Theories on recruiting improvement? | The Boneyard

Theories on recruiting improvement?

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What is the reason for the improvement in recruiting? It seems like there has to be a catalyst that is making it all go much better recently. Just curious what you think the reason is. Is it the move to Indy and the promise of playing Clemson and Ohio St.? Is it the tv deal? Maybe a particular staff member? A combination? You’d think there is something in particular that the coaches are selling that is working and making their job easier.

I think it is the schedule and CBS coverage that appeals to recruits but I’m not sure how they are presenting it. If all the recruits were local I’d guess it is just Covid-19, but they are coming from near and far. Corey Edsall seems to be a rising star as well.
 
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This was from a similar thread in the Recruiting Forum - they seemingly have a strategy that is obviously getting kid’s attention. I also think the younger guys on the staff (Corey, Carrezola, Smith, Horton, Applegate even Weiss) are building solid relationships. You can see it when they are getting shoutouts on social media by the kids. Staff continuity is also a bonus.

About a month ago...

>>UConn’s new TV deal for football, combined with the robust schedules assembled for the next five years, will provide the selling points coach Randy Edsall needs to kick-start recruiting.

“This is a really good day for us,” Edsall said in a conference call with reporters Monday, as the four-year agreement with CBS Sports was announced, “and it came at the right time because we’re right in the middle of recruiting kids from the 2021 cycle.”<<

>>“There’s no question,” he said. “Myself and our coaching staff, we really sat down and talked a lot about what is going to be our message and how are we going to market what we’re doing. By telling them, ‘Hey, we felt good about the television package’ and by telling them about the schedule we were playing, and how we’re going to play more Power Five [conference] teams now than what we would have staying where we were previously, that made a big impact with the kids we were talking to. So that helped us tremendously, and we’ve seen tremendous interest. ... Do we have a challenge ahead of us? Yes, we do. But we have an ability to go out and sell things to get the kind of kids we need to win."<<

>>“David and I had talked way back in June, who do you think we should play?” Edsall said. “Who would be good for our program? We said, ‘Here’s who we’d like to play because of recruiting.’ We were able to really stick to those guidelines and craft schedules that will really aid us from a recruiting standpoint, having kids here and their families seeing them and also going to places where they can get to.”<<
 

ShakyTheMohel

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I never thought going independent would work...and like most on here I am impressed with both the schedules and tv deals.

I get why this is appealing to kids. Come play at great facilities and play a diverse schedule every year on national linear tv.

I would love to hear from all the recruits about what closed the deal for them.
 
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I suspect the impact of the virus on recruiting procedures is helping us. Kids that would have gone to camps trying to get P5 (or better P5) offers are taking the sure thing because they won't be able to impress this summer and don't even know if they will be able to put together a good senior tape this fall. With the facilities, schedules and exposure UConn can offer, we can and should be able to win against the overwhelming majority of non-P5 and even be competitive with some of the lower-level P5 schools. Add in a more aggressive staff with Randy's proven ability to identify talent and they may have finally found a workable recruting model........
 
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Schedule we are able to develop as an independent.

P5 schools are hoping the bball-only fans will rise in IQ.
 

Chin Diesel

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Somewhere about a month ago I said this would be a great topic for a sports reporter in the state to tackle. Above and beyond the RE interview linked above, get out and talk to the recruits and find out what it was that put UConn over the chart.

In spite of those who are still worried about recruiting for this year, there is a definite upward trend in quality of kids. Also, the Jax area in Florida and Texas kids have been very fertile. Considering there are 20+ D1 schools in those states or states directly adjacent to them, getting them to commit to a northeast school with a horrible decade of performance and unknown future is quite the coup.

Considering almost every sport has been on hiatus for the past 3-4 months, plenty of time for these reporters to earn their stripes.
 

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I think it’s staff continuity. A stable staff is more productive. I also think the exciting schedule and the strong effort by the young guys on the staff is working. Having a national TV deal is also important. But I think it all starts with a young staff that has sharpened their recruiting game over the past couple seasons. They know what they are selling and how to sell it and when to move on when the pitch isn’t going anywhere.
 
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Right now...UConn is tracking last year's class in average star rankings in Rivals.

Completed 2020 with a 2.12 average of the class.
This year, so far, the rating is 2.10

The actual "quality" of the players will only be determined on the field after development. I do carry a regional bias...My thought is that those three star Jecksonville kids are pretty good to be rated three star against the state competition.
 
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Right now...UConn is tracking last year's class in average star rankings in Rivals.

Completed 2020 with a 2.12 average of the class.
This year, so far, the rating is 2.10

... and on 247 Sports the 2021 Avg. Rating is .8176 compared to .8055 for 2020.
 
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I liked last year’s class too. This year we are getting more players earlier and they seem to be pretty good as well. I like the momentum in bringing kids in so regularly. It really helps the positive vibe around the program.
 
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... and on 247 Sports the 2021 Avg. Rating is .8176 compared to .8055 for 2020.

Tracking pretty close....considering 10 commits for 2021 so far and 25 in 2020....

Interesting that Rivals has UConn at #69 and 247 at #82.....I wonder how their methodology differs?
 
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Chin Diesel

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Right now...UConn is tracking last year's class in average star rankings in Rivals.

Completed 2020 with a 2.12 average of the class.
This year, so far, the rating is 2.10

The actual "quality" of the players will only be determined on the field after development. I do carry a regional bias...My thought is that those three star Jecksonville kids are pretty good to be rated three star against the state competition.
... and on 247 Sports the 2021 Avg. Rating is .8176 compared to .8055 for 2020.

Last year's class was completely ranked vice some of this year's class being unranked so far, correct?

I would think a better, albeit much more difficult, comparison would be to compare the rankings at the time of commitment. last week someone linked grading criteria for both rivals and 247 and both basically said when the recuiting season is over anyone non-graded gets a 2-star from Rivals and the lowest decimal ranking equivilancy from 247.
 
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If UConn adds more three star recruits than NR from here on out...the average star ranking and points will move up....if more NR and two star recruits are added and less than two more three stars, than the rankings will remain static or move down some.
 
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Last year's class was completely ranked vice some of this year's class being unranked so far, correct?

I would think a better, albeit much more difficult, comparison would be to compare the rankings at the time of commitment. last week someone linked grading criteria for both rivals and 247 and both basically said when the recuiting season is over anyone non-graded gets a 2-star from Rivals and the lowest decimal ranking equivilancy from 247.
Here it is...

Have you eaten yet?

>>247Sports Rating Explanations

Five-stars (98-110 rating): The top 32 players in the country to mirror the 32 first round picks in the NFL Draft. These are 32 players that we believe are the most likely to be drafted in the first round from each recruiting class. The full list of 32 with five-star ratings typically isn’t complete until the final ranking. Any player with a rating of more than 100 is considered a “franchise player” and one that does not come around in every recruiting class.

Four-stars (90-97 rating): These are players that we believe are the most likely to produce college careers that get them drafted. By National Signing Day, this number is typically in the range of 350 prospects, roughly the top 10 percent of prospects in a given class.

Three-stars (80-89 rating): This is where the bulk of college football prospects are found and it incorporates a large range of ability levels, all of whom we consider as possible NFL players long term.

A high three-star (87-89): is considered a player with significant NFL upside who expect to be an impact college football player.

A mid three-star (84-86): is a player that we consider to be a capable starter for a Power Five football team and an impact player at the Group of Five level.

A low three-star (80-83): is a player that we consider to be a potential contributor at a Power Five program but a probable Group of Five starter with impact potential.

Two-stars (70-79 rating): These are prospects that we consider to be FBS-level players with very limited NFL potential.<<

>>What does the numerical Rivals Rating (RR) mean?

6.1 = Five-star prospect
6.0-5.8 = Four-star prospect
5.7-5.5 = Three-star prospect
5.2-5.4 = Two-star prospect

6.1 Franchise Player: considered one of the elite prospects in the country, generally among the nation's top 30-35 players overall, a potential first-team All American candidate and a player deemed to have first round NFL potential.

6.0-5.8 All American Candidate: considered one of the next-tier elite prospects in the country, generally among the nation’s top 300-325 prospects overall, a national All American candidate and a player deemed to have first to third round NFL potential

5.7-5.5 All Region Selection: considered among the region’s top prospects and generally among the nation’s top 800-850 prospects overall, a potential All-Conference candidate and a player deemed to have mid to low-end pro potential and ability to impact at the college level.

5.2-5.4 Low End FBS prospect: considered a mid-major prospect with limited pro potential and expected to contribute 1-2 years at a high level maximum or often as a role player.

*At the end of National Signing Day, any prospect that signs with an FBS program, and we have not evaluated, will be assigned a 5.2 Rivals Rating (RR).<<

*Currently 247 has not rated Cayenne or Phommachanh and Rivals has not rated Phommachanh yet.*
 
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Rivals Team Ranking is points driven...and is whacky early...

For instance, Rutgers is ranked #13 nationally, and Notre Dame #14...

Rutgers star average is 2.71 while the Irish are at 3.55....but..Rutgers has 21 recruits, Notre Dame has 11.

Thus...Notre Dame has headroom to move on up...Rutgers will fall back as teams add more recruits.
 

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Rivals Team Ranking is points driven...and is whacky early...

For instance, Rutgers is ranked #13 nationally, and Notre Dame #14...

Rutgers star average is 2.71 while the Irish are at 3.55....but..Rutgers has 21 recruits, Notre Dame has 11.

Thus...Notre Dame has headroom to move on up...Rutgers will fall back as teams add more recruits.
Rutgers already had a plaque made for their #13 recruiting class though gotta put something in the trophy case.
 

Chin Diesel

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For the same reason that many people became fans of the program in the late 90s, the promise of big boy football. They came on board with the thoughts of UConn playing Miami Pitt VTech BC WVU
Cuse…
Sidney Walker tweeted out recently "UConn vs Everybody!!" maybe that's the pitch.

Us against the world seen weekly on CBSSN.
 
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Edsall is recruiting athletes he can develop. I expect him to try to start using the redshirt as liberally as he can. I suspect he was shocked and horrified when he started to assess Diaco's recruits, especially when it came to speed. I don't think Edsall and his staff have all of a sudden become prolific recruiters, but we will continue to see an overall improvement in athleticism which this program desperately needs.
 

Chin Diesel

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Here it is...



*Currently 247 has not rated Cayenne or Phommachanh and Rivals has not rated Phommachanh yet.*

So, at a minimum UConn's score has to move up a bit since moving from a no-star to any star increases star/recruit.
 
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I thought we saw an uptick last year and it has continued this year. For example Ross and Drayton are real deals Some of the linemen especially we didn’t get to see but they rarely play as true frosh. The tight end looked like he has an upside too.

i was very skeptical of the independence move. But they have done a really good job in setting things up. The schedule is interesting. The tv deal is, if not lucrative, at least solid. I think those all help as does continuity. Remember we fired Pasqualone after 2 1/2 years then Diaco after 3. That means we basically lost 2 classes in 4 years. And there was limited consistency in terms of type of players, territories contacts and so on. Those have been reestablished.
 
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So, at a minimum UConn's score has to move up a bit since moving from a no-star to any star increases star/recruit.

Depends....I can't find a linkage for a NR in Rivals being counted for points at signing. If someone can verify, please link.


If NR's are not adjusted to two stars...then the current ratio of two 3 stars per ten recruits would have to be maintained through twenty recruits (Rivals uses best 20) to maintain average.
 

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