All-Time Recruiting Rankings?

Submitted by Magnus on

I am attempting to put together a database of Michigan's historical recruit rankings. Obviously, things get difficult before 2002 (when Rivals and Scout came about). Can anyone point me to any resources from 2001 or earlier?

FWIW, Michigan's top five ranked recruits from what I've gathered so far go like this:

1. Jabrill Peppers
2. Ryan Mallett
3. Prescott Burgess
4. Kelly Baraka, Chad Henne (tie)
5. LaMarr Woodley

http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/p/all-time-recruit-rankings.html

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Recruiting Rankings

Wolverine Devotee

November 12th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^

Seth (I think) had a google doc of all classes going back to 1993 awhile ago. He had rankings going back to 2000 that were done by ESPN back then. Naturally, I recorded all of it so I'll post it.

Joined: 06/29/2009

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sammylittle

November 12th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^

I am back in school and have a stats project due in about a month. I would like to examine how recruiting rankings relate to NFL success. I would like to examine the first couple of Rivals class rankings (2002 and 2003) because these classes have had time to be successful NFL players or not. I plan to divide recruit into 4/5 stars vs. those with fewer than 4 stars and use number of years in the NFL, number of years selected to the pro bowl, and number of post season NFL awards as dependent measures.

I am somewhat resigned to doing a lot of data entry, but thought I would throw out a lifeline to see if there are any downloadable databases (SPSS or Excel) that might contain this information. Let me know if you can help get me there. I will share what I find.

Joined: 09/29/2008

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gord

November 12th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^

Prior to the recruiting services newspapers would give out high school all-american awards.  You could also look for all-conference awards, Mr. Football, etc.  Woodson was a USA Today All-American and a Parade All American for instance.

Joined: 11/02/2013

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True Blue Grit

November 12th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^

there was very little to speak of.  Parade Magazine was one of the early All-American lists, as well as Street and Smith Magazine.  In the 1980's at some point, USA Today started publishing a list as you mentioned.  In the earlier Bo days, we recruited mostly regionally.  So, the All-State teams in the Free Press and Detroit News were really significant.  So, even without the national ranking numbers, you could latch onto things like whether they made one of these All American lists or 100 yard dash speed or flashy statistics.  For example, when Anthony Carter signed what really popped out to you was the number of TD's he scored in H.S.    Something like 79 as I recall.  So based on that we figured he was good.  But we just didn't realize how good until he arrived on campus. 

Joined: 01/21/2011

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mGrowOld

November 12th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^

I am of the conclusion that Voltron is Handsome downvotes every single post made for some reason.  I cannot fathom what in Magnus's request would necessitate a neg and Magnus busts my balls each and every chance he gets! 

Joined: 10/04/2010

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Magnus

November 12th, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^

Unfortunately, it seems like a run of bad luck might be part of that. The top two recruits still on the team are both injured (Jabrill Peppers, Derrick Green), then there's Kyle Kalis, followed by Ondre Pipkins (coming off a torn ACL) and Drake Harris (hamstring issues). So four of Michigan's top 28 recruits over the last dozen years or so are currently on the shelf due to injury.

Joined: 07/17/2008

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steve sharik

November 12th, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^

...Tom Lemming.  He has been doing this since his first "Prep Football Report" in 1979, and I recall reading Athlon's Big Ten preview and seeing his Top 100 at the back.  If memory serves, Allen Jefferson was the #1 recruit, either for Michigan or nationally.  Then he joined Alpha Delta Phi and it was all downhill. (/s)

And if you can get your hands on a copy of "The Blind Side," by Michael Lewis, I think he references Lemming's publication from back in the day quite in-depth.

Joined: 08/08/2009

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BlastDouble

November 12th, 2014 at 8:56 PM ^

On a pint return, I dont even know why I thought I had the angle on him...

We did, however, win the game!

Greg Jennings and Jerome Harisson (NFL RB) were on my team and they had like 8 D1 prospects, Kelly and both Sorantos, so there was literally a scout from every B1G team and ND and USC and all over on the sidines. 7k at the game, it was awesome...

I was such a UofM fan I told Sorantos "Go Blue" as we shook hands at the end.

Also, Sherrod Harrell was our QB, he was a 2 time Captain for UofM Bball...

Joined: 12/11/2013

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