Perspective: 1995 recruiting rankings by position.
This is Lemming's recruiting rankings by position for the 1995 class. I did not make this, rather it was unearthed from the depths of reddit. Also, I know not everyone thinks that Lemming is the best talent evaluator, but this is interesting nonetheless.
Michigan had quite the class in 1995: Brady was the #6 Pro-Style QB, Woodson was the #2 S, Streets was the #4 WR, Shea was the #9 TE, and Williams was the #3 DT among many other Michigan players.
Other players of note:
Moss was the #1 WR, which yeah.
Kevin Faulk, Ahman Green, and Shaun Alexander were all top 5 RBs, which also yeah.
Ricky Williams was the #2 FB.
Peter Warrick was the #1 WB.
Shane Lechler was the #20 Dual-Threat QB.
Jevon Kearse was the #3 S (!)
January 31st, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^
Woodson played RB in high school so this is all kind of weird.
January 31st, 2014 at 2:30 PM ^
So did Jabrill Peppers, and he's ranked as a DB.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:04 PM ^
I'm not ranked, but people definitely think I'm a DB.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:24 PM ^
Response of the year thus far. +1
January 31st, 2014 at 3:00 PM ^
Most star players play on both sides of the ball in high school. It's guesswork as far as where they'll end up in college.
January 31st, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
...but there are tabs on the bottom. There is data here from 1990 to 2004! Goodbye productivity.
January 31st, 2014 at 2:36 PM ^
Holy shit, you're right. This is a procrastination gold mine. So glad that I'm at work right now.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:11 PM ^
Thank you, you just filled my Friday afternoon calendar.
January 31st, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^
So many memories on this here list.
People forget just how big of a deal Ricky Williams was as a young college player. He was one of those guys playing baseball and football at an equally high level, could have written his way to the pros in either sport.
And man does it ever make you think about what could have been if David Bowens had been able to cut it here. Sure, he made it to the NFL and got his payday, but if he'd been able to stick around Ann Arbor...
January 31st, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^
I can't believe Ditka traded all of his draft picks to get a Full Back....
January 31st, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^
This is a pretty cool resource which is now taking time away from doing budget projections, but I needed a distraction. Just looking at QBs, we were not out of the top 15 or so for pro-style QBs often according to Lemming - actually, we're consistently high with several positions. I will say, for every name among the Michigan players that comes up often on these boards (like Tom Brady or Tyrone Wheatley), there is one that I don't think I've thought about in years.
January 31st, 2014 at 2:49 PM ^
Man oh man, 1992 had to be the worst ever year for shopping for HS quarterbacks. I'm not sure I've even heard of more than 3 of those guys.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:19 PM ^
There's a few good names on the '92 list: Tommie Frazier, Danny Wuerffel, Danny Kanell, Koy Detmer, and obviously Todd Helton ended up pretty good, just in another sport.
I'll submit 2002 as the worst year for quarterbacks, wich has Vince Young and then....I guess Trent Edwards and Drew Stanton? Really, that whole year might win the award for overall shittiness. You can pick out about one great player at every position, and then everything else is practically garbage.
But yeah, this killed my Friday afternoon.
January 31st, 2014 at 2:50 PM ^
Old, man, riiiiiiveeeer...
January 31st, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^
i don't know what perspective this is intended to give us. if you're trying to say that players don't need to be ranked so highly to be stars, i don't think this (or anything else for that matter) is good evidence of that.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:02 PM ^
I suppose the perspective I was originally going for is how many highly regarded young players (as well as upperclassmen) Michigan had on their depth chart during the National Championship year in 1997.
Since there are multiple tabs and data for every year from 1990-2004, you are free to take any perspective you want and discuss the subject from any view point. It's mostly just an interesting find rather than a medium by which to make a statement. I'm sure someone could potentially pour through the data and come up with some statistical analyses given the time, but this was posted moreso for general discussion purposes.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:01 PM ^
This reminds me that recruiting, although important, is far from the be all, end all. Just look at QBs, for example - I am amazed how many top 10 high school QBs I have never heard of or did nothing of significance in college. What's the "success" rate of a top 10 QB, something like 25%? I feel like it should be higher, but this suggests otherwise.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:05 PM ^
January 31st, 2014 at 3:13 PM ^
Michigan: #1 QB, #1 RB (although Fargas transferred later), #1 & #2 WR, #6 TE, #3 & #8 DE, #6 ILB, #3 & #5 CB, #1 K, plus an underrated Larry Foote. Yeah, that's not too shabby.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^
Just insane. Has there ever been a recruiting class that good at any school?
February 1st, 2014 at 3:35 AM ^
We should have won another NC in 2001-2003 time period with all that talent, once they turned in to JR, SR and RS SRs. 2003 came close, two close losses on the road to IA and Oregon. Though USC beat us by 14 in the Rose Bowl.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:08 PM ^
1998: Vick was the #11 Dual-Threat QB behind: Ronald Curry, Ryan Van Dyke, Arnez Battle, Steve Bellisari, Brooks Bollinger, and more!
January 31st, 2014 at 3:09 PM ^
2003, Jamarcus Russell rated as a scrambling QB? Yeah, 100 pounds ago.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:19 PM ^
...as in cooking maybe
January 31st, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
Kearse was a beast in high school. When I saw George Campbell play, Kearse is the guy Campbell most reminded me of, except that Kearse was about 20 lbs bigger. There's a reason his nickname was "The Freak."
January 31st, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^
Felman Malveaux...there's a name. I vaguely remember hearing buzz about what he was doing at practice.
Then....nothing.
January 31st, 2014 at 4:47 PM ^
the highlights of the 93 rose bowl and when tyrone breaks that 80 yard run i believe that malveaux is running right next to him for pretty much the entire time...
January 31st, 2014 at 10:44 PM ^
January 31st, 2014 at 3:25 PM ^
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:27 PM ^
wow...that spreadsheet is great to look at... btw tons of nfl players not noted....
looking at the 1990 list..... reminds me when i was a sophomore in south quad... it was a big deal, that the nations top rb ricky powers, was coming, and lived on the 8th floor. everyone including the nerds who didnt follow football, seemed to know.
January 31st, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^
First off, man was that '98 class awesome. 2004 not too shabby as well. Also, our very own Jeff Hecklinski was the #2 rated QB in '93!
January 31st, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^
A couple of really interesting things from the 1990s lists:
1. Very few southern schools are represented.
2. Michigan State had some real talent.
January 31st, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^
class he has david underwood ranked as the #2 full back... that explains so much... :)
January 31st, 2014 at 6:54 PM ^
I immediately found a gem in 2003. The #1 'Sprintout Quarterback" - Jamarcus Russel.
edit: 1st post and I'm late.
January 31st, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^
but but recruiting rankings don't matter
February 1st, 2014 at 2:42 AM ^
OK what am I missing here: Legend has it that Tom Brady had no DI offers and only got offered after his HS coach sent out a video tape to some schools. Michigan saw it and took a flyer on him and the rest is history. (so said the "Brady 6" video)
Now we see that Lemming had him #6 Pro Style QB, which would garner many DI scholie offers in any year, especially 1995.
Something is not jelling right unless Lemming saw something in Brady that almost no one else did, except Lloyd Carr's staff.