Skip Holtz Turns South Florida’s Paradise Lost To Paradise Saved

[Atlanta Bull]

http://www.footballreportersonline.com/?p=2162

This part is great:

What could have turned out to be a recruiting disaster given the timing of Leavitt’s dismissal, Holtz restored the hope of Bulls fans quickly and brought in a talented and bountiful crop. Scout.com had its first rankings with USF at #47. Rivals.com ranked the class at #62.

Really though, do these rankings mean squat? Florida State has had a top twenty recruiting class nearly every year since I can remember and how have they fared recently?

[bullsp89]

The rankings aren't that important.  We had a small class and you get more points for more players so obviously we weren't going to be ranked that high.  What is important (even this is debatable though) is the average stars of the players we recruit.

[Reliable Source]

I think that if you look at player rankings vs. performance you will see how inexact the whole idea is. Teams certainly have a better feel for the players they are recruiting than the scouting organizations. A lot of really good players don't even get ranked until it is apparent that a major program is interested in them. Their ranking will then be partly determined by who is pursuing them. i.e. if Florida is pursuing a player, he must be a quality prospect, therefore he should have an elevated ranking. This skews the numbers in an irrational manner. Players who might have been 3 star prospects become 5 star prospects because of who they have garnered attention from. And at the end of the day, teams who are currently getting the players they want have inordinately high rankings because the values of those players are escalated. It is like a self fulfilling prophecy.

[bulldozier1]

Players that showed more on tape, then they had stars. LB Ian Louis, WR Jamaal Montague, and QB Gunsby. Jamaal and Gunsby start recieving rankings after they either was getting recruited by a major college (Gunsby UF) or didn't get evalurated by scouts (Jamaal).