Other than providing this rather embarrassing photo of Paul Wulff yesterday, National Signing Day doesn't do a whole lot.Whereas the NFL draft gives you a list of players you know will make an impact for your team, you really can't put a finger on who will be good and who wont.
Look at the top recruiting classes, thanks to Bloomberg.
ESPN SCOUTS INC. RIVALS.COM SCOUT.COM
1. LSU 1. Alabama 1. Ohio State
2. Alabama 2. LSU 2. Alabama
3. Texas 3. USC 3. LSU
4. USC 4. Ohio State 4. USC
5. Florida 5. Texas 5. North Carolina
6. Georgia 6. Florida State 6. Texas
7. Miami 7. Michigan 7. UCLA
8. Florida State 8. North Carolina 8. Georgia
9. Ohio State 9. Georgia 9. Oklahoma
10. Michigan 10. Florida 10. Penn State
11. Oklahoma 11. Miami 11. Michigan
12. South Carolina 12. South Carolina 12. Texas A&M
13. North Carolina 13. Oklahoma 13. South Carolina
14. Notre Dame 14. Arkansas 14. Stanford
15. Tennessee 15. Michigan State 15. Auburn
16. Penn State 16. UCLA 16. Mississippi
17. Clemson 17. Mississippi 17. Florida State
18. Virginia Tech 18. Auburn 18. Mississippi State
19. UCLA 19. Stanford 19. Miami
20. Arkansas 20. Notre Dame 20. Arkansas
21. Rutgers 21. Texas A&M 21. Florida
22. Mississippi 22. Miss. State. 22. Tennessee
23. Miss. State 23. Tennessee 23. West Virginia
24. South Florida 24. Virginia Tech 24. Notre Dame
25. Auburn 25. Penn State 25. South Florida
Great, you know what - those all are pretty big-time college programs on that list, so of course they're going to do well because they have the facilities, the money and the coaching. I remember ESPN's Colin Cowherd complaining about how it seems that a kids stock goes up when they're recruited by Notre Dame (and boy have they had sucess in the past two years :D).
What you get is over hyped kids, who don't perform later down the road. Hence, the Irish sucking. Throw out all the recruiting rankings because they've been wrong when it's come to Notre Dame, every single year. Watch their games, they have mid-major talent maaaybe. Seriously, watch them get outrun by any top program in the country. Yet they keep getting these "Top ranked recruiting classes."
And another thing to chew on is how much a recruiting class will affect a program. These are all top tier programs, they all get top tier kids. It's not going to make to significantly better because they're already on the mountain top.
But what about the programs nipping at the heels of these top programs, why can't we get coverage on how well they did - because the media sells more when they cover the top programs, cough, cough - and how much ground they made up. That's more important than learning that Texas brought in another kid that can run a 4.2 fourty. WOWEE! Tell me something I don't know.
So lets look at what we know: Eastern signed 33 kids-and that's it, you really don't know how those kids pan out until a few years down the road. Although I'm a little concerned with how many "all-state honorable mentions" are on their list. Honorable mentions? Isn't that given out to the kids that just hussle a lot? Now WSU is drooling over how much they kicked UW's butt with in-state recruiting. That's true, six of ten top state prospects went to the Cougs which could be a huuuge advantage for them over the next couple of years and could shift the balance of power from UW to WSU in terms of who wins between those two teams, but the Cougs are still in a conference with schools like USC - which could probably convince guys from the NFL to come back and play for them.
And that it. That's all we know from this recruiting class. You can't read anymore into it because of injuries, how many actually see playing time, and how well these top high school athletes do against other teams with top high school athletes. It's a wash.
But hey, at least Paul Wulff out recruited the Huskies, that's all I got to say.
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