Top 20 NFL draft picks

alentrekin

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Was Alabama recruiting the Swillings and Jay Jones?
FWIW:
Jones' reported offers were from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, MissSt. (most offers were likely not at QB)
Tre Swilling's reported offers were from Alabama, Michigan, USC, etc.
Bruce lists offers from Alabama and every other football factory.

And offers mean different things in different programs -- e.g. Bama will offer to get a kid to come to camp, then revoke if he gets beat out at camp.
And of course, do you trust ESPN.
 

MikeJackets

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Maryville,Tennessee
FWIW:
Jones' reported offers were from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, MissSt. (most offers were likely not at QB)
Tre Swilling's reported offers were from Alabama, Michigan, USC, etc.
Bruce lists offers from Alabama and every other football factory.
And offers mean different things in different programs -- e.g. Bama will offer to get a kid to come to camp, then revoke if he gets beat out at camp.
And of course, do you trust ESPN.
Wow Paul did a heck of a good job getting them to come to GT instead of Alabama!
 

AlabamaBuzz

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Or are they drafted so highly because they played for Saban and he coaches them up?

Not in my opinion. Saban is a great recruiter, a great administrator, and a great disciplinarian. He is not a great strategist. He would not win without superior talent, and sometimes he loses with superior talent. That is why he left the NFL. He is NO Belichik.
 

RLR

Jolly Good Fellow
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355
I played HS football against some of GA's best talent. I only played against two 5-stars. Trust me. You know a 5-star player when you see them. One guy was a DB/ QB whose legs felt like he squatted 600 lbs and ran a 4.3. His name was Eric Berry. The other guy looked like Big Ben & had a cannon of an arm. His name was Cam Newton.

Played against a handful of 4-stars. None of them were that good or close to being dominant against good GA HS teams. They were just good athletes with good frames. couple of them made and did well in the NFL But you wouldn't have mistaked them for 5 star talent in HS.

Some of the best football players are 3-star players. Finding the overlooked / underrated players in this group that fit your system is what makes or breaks recruiting classes IMO. Third best player I ever played against was probably Cooper Taylor. IDK how he wasn't a 4-star. Guy's game speed was almost as fast as Eric Berry. Rennie Curran is right up there too. Dude was relentless.
 

Sideways

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FWIW:
Jones' reported offers were from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, MissSt. (most offers were likely not at QB)
Tre Swilling's reported offers were from Alabama, Michigan, USC, etc.
Bruce lists offers from Alabama and every other football factory.
And offers mean different things in different programs -- e.g. Bama will offer to get a kid to come to camp, then revoke if he gets beat out at camp.
And of course, do you trust ESPN.

This is impressive. I knew those guys were good but was not aware that their offer sheet was that eye popping. I am assuming that the reason we got Jones was because we promised to play him at quarterback which was the same situation with Justin Thomas. I am still amazed that we got both Swillings. I thought we might get one of them but never both. Others more knowledgeable can weigh in but it would appear to me that this incoming Freshmen class is the best in the Johnson era on the defensive side of the ball. Speaks well for the future.
 

Sideways

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I played HS football against some of GA's best talent. I only played against two 5-stars. Trust me. You know a 5-star player when you see them. One guy was a DB/ QB whose legs felt like he squatted 600 lbs and ran a 4.3. His name was Eric Berry. The other guy looked like Big Ben & had a cannon of an arm. His name was Cam Newton.

Played against a handful of 4-stars. None of them were that good or close to being dominant against good GA HS teams. They were just good athletes with good frames. couple of them made and did well in the NFL But you wouldn't have mistaked them for 5 star talent in HS.

Some of the best football players are 3-star players. Finding the overlooked / underrated players in this group that fit your system is what makes or breaks recruiting classes IMO. Third best player I ever played against was probably Cooper Taylor. IDK how he wasn't a 4-star. Guy's game speed was almost as fast as Eric Berry. Rennie Curran is right up there too. Dude was relentless.

Yeah, the 4 and 5 star guys are the ones the other team is pointing at when lining up. TIC.
An interesting observation on Eric Berry, Cam Newton and Cooper Taylor.
 

Animal02

Banned
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Southeastern Michigan
Saban runs a try out system. Bring in a bunch of 4 and 5 * every year and run a bunch off if they don't meet the hype. The NCAA needs to really stop allowing that to keep happening. Even with normal attrition, 25 a year is well over the 85 limit and red shirts really get the totals beyond what should be acceptable.
At least there has been attempt to stop his gray shirting with the latest rule change.
 

Cam

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On this same topic about stars, you also end up with guys like Elijah Hood. Former 5* running back (and did some acting on the side with the LoTR series) taken in the 7th round at pick 242. I'm sure some journalist out there will take the time to fully map this out. Give it like 3 days.

EDIT: Also saw former 5* (#15 of 2014 draft) Malachi Dupre taken in round 7 at pick 247. KD Cannon was another who went undrafted. There are a couple of others out there too. A lot of these you can point to and say, "They just left too early. Should have stayed another year." But as far as 5* talents go, you should be able to go pro early and be taken in the first three rounds.
 
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dressedcheeseside

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Can someone write some software that automatically dumps all posts like this into a thread titled off season stars debate? Also, a nice and handy addition would be a link to a database of argument points that support each side as they never change are are used in perpetuity. Thanks.

And a big cheer for the "stars don't mean a thing" camp!! Woo Hoo!
 

tech_wreck47

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I think some of y'all are forgetting the star rankings are for the "now" as in they are ranking the kids for what they are currently doing in high school. So just because a kid was ranked as a 3 star, but turns into a first round pick, it doesn't make the guys who ranked him in high school wrong. It could just mean he trained hard and got good coaching, he might not have even made an big impact until his last season, if he was a 4 or 5 star he probably would have made an impact much sooner. It also goes the other way, if a 5 star doesn't get drafted, it doesn't mean the recruiting services were wrong on him, it could just mean he didn't train hard, bad coaching, etc. it's all about the "now" for the recruiting services, a lot can change in 3-5 years. Look at the falcons 1st round pick this year, he had less that 5 sacks in 2015 and then 10 this past season with 2 less games.now, I'm not saying they are always right, but they are for a large number of kids. If anything I would say they get the 4 and 5 stars right, they normally will under rank a kid before over ranking a kid imo.
 
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Skeptic

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Saban runs a try out system. Bring in a bunch of 4 and 5 * every year and run a bunch off if they don't meet the hype. The NCAA needs to really stop allowing that to keep happening. Even with normal attrition, 25 a year is well over the 85 limit and red shirts really get the totals beyond what should be acceptable.
Wasn't that one of Dodd's justifications for leaving the SEC 60 years ago?
 

Skeptic

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FWIW:
Jones' reported offers were from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, MissSt. (most offers were likely not at QB)
Tre Swilling's reported offers were from Alabama, Michigan, USC, etc.
Bruce lists offers from Alabama and every other football factory.
And offers mean different things in different programs -- e.g. Bama will offer to get a kid to come to camp, then revoke if he gets beat out at camp.
And of course, do you trust ESPN.
Question: are those self-reported "offers"? Since coaches can't make public comment on individual recruiting, it seems pretty much left to the individual 17-year-old to announce such things. Sometimes they are outright fraudulent, and other times a kid misunderstands a letter of interest to be an offer. But if they are what they say they are then Tech done good.
 
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