247 team ranking disparity

Let me start by saying I take the star ranking and team ranking stuff for what it’s worth. By its nature player rankings will always be arbitrary. Still, the rankings have some merit. And it provides for fun discussion for this who do not take it so seriously. I have always enjoyed the secondary sport of following recruiting and with the development of recruiting services and the internet we get so much more information.

In trying to figure out if LSU can sneak into the top ten in team recruiting rankings I looked at teams we would have to pass. It will be hard even with a couple five stars in Surtain and Marshall, but maybe doable. In looking I noticed an apparent discrepancy that is probably explained by the variation among 4 stars and 3 stars within their own star ratings. Put another way, some three stars are more valuable than other 3 stars.

Auburn has an impressive 14 four star commits and 6 three stars, but is only ranked 10th, behind Oklahoma with 9 four stars and 11 three stars and behind Notre Dame with 10 three and four stars each.

The bottom line is while the rankings have some merit, they can’t measure things that precisely. There isnt much difference between a ten ranking and a five ranking. That said, I do think there will be a significant talent gap between LSU class and Georgia class even assuming we get all our top targets left. Georgia has an incredible 6 five star players and among those there will be true impact players.

Kids look at depth charts though, and it will be hard for Georgia to reproduce that class year in and out. LSU will end up with a very competitive class this year no matter the rank and with a bumper crop in La next year, Orgeron should have plenty enough talent to win. Coaching will be the difference among these teams and only time will tell if Orgeron has evolved as a coach.