Florida #1 Class on ESPN and Rivals #3 on 247

[woltes]

What a Great class Florida is putting together. Obviously the recruits can see the program coming back up. Is there a Heisman winner in this class?

[gator1986]

What a Great class Florida is putting together. Obviously the recruits can see the program coming back up. Is there a Heisman winner in this class?

Their * ratings are so different though. Does ESPN just hand more stars out? Or is rivals just that much tougher?

[superman2318]

Rivals just does not have a set number of 5 star players every year. And ESPN ranks kinda like a video game from 0-100

[woltes]

I trust ESPN more than I do Rivals. I would like to see over the years who gets more prospects right when it comes to evaluations. Espn did have DR outside the 150 but now they have him in the top 50 I think.

[gator1986]

I trust ESPN more than I do Rivals. I would like to see over the years who gets more prospects right when it comes to evaluations. Espn did have DR outside the 150 but now they have him in the top 50 I think.

Yup and Taylor is a 5 star and lane is a 4 which I totally agree with both...

[GATORAZ]

Florida #2 on 247 its #3 on there composite rankings which adds in scout

[woltes]

Gotcha! That's what that means I was curious about the two different rankings.

[woltes]

How can ESPN and Rivals have Florida 1 and 247 have us 2nd then Scout comes in at 6. Not that it really matters they just seem to be off.

[STR8OUTDASWAMP1]

Rivals just does not have a set number of 5 star players every year. And ESPN ranks kinda like a video game from 0-100

Yeah, but WTF does Scout do? They're way off from both ESPN and Rivals...FL at #6 and Bama at #8...WTF?!?!??

[oakgator]

Yeah, but WTF does Scout do? They're way off from both ESPN and Rivals...FL at #6 and Bama at #8...WTF?!?!??

Scout is marketing to non-SEC fans who want to delude themselves into believing they have a shot to finally best the SEC and thus their rankings play to their target audience. It is not a bad business plan but it does not make for legitimate rankings.

[woltes]

Interesting. So what your saying is that Big Ten fans go on Scout. :)

[Nicho]

Scout is marketing to non-SEC fans who want to delude themselves into believing they have a shot to finally best the SEC and thus their rankings play to their target audience. It is not a bad business plan but it does not make for legitimate rankings.

That's exactly what I think as well. It's a classic differentiation strategy. The thing is, they should just exclude the south altogether and focus on ranking northern/midwestern kids. Otherwise it turns into the great big lie that the site currently is. It's the same lie that manifested itself this past Monday night. :)

[acegator]

Well the other thing that is interesting is we are not even getting credit for the nebraska and maryland transfers in this class. They are both probably 5 star guys.

[HotlantaGator]

Scout used to usually rank UF higher, 5-10 years ago when these recruiting sites came on the scene people used to think that Rivals discounted UF and overranked FSU commits because of the big profile the FSU Warchant and its original moderator Dot.Com had in the Rivals network.

Does Scout still have many more 5 stars than Rivals? That was another difference.

[gatorr4life]

Scout is marketing to non-SEC fans who want to delude themselves into believing they have a shot to finally best the SEC and thus their rankings play to their target audience. It is not a bad business plan but it does not make for legitimate rankings.

Exactly.

[hooking]

Scout used to usually rank UF higher, 5-10 years ago when these recruiting sites came on the scene people used to think that Rivals discounted UF and overranked FSU commits because of the big profile the FSU Warchant and its original moderator Dot.Com had in the Rivals network.

Does Scout still have many more 5 stars than Rivals? That was another difference.

Seven years in a row for a NC by 4 different schools tends to piss a few off. Make it 8 years for 2013!

[elrongator]

Don't discount that Scout used to be the home of this particular Gator fan site and that ever since they had a bad blood parting of the ways Scout has seemed to forever downgrade UF commits.

[rserina]

Scout is marketing to non-SEC fans who want to delude themselves into believing they have a shot to finally best the SEC and thus their rankings play to their target audience. It is not a bad business plan but it does not make for legitimate rankings.
I've actually heard that it has less to do with marketing demographics than with regional scouting. Because Scout years ago began to emphasize regional recruiting experts over national guys, the result is you have these guys in the northeast or the midwest who focus exclusively on kids from that region and rate them relative to their competition. That results in some skewed ratings, but I don't think there is any conspiracy to it.

[rserina]

Don't discount that Scout used to be the home of this particular Gator fan site and that ever since they had a bad blood parting of the ways Scout has seemed to forever downgrade UF commits.
I don't ever recall Jamie Newberg downgrading Florida commits. At the outset everyone knew he was a Florida homer and he tried to be almost overly objective, but the guy doesn't have any real bias against Florida. Now, the site administrators themselves may, but that is a whole different can of worms.

[oakgator]

I've actually heard that it has less to do with marketing demographics than with regional scouting. Because Scout years ago began to emphasize regional recruiting experts over national guys, the result is you have these guys in the northeast or the midwest who focus exclusively on kids from that region and rate them relative to their competition. That results in some skewed ratings, but I don't think there is any conspiracy to it.

It is not a conspiracy but is a business plan in my opinion. I don't buy the regional scouting excuse since any service who is continually under rating the recruits in SEC states must be doing so purposefully based in the demonstrable quality of SEC players/recruits over time.

[oakgator]

It is not a conspiracy but is a business plan in my opinion. I don't buy the regional scouting excuse since any service who is continually under rating the recruits in SEC states must be doing so purposefully based in the demonstrable quality of SEC players/recruits over time.

I looked back and Scout's historical rankings and they don't appear to have as much regional bias as I recalled. I would have to do a detailed comparison of all the services over several years to detect any specific bias and I am not willing to put in that effort on an issue that I think really is of marginal importance anyway.

[rserina]

It is not a conspiracy but is a business plan in my opinion. I don't buy the regional scouting excuse since any service who is continually under rating the recruits in SEC states must be doing so purposefully based in the demonstrable quality of SEC players/recruits over time.
Or maybe that legitimates the point since those same regional scouts cover the same region and therefore are prone to the same errors. Besides, how exactly does rating certain regions higher than others increase business? I never paid for a site because it favored Florida or the SEC, but because it offered more services, whether videos or commentary or articles, etc. Do people really pay to be flattered?

[thedyc09]

Or maybe that legitimates the point since those same regional scouts cover the same region and therefore are prone to the same errors. Besides, how exactly does rating certain regions higher than others increase business? I never paid for a site because it favored Florida or the SEC, but because it offered more services, whether videos or commentary or articles, etc. Do people really pay to be flattered?

Do we really need to answer this?

Just glance over this or any other message board (these are the type of people who subscribe to recruiting services).

"ESPN hates us."

"Rivals hates us."

"Scout hates us."

People want to believe that their recruits are the best, and will subscribe accordingly.

[oakgator]

Or maybe that legitimates the point since those same regional scouts cover the same region and therefore are prone to the same errors. Besides, how exactly does rating certain regions higher than others increase business? I never paid for a site because it favored Florida or the SEC, but because it offered more services, whether videos or commentary or articles, etc. Do people really pay to be flattered?

I certainly wouldn't pay for Scout this year since they are under rating us. If you assume that fans of other schools would act similarly and if you assume that one service consistently over or under rates teams in specific regions, then it could be a business plan to attract those fans.

However, as I said, in my brief review of the Scout rankings over several years I could not detect a consistent over or under rating.

[MadduxFanII]

Sometime tonight, when I'm not at work, I might go through the services and see where they rank each of our players. What I'm betting is that the difference between the number one class and the number six class is possibly just a bundle of small differences in opinions over a number of different recruits. So ESPN has Taylor as the best running back in the country, Scout has him eighth. ESPN has Hargreaves as the best corner in the country, Scout has him...maybe third or fourth. Pile enough of those relatively small differences on top of each other and you might get a five-spot difference in rankings.

I'm actually excited about doing that research.

[rpmGator]

ESPN always rerank's after the UA game. We had a few move up after the game so we now have more five stars than before.

We may not have the top final ranking after signing day, but I am going to be happy anyhow with the recruits we are getting.

[Gatorrick22]

It is not a conspiracy but is a business plan in my opinion. I don't buy the regional scouting excuse since any service who is continually under rating the recruits in SEC states must be doing so purposefully based in the demonstrable quality of SEC players/recruits over time.

This... And a "business plan" can be a conspiracy (of one) plan too, IMHO.

[oakgator]

This... And a "business plan" can be a conspiracy (of one) plan too, IMHO.

Totally agree, but "conspiracy" is a loaded term even though it only means an agreement to undertake concerted action which happens in every endeavor on this planet every single day.

[Gatorrick22]

Totally agree, but "conspiracy" is a loaded term even though it only means an agreement to undertake concerted action which happens in every endeavor on this planet every single day.

:yes:

Concerted collusion to defame.

[NoahBeanBizzel]

This is one of the best classes I've ever seen Florida sign. Last year's class was heavy on defensive talent, but it failed to adequately address the WR, OL and running back positions. The players we brought in were great, but failing to sign both Diggs and Agholor, along with other players who could've provided a spark offensively, contributed to a sagging offense. I also think the Georgia game could've gone differently with either one of them.

Assuming that we have nobody back out before signing day, there really isn't a weakness in this class. It would be nice to add another elite corner or defensive tackle, but neither is a necessity. The talent already on-board is unreal, Florida is dominating instate, and every position has been addressed with great players. You can't ask for a better job by Muschamp and his people.

Like any class, time will tell how good it really is. But it's as good-on paper-as any class Florida has ever brought in, regardless of whether it finishes #1 or not by all the recruiting boys.