Recruiting Rankings vs SMU

untjim1995 · September 21, 2020

SO I went back to 247's recruiting rankings over the last 4 classes and see something positive.

IN 2017, SMU ranked 80th overall, we ranked 115th.

IN 2018, SMU ranked 87th overall, we ranked 101st.

In 2019, SMU ranked 68th, we ranked 75th.

In 2020, SMU ranked 70th, we ranked 68th.

If we can develop kids from these last two classes into something credible, we can close the gap with SMU--unless they get infused again with more P5 talent that wants to play and get a degree from SMU, like Buechele has done.

meaniegreenie · September 22, 2020

smuT didn't beat us due to recruiting.

They used transfers. Then they worked harder, were coached better, and executed better.

Even if recruiting was the issue, I don't see how your analysis shows us "closing the gap". Your own numbers show they have recruited better every year with the exception of one which was only a 2 position difference.

NT93 · September 22, 2020

26 minutes ago, meaniegreenie said:

Even if recruiting was the issue, I don't see how your analysis shows us "closing the gap".

In 2017 they were ranked 35 spots ahead of us.

In 2018 the gap closed to 14 spots.

In 2019 the gap closed to 7 spots.

In 2020 we were ahead of them by 2 spots.

Far be it from me to speak for the OP, but I suspect this is what he meant when he said “close the gap.”

Edited September 22, 2020 by NT93

El Paso Eagle · September 22, 2020

15 minutes ago, NT93 said:

In 2017 they were ranked 35 spots ahead of us.

In 2018 the gap closed to 14 spots.

In 2019 the gap closed to 7 spots.

In 2020 we were ahead of them by 2 spots.

Far be it from me to speak for the OP, but I suspect this is what he meant when he said “close the gap.”

Also, for what it's worth - they did not get worse in recruiting, went from 80 to 70, we improved from 115 to 68. Again, not sure how the transfer are included in recruiting.

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · September 22, 2020

21 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

SO I went back to 247's recruiting rankings over the last 4 classes and see something positive.

IN 2017, SMU ranked 80th overall, we ranked 115th.

IN 2018, SMU ranked 87th overall, we ranked 101st.

In 2019, SMU ranked 68th, we ranked 75th.

In 2020, SMU ranked 70th, we ranked 68th.

If we can develop kids from these last two classes into something credible, we can close the gap with SMU--unless they get infused again with more P5 talent that wants to play and get a degree from SMU, like Buechele has done.

I will say smus 2021 class is very stacked with the main guy in Preston Stone. Dykes is recruiting very well in DFW, and it’s so hard to see a lot of these recruits get taken from NT and go to smu

untjim1995 · September 22, 2020

16 minutes ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

I will say smus 2021 class is very stacked with the main guy in Preston Stone. Dykes is recruiting very well in DFW, and it’s so hard to see a lot of these recruits get taken from NT and go to smu

Look, SMU hate is strong with me, too, but I clearly see their MAJOR advantages they have over us.

1.) $$$

2.) Conference Affiliation

3.) Media Treatment

4.) History

5.) Academic view for degree value in business—which young men usually like

Today, they also have a huge advantage at head coach and their transfer successes that happen because of everything listed above.

We have one major advantage over them and we can’t seem to do anything about it, which is large student body and alumni. We have a much easier conference, but not winning the worst division in FBS just makes it worse. Back in our SBC big run in 2001-2004 and SMU sucked hind tit, the media still looked at SMU more favorably, which was also what happened when we did win CUSA West in 2017 but got clobbered in Dallas.

Only ways to get even are to either beat them or not play them and do better than them.

greenminer · September 22, 2020

11 hours ago, meaniegreenie said:

I don't see how your analysis shows us "closing the gap". Your own numbers show they have recruited better every year with the exception of one which was only a 2 position difference.

Not sure you're seeing all the numbers listed above. The gap used to be 30+ spots. Then it was < 10. Now, with the most recent class, we are ahead by 2.

BillySee58 · September 22, 2020

Every time we talk about SMU’s roster it always gets brought up how much they are bolstered by P5 transfers. They started 2 P5 transfers on offense and 4 on defense.

While that is a decent amount, you would think half their starting lineup is made up of P5 transfers. It’s not. They have recruited very well at the high school and JUCO level, and have supplemented those signees with P5 transfers. Not the other way around. This is something we are starting to do more of with bringing in 3 P5 transfers over the last few months.

Like Jim showed, we started off recruiting very poorly under Littrell and have made huge improvements. We had some standouts who masked depth and talent issues across the board for a couple seasons. Now needing to rely on the 2017 class and remaining 2016 class guys to be our senior leaders, we are often going to be at a disadvantage when it comes to upperclassmen talent this season, and probably next season with everyone freezing their current eligibility.

But this is also a great opportunity to focus on developing our young talent. Feels like we have a lot of talent that we still haven’t seen much of this year. Hope that changes.

UNT Mean Green · September 22, 2020

17 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

Every time we talk about SMU’s roster it always gets brought up how much they are bolstered by P5 transfers. They started 2 P5 transfers on offense and 4 on defense.

While that is a decent amount, you would think half their starting lineup is made up of P5 transfers. It’s not. They have recruited very well at the high school and JUCO level, and have supplemented those signees with P5 transfers. Not the other way around. This is something we are starting to do more of with bringing in 3 P5 transfers over the last few months.

Like Jim showed, we started off recruiting very poorly under Littrell and have made huge improvements. We had some standouts who masked depth and talent issues across the board for a couple seasons. Now needing to rely on the 2017 class and remaining 2016 class guys to be our senior leaders, we are often going to be at a disadvantage when it comes to upperclassmen talent this season, and probably next season with everyone freezing their current eligibility.

But this is also a great opportunity to focus on developing our young talent. Feels like we have a lot of talent that we still haven’t seen much of this year. Hope that changes.

Exactly. Great post.

greeneagle1 · September 22, 2020

2016 was also considered a bad class. No one from McCarney's staff recruited, and Littrell had just weeks to assemble a class. We ranked 102 in the country and from my count, we didnt use all 25 scholarship spots. We had already been down in the total scholarship count as well if I recall. The class was led by Nic Smith, a 3 star RB. Mason Fine, Rico Bussey Jr, and Khairi Muhammad were 2 star prospects who happened to out perform their assessment. Some of this class either didnt make it more than a couple years, have graduated because we used them right away, but we do not have many RS Seniors left from this class. That lack of 5 year seniors is also hurting us. Dieon Hair-Griffin and Nic Smith are it. Everyone else has come after. No one wanted to play at North Texas because we were a losing program. The first two classes were ranked low because that stigma was still there. It took these 2 star athletes to outperform their numbers to win 9 games and get into a few bowl games to make other prospects want to show up. They need time to develop. We have a new Defensive Coordinator who had almost no spring football and just a few weeks before the season to teach 19-22 year olds how he wants to do things. The offense will be fine. We do have 2 brand new QBs that are trying to fill in a legend's shoes. That is not easy to swallow or live up to. SMU did recruit well and they have maybe a top 5 QB in the country. He would be starting at almost any P5 school if he had transferred there. That kind of leadership and skillset can make other players around you better. Look at what Mason Fine did and he didnt even have those accolades like Beuchelle does. Lets get through Houston and then we can assess how good or bad we are in the conference we were given.

wardly · September 22, 2020

Forget about Houston, La. Tech, UAB, and Charlotte. Let's see how we do against MTSU,UTEP, UTSA, So. Miss., and Rice. That will give you a benchmark as to our recruiting, or lack there of. I don't see how anyone can say were are on same level as SMU in recruiting unless we also admit that Dykes is a hell of a lot better coach than Littrell.