Howdy Mates...
Today's Topic = Recruiting Analysis
Today in the Star's Sports Section they started to analyze the recruiting classes of Rich Rod, starting in 2013, and based their analysis on 1) how many of the players made starts during their stay at AU, 2) starts per player, 3) percentage of players who started 12 or more games, and 4) percentage of players who never started a game...
Does that method of analysis actually lead anywhere when evaluating a class by itself..??
I mean who cares if they all started numerous games, etc, but only won less than 50% of their games, most of the time, or about like what happens at AU a good portion of time...
The Star gave RR's first recruiting class a B+ grade because a lot of the players started a lot of games and they won a South title a few years later, when two-star rated Scooby Wright was a game changer on defense...
However, 247 Sports rated their class 44th nationally, 7th in the PAC, and Rivals rated them 37th nationally and 7th in the PAC...
And, they basically lived up or down to those ratings, depending on your point of view, during the RR years...
They had one four star player, 24 three star players and 8 with two or fewer stars in that 2013 class, and it only went down hill from there, for the most part, as we all know...
Aside from that one good year, the Cats under RR really didn't do much because they were starting a lot of players that never would've made the starting line-ups of quality conference teams at the time and/or had many all-conference type players...
Then you contrast that with what the Cats have done in basketball over the decades, where their recruiting classes are almost always highly ranked nationally and they almost always are contending for conference honors and go to the big Dance annually...
That's why I like what Bobby Hurley is now doing with his Sun Devil recruiting...
He's starting to catch up with the Cats and other really good PAC programs like the Ducks, etc...
And, the same can be said for what Herm is accomplishing these days with his football recruiting, that seems to be several notches above where Graham had been recruiting before Herm took over...
However, that said, Todd did win a South PAC title and did have back to back ten win seasons during his tenure at ASU but his recruiting during the second half of his ASU tenure started to look like Rich Rod's recruiting at AU, which is why he got canned...
Getting back to recruiting analysis, in addition to putting stock in the way Rivals and other services rate players, by designating them by stars, with five stars being the highest and two stars being the lowest, I like to look at the "other offers" each player has on their recruiting resume...
For if a three star, as an example, is being recruited by a lot of other quality P5 teams then you have to like that prospect more, I think, than just your average run-of-the-mill three star prospect...
Am I right in that regard..??
AU got a commitment from a 3-star TE out of Texas over the weekend who had offers from Colorado (good), Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, New Mexico, Louisiana-Monroe and UTSA...
He played QB in HS but will be converted to a TE at AU, given his size, so that is something to consider, I guess...
Regarding the Sun Devils, I'm liking that they seem to be able to recruit at a more national level these days and are certainly getting more length in the players they are recruiting but, so far, they aren't getting many, if any, "elite" type players...
And, those are the players that we need to have in order to compete with and beat the likes of Oregon, etc, these days...
In other news, PAC Commish Larry Scott's 20% pay cut due to the pandemic is set to end this week, after only three months, which is in contrast to his laying off of eight staffers who weren't making even close to his $5.3 million annual salary...
It was really big of Larry to take that temporary pay cut, don't you think...
I wish I could say that I'm optimistic about having an upcoming football season but don't see how that will happen in the contact sports anytime soon...
Oh well, we still have sports to talk about, while on these sites, which is a blessing at this point in time...
Stay safe and sound out there...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = Recruiting Analysis
Today in the Star's Sports Section they started to analyze the recruiting classes of Rich Rod, starting in 2013, and based their analysis on 1) how many of the players made starts during their stay at AU, 2) starts per player, 3) percentage of players who started 12 or more games, and 4) percentage of players who never started a game...
Does that method of analysis actually lead anywhere when evaluating a class by itself..??
I mean who cares if they all started numerous games, etc, but only won less than 50% of their games, most of the time, or about like what happens at AU a good portion of time...
The Star gave RR's first recruiting class a B+ grade because a lot of the players started a lot of games and they won a South title a few years later, when two-star rated Scooby Wright was a game changer on defense...
However, 247 Sports rated their class 44th nationally, 7th in the PAC, and Rivals rated them 37th nationally and 7th in the PAC...
And, they basically lived up or down to those ratings, depending on your point of view, during the RR years...
They had one four star player, 24 three star players and 8 with two or fewer stars in that 2013 class, and it only went down hill from there, for the most part, as we all know...
Aside from that one good year, the Cats under RR really didn't do much because they were starting a lot of players that never would've made the starting line-ups of quality conference teams at the time and/or had many all-conference type players...
Then you contrast that with what the Cats have done in basketball over the decades, where their recruiting classes are almost always highly ranked nationally and they almost always are contending for conference honors and go to the big Dance annually...
That's why I like what Bobby Hurley is now doing with his Sun Devil recruiting...
He's starting to catch up with the Cats and other really good PAC programs like the Ducks, etc...
And, the same can be said for what Herm is accomplishing these days with his football recruiting, that seems to be several notches above where Graham had been recruiting before Herm took over...
However, that said, Todd did win a South PAC title and did have back to back ten win seasons during his tenure at ASU but his recruiting during the second half of his ASU tenure started to look like Rich Rod's recruiting at AU, which is why he got canned...
Getting back to recruiting analysis, in addition to putting stock in the way Rivals and other services rate players, by designating them by stars, with five stars being the highest and two stars being the lowest, I like to look at the "other offers" each player has on their recruiting resume...
For if a three star, as an example, is being recruited by a lot of other quality P5 teams then you have to like that prospect more, I think, than just your average run-of-the-mill three star prospect...
Am I right in that regard..??
AU got a commitment from a 3-star TE out of Texas over the weekend who had offers from Colorado (good), Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, New Mexico, Louisiana-Monroe and UTSA...
He played QB in HS but will be converted to a TE at AU, given his size, so that is something to consider, I guess...
Regarding the Sun Devils, I'm liking that they seem to be able to recruit at a more national level these days and are certainly getting more length in the players they are recruiting but, so far, they aren't getting many, if any, "elite" type players...
And, those are the players that we need to have in order to compete with and beat the likes of Oregon, etc, these days...
In other news, PAC Commish Larry Scott's 20% pay cut due to the pandemic is set to end this week, after only three months, which is in contrast to his laying off of eight staffers who weren't making even close to his $5.3 million annual salary...
It was really big of Larry to take that temporary pay cut, don't you think...
I wish I could say that I'm optimistic about having an upcoming football season but don't see how that will happen in the contact sports anytime soon...
Oh well, we still have sports to talk about, while on these sites, which is a blessing at this point in time...
Stay safe and sound out there...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
