The most impressive thing about our 2015 football recruiting class....

[SpokaneCY]

Some of that is fewer recruits than other schools since we have a young and inexperienced team

And some of that is we only won 2 games last year and only 3 the year before.

 

[SpokaneCY]

It does seem like we are getting faster kids.

Just not as fast as Kansas. Or Kansas State. Or the other teams in the conference.

I know is sounds like I'm bashing, but we have these same threads every year. We overhype, over sell talent, over analyze why the kids are great but nobody else thinks so...

As Jeremy said earlier, rewriting history but with different kids but the same overall "ratings".

1 star or 5 stars - win a game.

 

[Mesaclone1]

I love this part of the recruiting cycle. We all watch some HIGHLY edited recruiting tapes then talk ourselves into having one of our best recruiting classes ever and rationalize the national media as not having an eye for talent and since we're ISU all our kids are penalized 1 star automatically.

Fastest team ever! Most physically ready team ever! Most overlooked talent ever!

Glad to have them all. Now just win.

You're right, this is the worst recruiting class in the history of Division 1 football. Roughly on par with a Division 3 school coming off an 0-11 season. Woe is us!

Jiminy Crickets, I get the frustration...we've stunk for 2 seasons in a row...but some here are masters of finding the poop-stained lining of the Silver cloud.

And of course, you're right that potential means nothing if it doesn't convert to wins. You act as if ANYONE thinks its OK to recruit some talent and pretend that's victory enough...we all know that this class will be ultimately be judged by winning, or losing, on the field. You're going to drive yourself nuts if you can't let a LITTLE optimism creep in on signing day.

 

[SpokaneCY]

You're right, this is the worst recruiting class in the history of Division 1 football. Roughly on par with a Division 3 school coming off an 0-11 season. Woe is us!

Jiminy Crickets, I get the frustration...we've stunk for 2 seasons in a row...but some here are masters of finding the poop-stained lining of the Silver cloud.

And of course, you're right that potential means nothing if it doesn't convert to wins. You act as if ANYONE thinks its OK to recruit some talent and pretend that's victory enough...we all know that this class will be ultimately be judged by winning, or losing, on the field. You're going to drive yourself nuts if you can't let a LITTLE optimism creep in on signing day.

I have a headache and I think its probably not a tumor. Probably.

I'm optimistic each and every recruiting year. Rebirth, new life, new personalities... Everyone is unbeaten...

 

[Mesaclone1]

No worries Spokane, we are all hoping for the same thing when it comes to Cyclone football...and that's winning games. I'm trying, maybe too hard, to find some positive things to get excited about going forward. We all handle these tough times in different ways and that's OK. Should be a fun and interesting day tomorrow for all of us. Go Cyclones!

 

[Tre4ISU]

Rankings probably won't be too friendly to us with a limited number of guys.

 

[thatguy]

The most impressive thing about this class is a fact that we have a class at all.

 

[isu81]

Also, I don't know what to believe anymore regarding whether real serious offers or some type of conditional offer(we will offer if the guy we really want de-commits) was made by the other schools.

I think there are more made-up offers than ever. I was told once that the best way to gauge real offers is by looking at official visits. Not in all cases, but in many, guys don't visit because the school either didn't really offer or the offer is not commitable. Schools have limited visits so giving one to a guy means they are seriously interested.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Schools probably send out tons of letters saying they are interested, just to feel the landscape. Never know if that kid who lives 10 states away might be interested. Always worth a try at low cost.

 

[Steve]

Schools probably send out tons of letters saying they are interested, just to feel the landscape. Never know if that kid who lives 10 states away might be interested. Always worth a try at low cost.

Recruiting often plays out something like the following:

School - We really like you. You would be a great player in our system. If we were to offer you a scholarship, would you be ready to commit.

Recruit - I probably would.

School - That sounds great. We need to make sure that we still have room for you as we are starting to fill up. We'll take another look at your highlights and hope that we can work something out.

 

[norcalcy]

So are wins because we habitually oversell ourselves in our recruits when comparing them to other programs in conference. We'll sometimes say we have the horses but for X, Y or Zed...

Just win. No more smoke telling us something we don't see. No more excuses placed on former coaches or treadmills. No more whining about backup QBs or practice squad monsters. No more diamond in the rough or hidden gem cliches. Line up and smash someone in the mouth and win a friggin game.

Right on. Football "hot stove" is fun, but really doesn't mean a whole lot in the near term. This year's juco pick-ups are interesting, but so were Wimberly, Bibbs, etc. in prior years. As many have said, development is the key. 2013 and 2014 recruiting classes will make or break the 2015 season, not the guys who will be announced tomorrow.

 

[RustShack]

We've actually had a lot of talented players the last few years, and this year is no different. Let's see how they do with experience, and not assume they will play the same as their first year.

 

[cyingreen]

I would argue against this class looking "stout" and impressive when you compare it against previous years. Last year we ranked 56, this year we rank 66 according to Yahoo/Rivals.com. That isn't the worst we've done (2nd worst of the past 6 recruiting cycles), but every year about this time people start rewriting history to make it seem like we've turned a recruiting corner, almost exactly to the tune of this thread.

Again, I love CPR and want him to succeed, but let's not start revising history to create an aura of accomplishment on the recruiting trail.

Class	Rivals Rank	6-Year Trend Rank
2010	60th	4th
2011	51st	1st
2012	88th	6th
2013	58th	3rd
2014	56th	2nd
2015	66th	5th

So with the 2nd and 3rd best recruiting classes of the CPR era coming on deck this fall, we should be ready to rock and roll! Right?

 

[balken]

This is probably the most frustratingly wrong statement that people keep making about recruiting.

Here's a hypothetical:

If there are 100 prospects and..

Five 5*
Fifteen 4*
Thirty 3*
Fifty 2*

Then just because ten of the 2*'s make the NFL compared to "only" four of the 5*'s, doesn't mean that recruiting stars are useless.

I'd be interested to read something about how "notoriously inaccurate" recruiting stars are, so long as it incorporates this kind of simple probability that is unexplainably overlooked by the major writers.

P.S. This post is not meant to be criticizing CPR or even to comment on ISU recruiting directly but only to comment on the quoted statement that I keep seeing over and over and which is simply untrue.

You are actually too generous to the 5* recruits. More like 1 out of 100 is a 5*.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap20...ar-look-at-fivestar-college-football-recruits

 

[RustShack]

All this team needs is the OL to stay healthy so they can have chemistry and not a new lineup every week. And for Harris to be Wallys next great MLB. The rest WILL take care of itself if those two things happen.

Haters will try to deny it, but it's obvious the is from top to bottom the most talented Iowa State has ever been. Taller, stronger, and faster. Last year we were young and inexoerienced with a lot of new coaches on top of that. Everyone will do a better job this year.

 

[Wesley]

Recruiting often plays out something like the following:

School - We really like you. You would be a great player in our system. If we were to offer you a scholarship, would you be ready to commit.

Recruit - I probably would.

School - That sounds great. We need to make sure that we still have room for you as we are starting to fill up. We'll take another look at your highlights and hope that we can work something out.

Add handwritten notes and twitter to the above.

 

[Wesley]

All this team needs is the OL to stay healthy so they can have chemistry and not a new lineup every week. And for Harris to be Wallys next great MLB. The rest WILL take care of itself if those two things happen.

Haters will try to deny it, but it's obvious the is from top to bottom the most talented Iowa State has ever been. Taller, stronger, and faster. Last year we were young and inexoerienced with a lot of new coaches on top of that. Everyone will do a better job this year.

Who is handling the injury room? We were inexperienced due to a lot of injuries.

 

[CycoCyclone]

But they did have coaches that developed them, something this staff has really struggled to accomplish. Not turning this into pro or anti any coach, but player development hasn't been our strongest asset the past couple years.

This! nail, meet hammer. We HAVE to do a better job of making stars out of the players that do sign

 

[surly]

A problem is built right into the ranking system when they essentially ignore jucos in the class rankings and KState relies so heavily on them.

Just a point of order, K-State has one JUCO in the current class of 18. Snyder said he may add a couple more. He's moving a different direction due to depth currently and, perhaps, some bad recent history with community college transfers who haven't cut the mustard even though being ranked in the top tier before arriving on campus. Jake Waters has been the anomaly not the standard of late.

Three-stars
Bryce English DT -- DeSoto High School TX
Alex Barnes RB -- Pittsburg High School KS
Duke Shelley CB -- Tucker High School GA
Justin Hughes OLB -- Tucker High School GA
Reggie Walker OLB -- Ponchatoula High School LA
Scott Frantz OT -- Lawrence Free State High School KS
Alex Delton QB-DT -- Hays High School KS
Evan Applegate OT -- Mill Valley High School KS
Darreyl Patterson ATH -- Lawton High School OK
Chase Johnston ILB -- Carl Junction High School MO
Kalin Heath RB -- Cartersville High School GA
Isaiah Zuber WR -- Stephenson High School GA
Adam Holtorf DE -- Seward High School NE
Josh Little DE -- Trinity Christian Academy FL
Tyler Burns RB -- Trinity Academy KS
Denzel Goolsby RB -- Bishop Carroll High School KS
Aulelio Olomua DE -- Mesa Community College AZ
Zach Reuter WR -- Rock Bridge High School MO
Kyle Ball DE -- Shawnee Mission East High School KS
Evan Curl OT -- Flower Mound High School TX

Ungraded
Tyler Mitchell OG -- Montgomery Academy AL
Johnny Durham CB -- Aledo High School TX
Trey Dishon DT -- Horton High School KS

 

[NEICyFan]

Haters will try to deny it, but it's obvious the is from top to bottom the most talented Iowa State has ever been. Taller, stronger, and faster. Last year we were young and inexoerienced with a lot of new coaches on top of that.

No. Just no. We claim to be young every year. If that were true at some point we would become veteran. We never seem to do so according to some.

Comparing the team to past ISU teams is futile. No doubt this team would run circles around the 1978 team but this team is facing off players in today's game, not teams from 1978. The talent level and coaching versus our opponents is what's important. By and large last year we were outtalented, outcoached and outmanned. That doesn't look to change in the near future.

It is obviously impossible to accurately predict the success of a recruiting class but at least on paper this appears to just be more of the same.