniors and 3 juniors. So at the upper end, pretty thin. And overall pretty inexperienced. So, of 11 receivers, 2 or 3 probably just won't cut it, and will see little field time. That leave about 8 or 9 for a team that puts 3 or 4 receivers per play. You need depth. I'd love to see Hunt, Carter, Lucas and Sasser all commit. Mizzou is a throwing team and will be for the foreseeable future.

That's a good point. MU goes with a lot of 4 and 5 reciever sets, so it makes sense that they would have a lot of 'em.

Interesting that many of MU's prospects are not as heavily recruited by other teams. But obviously someone who looked at them saw some ability - hence their rating.

 

[MadcatNU]

I'll take NU's class and to each their own. Pelini's have made a name for themselves defensively and we can see the product on the field. Held OU to 3 points, KSU to 3 points, MO to 12, and UT to 13. Most of the champions the last few years have won because of their defense. Look at UF and OU. Most prolific offense with tons of skill players, dominated by Florida's D. Once the Pelini's get the guys they want on defense, we'll be even better and more efficient. Defenses are always harder to fix than offenses. Once we get a good QB in or a few good skill positions, we'll be on the warpath. I have no doubt if Gabbert had stayed at NU we'd be at least 12-1 this year. Offensive skill players are fun to watch but they're not as valuable as a well-functioning defense.

That's the thing.....we needed defense in this class which no one seems to realize. It's very hard to compare MUs and NUs classes because we are staked full of defense and they are stacked full of offense.

I really think both classes are full of quality gets and both should be rated between 25-30 on rivals as classes. I have a hard time thinking MUs class is the 17th best class in the country. If Lucas commits, I'll be eating my words.

Mizzou's class is looking pretty good. I could buy it.

I think our class is very good on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively we're currently light on WRs as well as RB and QB is a glaring hole.