(11-12-2019 08:23 AM)eaglewraith Wrote:  I learned all I need to learn in 2016. We had an extremely talented roster, including a lot of players who had gone into the Swamp and beaten Florida then went 8-0 in SBC conference play the next year. That roster was just stacked.

And coaching drove it right into the ground. Our S&C and development took a major hit too as Summers hired someone that was in no way fit for the job and was fired prior to the season start due to legal issues from being stupid.

On top of that roster mismanagement has gotten us to the situation we're in now where our OL is fairly patchwork and we're trying to play catch up on player development for some of these guys that should be at a much higher level than they are now.

One thing I've noticed about our commits this year, many of them are coming out of the camps that our coaching staff runs. This means they've seen them in person and actually worked with them....they know how they receive/respond to instruction and can see how they measure up to the skills we want to see. They're not just looking at video to pick these guys. That is going to make a world of difference in the quality of recruits we get, even if it doesn't show in the rankings. I liked what I saw in the class last year and I'm hoping to see more if it in the class this year.

It's more important to pick the kind of guys you need, and have the people on your staff necessary to develop them into players that perform at an even higher level than their rating gives them credit for. In the time since we joined the SBC, Satterfield has been the top performer in this area. Neal Brown did a great job too, although he wasn't at Troy as long as Satterfield was at App. Both App and Troy have to wait and see if the new guys carry on that same level of development in the program. If they don't, things might not change overnight, but it'll bear out eventually as we've seen happen to our program. And unfortunately, it's not something that turns around over night.

He hired a lot of people who weren't qualified.

(11-12-2019 10:09 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  

(11-12-2019 10:00 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  

(11-12-2019 08:38 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  

(11-12-2019 08:23 AM)eaglewraith Wrote:  Both App and Troy have to wait and see if the new guys carry on that same level of development in the program. If they don't, things might not change overnight, but it'll bear out eventually as we've seen happen to our program. And unfortunately, it's not something that turns around over night.

It is just so damn cute how you Iggles want to see our downfall happen so bad. Don't hold your breath.

Ask UCF if you stay King of the Hill forever.

They're still in the running for the AACCG and receiving votes. They've lost their games by a total of 7 points combined. Their downfall is overstated. Bad example.

Fine.

Ask Houston or WKU (finished ranked after 2015) or Western Michigan.

(11-12-2019 08:44 AM)ballantyneapp Wrote:  

(11-11-2019 09:48 AM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Here's App's starting 22 for the South Carolina game and their number of 247 stars. Bolded are guys in 2019 preseason all-Sun Belt team.

OLVictor Johnson (**)
OL Ryan Neuzal (**)
OL Noah Hannon (***)
OL Baer Hunter (***)
OL Cooper Hodges (**)
TE Collin Reed (**)
QB Zac Thomas (**)
RB Darrynton Evans (**)
WR Thomas Hennigan (***)
WR Malik Williams (***)
WR Corey Sutton (***)

DE Demetrius Taylor (**)
NT EJ Scott (walk-on apparently)
DE Elijah Diarrassouba (unrated)
OLB Noel Cook (unrated)
ILB JOrdan Fehr (**)
ILB Trey Cobb (***)
OLB Akeem Davis-Gaither (**)
CB Shemar Jean-Charles (**)
S Desmond Franklin (**)
S Josh Thomas (**)
CB Shaun Jolly (**)

So basically, App has 6 3-star guys starting, of those the two OL and ILB are barely 3 stars, and of course Sutton is a high 3-star guy because he signed with a Power 5.

Oh, and all their recruiting classes 2015-2018 are rated 100 or below nationally.

If you continue to take 247 recruiting rankings in the G5 seriously, why?

It’s changed this year because we’re getting the highest rated recruits we ever have, but it used to be that most of the top ten rated recruits we had gotten ALL TIME all transferred due to lack of playing time. Meanwhile every class had studs at the bottom of the list (Jalin Moore has 1 star lol) and he went to a big high school.

There is also something to be said for App's success affecting the evaluation of their recruits. Many of these guys weren't given a rating until after they committed.

It's probably already been said in this thread, but recruiting rankings are mainly decided by which coaches are recruiting them. These websites value specific coaches opinions more than anything else as none of these websites have the resources or manpower to actually track anything other than top few hundred guys on their own.

If Saban goes after a recruit he must be a 4 star or a 5 star guy, etc.

If a recruit had a bunch of power schools looking at them then suddenly he ends up at a CUSA/SBC/MAC school then he must have been not very good, etc. That's their cut and dry line of thinking.

If you look at the recruiting rankings there are really only about 10-15 schools getting the elite players each year, and even those schools rely on a good number of 3 star kids to fill out their roster. After that, the rest of the P5 rosters mainly consist of 3 star players with anyone outside of the top 25 having maybe two or three 4 star players in a class. The top G5 schools are signing mostly 3 star kids now so there really isn't much of a talent gap even in the rankings for all but the football powerhouses.

Just looking at our games against UNC and USC this year it was clear that the talent was basically even at most positions. Both P5 teams had a few standouts that are clearly a cut above, but both games were won by the team that played better as a unit.

The P5's have a ton of extra money and exposure but there are only so many 4 and 5 star players available each year. The top G5 teams are getting much more for their money.