From 247 Rankings of recruiting classes... do not believe all of this information is correct as Sam Houston signed 11 (they only account for 9 of which at least one did not sign yet) and the Kats also had three Division I transfers with one JUCO transfer in their count not represented on the ranking.

We'll see how things shake out as they update the mid-majors of FBS. Did not see Jacksonville State included
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83 Liberty 10 3-star players
95 Louisiana Tech 8 3-star players
113 Middle Tennessee St 4 3-star players
114 Sam Houston 5 3-star players
122 Western Kentucky 3 3-star players
133 Florida Int'l 2 3-star players
136 New Mexico State 1 3-star player

Not ranked - Jacksonville State

https://247sports.com/Season/2022-Footba...mRankings/

TT - 247sports is breaking out rankings on HS, JUCO & Transfer Portal this year. I like it.

JSU only signed 3 players (so far):

Harvey Ray, a 3-star TE
Jordan McCants, a 3-star WR
Anwar Lewis, a JUCO RB

Coach Rod is still assembling his staff, so we didn't expect much more than this in the early period.

(12-16-2021 12:53 PM)whupemall Wrote:  Coach Rod is still assembling his staff, so we didn't expect much more than this in the early period.

Everyone is handling things so differently...

Certainly with new head coaches taking over, that's one thing but the transfer portal, NLIs and the COVID eligibility stuff has just shaken up everyone's recruiting habits.

There's also some question marks on whether the early recruiting period will continue going forward. Saw something in D1 Ticker about it today or yesterday.

(12-16-2021 01:12 PM)TexasTerror Wrote:  

(12-16-2021 12:53 PM)whupemall Wrote:  Coach Rod is still assembling his staff, so we didn't expect much more than this in the early period.

Everyone is handling things so differently...

Certainly with new head coaches taking over, that's one thing but the transfer portal, NLIs and the COVID eligibility stuff has just shaken up everyone's recruiting habits.

There's also some question marks on whether the early recruiting period will continue going forward. Saw something in D1 Ticker about it today or yesterday.

I believe most of our offensive staff has taken shape. But to my knowledge, we haven't hired a single defensive coach. (And this was reflected in the notable lack of defense among the three signees.)

The theory is, Coach Rod's choice for DC is tied up with a bowl team, and he wants the DC to hire his own position coaches. It's just a theory, but it makes sense.

Apparently, we'll hear something next week.

I don't see UTEP ranked either. Sam Houston is doing really well for being an FCS team so far. Surprised WKU is so low.

Also, these 247 rankings aren't done yet. Liberty has about 3 players that absolutely should be ranked by 247 and are not. They also have one lower recruit who 247 says committed but he actually de-committed.

I do get why Jacksonville St. hasn't recruited that much with the coaching change.

On3.com is a new site that does college recruiting rankings a little differently than 247. Here are there rankings of new CUSA:

Liberty #80
La. Tech #88
Western Kentucky #96
New Mexico St. #97
Middle Tenn. #119
Sam Houston St. #122
FIU #126

Not rated yet: UTEP, Jack. State

https://www.on3.com/db/rankings/consensu...ball/2022/

(12-17-2021 06:44 AM)sstaedtler88 Wrote:  I don't see UTEP ranked either. Sam Houston is doing really well for being an FCS team so far. Surprised WKU is so low.

Also, these 247 rankings aren't done yet. Liberty has about 3 players that absolutely should be ranked by 247 and are not. They also have one lower recruit who 247 says committed but he actually de-committed.

I do get why Jacksonville St. hasn't recruited that much with the coaching change.

I have no inside information but based on last year I would assume we rely heavily on the portal. Who knows.

I will tell you that Liberty has scored big on the portal thus far. I believe 247sports has us ranked like 13th overall in portal signings. It certainly is a gamechanger for everyone. The number of opportuntiies for HS kids has dropped significantly since the portal became a thing. JUCOs look primed to benefit in the interim. I suspect we will start seeing some phenomal misses by FBS coaches be revealed by JUCO success.

If I am a coach in CUSA with massive pressue to win ... right now, I am always going to be looking for a proven commodity over the higher ceiling question mark out of high school. Things have changed mightily since the pandemic began.

It never occurred to me until I saw this thread to compare our recruiting rankings to our future conference rivals. I've always just compared our recruiting rankings to previous classes. It's nice to see that we are on top so far.

Rivals and 24/7 type sites have normally not rated/covered FCS teams with any accuracy. More like they do not try so it will be awhile before Sam and us have anywhere close to full class rankings.