[LeeCoUKFan]

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Kyle Tucker

There are a number of ways to say Kentucky football, under new coach Mark Stoops and his staff, is recruiting at a level unseen in recent program history (maybe ever). Start with this: Although it’s early, the Cats’ 2014 class is ranked No. 5 nationally by Rivals.com, ahead of the likes of Michigan, Alabama, Miami, LSU, Florida State, Florida, Ohio State and Oklahoma. Heady stuff, considering Stoops took over a team that went 2-10 last season.

In the history of Rivals’ rankings (since 2002), the highest a UK class has finished is 29th – and that was last year, Stoops’ first class, which he only had a couple of months to cobble together. Before Stoops, the Cats’ highest-ranked class was 36th in 2006, and 9 of 11 pre-Stoops classes ranked 50th or worse. Furthermore, Stoops and Co. have landed seven (and counting) four-star recruits, per Rivals, in two classes. Kentucky needed five previous classes to sign seven four-star prospects.

But we all know recruiting rankings are an inexact science, perhaps even an exercise in educated guessing. Who really knows who is the 12th-best high school offensive tackle in this rather large country? How, exactly, does one distinguish between the eighth-best recruiting class and the 18th? This I do not know. What I do: Who you’re beating for recruits matters. That says as much to me as any result of any drill or measurement at a cattle-call recruiting camp.

Who are you beating? That’s how I’d like to compare this new coaching staff’s recruiting efforts against the old staff’s. So I stayed up way too late and set about trying to do that. I used Rivals’ database to chart scholarship offers for each of Mark Stoops’ first 29 commitments/signees and Joker Phillips’ last 29 signees. The results were pretty eye-popping.

DISCLAIMER: Rivals’ database isn’t gospel, so these numbers won’t be totally precise, as some offers never show up in the database and some kids have been known to fudge the truth on who really offered them. But Rivals does a nice job of trying to maintain a fairly accurate list on each prospect, so it’s the best resource we have for this little project. Now on to the findings (drum roll) …

Mark Stoops’ first 29 commitments/signees had a total of 271 scholarship offers from BCS schools. That’s an average of 9.3 per player. A dozen had double-digit BCS offers. Joker Phillips’ last 29 signees had a total of 114 BCS offers, an average of 3.9 per player. Ten of those players had no other BCS offers but Kentucky. Fourteen had none or one other BCS offer. Only three had double-digit offers. Let those numbers wash over you for a moment. Perhaps a couple of charts will better illustrate the stark contrast:

[Image: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ukbeat/...60x229.png]

[Image: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ukbeat/...60x461.png]

Now for some more crazy numbers: 30 BCS programs, including seven that finished top-25 and 22 (bolded) that went bowl games last season (or would’ve if not on probation), offered at least four of Mark Stoops’ first 29 pledges. The list, with how many UK pledges each school offered: Indiana (14), Louisville (13), Cincinnati (12), Purdue (12), West Virginia (11), Illinois (9), N.C. State (8), Wisconsin (7), Arizona State (7), Michigan State (6), Ole Miss (6), Pittsburgh (6), Vanderbilt (6), Nebraska (5), Mississippi State (5), Missouri (5), Georgia Tech (5), Tennessee (5), Iowa State (5), Minnesota (5), South Florida (5), Florida (4), Florida State (4), Ohio State (4), Notre Dame (4), South Carolina (4), North Carolina (4), Boston College (4), Wake Forest (4), Rutgers (4).

Compare that to: 10 BCS programs, including six who went to bowl games (bolded) last season, offered at least four of Joker Phillips’ last 29 pledges. The list, with how many UK pledges each school offered: Louisville (6), Mississippi State (6), Illinois (6), Cincinnati (5), South Carolina (4), West Virginia (4), Vanderbilt (4), South Florida (4), Georgia Tech (4), Indiana (4). Plenty of non-BCS programs offered Phillips recruits: MTSU (8), Florida International (6), Florida Atlantic (5), Toledo (5), Troy (4), Marshall (4), Memphis (4), Bowling Green (4).

The conferences that most offered Joker Phillips’ last 29 recruits? The Sun Belt (31) and MAC (23). Meanwhile Mark Stoops’ first 29 recruits have had 70 Big Ten offers, 45 Big East, 44 SEC, 42 ACC/Notre Dame and 32 Big 12. So by the measure of “Who are they beating?” Stoops wins, in a landslide, again. Whether it’s rankings or competition or plain ol’ eyeballs, by any measure, this new staff is reeling in a level of talent the old one (maybe none of the old ones) never came close to.

And what the hell; why not one more list?

UK’S RECRUITING CLASS RANKING (RIVALS)
*Average star rating (out of five stars) per recruit in parentheses.

2014 – No. 5 (3.29)
2013 – No. 29 (3.05)
2012 – No. 62 (2.88)
2011 – No. 61 (2.96)
2010 – No. 50 (2.77)
2009 – No. 41 (2.69)
2008 – No. 57 (2.50)
2007 – No. 54 (2.31)
2006 – No. 36 (2.53) *
2005 – No. 67 (2.15)
2004 – No. 52 (2.36)
2003 – No. 62 (2.48)
2002 – No. 94 (2.19)

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ukbeat/...or-talent/

[judgementday]

Lets just hope that he stays a few years to coach up these players instead of jumping ship.

[RunItUpTheGut]

And some of you guys still wanted to believe Joker was the man for the job nicker:

This guy is cleaning up.

[honestjchsfan]

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Kyle Tucker

There are a number of ways to say Kentucky football, under new coach Mark Stoops and his staff, is recruiting at a level unseen in recent program history (maybe ever). Start with this: Although it’s early, the Cats’ 2014 class is ranked No. 5 nationally by Rivals.com, ahead of the likes of Michigan, Alabama, Miami, LSU, Florida State, Florida, Ohio State and Oklahoma. Heady stuff, considering Stoops took over a team that went 2-10 last season.

In the history of Rivals’ rankings (since 2002), the highest a UK class has finished is 29th – and that was last year, Stoops’ first class, which he only had a couple of months to cobble together. Before Stoops, the Cats’ highest-ranked class was 36th in 2006, and 9 of 11 pre-Stoops classes ranked 50th or worse. Furthermore, Stoops and Co. have landed seven (and counting) four-star recruits, per Rivals, in two classes. Kentucky needed five previous classes to sign seven four-star prospects.
But we all know recruiting rankings are an inexact science, perhaps even an exercise in educated guessing. Who really knows who is the 12th-best high school offensive tackle in this rather large country? How, exactly, does one distinguish between the eighth-best recruiting class and the 18th? This I do not know. What I do: Who you’re beating for recruits matters. That says as much to me as any result of any drill or measurement at a cattle-call recruiting camp.

Who are you beating? That’s how I’d like to compare this new coaching staff’s recruiting efforts against the old staff’s. So I stayed up way too late and set about trying to do that. I used Rivals’ database to chart scholarship offers for each of Mark Stoops’ first 29 commitments/signees and Joker Phillips’ last 29 signees. The results were pretty eye-popping.

DISCLAIMER: Rivals’ database isn’t gospel, so these numbers won’t be totally precise, as some offers never show up in the database and some kids have been known to fudge the truth on who really offered them. But Rivals does a nice job of trying to maintain a fairly accurate list on each prospect, so it’s the best resource we have for this little project. Now on to the findings (drum roll) …

Mark Stoops’ first 29 commitments/signees had a total of 271 scholarship offers from BCS schools. That’s an average of 9.3 per player. A dozen had double-digit BCS offers. Joker Phillips’ last 29 signees had a total of 114 BCS offers, an average of 3.9 per player. Ten of those players had no other BCS offers but Kentucky. Fourteen had none or one other BCS offer. Only three had double-digit offers. Let those numbers wash over you for a moment. Perhaps a couple of charts will better illustrate the stark contrast:

[Image: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ukbeat/...60x229.png]

[Image: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ukbeat/...60x461.png]

Now for some more crazy numbers: 30 BCS programs, including seven that finished top-25 and 22 (bolded) that went bowl games last season (or would’ve if not on probation), offered at least four of Mark Stoops’ first 29 pledges. The list, with how many UK pledges each school offered: Indiana (14), Louisville (13), Cincinnati (12), Purdue (12), West Virginia (11), Illinois (9), N.C. State (8), Wisconsin (7), Arizona State (7), Michigan State (6), Ole Miss (6), Pittsburgh (6), Vanderbilt (6), Nebraska (5), Mississippi State (5), Missouri (5), Georgia Tech (5), Tennessee (5), Iowa State (5), Minnesota (5), South Florida (5), Florida (4), Florida State (4), Ohio State (4), Notre Dame (4), South Carolina (4), North Carolina (4), Boston College (4), Wake Forest (4), Rutgers (4).

Compare that to: 10 BCS programs, including six who went to bowl games (bolded) last season, offered at least four of Joker Phillips’ last 29 pledges. The list, with how many UK pledges each school offered: Louisville (6), Mississippi State (6), Illinois (6), Cincinnati (5), South Carolina (4), West Virginia (4), Vanderbilt (4), South Florida (4), Georgia Tech (4), Indiana (4). Plenty of non-BCS programs offered Phillips recruits: MTSU (8), Florida International (6), Florida Atlantic (5), Toledo (5), Troy (4), Marshall (4), Memphis (4), Bowling Green (4).

The conferences that most offered Joker Phillips’ last 29 recruits? The Sun Belt (31) and MAC (23). Meanwhile Mark Stoops’ first 29 recruits have had 70 Big Ten offers, 45 Big East, 44 SEC, 42 ACC/Notre Dame and 32 Big 12. So by the measure of “Who are they beating?” Stoops wins, in a landslide, again. Whether it’s rankings or competition or plain ol’ eyeballs, by any measure, this new staff is reeling in a level of talent the old one (maybe none of the old ones) never came close to.

And what the hell; why not one more list?

UK’S RECRUITING CLASS RANKING (RIVALS)
*Average star rating (out of five stars) per recruit in parentheses.

2014 – No. 5 (3.29)
2013 – No. 29 (3.05)
2012 – No. 62 (2.88)
2011 – No. 61 (2.96)
2010 – No. 50 (2.77)
2009 – No. 41 (2.69)
2008 – No. 57 (2.50)
2007 – No. 54 (2.31)
2006 – No. 36 (2.53) *
2005 – No. 67 (2.15)
2004 – No. 52 (2.36)
2003 – No. 62 (2.48)
2002 – No. 94 (2.19)

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ukbeat/...or-talent/

Who cares about the past with Stoops as coach I think UK is a better program than everyone on the list with the exception of Bama and LSU.

[LeeCoUKFan]

Who cares about the past with Stoops as coach I think UK is a better program than everyone on the list with the exception of Bama and LSU.

Now that we have Stoops, probably no one cares about the past. The article is just showing how much better of a recruiter Stoops is from Joker.

[1-3-1-press]

Stoops is doing an amazing job at UK. He has already done what other coaches couldnt do without even stepping on the field yet. The state of Kentucky has two of better coaches in college football, Coach Stoops/Strong. The state of KY might not be just known for Basketball in a couple years.

[hop24]

As bad as UK has been the last few years, amazing what he has done. Just hope he's doing it the right way and doesn't land the program on probation.

[toussaints]

I think it's more Stoops recruiting in the right places than recruiting the best of the best. Im not a big recruit rankings guy, but look at Rivals where UK ranks 3rd. They don't have any 5 star recruits, and actually has the least amount of 4 star recruits of all the teams in the top 10.

But if you look at where these guys are coming from, you'll see Ohio, Florida, and Texas. States where they have a plethora of great high school football programs. There are plenty of guys in these states that want to play in a major conference, but don't want to sit on the sidelines at Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Florida, and Florida State. Those guys aren't the best in their states, but they're still pretty good.

Look at the small programs that had recent success like Louisville, TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati, Houston. They weren't getting the best in their pipelines, but they were getting guys that they knew could start at those bigger, stronger programs their junior years and convinced them that they could contribute right away at their school. That's what Stoops is doing now, the difference being he can say that they'll be playing in the SEC instead of the Jackson 5 conference or whatever Cincy is going to now. If he builds on that, he'll attract faster and stronger talent, and start stealing guys from Georgia, South Carolina, and Arkansas like he did with Drew Barker.

[Pulp Fiction]

I think it's more Stoops recruiting in the right places than recruiting the best of the best. Im not a big recruit rankings guy, but look at Rivals where UK ranks 3rd. They don't have any 5 star recruits, and actually has the least amount of 4 star recruits of all the teams in the top 10.

But if you look at where these guys are coming from, you'll see Ohio, Florida, and Texas. States where they have a plethora of great high school football programs. There are plenty of guys in these states that want to play in a major conference, but don't want to sit on the sidelines at Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Florida, and Florida State. Those guys aren't the best in their states, but they're still pretty good.

Look at the small programs that had recent success like Louisville, TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati, Houston. They weren't getting the best in their pipelines, but they were getting guys that they knew could start at those bigger, stronger programs their junior years and convinced them that they could contribute right away at their school. That's what Stoops is doing now, the difference being he can say that they'll be playing in the SEC instead of the Jackson 5 conference or whatever Cincy is going to now. If he builds on that, he'll attract faster and stronger talent, and start stealing guys from Georgia, South Carolina, and Arkansas like he did with Drew Barker.

Took the words right off my finger tips.

[cuppett777]

As bad as UK has been the last few years, amazing what he has done. Just hope he's doing it the right way and doesn't land the program on probation.

^^^
thats all i hear from the Hogs fans, how he HAS TO B CHEATING ,like they say CAL is, THERE JUST HATING,lol, did i ever say i CANT STAND the PIGS,i mean HOGS

[Spirit100]

I think it's more Stoops recruiting in the right places than recruiting the best of the best. Im not a big recruit rankings guy, but look at Rivals where UK ranks 3rd. They don't have any 5 star recruits, and actually has the least amount of 4 star recruits of all the teams in the top 10.

But if you look at where these guys are coming from, you'll see Ohio, Florida, and Texas. States where they have a plethora of great high school football programs. There are plenty of guys in these states that want to play in a major conference, but don't want to sit on the sidelines at Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Florida, and Florida State. Those guys aren't the best in their states, but they're still pretty good.

Look at the small programs that had recent success like Louisville, TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati, Houston. They weren't getting the best in their pipelines, but they were getting guys that they knew could start at those bigger, stronger programs their junior years and convinced them that they could contribute right away at their school. That's what Stoops is doing now, the difference being he can say that they'll be playing in the SEC instead of the Jackson 5 conference or whatever Cincy is going to now. If he builds on that, he'll attract faster and stronger talent, and start stealing guys from Georgia, South Carolina, and Arkansas like he did with Drew Barker.

:Thumbs::Thumbs::Thumbs:

Well said!!!