Photo Attribution: US Presswire
I gave you a little Laquon Treadwell background yesterday so today I want to give you the other side of that.
Recruiting is the great unknown which is why it’s so hard for me to get wrapped up in individual signings. Overall I think how classes rank matters — obviously the A&M class is going to turn out better than the Iowa State class — but to get emotionally tied to singular players, ludicrous.
Case(s) in point…
Player A – Five star recruited by FSU, Ohio State, KSU. Yet another talented signal caller in what has to be one of the best years for quarterbacks the state has ever produced. He is big-time athlete with a great arm and a huge upside He reminds us a lot of Donovan McNabb athletically at the same stage.
Player B – Three star recruited by Kansas, Tulsa, Arkansas, Kansas State. A good “dink and dunk” spread quarterback prospect; arm strength and accuracy diminishes as he goes further downfield. Our main concern at this point is his lack of ideal arm strength and downfield velocity if he lands in a more pass oriented offense. Will need to polish his release-point and overall throwing mechanics.
Player C – Three star recruited by Colorado, OU, KSU, CSU. In his own words: “I’m a dual threat. I grew up playing QB. I’ve only played WR for two years. I need to get stronger and be more physical. I also want to be quicker and have a stronger arm.”
Player D – Three star recruited by CU, NC, Mizzou, KSU. He is not a burner and lack of top-end speed needed to move the chains at the next level is a concern. Fluid route runner but lacks sharpness and good burst out of his breaks to create consistent separation. Needs to refine that area.
Player E – Four star recruited by Texas, LSU, OU, Nebraska. This kid is a future workhorse and blends rare power-back qualities with good foot-quickness and smooth movement skills between the tackles. The type of runner who can carry an offense. Rivals named him as the nation’s No. 4 running back prospect in the country.
Player F – Three star recruited by Tech, Baylor, A&M. He is a back who you wish was bigger because he is tough, difficult to tackle and shows good speed. His size will be a concern for durability reasons if he is used on a full-time basis.
Player G – Three star recruited by Iowa, Minnesota, SMU. Overall, he is still an underrated corner in our eyes with good instincts and an understanding on how to play the position that is ahead of the curve coming from the high school level. Great competitor and should be a very good special teams performer.
Player H – Four star recruited by Nebraska, A&M, and OU. He can do it all and is a legitmate candidate to play multiple positions at the college level if need be. Was named as the Texas Football magazine player of the year and one of that magazine’s top 12 athletes.
A = Bobby Reid
B = Clint Chelf
C = Zac Robinson
D = Justin Blackmon
E = Dexter Pratt
F = Kendall Hunter
G = Josh Stewart
H = William Cole
The one that killed me was Stewart. A corner! An underrated corner!
Get wrapped up in the Treadwell decision all you want, but proceed with caution…and at your own risk.
It’s easy to cherry pick the scouting reports that turned out incorrect. But if you go back and look at the players rated a 4 or 5 star, most of them turn out to be studs. Sure there are low rated players that turn out to be stars and high rated players that end up being duds, but more times than not the scouting reports are correct.
XLK and Richetti the Michete….
I think that goes along with the point of the article though, in that overall class rankings have some significance, but not individual signings.
Bingo.
I agree 100% with this! And after all of our of basketball players that were supposed to be studs and didn’t pan out as expected I would hardly call it cherrypicking. Scouts are good and the majority of the time they are right, but there are just too many intangibles that are constantly overlooked for me to buy in.
Kyle, can you please do the same with the Alabama team and let me know how much individual signees and/or ratings don’t matter? As Guest says, you cherry picked some guys. To be certain, there are many exceptions, but that doesn’t mean you take a logical leap to say we shouldn’t get wrapped up in individual signings. Treadwell is a man among boys. OSU can survive and even thrive without him, but the kid’s a stud and it would be great to get the consensus #1 receiver in the country.
I agree. 5-star recruit just increases the odds that they will be successful, but true, doesn’t guarantee it. Treadwell might not turn out for one reason or another, but its a hell of a lot better odds than a non-5-star recruit.
Oh good lord. The title alone is terrible, but then you proceed to pick several players to prove your point. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but there is definitely a correlation between star level, success in NCAA, and the ability to get drafted. You’re better than this.
Is Tredwell not coming to Stillwater ?
It’s nice to get national recognition for the program when we land “big time” recruits. I think it ultimately helps us on the recruiting trail, whether he pans out or not. However, I do believe that the “Star Ratings” can be flawed and misrepresented.
This is terrible. How many 5 stars has OSU gotten to compare if they were actually good or not. Exactly. Of course when all you get are 3 stars, you will get some that are obviously better. Weak post.
As far as I can remember the only 5-star recruits oSu has ever had were Bobby Reid and Herschel Sims and that’s it! But if 4s and 5s were the secret to success Texas would be Top 5 every season and we all know that hasn’t been happening. I think often the hungrier kids will bypass these 4s and 5s through hard work and dedication, not always but we’ve seen it many times.
Still, oSu would do well to get Treadwell, we’ll take him w/ open arms! ; )
The guy that just one the Heisman thinks this is a great post, he was a 3-start btw.
+1
Someone already hit on it, but XLK was the one I was going to mention…a great case-in-point.
Overall, great post!
I think what is overlooked in this discussion is the coaching staff, continuity, and consistency of scheme. Every team wants a physical corner that can run a 4.25 40, but there aren’t many of those out there. The key is a coaching staff that knows what they want to do, what qualities they need to do it, and then can get those kids. I remember a quote about Kendall Hunter, where a coach saw him make some cut in practice, and decided to offer him right there. Or look at Wickline. Every year we sign a 2 star kid out of Gotebo and I think “in 3 years he will be all conference.” The Pittsburgh Steelers are a great example, they take a linebacker in the 3rd or 4th round of the draft, a guy who Kiper/McShay says has holes, and they turn them into an All-Pro. I don’t think Alabama wins because they get all 4 star and 5 star kids. I think they win because they get the best kids available who fit into their system. Look at Texas’s defense, how many different coordinators in how many years? It doesn’t matter how many stars a kid has if his skill set does not fit what he is being asked to do.
None of the commenters here have convinced me why I should be heavily emotionally invested in the signing of this player. Even if he does sign, there is no guarantee that he will turn out. I think that was the point of the article. I don’t think Porter was saying that 5 stars aren’t any better than 3 stars, but that because of the uncertainty surrounding an individual player, we shouldn’t spend our hopes for OSU’s future on a player.
Well said.
Chance – I don’t think any of the opinions posted are saying you *should* be “highly emotionally invested” in any recruit. I think what others are saying — and I agree — is that cherry picking a few recruits to “prove” that a given recruit’s rating doesn’t matter is flawed logic. Nobody says that the recruiting services are perfect, but on the whole they are correct. The recruits with more stars are generally the best. As others have noted, go look at Alabama’s recent recruiting classes as an example. Or the NFL. Yes, there are guys like Justin Blackmon who become high draft picks despite being average recruits… but the vast majority of the highly drafted guys were big-time recruits coming out of high school.
So while I would agree with the notion that getting emotionally invested in recruiting is a bad idea… I disagree with the notion that recruiting stars don’t matter. They do matter. The more high-caliber recruits (like Treadwell) that we sign, the better our program will be.
I agree. But I don’t know if Kyle ever said that recruiting stars don’t matter. But maybe that was his implication that I missed.
Julio Jones and AJ Green were #1 and 2 WR’s coming out of high school in 2008. It matters. It’s not the only thing, but it’s important.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2013/1/17/3885200/laquon-treadwell-commits-ole-miss-rebels-oklahoma-oklahoma-state-recruiting
Looks like he committed to Ole Miss today.
Look, I’d rather have the guy that was a consensus choice for best receiver AFTER the season is over like Justin Blackmon winning two Biletnikoffs in a row than I would have the guy who is the consensus best receiver BEFORE the season starts. When you chase stars, you end up like Texas who just gets the highest rated players without regards to how they’re going to fit their system.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Coach Gundy & his staff have built their careers & reputation on signing little-known talent & coaching them into All-American or all conference type careers.
Wasn’t the Kendall Hunter write-up spot on though?
Chelf as well.