HERO'S Top 50 Recruiting Classes

[SU DOG]

https://herosports.com/fcs/football-2019-recruiting-top-50-fcs-teams-rankings-ajaj#1

I guess Samford is doomed - LOL!

[WestCoastAggie]

Alcorn did the best from the HBCU ranks but 7 of us were ranked in the top-50 from the MEAC and SWAC.

[lionsrking2]

This is so bad its beyond disturbing. They have zero clue how many offers a kid had and who they were from. The only people who know those answers are the players, their families and schools who offered. It's worse than a joke.

[crusader11]

This is so bad its beyond disturbing. They have zero clue how many offers a kid had and who they were from. The only people who know those answers are the players, their families and schools who offered. It's worse than a joke.

Just fishing for clicks.

[WestCoastAggie]

This is so bad its beyond disturbing. They have zero clue how many offers a kid had and who they were from. The only people who know those answers are the players, their families and schools who offered. It's worse than a joke.

They seemed to do a good job to me.

[lionsrking2]

They seemed to do a good job to me.LOL

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[lionsrking2]

Just fishing for clicks.Whatever works right?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[FUBeAR]

Easy to criticize, but it's also very easy to see that HERO puts WAY, WAY, WAY more time, effort, and work into compiling and assessing this data than any other comprehensive source I've seen. Nothing else even close for FCS. I put almost 0 'stock' in any of these ratings/ranking, but they are FUN to fool around with and talk about...AND if it increases (or even has the chance to increase) the general public's interest in FCS Football at all...(and I think it does)...then that's a BIG win.

BTW - I know they considered more that just offers to do these rankings, they looked at other ratings, etc. Sure, some of those offers are bogus or were non-commitable offers from when they attended a camp in the 10th grade, etc....but, I do think by and large...if kids are Tweetin' about it, it's got a pretty good chance of having some grain of truth these days - the college Coaches, the HS Coaches, and their Teammates (and opponents) are following them...ain't saying they are all true and accurate, but there's probably something there. And...the guys from Hero actively interact with all of these kids on Twitter.

Just enjoy it....in FCS, we get FULL Playoffs to figure out which Team is REALLY the best!!!

[McNeese72]

"Oh no!! We suck again!!!"

Doc

[clenz]

LOL

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Meh. I'm in the middle.

In general I'm against rankings and I've made many posts on why.

Having said that, what Hero did was far far far far far far more in depth than anything anyone else has ever done for the FCS. Not perfect. Maybe not even good. We'll bookmark this and in 4 years come back to see how this class is performing.

In general this list provides good offseason talk

[Panther88]

Prairie View A&M University has a LONG way to go before the return to respectability is complete.

[TheValleyRaider]

Obviously difficult to say what it really means, but nothing seems wildly out of place.

Nice to see the effort into giving us something to yap about. Or we could talk uniforms, stadiums, PL expansion...

[RootinFerDukes]

https://herosports.com/fcs/football-2019-recruiting-top-50-fcs-teams-rankings-ajaj#1

I guess Samford is doomed - LOL!

If you don’t have a top 50 recruiting class... you just might be.

[AggieFinn]

Like any draft, results for recruiting classes should be conducted after graduation. Khalil Mack was a 2 star coming out of Florida with only one D1 offer. 4-5 years later he was a Top 5 NFL pick.

[SU DOG]

If you don’t have a top 50 recruiting class... you just might be.

Not concerned. We only had 14 HS kids to sign. The 15th was a former 3*** FBS QB xfer. We Samford fans feel really good about our class.

[cx500d]

Prairie View A&M University has a LONG way to go before the return to respectability is complete.


Return?

[WestCoastAggie]

Prairie View A&M University has a LONG way to go before the return to respectability is complete.

Hopefully, this includes a long snapper.

[whoanellie]

The folks at HERO really do a service to FCS football and do the most trying to decipher a lot of BS in the recruiting process. I kind of have my misgivings about all of the offers and recruiting offers from FBS & power-5 de-commits. It is an oxymoron with the Ivy's ranked when they do NOT participate in the division championships.
I just know our roster is much stronger over the last two cycles.

[Derby City Duke]

After reading the recent article about how many 'offers' that FBS programs, especially the P5, throw out, I take this ranking with a hefty dose of salt. Not saying it's inaccurate or poorly researched (Brian McLaughlin and the Hero crew do yeoman's work covering the FCS), but I'm not sure how JMU has a top=10 recruiting class when not a down has been played.

Conjecture is fine, I guess; I just like to, as Bob Valvano likes to say, 'let the cake bake' on this stuff. About 2 years baking time is my guess.

[CenMEBlackBearFan]

I went back 4 years and it looks like 2016 was the first year Hero rated recruiting classes and Maine never cracked the top 50 and yet finnished #4 in the country this past year, we did crack the top 50 this year at #46xbowx Bottom line if you don't see your team in the top I wouldn't write this coming season off as a failure just yet.xeyebrowx

Some interesting trends in the past 4 years, JSU in the top 10 each year, the Ivies rule in recruiting especially the Eli's, Nova near the top each year. It's fun to look at and guess Maine should be very fortunate to have the overall #2 recruit, anyone know much about him, Kolin Demens a LB from Michigan?

[KPSUL]

I went back 4 years and it looks like 2016 was the first year Hero rated recruiting classes and Maine never cracked the top 50 and yet finnished #4 in the country this past year, we did crack the top 50 this year at #46xbowx Bottom line if you don't see your team in the top I wouldn't right this coming season off as a failure just yet.xeyebrowx

Some interesting trends in the past 4 years, JSU in the top 10 each year, the Ivies rule in recruiting especially the Eli's, Nova near the top each year. It's fun to look at and guess Maine should be very fortunate to have the overall #2 recruit, anyone know much about him, Kolin Demens a LB from Michigan?

He probably was asked to decommit from UCLA for academic reasons.

[F'N Hawks]

I see the purple panthers are using their lofty ranking as a promotional tool for their program. That's definitely something.

[Panther88]

Hopefully, this includes a long snapper.

Right lol. The same folk are returning. They were true freshmen last fall so they handled the adversity, considering. I’m sure they are practicing daily to perfect their craft.

[cx500d]

I see the purple panthers are using their lofty ranking as a promotional tool for their program. That's definitely something.

They've earned it.

[RootinFerDukes]

The folks at HERO really do a service to FCS football and do the most trying to decipher a lot of BS in the recruiting process. I kind of have my misgivings about all of the offers and recruiting offers from FBS & power-5 de-commits. It is an oxymoron with the Ivy's ranked when they do NOT participate in the division championships.
I just know our roster is much stronger over the last two cycles.

That’s my one gripe about the rankings but it’s not hero sports’ fault. You rank these ivy’s so high, but in reality, we’ll never know how good their recruiting classes are because they don’t participate in the FCS playoffs to show how they really stack up nationally.

[GAD]

Return?
yep Look up William J. "Billy" Nicks
PV was a beast back in the day

[Redbird 4th & short]

That’s my one gripe about the rankings but it’s not hero sports’ fault. You rank these ivy’s so high, but in reality, we’ll never know how good their recruiting classes are because they don’t participate in the FCS playoffs to show how they really stack up nationally.
it also doesn't translate to NFL players ... I recall a coupole studies that came out a year or so ago. One highlighted how well the Ivy teams did with HS recruits. The other article demonstrated it in no way translated to NFL prospects drafter or on NFL rosters. So there's that ... I'll see if I can find tthe same info.

[nodak651]

- - - Updated - - -


it also doesn't translate to NFL players ... I recall a coupole studies that came out a year or so ago. One highlighted how well the Ivy teams did with HS recruits. The other article demonstrated it in no way translated to NFL prospects drafter or on NFL rosters. So there's that ... I'll see if I can find tthe same info.

Is there a chance that some of the players that the Ivies get with P5/FBS offers really only have pwo offers with promises of academic scholarships?

[PaladinFan]

That’s my one gripe about the rankings but it’s not hero sports’ fault. You rank these ivy’s so high, but in reality, we’ll never know how good their recruiting classes are because they don’t participate in the FCS playoffs to show how they really stack up nationally.

As a sidenote, Furman's Clay Hendrix said that most of Furman's recruiting battles this year were against the Ivy league teams and not the other SoCon schools.

[Panther88]

yep Look up William J. "Billy" Nicks
PV was a beast back in the day

Too many do not know the factual history of the superior talent that came through PVAMU. Not only did we have a lock on the talent in texas but also westward into Cali as well.

ut-austin longhorns, txa&m aggies, et al texas current d-1 bcs busters couldn't stay w/in 50 points of PVAMU during that time lol. xlolx

[Redbird 4th & short]

- - - Updated - - -



Is there a chance that some of the players that the Ivies get with P5/FBS offers really only have pwo offers with promises of academic scholarships?

sounds logical .. also could be done tohelp raise the team GPA while many of them probably do scout team .. or choose Ivy League so they can play.

But I would asssume it is also due to lack of competition and development .. including opting out of FCS playoff. Yet somehow the Ivy's have no issue with competing in basketball's March Madness tournament that could go 7 additional games.

But the contrast was stark for Ivy's ... HS recruiting ranked very high in FCS, while the NFL prospect ranked very low in FCS.

Speaking of academic money angle ... ISUr Spack has gone to partial scholly model (2/3rds or 3/4ths) for most athletes, then tries to make up difference with either grades based scholly money and/or possibly needs based scholly money. I have zero idea if the needs based money is much of a factor.

[KPSUL]

The problem with this assessment is that it uses a measurement tool that works pretty well for FBS programs but has little relevance in measuring successful FCS recruiting. They are essentially counting up the number of stars awarded and numerical national ranking awarded to individual athletes by the recruiting rating services, adding them together and determining an average for each program. Searching for talent that is a little off the FBS radar, building a niche market and personal relationships in those areas and knowing how to spot talent that is still a couple years short of full potential have been the keys to successful FCS recruiting. Coupled with highly effective player development and a head coach that can build mutual trust and 100% buy-in from players and you'll be very effective recruiting as well as integrating those recruits into your program. Take this into account while your wondering why there is so little correlation between these simplistic recruiting class assessments and actual team results.

[BEAR]

The problem with this assessment is that it uses a measurement tool that works pretty well for FBS programs but has little relevance in measuring successful FCS recruiting. They are essentially counting up the number of stars awarded and numerical national ranking awarded to individual athletes by the recruiting rating services, adding them together and determining an average for each program. Searching for talent that is a little off the FBS radar, building a niche market and personal relationships in those areas and knowing how to spot talent that is still a couple years short of full potential have been the keys to successful FCS recruiting. Coupled with highly effective player development and a head coach that can build mutual trust and 100% buy-in from players and you'll be very effective recruiting as well as integrating those recruits into your program. Take this into account while your wondering why there is so little correlation between these simplistic recruiting class assessments and actual team results.

Plus it doesn't take into account those gray shirts that sign too. I believe we had two 3 star players that are gray shirting for whatever reasons until January but won't count toward the total this year but will next year's numbers. Great way to start next year's class and they get the extra year of experience while waiting too.

[Redbird 4th & short]

The problem with this assessment is that it uses a measurement tool that works pretty well for FBS programs but has little relevance in measuring successful FCS recruiting. They are essentially counting up the number of stars awarded and numerical national ranking awarded to individual athletes by the recruiting rating services, adding them together and determining an average for each program. Searching for talent that is a little off the FBS radar, building a niche market and personal relationships in those areas and knowing how to spot talent that is still a couple years short of full potential have been the keys to successful FCS recruiting. Coupled with highly effective player development and a head coach that can build mutual trust and 100% buy-in from players and you'll be very effective recruiting as well as integrating those recruits into your program. Take this into account while your wondering why there is so little correlation between these simplistic recruiting class assessments and actual team results.
I'm more bothered with how it all serves to mislead HS student-athletes than I am with whether or not the stars are good, bad, or average predictors. Don;t get me wrong, I'd like an objective system of awarding stars and assessing strength of a HS recruitment class ... but simply for the fun of it. So if 247 doels out stars based on a completely fluffed up interest/scholly system in Texas .. who really cares if 247 gets it wrong .. nobody really cares.

It only matters when HS student-athletes irrationally get their hopes up and play into all this 2 and 3 star nonsense from systems like 247, that I care at all. I now better realize thanks to Clenz that it was worse than I realized with colleges feeding into this frenzy and making it worse in recent years ... either getting kids hopes falsely raised or worse yet, by putting them in a situation where they will fail.

The kids and some parents also play a part, but the people who exacerbate it and are in a position of power to adversely affect it, are the 247's of the world and colleges that put out 200+ scholly offers for 20 spots. On the surface, I understand having to offer 80 spots to ensure you get 20 commits .. maybe even 120 spots if you're not a top tier school ... internet has really leveled the recruitment playing field and kids want to play sooner these days .... but 200+ spots ??? And then watch the players with stars grow.

Credit to clenz for the data.

[clenz]

See. I'm not so bad. We aren't so different

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[Milktruck74]

I know we are beating the dead horse...but....FCS is more about coaching potential up to what they need to be, than it is about recruiting talent.

HEre is my analysis of Hero Sports Analysis....

2019 - HEro Sports Ranking of #38 - Personally I'm really excited about this class and think it will turn out some real sleepers, but HS felt differently.

2018 - Hero Sports Ranking #8 - Four players mentioned in the write up: WR Genuine Potts - never played, transferred out. DL Josh Walker - Never Played, transferred out. DB Kohl Henke - RS last season still on the roster. Mychael Austin - RS last season still on the roster.

2017 - HEro Sports Ranking #11 - One player mentioned was OL McClendon Curtis - Had 6 FBS offers in HS, RS in 2017, didn't see much action in 2018.

2016 - Hero Sports Ranking #7 - Four players mentioned in the write up: QB Zach Weatherly - Transferred to UT after one season to play DB. DL Jonathon Decker - RS in 2016, played in 3 games in 2017, not on the roster in 2018. WR Joseph Richard - Not sure he ever made it to campus. DB Jerrell Lawson - RS in 2016, played in 11 games in 2017 and 11 games in 2018


so over the last few years, we have put together classes that look strong on paper, but none have really had an on the field impact....other than Lawson. Hero Sports Recruiting Rankings are fun to look at, but I think the worse our class ranking, the better the season ends up being!!!!

[WestCoastAggie]

sounds logical .. also could be done tohelp raise the team GPA while many of them probably do scout team .. or choose Ivy League so they can play.

But I would asssume it is also due to lack of competition and development .. including opting out of FCS playoff. Yet somehow the Ivy's have no issue with competing in basketball's March Madness tournament that could go 7 additional games.

But the contrast was stark for Ivy's ... HS recruiting ranked very high in FCS, while the NFL prospect ranked very low in FCS.

Speaking of academic money angle ... ISUr Spack has gone to partial scholly model (2/3rds or 3/4ths) for most athletes, then tries to make up difference with either grades based scholly money and/or possibly needs based scholly money. I have zero idea if the needs based money is much of a factor.

On your last part, A&T does the same thing. With our partials, we typically offer those to Frosh and Sophs that aren’t on the 2-deep for the most part and make up the rest with academic scholarship money, should they qualify for that. We even have PWO’s on full academic rides because of their grades and test scores. Brandon Parker was one of these kids, majoring in Electrical Engineering. Quite a few of our team are in Enginnering or other stem majors, including Physics.

[Redbird 4th & short]

See. I'm not so bad. We aren't so different

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
broken clock metaphor applies .. sort of ... eventually we get on same page, except nowhere near twice a day.

xpeacex

[ST_Lawson]

Last season was disappointing, but in general, I think we've done pretty well considering how early recruiting rankings always look for us. I don't think we've ever gotten listed by Hero Sports in their recruiting rankings.

[GAD]

Too many do not know the factual history of the superior talent that came through PVAMU. Not only did we have a lock on the talent in texas but also westward into Cali as well.

ut-austin longhorns, txa&m aggies, et al texas current d-1 bcs busters couldn't stay w/in 50 points of PVAMU during that time lol. xlolx
I should have said PV has a machine, That was what my my uncle said they looked like he would talk about FAMU, Grambling, Tenn. St. Southern but PV was the one most people feared

[cx500d]

yep Look up William J. "Billy" Nicks
PV was a beast back in the day


Reminds me how the University of Minnesota keeps touting all their college football championships....

[Panther88]

I should have said PV has a machine, That was what my my uncle said they looked like he would talk about FAMU, Grambling, Tenn. St. Southern but PV was the one most people feared

It’s easy to think Earl Campbell & Eric Dickerson would’ve been in the backfield at PV if we offered hoes who suck d**k, cars, cash, & basket weaving major like those schools do, present tense xlolx .

Oddly, Eric’s father starred in our backfield during our heightened early 60s championships. Amazing how the world went bizzurk and turned upside down because of selfish greed & abusive games. :D

[Ivytalk]

Gents, it’s all tongue-in-cheek. Relax!xlolx

[GAD]

It’s easy to think Earl Campbell & Eric Dickerson would’ve been in the backfield at PV if we offered hoes who suck d**k, cars, cash, & basket weaving major like those schools do, present tense xlolx .

Oddly, Eric’s father starred in our backfield during our heightened early 60s championships. Amazing how the world went bizzurk and turned upside down because of selfish greed & abusive games. :D
Even though our conference was playing the best football in the country we didn't get the TV contracts...so no TV money or exposure we fell further behind no way for us to catch up

[Panther88]

Even though our conference was playing the best football in the country we didn't get the TV contracts...so no TV money or exposure we fell further behind no way for us to catch up

At this juncture, we have the BEST possible scenario at our conference helm (finally). Homegrown, lifelong, and hopefully has remained unscathed by that txa&m bcs culture. It sickens me viewing the status of the once no-named sec schools and now how powerful ($$$ and notoriety) they have become, primarily off the backs of our original recruiting area. xsmhx

This gives me a glimmer of hope as some have not been bamboozled to believe the ice of others is colder than the ice of our conference members. One of our recently signed, he originally was a 4* recruit by specific "services" and then those same "services" lol dropped him to 3* once he STRONGLY verbal-committed to PVAMU. He chose PVAMU over: arkansas st, ball st, boston college, georga tech, uofh, indiana, kansas, kentucky, ull, la tech, nmsu, Nicholls St, s alabama, SELU, tx st, toledo, and troy. :D

Our primary mission is to be the elite FCS program in tx.

[Go Green]

That’s my one gripe about the rankings but it’s not hero sports’ fault. You rank these ivy’s so high, but in reality, we’ll never know how good their recruiting classes are because they don’t participate in the FCS playoffs to show how they really stack up nationally.

That's really not a great way to rank recruiting classes. Guys get hurt. Guys leave the team for whatever reason.

Yale is a good example. They've had highly ranked classes the past few seasons and were a consensus pick to repeat as Ivy champs. But **** happened. Their captain got suspended for sexual assault charges. Their stud QB and RB both got hurt early. They had other injuries. Other than beating Maine (who was also missing key guys at the time), they had a mediocre season. But that doesn't disprove that their recruiting class was impressive.

[Gangtackle11]

I’ll check in 2-3 years and let u know if this was the #2 class. xpeacex

[RootinFerDukes]

I’ll check in 2-3 years and let u know if this was the #2 class. xpeacex

I think Villanova has been highly ranked on theirs before? Meanwhile the past handful of seasons have been rough for VU.

[MR. CHICKEN]

I think Villanova has been highly ranked on theirs before? Meanwhile the past handful of seasons have been rough for VU.


......INJURIES.....&.....SERIES UH.......PSYCHO- PARANOID KICKERS........NEED TA LOOK @ STRENGTH/CORNDITIONIN'............AN' RECRUIT IN HIGHSKOOLS.....NOT.......DA FUNNY FARM.......AWK!

[Gangtackle11]

I think Villanova has been highly ranked on theirs before? Meanwhile the past handful of seasons have been rough for VU.

My comment was to declare I don’t take much credence in this report. We have not fared well since our 2016 season. Ferrante changed out his coordinators. Let’s see if it helps. xpeacex

[Gangtackle11]

......INJURIES.....&.....SERIES UH.......PSYCHO- PARANOID KICKERS........NEED TA LOOK @ STRENGTH/CORNDITIONIN'............AN' RECRUIT IN HIGHSKOOLS.....NOT.......DA FUNNY FARM.......AWK!

No Chicken or Human that roots for Delaware should be critical of a team that they can’t remember the last time they beat them. xpeacex

[KPSUL]

I think Villanova has been highly ranked on theirs before? Meanwhile the past handful of seasons have been rough for VU.

UNH is not ranked in any of the last 4 years of HERO Top FCS recruiting classes, actually, I'm not sure we have a single player in their top individual recruit listings. (I'm not interested enough to even look) Yet we managed to beat both of you last season! Enough said about the validity of the Hero Sports FCS top recruiting lists.

[grizband]

At this juncture, we have the BEST possible scenario at our conference helm (finally). Homegrown, lifelong, and hopefully has remained unscathed by that txa&m bcs culture. It sickens me viewing the status of the once no-named sec schools and now how powerful ($$$ and notoriety) they have become, primarily off the backs of our original recruiting area. xsmhx

This gives me a glimmer of hope as some have not been bamboozled to believe the ice of others is colder than the ice of our conference members. One of our recently signed, he originally was a 4* recruit by specific "services" and then those same "services" lol dropped him to 3* once he STRONGLY verbal-committed to PVAMU. He chose PVAMU over: arkansas st, ball st, boston college, georga tech, uofh, indiana, kansas, kentucky, ull, la tech, nmsu, Nicholls St, s alabama, SELU, tx st, toledo, and troy. :D

Our primary mission is to be the elite FCS program in tx.
This happens all the time when FBS recruited players sign with FCS schools; it's happened to Montana on at least one occasion I remember.

[RootinFerDukes]

UNH is not ranked in any of the last 4 years of HERO Top FCS recruiting classes, actually, I'm not sure we have a single player in their top individual recruit listings. (I'm not interested enough to even look) Yet we managed to beat both of you last season! Enough said about the validity of the Hero Sports FCS top recruiting lists.

Give us a top “not ready to play and throw 17 pick sixes” list and we’ll rank #1.

[PaladinFan]

I’ll check in 2-3 years and let u know if this was the #2 class. xpeacex

One of 'Nova's top commits was a flip from Furman, Josh Slay. I'm not sure of his reasons for de-committing from the Paladins, though the writing seemed to be on the wall when he didn't sign in December.

Furman has had two other players the last two years de-commit and then sign with a CAA school (Hayden Mann - JMU and Jalen Greene - Elon). Mann is transferring from JMU after a single season and Greene looks like he'll be a career backup at at Elon. Both would probably be in the mix to be Furman's starting QB this season. Not a great track record on highly successful flips from Furman to this point.

Slay was an interesting case, though. He seemed very "in to" the process of being recruited. He noted in an interview that he liked Villanova because of its mix of athletics and academics, which is a peculiar thing to say when you already had committed to Furman (who, by the way, is arguably a better football team and whose men's basketball team had just beaten 'Nova in Philly).

These are just sour grapes from me, though. Furman managed to land a monster ILB in Josh Agbenou who mitigates some the loss of Slay, who is obviously talented. I would have liked to have had both, though.