Tag: Rivals rankings

Poll results: Which recruiting site do you prefer overall?

This has been an issue brought up more often recently now that 247 Sports seems to be making a strong push in the recruiting world. I have to admit that I used to be strongly entrenched in Rivals’ camp, at least as far as Michigan-related sites go. Lately, I have been looking to 247 Sports more and more. Underneath the votes I have some pros and cons for each sites:

Rivals: 34%
Rivals has shown to be the best when it comes to recruiting rankings. The guys who go on to NFL careers were generally rated higher by Rivals than ESPN or Scout (247 Sports is too new for this to be relevant). The site is also easily navigable, and it’s simple to sort through positions, recruiting classes, schools, cities, etc. The Wolverine, which is the Michigan-specific site, lost a lot when Josh Helmholdt got promoted to midwest analyst. His replacement, Tim Sullivan, doesn’t have the contacts or the football acumen to fill Helmholdt’s shoes, so content on The Fort (the premium message board) has been lacking and/or slow.

247 Sports: 30%
247 Sports popped onto the scene with some technological advancements that sped past its competitors. If you go to a recruit’s profile, it has a timeline that reports dates of offers, camp visits, campus visits, official visits, commitments, etc. It also links highlights from various other sites (Youtube, Hudl, etc.) and shows a Twitter feed with mentions about that particular player. The two newest features are the 247 Composite ranking (which averages together a recruit’s rankings from the four major sites) and the Crystal Ball, which shows updated predictions on where the prospect will go. The message board can be a little unwieldy, but writer/moderator Steve Lorenz does a good job of keeping up with recruits, even some that are just barely on the fringe of Michigan’s radar.


Scout: 15%
Scout seems to have been most affected by the arrival of 247 Sports. The website is very difficult to navigate and looks like it was designed by amateurs. (By the way, I freely admit that I’m an amateur when it comes to site design, so I’m not handing out criticism I’m unwilling to take – but this is a hobby for me, and it shouldn’t be for them.) The best thing Scout’s Michigan site has going for it is Sam Webb, who seems to be the guy most plugged in to Michigan’s coaching staff and the program. Finding rankings by position, state, etc. can be difficult with Scout, so I mostly avoid the site, except when a) a player commits and I need his Scout ranking or b) they update their top 300.

None of the above: 11%
These people probably either don’t care about recruiting or they just care about the free stuff that filters over to free sites, message boards, etc. To each his own.


ESPN: 8%
As far as recruiting goes, Wolverine Nation’s Tom VanHaaren does a great job of keeping up with recruiting news. He and 247’s Lorenz both seem to be on a fairly even plane. The message board gets updated regularly, and the moderators spend plenty of time online. Chantel Jennings adds some feature-like items and Michael Rothstein handles mostly basketball recruiting stuff and then some features on current and former Michigan players, so it’s pretty much VanHaaren’s show. ESPN is slower to rate players and updates its rankings less often; whether that’s good or bad might be up to its audience to decide. Personally, I think rankings are updated too often by some other sites (especially 247), but ESPN could probably start earlier with their initial rankings. Individual recruiting profiles lack highlights or links to highlights, so the site relies solely on ESPN videos of camps and such, which load slowly and are full of commercials. I would expect a better product for all the money ESPN has to throw around.

Full disclosure: I currently have Rivals and 247 Sports subscriptions. I let my ESPN subscription expire. I have never been a member of Scout.

Rivals 250 for 2014 updated

The Rivals 250 for the class of 2014 was released on Tuesday (the Rivals 100 was released yesterday).  Here’s what it looked like back in February.

Movement for Michigan commits:

– Mason Cole dropped from #107 to #118
– Michael Ferns dropped from #84 to #128
– Bryan Mone dropped from #172 to #181

Here are the rest of the Michigan’s targets on the list:

108. Dante Booker – LB – Ohio
109. Saeed Blacknall – WR – New Jersey
114. Jacory Washington – TE – Louisiana (LSU)
118. Mason Cole – OG – Florida (Michigan)
119. Lorenzo Featherston – DE – North Carolina
121. Steven Parker – S – Oklahoma
122. Adarius Pickett – CB – California
123. Sam Mustipher – OG – Maryland (Notre Dame)
124. Tyler Luatua – TE – California
127. Montae Nicholson – S – Pennsylvania
128. Michael Ferns III – LB – Ohio (Michigan)
136. Kalen Ballage – ATH – Colorado
139. Khairi Clark – DT – Florida
142. Dexter Wideman – DT – South Carolina
150. Quincy Wilson – CB – Florida
152. Bentley Spain – OT – North Carolina
154. K.J. Williams – WR – Pennsylvania
164. Devon Thomas – RB – Oklahoma (Oklahoma State)
168. Dravon Henry – S – Pennsylvania
169. Nick Watkins – CB – Texas
175. Daniel Helm – TE – Illinois (Tennessee)
176. Jeb Blazevich – TE – North Carolina (Georgia)
177. Shai McKenzie – RB – Pennsylvania
181. Bryan Mone – DT – Utah (Michigan)
184. Otaro Alaka – LB – Texas (Texas)
198. Erick Smith – S – Ohio
199. Kenny Young – LB – Louisiana
204. Roderick Johnson – OT – Missouri
206. D’Andre Payne – CB – Tennessee
208. Christian McCaffrey – RB – Colorado (Stanford)
216. Kyle Berger – LB – Ohio (Ohio State)
227. T’Kevian Rockwell – LB – Texas
228. Corey Holmes – WR – Florida
229. Parrker Westphal – CB – Illinois
231. Brandon Simmons – S – Texas (Stanford)
235. Garrett Dickerson – TE – New Jersey
250. Kiy Hester – CB – New Jersey

Rivals 100 for 2014 updated

Grand Rapids (MI) Christian wide receiver Drake Harris

The Rivals 100 for 2014 was updated today. Here’s what the list looked like when it was released in February.

Movement for Michigan commits:

– Drake Harris dropped from #56 to #57
– Michael Ferns III dropped from #84 and is now out of the top 100

Here’s the list of Michigan targets:

5-stars:
1. Da’Shawn Hand – DE – Virginia
2. Jabrill Peppers – CB – New Jersey
3. Leonard Fournette – RB – Louisiana
4. Quin Blanding – S – Virginia (Virginia)
5. Lorenzo Carter – DE – Georgia
7. Andrew Brown – DT – Virginia
8. Cameron Robinson – OT – Louisiana
9. Adoree’ Jackson – CB – California
10. Damian Prince – OT – Maryland
13. Elijah Hood – RB – North Carolina (Notre Dame)
15. Joe Mixon – RB – California

4-stars:
19. Jalen Hurd – RB – Tennessee (Tennessee)
20. Jalen Tabor – CB – Washington, D.C.
21. Bo Scarbrough – ATH – Alabama (Alabama)
22. Braden Smith – OT – Kansas
23. Malik McDowell – DE – Michigan
30. Solomon Thomas – DE – Texas
35. Damon Webb – CB – Michigan (Ohio State)
36. Myles Garrett – DE – Texas
38. Josh Malone – WR – Tennessee
39. Jamal Adams – S – Texas
40. K.C. McDermott – OT – Florida (Miami)
41. Edward Paris – S – Texas (LSU)
45. Marshon Lattimore – ATH – Ohio
49. John Smith – S – California
50. Jalen Brown – WR – Arizona
56. Alex Bars – OT – Tennessee (Notre Dame)
57. Drake Harris – WR – Michigan (Michigan)
58. Malachi Dupre – WR – Louisiana
63. Jackson Barton – OT – Utah (Utah)
68. Demarre Kitt – WR – Georgia
71. Mark Andrews – WR – Arizona
74. Casey Tucker – OT – Arizona
81. Artavis Scott – WR – Florida
83. Nyles Morgan – LB – Illinois
85. Petera Wilson – LB – Tennessee
87. Demetrius Knox – OG – Texas
88. Dwight Williams – LB – California
95. Andy Bauer – OT – Missouri (Mississippi)
97. Jamarco Jones – OT – Illinois

Average Recruiting Class Rankings: 2002-2013

Rivals 250 for 2014 released

Gardena (CA) Junipero Serra linebacker Dwight Williams finished just outside the list of top 100 prospects (image via ESPN)

Yesterday Rivals released its Rivals 100 for the class of 2014, which I broke down here.  Today Rivals released the entire Rivals 250.  Altogether, 72 of Michigan’s 89 offerees are in the Rivals 250.  Neither committed quarterback Wilton Speight or former offensive tackle commit Denzel Ward appears on either list, a development that probably surprises very few of us.

101. Dwight Williams – LB – California
107. Mason Cole – OG – Florida
109. Saeed Blacknall – WR – New Jersey
111. John Smith – WR – California
117. Troy Vincent, Jr. – CB – Maryland
122. Sam Mustipher – OG – Maryland
132. Kevin Crosby – ATH – South Carolina
137. Dexter Wideman – DT – South Carolina
155. Devon Thomas – RB – Oklahoma (Oklahoma State)
157. Dravon Henry – S – Pennsylvania
158. Nick Watkins – CB – Texas
159. Shai McKenzie – RB – Pennsylvania
164. Jeb Blazevich – TE – North Carolina
167. Otaro Alaka – LB – Texas
172. Bryan Mone – DT – Utah
177. Garrett Dickerson – TE – New Jersey
179. T’Kevian Rockwell – LB – Texas
183. Roderick Johnson – OT – Missouri
189. Adarius Pickett – CB – California
195. Christian McCaffrey – RB – Colorado
200. Brandon Simmons – CB – Texas
201. Daniel Helm – TE – Illinois
204. Kyle Berger – LB – Ohio
213. Parrker Westphal – CB – Illinois
224. Corey Holmes – WR – Florida
228. Erick Smith – S – Ohio
236. D’Andre Payne – CB – Washington, D.C.
243. Melvin Keihn – LB – Maryland
245. Petera Wilson – LB – Georgia
248. Javon Harrison – S – Florida (Virginia Tech)
249. Jay Hayes – DT – New York (Notre Dame)