Recruiting news is big right now in college football as the high school kids have inked their committments as of yesterday. I have to admit a great deal of skepticism in this whole process of ranking the top players. Consider the raw number of high school players in the country. Then you're asking me to believe that someone can really differentiate the #1 linebacker from the #25 linebacker? And that's before we factor in all the variables like who will handle the adjustment to college life better, who will fit into what specific systems better and who may have physically matured quicker. It strikes me more as a financial boon for the people who publish recruiting newsletters, for websites that need people to come back during the offseason and junkies who don't like other sports and talk college football at some level, even if it's relevance can't be
established.
Now that I've debunked the whole process, let me make a few concessions. I will allow that broad trends can be discerned. While it may be ridiculous to think people can differentiate Florida's top-ranked class from Texas' 2nd-ranked class, I can buy the notion that if one team is ranked first and the other is ranked 40th, there probably is a talent gap that will show up on the football field. Here's the things that I do consider noteworthy from this year's LOI day...
*The SEC put five teams in the Top 10 and eight in the Top 25. The beat goes on in the nation's top conference.
*UCLA ranked #10. While USC was also in the Top 10, the trend suggests that parity is coming to Los Angeles college football.
*My own team, Wisconsin, was not in the Top 25, suggesting we'll have to be the gritty overachievers for the foreseeable future.
That sums it up. Don't forget, I'm talking basketball five times a week over at
www.thecollegebasketballnotebook.com , so stop in!
established.
Now that I've debunked the whole process, let me make a few concessions. I will allow that broad trends can be discerned. While it may be ridiculous to think people can differentiate Florida's top-ranked class from Texas' 2nd-ranked class, I can buy the notion that if one team is ranked first and the other is ranked 40th, there probably is a talent gap that will show up on the football field. Here's the things that I do consider noteworthy from this year's LOI day...
*The SEC put five teams in the Top 10 and eight in the Top 25. The beat goes on in the nation's top conference.
*UCLA ranked #10. While USC was also in the Top 10, the trend suggests that parity is coming to Los Angeles college football.
*My own team, Wisconsin, was not in the Top 25, suggesting we'll have to be the gritty overachievers for the foreseeable future.
That sums it up. Don't forget, I'm talking basketball five times a week over at
www.thecollegebasketballnotebook.com , so stop in!
