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BigBlueDawg12 said...
Very nice Minter. very relevant post. You are 100% correct. Even though UK is always in the lower 4 in the SEc as far as class rankings..we are hauling in a lot better talent than 60% of schools. Joker has us headed in the right direction..we will be a 25 to 30 type class yearly...with a couple forays into the top 20 ..mabye in 2014. What Joker and his staff do a good job of is evaluation. They turn over every stone...they find the needles in the haystacks. I mean..look..Trevathan, Woodyard, Lindley, Burden, Maxwell, Locke, ect ect..none were rated above 3 and most were either unrated or 2 stars. Joker does a excellent job taking "heart" guys..like Cobb..another unbelieveably underrated recruit..and turning them into bonafide stars..and NFL players. Before Joker..even under Brooks..Uk was recruiting and landing kids with offers from Mac schools...mabye Ole Miss or Miss ST..a Illinios offer..now we are getting more and more kids with offers from powers like FSU, Ohio ST, Notre Dame, Clemson,Miami, ect ect. It also hurts UK in the fact that once a kid commits to UK..they never seem to get any extra "stars" by the recruiting services. No way Jacob Hyde shouldnt be a high 4 star DT. He just whipped the butts of all the 5 star OT's at the U-19 Team USA event. (Tunsil and Bivin and others) Alvonte Bell finally got his 4th star..heck..kid is 6'6 240 and runs like a deer..offers from dozens of major programs. Look at Khalid Thomas...a 2 star...untill recently...offers from Notre Dame, Ohio St, FSU, Miami, BCU, ect. Id love to see top 10 classes..even top 25 classes..but Id rather win..we've done pretty well vs the top 10 guys in Fla St, Clemson, LSU..we played Alabama tougher than anyone 2 years in a row..06-07.?? The only thing that was holding us back was Steve Browns passive defensive philosophy...give this staff 2 to 3 years...when the offense and defense are good in the same season..we will surprise some teams ..end up with a rare 10 win season and never look back..will we ever be a dominating force? Probably not..but I think we can have spurts of glory..when the stars align just right. I think 2014 and 2015 we will be a tough team to beat.
MinterWonderlnd ●
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MinterWonderlnd said...
Yup, it's only August (practically) and we're 6 months and 1 week until Signing Day. A lot can change between now and Feb. However, if you look at the recruiting classes nationally, you'll see that most schools are at least 50% finished with their class, some are 75%+.
With that being said, let's look at how UK ranks nationally. UK is currently at 58. Let's not even bother comparing them to other SEC programs (sans Vandy) because everyone agrees that's unfair. However, lets see how they stack up against other non-traditional, non-powerhouse programs. Our former fearless leader Jeff Drummond stated many times that for UK to put a "consistently" competitive product on the field, they need to find themselve in the #30-#35 range for recruiting ranking for several years back to back. Is that possible? I think so. But who are the teams ahead of us to get there?
Below are a list of programs that I TRULY feel UK should be able to beat in recruiting. Why? The SEC is the biggest and best selling tool that a program can have. According to the "experts" on this board- UK has as good if not better football facilities than about any program outside of the SEC (excluding the powers like Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, etc). UK has ( or had) a Top 25 fan base and a 70,000 seat stadium. They have a great coaching staff and AD (according to most on this board) that has them headed in the right direction. So, with that being said, why shouldn't UK be able to out-recruit the following programs?
Listed by ranking in composite:
14. Washington- some nice history, but average at best facilities and zero in-state talent. 24. Maryland- no history, below average facilities, no fanbase. 27. Missou- not much high end in-state talent (this year is the exception, not the norm). Not a lot of tradition. 28. Vandy- has sucked for 50+ years regardless of the coach. A new HC and staff comes in and immediately has them souring up the charts in recruiting. Still has some of the WORST facilities in all of football. 29. Arizona- no different than UK. 30. Illinois- prior to Zook, they recruited like UK. During and post Zook, they are recruiting much more talented players. 32. Northwestern- give me a break. 37. Boston College- Doug Flutie isn't walking through that door. 38. Rutgers- a consistent national doormat prior to Schiano (whom left for the NFL). Terrible facilities (one of the reasons he left), terrible conference, terrible fan support. 39. NC State- not sure 41. Tulane- seriously? 42. BYU- seriously? 44. SMU- seriously? 46. Cinci- see Rutgers, but even worse facilities and fan support. 47. Central Florida- yes, they have in-state talent, but it's a Conference USA program that just got a Big East invite. 48. Washington State- seriously? 51. Duke- seriously? 53. Houston- seriously? 54. Wake Forest- seriously? 56. East Carolina- seriously? 57. Central Michigan- seriously?
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My 2 cents on the new composite rankings....