Shades
30 minutes of ball and we are smokin at the end
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In an earlier thread (A look at team performance vs recruiting quality), someone asked about doing a comparison of the talent level and talent gaps among the strongest teams from each P5 conference. Below is a look at those talent levels, but also including Tennessee as a reference point for Volnation.
Rather than using overall recruiting rankings, which can be skewed by extremely large or extremely small recruiting classes, the average player recruiting score is used. This is a more accurate indicator of the overall quality of each year's recruiting class.
The table below also shows the recruiting trends of a number of teams over the past 14 years.
Teams that have managed talent levels the best are Alabama and Clemson, followed by Ohio State. All of the other teams have found ways to squander loads of 5* and 4* talent, with USC at the top of the list, followed by Georgia, Florida St and LSU.
CLICK TO EXPAND
Some comments:
Alabama - Recruiting was irrelevant under Shula, and then picked up after Saban's first year in 2007. Saban has taken advantage of consistent stellar recruiting with 5 NCs.
USC - USC was a powerhouse under Pete Carroll until he left in 2009. Recruiting stayed extremely strong after that, but USC has not been able to find a coach to utilize the high talent levels.
Ohio State - They did very well under Tressel despite some weak recruiting in the mid 2000's, and then continued to do well under Meyer from 2012 on with some stellar recruiting the past several years.
Georgia - Despite a continued string of very good recruiting cycles, Georgia muddled between mediocrity and a good team under Richt, but could never win the big games that counted. Currently doing well under Smart, but still waiting for a NC breakthrough.
Florida St - Having consistently very good to excellent recruiting cycles, Florida St has bounced between mediocre teams to very good teams. Although winning a NC recently, in general they would loose a critical game or more that would keep them out of NC contention.
LSU - LSU has enjoyed consistently strong recruiting cycles, and won one NC in the Les Miles era, but also had several mediocre teams despite high levels of talent. So far Ogeron has not been able to fully utilize the talent from the strong recruiting cycles.
Texas - After winning a NC in 2005, and despite very strong recruiting classes, Mack Brown's teams fell into mediocrity until his firing in 2013. Charlie Strong dealt with weaker recruiting and could not produce. Herman has picked up recruiting and seems to have the team on a good track.
Notre Dame - Despite some very good recruiting classes, Weis had dismal results from 2005-2009. In the midst of continued good recruiting, Brian Kelly has had mixed results, and suffered two blowouts in NC playoff games.
Clemson - Clemson was a steady 7-9 win team with sub-par recruiting under Bowden until his departure in 2007. Under Swinney since 2007 recruiting picked but not by much until the past 2-3 years. Despite having mostly only average recruiting (until very recently), Clemson has won 10+ games over the past 8 years with two NCs. It took Swinney 3 years to start winning and 7 years before getting over the hump of losing one or more very important games.
Florida - Urban Meyer used both average and stellar recruiting cycles to produce two NCs from 2005-2010. Performance tailed of his last year in 2010 and never recovered for 7 years under Muschamp or McElwain despite several solid recruiting years.
Auburn, Michigan, Oklahoma, Penn State, Miami and Oregon - Various levels of performance with various levels of recruiting; mostly lesser quality of recruiting compared to the above teams.
Tennessee - Mostly average recruiting levels in the past 10 years (similar to Clemson's recruiting over the past 10 years except until very recently), but without any sustained success.
Rather than using overall recruiting rankings, which can be skewed by extremely large or extremely small recruiting classes, the average player recruiting score is used. This is a more accurate indicator of the overall quality of each year's recruiting class.
The table below also shows the recruiting trends of a number of teams over the past 14 years.
Teams that have managed talent levels the best are Alabama and Clemson, followed by Ohio State. All of the other teams have found ways to squander loads of 5* and 4* talent, with USC at the top of the list, followed by Georgia, Florida St and LSU.
CLICK TO EXPAND
Some comments:
Alabama - Recruiting was irrelevant under Shula, and then picked up after Saban's first year in 2007. Saban has taken advantage of consistent stellar recruiting with 5 NCs.
USC - USC was a powerhouse under Pete Carroll until he left in 2009. Recruiting stayed extremely strong after that, but USC has not been able to find a coach to utilize the high talent levels.
Ohio State - They did very well under Tressel despite some weak recruiting in the mid 2000's, and then continued to do well under Meyer from 2012 on with some stellar recruiting the past several years.
Georgia - Despite a continued string of very good recruiting cycles, Georgia muddled between mediocrity and a good team under Richt, but could never win the big games that counted. Currently doing well under Smart, but still waiting for a NC breakthrough.
Florida St - Having consistently very good to excellent recruiting cycles, Florida St has bounced between mediocre teams to very good teams. Although winning a NC recently, in general they would loose a critical game or more that would keep them out of NC contention.
LSU - LSU has enjoyed consistently strong recruiting cycles, and won one NC in the Les Miles era, but also had several mediocre teams despite high levels of talent. So far Ogeron has not been able to fully utilize the talent from the strong recruiting cycles.
Texas - After winning a NC in 2005, and despite very strong recruiting classes, Mack Brown's teams fell into mediocrity until his firing in 2013. Charlie Strong dealt with weaker recruiting and could not produce. Herman has picked up recruiting and seems to have the team on a good track.
Notre Dame - Despite some very good recruiting classes, Weis had dismal results from 2005-2009. In the midst of continued good recruiting, Brian Kelly has had mixed results, and suffered two blowouts in NC playoff games.
Clemson - Clemson was a steady 7-9 win team with sub-par recruiting under Bowden until his departure in 2007. Under Swinney since 2007 recruiting picked but not by much until the past 2-3 years. Despite having mostly only average recruiting (until very recently), Clemson has won 10+ games over the past 8 years with two NCs. It took Swinney 3 years to start winning and 7 years before getting over the hump of losing one or more very important games.
Florida - Urban Meyer used both average and stellar recruiting cycles to produce two NCs from 2005-2010. Performance tailed of his last year in 2010 and never recovered for 7 years under Muschamp or McElwain despite several solid recruiting years.
Auburn, Michigan, Oklahoma, Penn State, Miami and Oregon - Various levels of performance with various levels of recruiting; mostly lesser quality of recruiting compared to the above teams.
Tennessee - Mostly average recruiting levels in the past 10 years (similar to Clemson's recruiting over the past 10 years except until very recently), but without any sustained success.
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