2024 Football Commits Updated 247 Rankings

Most important thing to understand about 247 is that their rankings are keyed to how players will perform in the NFL. Undersized or hybrid players don’t rank as well because 247 sees them as less valuable at the NFL level. They could still be great college players. I have long wondered about Jadyn’s height though. 

I'm honestly fine with it because I'm not a Star-gazer ©.  Seeing his attitude in interviews, this will give the kid some Amon-Ra St. Brown levels of motivation. Let him be undervalued. Jim knows who he has his hands on.

I keep reading that most of the skepticism of his 5-star talent is projecting him to the next level due to his height and arm strength (as you mentioned), as well as a perceived lack of mobility to make up for those two. I have not seen any of his game action, but I'd have to imagine he isn't being asked to be that mobile (designed runs or scrambles hardly seem necessary when you are 110-139 passing). Is he being sacked with any frequency? Otherwise, it is hard to see this is a legit criticism of his game action if it is not really required...

It's all strange, but who cares! Hopefully he comes in next year and settles right into being great!

Essentially, I don't think he ever should have been a 5*. He's already the shortest QB ranked in the Top 150 by 247 since Bryce Young in 2020, and he's nowhere near as good of an athlete. He plays with much better talent than his opponents too which helps his stats. His stats are really good (best passer efficiency among Elite 11 QBs) which is propping up his rating, but it's clear the sites see him more as a 4th-6th round NFL guy than a 1st-3rd round guy.

My relatively uninformed opinion is that 7-on-7 drills are, by themselves, one of the least useful tools in evaluating a prospect.

Like, ok if you’re BAD in those drills that could be eye opening, but if you’re just kinda decent-to-good-but-not-elite at those drills but are lighting it up on the field…idk I’m inclined to ignore the 7v7 results 

Isn't it mostly an unfortunate quirk based on how the ratings services see themselves? They are rating based on NFL potential right? And JD doesn't have the measurables for that, but no reason to think he doesn't have a bright upper echelon BigTen future

The recruiting sites say they evaluate based on "pro potential" and Davis doesn't have a great arm and isn't mobile which I guess are the 2 main things they use?  This begs the question why he was rated so highly in the first place.  Surely his lack of mobility and mediocre arm were things that were evident his sophmore and junior years.  

Yeah, I don't follow recruiting all that intently but I checked in on C.J. Carr and he seems to be having, at best, a comparable season to Davis (he's a bit better on the ground than Davis while Davis is better in the air but I honestly don't know level of competition), and yet Carr is snugly in the top-50 overall per 247 and Davis is down outside the top 100.  It can't all just be "on guys projects better to the NFL" because this is college we're talking about and, to an extent, I don't think it really matters if you're going to look good at the combine if you're not doing as well at actual football.

I was reading an article about what scouts think about the top 6 QB Heisman candidates as NFL prospects and many were not liked because the offenses were overly simplified for them in college or they showed no ability to make the reads they need to make.  JJ was an exception because Harbaugh’s offense is more NFL like.  
 

So with Davis, the skills we want are leadership and the ability to make the reads to go along with a great arm and athleticism.  I don’t think that is how college scouting services and Elite 11 judge recruits. 
 

I’ll leave it to Michigan to make that decision.  
 

Tom Brady and Brock Purdy would always be overlooked.  
 

There were a ton of concerns with That Drew Breeze guys height too , just sayin

You can have Joe Milton (possessing every physical measure you would want if you could create your perfect QB) or you can have those guys that aren't the perfect size and can't throw the ball 80yds from their knees but they just win.  They know where the ball is supposed to go.  They read defenses and make great decisions.  I'll take the latter any day of the week.

He can just be a right-handed Tua, and that'd be fine. Nothing physically impressive, but does everything phenomenally well.....including a natty. Nothing to it!

My comp at the moment is Sam Hartman. Magnus compared him to a poor man's Tua back in March, which would be fantastic.

I think some of it is just herding; you see it in a lot of political polling but these services don't have monster rosters of guys who go out to games and professionally scout guys every weekend.  That's why these camps, post-season HS bowls, and the like are so popular and seemingly carry a lot of weight because it's a time where you can analyze a bunch of guys in one space.  So as noted elsewhere, Davis didn't look great in the toolsy part of the camps because he's not got a howitzer and he isn't that tall, and so he gets labeled an okay player and then nobody really checks back in.  Guys they do see, who maybe they didn't consider earlier as much, shoot up more and so naturally guys have to move down to make room.

Davis doesn't strike me as a guy with a high NFL ceiling; he's not an elite athlete and his height will hurt him.  But I see no reason why he can't be a very good-to-great college QB who wins a ton of games especially on a team like UM who should have good line play and running game.

It's insane how Georgia went from top tier mediocrity to perfection in a matter of 2-3 years. Crazy

Michigan has everything it needs to win 13 games a season. It will take recruiting wins vs top 10 programs to win the 14th and 15th game (more with the 12 team playoff). Let me be clear I am not star gazing what I am saying is if our coaches are taking THEIR back up plan more often than not, even if we develop the shit out of them, that isnt optimal. Was our coaches first choice another kid time and time again? If so that ends up being an issue over time. You wont hang with an NFL team if they get 6 first round picks every year. Eventually its going to catch up.