At this point I am detached from most anything having to do with recruiting.

It is a subjective process beginning with who decides what * rating a player is given and the fact it is not an indicator of how they will do off the field in academics; as a teammate; are they coachable... likewise and in the case of Lanning who has never been a head coach at any level...how will he do in the job?

Marcus Mariota was rated a 4* and had a whopping 2 offers...Oregon and Memphis. Justin Herbert was 3* rated with offers from Oregon, Northern Arizona, Montana State and Portland State.

Ty Thompson had 18 offers covering all P5 Conferences

Jay Butterfield had 15 offers from multiple P5 Conference teams

Robby Ashford had 19 offers covering all P5 Conferences

The over-hyped circus surrounding recruiting is a media generated spectacle to create interest when no games are being played.

If recruiting was really more important than coaching then national championships would be declared as such.

DucksReign wrote:

At this point I am detached from most anything having to do with recruiting.

We know. ;)

Many of your points are correct.  But I coached (in a non-revenue sport) at a college level (and no, I'm not giving details on the Internet, sorry).

And all I'll say about recruiting is it doesn't matter how good you are at coaching if you can't get some talent in the door.  It takes both.  

I have little doubt that Nick Saban would win a lot of games if all his recruiting classes were ranked in the 40s.  But I doubt he'd have won any national championships.  Even the best coach needs something to work with, and you aren't going to beat any other teams that have good coaches if they have more talent.

Yes, the ratings have a lot of subjectivity but just because they tell their story imperfectly doesn't mean they aren't telling a real story.  All other things being equal, a team full of five stars and upper four stars will beat a team of three star recruits every time.  Of course other things won't be equal, and of course coaching is more important.  But at the highest levels, those teams that are competing for a national championship, in most (not all) cases, there's not a huge disparity between facilities and coaching.  Most of those teams have good coaching, and often talent is the decider.  

To clarify my position... recruiting is important but it is not THE KEY component...in my opinion. LSU, USC and Florida had Rivals Top 10 ranked recruiting classes in 2021 and their 2022 seasons were?

I don't believe Oregon deserves already being annointed "favorites" in the Pac-12 simply because of a roster which apparently is the only criteria which exists for many.

We have 3 QB's with basically no game experience; a transfer QB whose 2021 season ended early with an injury and until that point was having an "okay" season...all with a head coach who has never been one.

Also the players who scored or were responsible for something like 52 of Oregon's 56 TD's last season are no longer on the team. When does that factor into a prediction beyond drooling over the next recruit?!?

Given only a handful of active P5 head coaches have won a National Championship (Saban, Swinney, Fisher(at FSU), Mack Brown (at Texas) and Smart...and only 3 under the current format(Saban, Swinney and Smart), I simply don't believe recruiting is the primary reason why.

Otherwise I read lots of comments predicting the demise of college football for a range of reasons.

For me it begins with the overhyping and glorifying of high school kids and not all are seniors either.

As per Chip Kelly having no previous head coaching experience...he took over a team HE helped build as the OC for 2-years and had working relationships with the coaching staff...MUCH DIFFERENT dynamic than Lanning. As well Kelly did pretty well with say "good" recruiting classes but hardly elite.

Yet I recall all the bold beliefs / predictions when Cristobal became head coach because Oregon now had a head coach who had been a head coach, won a National Championship as a player and assistant coach, was an outstanding recruiter, etc and the Ducks didn't even make the Playoffs during his tenure...even with GREAT recruiting classes.

Any perspective that uses "Nick Saban" as the argument for the importance of recruiting, I can use "Mario Cristobal" as the counter argument...aside from the fact no championships are won on paper with * attached to names.

Last edited by DucksReign (6/09/2022 1:57 pm)