(01-17-2020 05:59 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Recruiting rankings are what they are. They show a big gap between the AAC West and SEC East even taking out UGA and Florida, who of course Navy would have to play too. I just looked at first three rounds of 2019 NFL draft and there were 6 SEC East picks to 2 AAC West picks, and that is omitting Florida And Georgia.

And I never heard many say Navy when you joined could not compete vs AAC teams. My recollection on the AAC board at the time was that most thought Navy was a strong addition and would more than hold their own. Seemed and seems like a good fit to me. If Navy doesn't fit in AAC than where? And even if some were, Navy overcoming small talent gap vs AAC West is quite different than doing so vs SEC East.

Anyway, enjoy the Top 25 finish, you earned it.

The reality is recruit rankings change based on where a player commits. We see this all the time in football. There are 1000s of kids playing high school football and 247/rivals is not scouting every game. However, when a kid gets an offer from Auburn their ranking will go up, but when they accept an early offer from UC they will go down.

So point to the rankings all you want, but it is a flawed system from the start. You can make the argument that they work in general, but the differences you are arguing over are negligible.