As far as the recruiting rankings go:
Rivals — 30th (5th in ACC)
Scout — 27th (4th in ACC)
ESPN — 31st (5th in ACC)
247 — 26th, though 30th in their composite rankings (4th in ACC)
The ACC itself. National ranking in parenthesis.
- Florida (2)
- Clemson (5)
- Miami (22)
- UNC (24)
- Pitt (30)
- Duke (31)
- Louisville (37)
- NC State (43)
- VT (49)
- Syracuse (56)
- Virginia (60)
- Wake (61)
- GT (67)
- BC (80)
- Florida St. (3)
- Clemson (14)
- UNC (23)
- Pitt (27)
- Duke (33)
- Miami (37)
- Louisville (40)
- NC St (47)
- VT (56)
- Syracuse (59)
- Virginia (62)
- Wake (63)
- GT (66)
- BC (70)
- Florida St (2)
- Clemson (10)
- Miami (21)
- Pitt (30)
- Duke (33)
- UNC (35)
- Louisville (37)
- VT (41)
- NC St. (49)
- Wake (58)
- GT (59)
- Virginia (60)
- Syracuse (66)
- BC (75)
- Florida St. (1)
- Clemson (8)
- Miami (19)
- Duke (30)
- Pitt (31)
- UNC (34)
- Louisville (36)
- VT (39)
- NC St. (44)
- Wake (50)
- GT (53)
- Virginia (60)
- Syracuse (62)
- BC (74)
The most obvious thing from this list is that BC’s recruiting class sucked. That’s real consensus.
Florida State and Clemson were obviously top of the ACC. FSU had a top-3 class without question. Clemson was anywhere from 5-14, but I feel comfortable saying its a top-10 style class.
Miami seems to have had a fringe top-20 class, with Scout as the big outlier. Dropping them to 37th — presumably dinged for having only 18 players in the class.
Likewise, UNC got a boost from Rivals and Scout into the top-25 with a class size of 26. Well, at least that explains Scout putting them there with only 2 4-star recruits. Interestingly, Rivals felt UNC had 6 4-star recruits. 247 and ESPN were less impressed and had the Tarheels down in the mid-30s.
Duke, Pitt, Louisville and NC State all stayed within a reasonable range in all the rankings. Duke and Pitt right around 30th — slight edge to Pitt with Scout and 247 putting Pitt in the upper-20s.
Louisville finished with a high of 36 and low of 40. Tight margin. NC State was nearly as close at 43-49.
Then there is VT that really split the opinion. Rivals and Scout really disliked the class. Putting them down at 49 and 56, respectfully (9th in the ACC). While 247 and ESPN saw them as a fringe top-40 class. But in the end, still only 8th in the ACC.
After that, it is Syracuse, Wake, UVA and GT in some mish-mash in the 50s to 60s. And let’s be honest, it is just splitting hairs in the disappointment/rebuild/boot Wake grouping. GT at least gets the excuse of recruiting to a very specific scheme that is one of the few programs that can honestly not get too worked up over recruiting rankings.
While VT took a bit of a tumble this year in the recruiting game, with Frank Beamer’s retirement. And the same can be said for Virginia after canning Mike London — he at least recruited well. Pitt, Duke and UNC all took a nice step forward for the ACC in terms of recruiting profiles. Louisville has been better than expected with Petrino doing much better than he did in his first go round at ‘Ville. Actually exceeding what Charlie Strong did in recruiting before going to Texas. The ACC in this recruiting cycle compares very similar to what the Big Ten looked like in terms of recruiting rankings and distribution.
Rising programs with rising recruiting. Further proof that winning cures all ails. Great class but HCPN and Co. Looking back into recent history it becomes crystal clear how the previous administration was a cancer to athletics. We all knew it. Now we have proof. Todd Graham may have been the smartest guy in the room at the time. Scary thought.
I am in the minority when it comes to the Pitt-PSU game. I never want to play them and may never attend a game. I do not want to willingly give one penny of my money to support PSU despite the benefits that Pitt will surely receive.
Hail to Pitt!
I do agree though that, as many of us already knew, the prior admin was a cancer to Pitt athletics. The biggest single, positive change to Pitt imho has been Gallagher. Time will tell, but I suspect Barnes was an excellent hire as well.
Finally, there aren’t many Pitt fans left that don’t feel strongly that in PN, we finally have our guy. I will add though, that one of the biggest reasons for optimism I have for next year is the replacement of our OC… Time will tell on this as well.
Prayed for you this morning buddy. Hang in there!
Pittman4ever
(John 3:16)
Waiting for my flight to Pgh from Atl.
Jim Chaney draped in Georgia wear
sitting across from me. Recruiting in
Pgh for 21017? He does need to eat
the giant bag of Doritos!
Check that does not need that giant bag
of Doritos.
A nice piece to that recruiting was the
Ejuan Price 6th year eligibility.
And as I was thinking, James Conner’s personal health is utmost and foremost, but what if he becomes completely healthy and plays???
Wow!
I guess the next worry is will they all make grades and get into school?
Regarding PSU, I think that Franklin is the one that made this an us versus them thing, starting with the owning the state crap, going after our guys last year and this year and making it personal. I think he is doing this to hide from his real competition, OSU, Michigan, MSU and the rest of the B1G, where he is an afterthought. Last night the pudits spoke of the battle among Harbaugh, Dantonio, and Meyer, Franklin wasn’t mentioned. He is in the second tier with Wisky and Iowa.
It does look like the ACC will get more competitive with Pitt, UNC, and Duke having strong classes. Obviously FLST and Clemson the cream, and Miami always getting athletes.
On the other hand PSU IS our big rival game and they already have access to WPA so when we whip them (and we will!) it gives us the recruiting advantage plus the wonderful feeling of beating them.
It is a “Blackout” so hopefully we get our best crowd even at 12 noon on a Saturday.
Need to get a fast start because there will be no coming back from a big deficit vs their defense. Hope Jamie is smart enough to start Jeter. There may be booing if he doesn’t.
Remember Joe calling Pitt (not just our athletes which was bad enough) as ‘that college full of convicts and criminals.’ Every Ped State alum I have worked with has that condescending attitude. @Matt that is why there is a rivalry. I only hope I remain in good health long enough to write a book on Ped State Scandal and its attempts to rewrite history by suing everybody in sight- cant wait to file those Open Records requests and the resulting lawsuits it will lead to. P-E-N-N STATE SUCKS. Matt quit trolling.
Help – I thought I read that Maddox was leaving in postseason articles, now it seems from posts and articles he is not? Am I missing something or just wrong again?
Reed – Thank you for putting the rankings together like this, great format, just what I was looking for (and I’m sure many of us were).
pittman4ever – Regarding your summary on our 2 rivals, I think you hit the nail(s) on the head.
As for the younger crew, claiming Ohio St and Michigan and even Mich St. are their rivals.
It’s a one sided rivalry….and they all know it. OSU, Mich, Mich St, they are each others rivals.
Wait until the build up to the game, and the game hopefully when Narduzzi kicks Franklensteins ass, the younger folks will see what it’s about.
Penn St people look down at Pitt??
Eff you, I have one word for you. Pedophilia.
Honestly, I really don’t like bringing it up, it’s a serious issue and a terrible crime, no question.
But if a PSU’er is gonna say “Shit on Pitt”,
“Pitt Sucks” and “Pitt can’t hold a candle
to Penn St”,
well then, all’s fair in love and war.
It’s funny, I’ve seen some PSU stuff on Twitter and on blogs, Penn State fans believe that the Pedophilia stuff should be off limits.
They’re allowed to take as many shots at Pitt as they want, say whatever they want, as much as they want, but Pitt fans aren’t allowed to bring up Ped State, Sandusky or Paterno closing his eyes.
Sorry, theirs for life, live with it.
In fairness to them, they never say anything bad about Pitt either.
I just hope we all don’t have to much to drink at the tailgate in September!! LOL
Those pre-game water cooler debates were fantastic during the seventies and eighties. One of their fans still owes me a case of beer.
The sports talk shows will be fired up and it is an all-around positive thing for the City.
It should happen every year.
It will take a long time to develop new rivalries in the ACC, but Narduzzi will make it happen. I did like playing Miami to end the season. Syracuse being in the other division makes no sense.
Yes, this is the same Herb Hand who ..
– coached that trainwreck of an offensive line the past 2 years in its attempt to protect Sackenburg.
– is now at Auburn … leaving JF and PSU high and dry.
By contrast, up and comers like the Dukes, UNCs and Pitts of the world can really see Freshmen making contributions if they are talented enough to leapfrog over the incumbent players at positions of weakness.
As I’ve already mentioned, this fact is what makes Pitt’s class so much better than simply the sum of all of their recruit’s star ranking. A 4 star DT committing to Alabama red shirts and sees the field by their RS Sophomore or Junior year. At Pitt, that same guy is vying for immediate playing time and actually makes an impact when they see the field.
Pitt doesn’t get that with any other team (including WVU)…Maybe if you live south if I70 and north of Morgantown than Pitt/WVU a bigger deal.
For people who no longer live in the area I can see how they may not see it the same way because they don’t see the fan base clash as much.
I still say Pitt needs to come out the tunnel in that game in their old 80’s Blue and Gold uniforms.
