247 Talent Ratings Discussion

[seaofred92]

Wanted to break this off from the Indiana Preview thread since I'm going to be talking about the talent on the roster as a whole and not how it relates to the IU game

 

http://247sports.com/Team/Nebraska-37/Roster

 

I find it interesting that 6 of the top 7 players on our list are freshmen/RS freshmen. (didn't include Charles Jackson in this since he isn't on the team). That would seem to suggest that last year's class is one of the best we've had in a long time. If we can continue to maintain that level of class in the future as our baseline while increasing and breaking the top 15 every 2-3 years I don't see any reason Big Red shouldn't consistently win the West and play in Indianapolis (and by virtue of that, take home hardware too).

 

What impressions do others get from this list?

[Mavric]

I'm not sure it's accurate to say it was the best class we've had in a long time. It definitely looks to be better than the three before it that make up most of this team.

 

As far as comparing it to previous classes, here's a look at recent classes using the 247 Composite. You can see that the 2015 class was better than the previous three but behind the two before that in terms of average rating and number of four-stars.

Class Average Recruits (# 4*+)
02 .8316 18 (2)
03 .8316 19 (2)
04 .8237 20 (2)
05* .8523 32 (7)
06* .8493 22 (5)
07* .8587 26 (6)
08 .8449 29 (3)
09 .8580 19 (2)
10* .8642 20 (5)
11 .8832 21 (9)
12 .8773 17 (8)
13 .8655 24 (7)
14 .8601 25 (2)
15 .8617 21 (4)
16 .8707 21 (5)
17 .8671 15 (4)

* 2005 - Leon Jackson isn't on 247's list but was a 4* on Rivals
* 2006 - Major Culbert doesn't show a rating on 247 but was a high 3* on Rivals
* 2007 - Armando Murillo (JUCO) not included in 247's list
* 2010 - Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Chase Harper (JUCOs) not included in 247's rankings

[Cdog923]

I don't know what I'm looking at here, other than the team roster.

[Mavric]

I don't know what I'm looking at here, other than the team roster.

 

The link in the OP is the current roster along with what their rating was coming out of high school. Somewhat different than the class rankings because it accounts for players that have left the program (for whatever reason) or transferred in. 247 then takes all those rosters and produces a ranking of the talent that is actually on each roster.

 

My post is the average rating (on the 247 Composite) of each of our classes as far back as 247 goes. I've also included the number of four-stars (or better) in each class.

[cm husker]

I don't know what I'm looking at here, other than the team roster.

You have to scroll to the right to sort by rankings. I missed that too initially.

[cm husker]

My reaction is that the distribution numbers aren't very meaningful without context.

 

Some context is that NU is supposedly far below key B10 opponents in terms of these recruiting rankings - to the point where even if you assumed NU picked up 10 more .9000 to .9500 recruits a year, it'd still be far behind.

 

For example, NU has only 2 players (if you count Jackson) above the .9500 ranking on that site. By contrast, OSU has 29 (10 are freshman) and Michigan has 15 (6 are freshman).

 

But, does trailing by that much screw us? Not necessarily. Last year MSU, the winner of the B10, only had 4 players at or above a .9500 ranking (OSU had 24 last year).

 

NU has never and will never recruit at that level. But recruiting, at least the type that gets you high in rankings, is not the only path to success.

 

The broader point is that recruiting rankings are a not as precise or as indicative of success as the recruitniks would have the paying public believe.

 

And some other data points: Wisconsin has 1 person who was .9500 or better. Iowa has 0 and only 2 above .9000. Indiana has 0 and only 2 above .9000.

[84HuskerLaw]

I tend to agree with the gist of what you are suggesting/saying cm.

I think the next 75 days will answer a bunch more questions as far as relative talent levels of NU vs the rest of Big Ten and the nation. If we manage to hold our own and avoid the major blowout losses vs Wiscy, Ohio State, and our bowl opponent, for example, then it would be strong evidence that our talent level may not be what we need or want but we are not number 40 in talent - number 25 maybe ?