College Football Recruiting: First Look at ‘09
By Matthew Watkins | Sunday, Jul 6th, 2008 | | Vote for this at Yardbarker and BallHypeCategories: Matthew Watkins
It is still extremely early in the college football recruiting process (heck, we haven’t even seen the ’08’s in action), but schools are already filling their quotas by locking up solid verbal commitments from many of the nation’s top prospects.
This post is largely inspired as a cheap attempt for me to give some props to Mark Dantonio and my Michigan State Spartans. Ever since a man named Nick Saban decided he couldn’t compete with his neighbor in Ann Arbor and jetted to LSU for some fast cash, the Spartans have had year after year of suspect recruiting classes. This correlated into some lackluster seasons with few bowl appearances. The tides appear to be changing. As it stands, the Spartans’ 2009 recruiting class ranks 10th overall, with numerous 4-star recruits, headlined by Edwin Baker, a local running back. With an overachieving 2007 class where many freshmen immediately stepped in and proved they could hang in the Big 10, the future looks bright as of now.
For everyone who could care less about Michigan State, the rest of the top 25 contains many of the same cast of characters. Even though they failed to take down an SEC team for the second consecutive year in the national championship game, Ohio State currently reigns supreme, getting verbal commitments from 23 players. The Buckeyes were able to do this by not only keeping their home grown players in-state, but also snatching a handful of recruits from around the midwest, including linebacker Dorian Bell, who should continue OSU’s tradition at this position. (What ever happened to “The Big Kat” by the way?)
USC kept their seat warm at the top by finishing in a very close second to Ohio State. They’re not complaining though, as they landed their prize recruit in quarterback, Matt Barkley, the nation’s top overall player in the 2009 class.
Anytime a college replaces a coach, the team incidentally takes a few steps backwards. Fortunately for Michigan, Rich Rodriguez is not only passing “GO” and collecting his $200, but he’s getting some stud recruits on his way. A pair top-flight quarterbacks, a few explosive receivers, and one of the nation’s top defensive tackles in William Campbell will quickly draw plenty of excitement in the Big House over the next few years and may even cause the grief over Terrelle Pryor to dull.
The other teams that caught my eye were Rutgers coming in at 11th, North Carolina’s steady momentum under Butch Davis at 17th, and Alabama’s drop from the top spot last year to 25th. If the Tide continues to slide south, Nick, there’s always another team out there that you can tell Alabama you’re not interested in. Just don’t put Don Shula as a reference.
While these rankings are still early and do not take into account any JUCO transfers, they still give us a little insight as to the direction teams are headed.
Here is the full top 25 list:
- Ohio State
- USC
- Texas
- Michigan
- LSU
- Florida State
- Georgia
- Clemson
- Oklahoma
- Michigan State
- Rutgers
- Texas A&M
- Florida
- Tennessee
- Mississippi State
- Miami
- North Carolina
- Virginia
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- West Virginia
- UCLA
- Auburn
- Stanford
- Alabama
I like, I like…but something still has to be said for how influential a coach is while on the field, and not just in recruiting. Small shout out to my Demon Deacons but they always appear to be a Cinderella team. Reason is because rarely do they ever show up in recruiting discussions or start the year out with top prospects. Still though, under the coaching of Jim Grobe, the Demon Deacons have consistently become a powerhouse of the ACC and a top contender for going to the Orange Bowl each year.
Some of the smaller schools out there just don’t have the resources of the others but it is just that much more impressive when they are the teams were all looking out for as bowl season draws close. Just looking at the ACC, we have Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Virginia, and North Carolina all having the top recruiting classes but how these teams end up (comparable to the smaller ACC recruiting programs such as Wake Forest or Georgia Tech) will truly be a testament to the coaching staff over the next few years.
Could not agree with you more about your boys in Winston Salem. Wake Forest is in a tough area geographically as they are not only surrounded by their fellow ACC rivals, but also plenty of SEC schools. The fact that Wake Forest recruiting is almost exclusively regional, they have to look beyond the 4 and 5 stars, and really spot talent that other schools around them sometimes overlook.
I have high respect for Grobe and the overall program, and I hope their success continues. I do feel however, that overall conference strength is cyclical and that the ACC is currently on the “upswing.” Traditional powerhouses that were previously dormant like Miami and FSU appear to be coming back into form and other schools like UNC also appear to be on the verge of making noise on the main stage of the ACC. Wake Forest has loads of talent and I am looking forward to see how they perform this upcoming season.
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