If recruiting rankings determined the outcome of games, the Oregon football program would be fighting for a spot in the BCS Top-25, while a team like Texas or USC would be atop the standings.
In that same alternate universe, Notre Dame would be a top-15 team and Boise State would be playing at the level of a team like Washington State.
But, it has become increasingly clear, the arbitrary rankings assigned to high school seniors by so called “recruiting experts” don’t seem to matter that much. While there is some correlation between high recruiting rankings and wins (as evidenced by the presence of traditional powers like Alabama, Ohio State, LSU and Auburn at or near the top of both BCS and recruiting rankings for many years), it’s not a complete shock that an Oregon program that averaged the 24.6th best class (from 2006-2010), according to the national recruiting website Scout.com, is so dominant.
The disparity between rankings and on-field performance can be explained by the varying ways programs and recruiting experts go about evaluating players. For example, the Oregon coaching staff denies it pays any attention to star rankings, or what the “experts” think.
“We don’t look at those rankings,” Oregon recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach Don Pellum said. “Nothing against those people, I just don’t look at it — we never have. We do our own evaluation process.”
So far, the Ducks have 11 verbal commitments for the 2011 class from five different states. The class headliners include Arizona offensive lineman Andre Yruretagoyena, (a consensus four star recruit who turned down offers from schools like USC, Michigan and LSU for Oregon), quarterback Jerrard Randall (who picked the Ducks over numerous East Coast powers) and safety Tyson Coleman (a native Oregonian who committed to the Ducks in October of 2009).
With several scholarships still available for 2011, there’s a good shot more players of that caliber could come on board in the next few months.
So even though more four- and five-star players might now be interested in Oregon because of the Ducks lofty national ranking, don’t expect Oregon to change their recruiting philosophy any time soon.
“It’s real important Oregon gets kids (with) the right fit,” Pellum said. “A lot of people think (we) have a lot of facilities and (we’re) winning, have uniforms, all this stuff and (we) should be able to get anyone. The reality is we don’t want anyone.”
As cliché as it might sound, Pellum and the Ducks coaching staff genuinely want players that want to play for Oregon and take advantage of what the university and surrounding areas have to offer — not recruits that want to hop on the bandwagon to further their own careers.
“You want the kid that’s looking for Eugene, that’s looking for a good sized city with some stuff too do but not too much stuff to get caught up in, that’s safe and where they can play great football and get a great education,” Pellum said. “We have to find that kid.”
Oregon is willing to travel to all parts of the country to find that type of player. Over the past several seasons, the Ducks’ recruiting efforts have gone national — in their last two recruiting classes (2009 and 2010), Oregon signed players from 14 different states and two different countries (Boseko Lokembo played high school football in Canada).
“The nice thing about what’s happened the last four or five years is that with all the more TV networks and TV exposure, the world’s becoming a smaller recruiting market,” Pellum said. “So you get kids that are in (far away) markets that see you and all of a sudden are exposed to your product and excited about it.”
“Oregon’s 2011 recruiting is a little early to call, because they’re big on a national scale, they’re in it for national guys who won’t decide until closer to Signing Day,” Scout.com’s West Coast recruiting analyst Brandon Huffman said. ” I think not only does the No. 1 ranking play a role, but how productive they are, and how entertaining they are on offense. They’re on primetime. All those factors are weighing into a recruits mind.”
Of course, a lot of that is predicated on how well Oregon finishes the 2011 campaign — should the Ducks crumble on the field, the ramifications might also be felt on the recruiting trail.
“I think the biggest impact this season can have on recruiting is at the very end and how we finish, but right now, the interest is good,” Pellum said. “It’s been good since the beginning of the season.”
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Oregon takes recruiting into its own hands
Daily Emerald
October 31, 2010
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