Elmer

January 16th, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^

The only reason I subscribe to ESPN is TomVH.  Their rankings are suspect and the actual website is poorly laid out and information periodically disappears.

wolverine1987

January 16th, 2012 at 5:40 PM ^

I believe there has been data out that shows that their top ranked guys have mostly panned out quite well in fact. Though I'm sure each services top 100 or so probably is pretty accurate, as those tend to be the can't miss prospects that jump out at anyone.

Moleskyn

January 16th, 2012 at 12:09 PM ^

Congratulations to Pee Wee, it's a nice accolade he can add to his collection. Looking at it in terms of his ability, it means nothing; he's still the same player he was when he was just a 4-star recruit. However, in terms of how future recruits perceive Michigan, it's a good thing for them to see 5-star prospects coming here.

jethro34

January 16th, 2012 at 1:54 PM ^

That's 2 five stars from Rivals.  At Scout it's still only one, however based on their current rankings UM could actually (please, please, please) end up with 3 five stars (and that's without Pipkins being one) if we can haul in both Garnett and Diamond.  So antsy over the next 3 weeks.

JimLahey

January 16th, 2012 at 12:10 PM ^

Also, the page still says hes ranked #59 but if you watch the video they tell you that Pipkins is ranked the #14 overall player in the nation for the final rankings. That makes him our highest ranked recruit since Ryan Mallett.

UMaD

January 16th, 2012 at 1:13 PM ^

ESPN's been proven right before in bucking the consensus when rating U-M DL commitments. 

I like it when the sites are willing to be an outlier, for good or bad.  For all the critiques, ESPN, to me, shows the most willingness/courage to not be influenced by the other sites.

NOLA Blue

January 16th, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^

Their "scouting" report on Ondre is dated 6/10/11.  I perceive the word "scouting" to imply forward information, information you need to make real-time decisions with.  

You would think that ESPN would have noticed him swallowing a dude out of mid-air 20 yards away from the line of scrimmage and bringing said dude back to Earth with a commanding thump.  That play is the play of a 330lb 5-star... not a 3-star, #47 DT in the nation.

Come on ESPN, give us our bragging rights!

 

denardogasm

January 16th, 2012 at 6:09 PM ^

This.  It's one thing to show the balls to rank a kid differently than the other sites, but to rank a kid 47 at his position that played that well against the rest of your 150?? Nonsense.  I would accept if they had him as a middling 4 star but this is just laziness.

turd ferguson

January 16th, 2012 at 3:20 PM ^

I agree that we shouldn't ignore ESPN ratings altogether, and I argued adamantly for keeping them when I created some aggregate rankings awhile back. This very clearly seems to be a case of them just not keeping up as more information about these players comes available. If they had something very recent on Pipkins that said "Ondre Pipkins is overrated because..." then that would be one thing. In reality, though, it looks like they just haven't kept current.

WolvinLA2

January 16th, 2012 at 2:06 PM ^

No one said always, but Pipkins is certainly another example of ESPN ignoring info that anyone can see. 

And sure, they didn't rate BWC highly when everyone else loved him.  That same year, ESPN had Isaiah Bell as our 4th highest rated recruit, tied with Tate and Denard, ahead of guys like Lewan and Fitz Toussaint.  Their three lowest guys in that class were Schofield, Gallon and Thomas Gordon. 

Being correctly pessimistic on one guy does not make ESPN the better service.  They whiff a lot more than any other site.

Ziff72

January 16th, 2012 at 3:10 PM ^

I think someone already did the reasearch and it was inconclusive at best and gave ESPN a slight nod at worst. 

We can go back and forth all day with guys poorly or highly rated.   ESPN is an easy target, but they were dead on with one of out highest rated prospects and they were an extreme outlier on that rating as well. 

I'll call your I. Bell and raise you a Junior Hemmingway.

WolvinLA2

January 16th, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^

Why would you raise me a Junior Hemingway?  ESPN was pretty far off on him - they had him as the #19 player overall and the #4 WR nationally.  Do you think that Junior is the #4 receiver in his class and a first round pick?

Rivals had him as the #38 WR in the country, and I'd say that's pretty close to dead on.  I've loved having him on our team, but I don't know if he's a top 10 WR in the conference let alone in the country, and he's certainly closer to 38th nationally than 4th. 

TheDirtyD

January 16th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^

Him stepping up could be huge. He could bring depth to the d-line by not being just a warm body but, maybe being effective. I think I am most excited about him and the LB's. A good a large DT will comand dbl teams and this will naturally help out our d-line and the LB's by freeing them up. If only BWC can play good next year and comand dbl teams this would be very important and help our defense out a lot.

The Wolf

January 16th, 2012 at 12:29 PM ^

I think it is great so see these young men rewarded for their hard work and the intangibles they seem to bring to the table (including other commits that also moved up in the rankings, as well).  Many of the people here are well aware of the incredible amount of stress the recruiting process places on the athlete's today, and how much work, motivation, and commitment it takes to get into that position.  It is nice to see that hard work begin to pay off.