According to 24/7 seven of our top 20 ranked recruits…

This topic has 10 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 5 months ago by UTE98.

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- 04/03/2023 at 12:53 PM #187528
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  UTE98
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  …signed in 2022 and 2023.
  
  https://247sports.com/college/utah/Sport/Football/AllTimeRecruits/
  
  There are a few on there I wish had turned out better for us.
  
  Like – James Aiono
  Chris Washington – did he retire due to injuries?
- 04/03/2023 at 2:22 PM #187535
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  ProudUte
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  It’s interesting because most of our best players since 2000 are not on the top of the list including:
  
  Alex Smith
  
  Eric Weddle
  
  Jordon Gross
  
  The wolf man
  
  Star L…
  
  Lloyd
  
  Asiata
  
  Sylvester
  
  Covey
  
  Marcus Williams
  
  Chase Hansen
  
  Julian Blackmon and many more.
  
  It goes to show that a high star rating is no guarantee of being a very good player. Coach Whitt and staff do an excellent job of developing these guys.
  - 04/03/2023 at 5:40 PM #187537
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    2008 National Champ
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    What I find interesting is that people love to cherry pick with a few names of kids who outperform their recruiting rankings because they think it shows how good the staff is at development. But the same analysis never seems to happen the other way. How about a bust list? There’s 4 names a the top of the 2021 rankings which disprove your development thesis.
    
    Don’t get me wrong, I think Whitt and staff do a very good job. But for your argument to hold weight, the staff would need to be able to develop all recruits – who weren’t injury affected – above their ranking. After all, the same people recruited all of the kids and were in charge of developing all of them, not just a few who may have been overlooked by the recruiting community.
    - 04/03/2023 at 5:57 PM #187538
      
      ProudUte
      Participant
      
      Valid point.
      
      I still find it interesting that our best players over the last 20 years (a few exceptions like Phillips and JJ) have not been our top recruits. We have had a handful of QB busts over the last few years. I think many P5 teams have had similar problems at QB.
      - 04/03/2023 at 7:49 PM #187542
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        2008 National Champ
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        Very true. The interesting part of your list is 3 of the names (Covey, Hansen and Lloyd) all earned their place in Utah lore at positions other than what they played in high school. I really think this is where Whitt and co excel the most is bringing in athletes and getting them to buy in to the fact that their future may be at different positions. DeVonte Christopher is another example.
        
        I’m as guilty as anyone of tunnel vision when it comes to what he recruitniks say is their best position and value.
    - 04/03/2023 at 6:18 PM #187539
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      cj13
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      The Utah coaching staff is better than average at developing talent because our teams perform and we put more in the draft than our recruiting classes would indicate. SB Nation put us at 28th best drafting college from 2011-2021. Our recruiting class during the 2010s averaged 42. Our total draft picks since 2000 would put us at 30th as of last year where if you were to find our average recruiting rankings since then it would probably be closer to 50. This, along with our on field performance, is enough evidence that coach Whitt has been able to develop players better than other D1 coaches
  - 04/03/2023 at 6:48 PM #187540
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    GameForAnyFuss
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    All great players, but all of them are also statistical outliers. It’s always awesome when you get one or two, but you can’t rely on a constant stream of outliers to build your program around. That is what BYU-Provo Campus has tried to do for 30 years and it hasn’t worked out well for them.
  - 04/03/2023 at 8:10 PM #187543
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    Utah
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    And Alex Smith and Weddle were pre huge recruiting services. Alex Smith played with Reggie Bush. Had there been camps, he’d a been a four star. Same with Weddle. Whitt his Weddle and has said as much. If Weddle was in high school today, he’d be a .95 four star stud.
- 04/03/2023 at 2:23 PM #187536
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  Hellhound152
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  It’s funny, when it goes right with a highly ranked guy it goes really right. When it doesn’t it seems to go really bad, doesn’t seem to be a ton of middle ground with those guys. Willingness to develop? Previous adversities of not being the guy? Not sure what the disconnect is but there seems to be one.
- 04/03/2023 at 7:35 PM #187541
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  D T
  Participant
  
  Overall, we develop well & now we’re recruiting better talent on average to develop….This is why we’re favored to three-peat.
- 04/04/2023 at 9:03 AM #187545
  
  Caliman
  Participant
  
  Utah will make the playoffs this year if CR is ready to go, and Rose is the back up, am I wrong? What says the rest of you?
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