4 year data on ACC recruiting classes

[xpuctaqpGT]

I used rivals.com to look at the relative rankings of the ACC recruiting classes for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Since there are 14 ACC teams each year their relative rankings would be 1 to 14. I then added the scores together for a "prediction" on how this year will go. Like golf, a low score is better. Scores would range from 4 points (four #1 classes) to 56 points (four #14 classes).

The Atlantic Division
#1 FSU. (4 points)
#2 Clemson (10 points)
#3 Louisville (25 points)
#4 NC State (31 points)
#5 Syracuse (45 points)
#6 BC (46 points)
#7 Wake (50 points)

The Coastal Division
#1 Miami (12 points)
#2 UNC (18 points)
#3 VT (21 points)
#4 Pitt (26 points)
#5 UVA (39 points)
#6 GT (40 points)
#7 Duke (41 points)

If this were a good prediction, the final result would be FSU vs. Miami in the ACC championship with FSU winning.

 

[NolePride]

I rank teams by elite players signed, over a 4-year period. Like you I
use rivals.

What you learn is who knows how to Coach and Who knows how to Recruit. Those are
not always the same guy.

Here's Last Year's ACC results.

Conf Record and then the number of elite players recruited over a 4-year period. (4 and 5
star are considered "elite")

Atlantic

Clemson 8-1 43
Louisville 7-1 8
Fla State 5-3 61
NC St 3-5 10
W Forest 3-5 1
Bost Coll 2-6 3
Syracuse 2-6 1

Coastal

Va Tech 6-3 22
Pitt 6-2 14
Miami 5-3 32
No Caro 5-3 19
Ga Tech 4-4 2
Duke 1-7 5
Virginia 1-7 9

Petrino can coach players up and game plan better than anybody.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

Dabo's the man! We're winning the ACC again!

 

[ckhokie]

Our recruiting sucks. Sucked with Beamer. Lackluster with Fuente.

 

[xpuctaqpGT]

Our recruiting sucks. Sucked with Beamer. Lackluster with Fuente.

You're 5th out of the 14 teams in the ACC. GT is 10th. Believe me I'd trade places....

 

[nddulac]

But how are their API scores?

 

[outofyourmind]

Our recruiting sucks. Sucked with Beamer. Lackluster with Fuente.

Have to give it some time.
Beamer was running on auto pilot for years and let it slide.
Fuente won't disappoint

 

[outofyourmind]

Dabo's the man! We're winning the ACC again!

Without a Quarterback???

• 

 

[NolePride]

Here's the ACC for this season...

Based on Rivals rankings and only counting 4 & 5-Star recruits signed in 2014-2015-2016-2017

1- FSU 63
2- Clemson 52
3- Miami 33
4- UNC 22
5- VPI 19
6- Pitt 14
7- NC St 12
7- UofL 12
9- Duke 6
9- Ga T 6
11-B Coll 4
11-UVA 4
13-WFU 2
14-SU 1

Here's the SEC. As you might imagine they're tearing it up

1- Alabama 79
2- LSU 57
3- Tenn 55
4- UGA 54
4- Auburn 54
6- TX AM 48
7- Florida 45 (Man, has their recruiting suffered)
8- So Car 34
9- Miss 29
10- Kentucky 21
11- Arky 19
12- Miss St 18
13- Mizzo 11 (But, they have safe spaces)
14- Vandy 7

P5 Independent...
Notre Dame 45

Maybe later, when I have more time I'll type the other 3
Power 5 Leagues

 

[Deep Creek]

What you learn is who knows how to Coach and Who knows how to Recruit. Those are
not always the same guy.

 

[Deep Creek]

Our recruiting sucks. Sucked with Beamer. Lackluster with Fuente.

Gotta have something to recruit to IMHO.

Hell, I'll bet even Saban or Meyer couldn't recruit a five star to El Paso!

 

[Deep Creek]

Here's the ACC for this season...

Based on Rivals rankings and only counting 4 & 5-Star recruits signed in 2014-2015-2016-2017

1- FSU 63
2- Clemson 52
3- Miami 33
4- UNC 22
5- VPI 19
6- Pitt 14
7- NC St 12
7- UofL 12
9- Duke 6
9- Ga T 6
11-B Coll 4
11-UVA 4
13-WFU 2
14-SU 1

Here's the SEC. As you might imagine they're tearing it up

1- Alabama 79
2- LSU 57
3- Tenn 55
4- UGA 54
4- Auburn 54
6- TX AM 48
7- Florida 45 (Man, has their recruiting suffered)
8- So Car 34
9- Miss 29
10- Kentucky 21
11- Arky 19
12- Miss St 18
13- Mizzo 11 (But, they have safe spaces)
14- Vandy 7

P5 Independent...
Notre Dame 45

Maybe later, when I have more time I'll type the other 3
Power 5 Leagues

Good info.

 

[BigFin]

Should you really give the same weight to the incoming frosh class, maybe only count their elite recruits (if they got em)? And Maybe knock down the sophomore class unless they're 4* or 5* guys?

SR (35%)
JR (35%)
SO (25%)
FR (5%)

 

[Hook'Em0608]

2016 College Football Team Talent Composite

Save yourselves some time and just look at this. It what's actually on the roster too. Not just recruited players.

 

[Cobrabit]

Our recruiting sucks. Sucked with Beamer. Lackluster with Fuente.

Have to give it some time.
Beamer was running on auto pilot for years and let it slide.
Fuente won't disappoint

Gotta have something to recruit to IMHO.

Hell, I'll bet even Saban or Meyer couldn't recruit a five star to El Paso!

Deep Creek has the right idea. VT will never be a top 10 (or even 20) recruiting team on a consistent basis, if even occasionally. We don't have the tradition of the blue bloods and elite teams (aka NC), nor do we have the local attractions that other 'destination' colleges have. What has been our staple is getting the 2-3 stars that fit the system (at least defensively) and coach them up.

With our poor offensive showings during the majority of this millennium, both offensive and defensive studs haven't wanted to come to VT. If Fuente can keep some excitement on the offensive front, our recruiting on both sides of the ball should pick up. However, we'll still likely be behind FSU, Miami, and Clemson in conference.

VT needs to get that special player or two (Vick) that can get us a shot at the NC if the ball bounces our way. While our starters can play with the best of them, it's hard to matchup when the other team has 4/5 star backups coming in fresh.

 

[ckhokie]

Gotta have something to recruit to IMHO.

Hell, I'll bet even Saban or Meyer couldn't recruit a five star to El Paso!

We were the winningest program over a 20 year stretch not too long ago.
Were in a National Championship
We've got like a 28 year bowl streak
Went to like 6 BCS bowls
We won 10+ 8 straight years
We'er like top 10 with putting players in the NFL over the last 15 years
Won our conference 4 times in 6 years
We have crazy nice facilities and a solid fanbase


We've got something to recruit. We just have coaches (old staff and current) that aren't good recruiters.

 

[ckhokie]

VT will never be a top 10 (or even 20) recruiting team on a consistent basis, if even occasionally. We don't have the tradition of the blue bloods and elite teams (aka NC), nor do we have the local attractions that other 'destination' colleges have. What has been our staple is getting the 2-3 stars that fit the system (at least defensively) and coach them up.

I like you, John, but this defeatist attitude pisses me off to no end, and is exactly why our program hasn't gotten over the hump.

Why the hell can't we get a top 10 or 20 recruiting class?? from 2004-2010, we were a top 10 program. My post above outlines PLENTY of reasons why we should be recruiting at a much higher level.

'2-3 stars an coach em up' is minor league bullshit. NO ONE wins doing that.

This 'awe shucks' attitude is why Beamer was allowed to stay long after he was effective, why Weaver was never challenged, and why we were never able to maximize our nationwide appeal post Michael Vick.

 

[ckhokie]

Virginia Tech should expect recruiting classes in the 12-16 range every year, with the occasional top 10.

 

[Cobrabit]

I like you, John, but this defeatist attitude pisses me off to no end, and is exactly why our program hasn't gotten over the hump.

Why the hell can't we get a top 10 or 20 recruiting class?? from 2004-2010, we were a top 10 program. My post above outlines PLENTY of reasons why we should be recruiting at a much higher level.

'2-3 stars an coach em up' is minor league bullshit. NO ONE wins doing that.

This 'awe shucks' attitude is why Beamer was allowed to stay long after he was effective, why Weaver was never challenged, and why we were never able to maximize our nationwide appeal post Michael Vick.

Even during those years we were a top 10 team, our recruiting barely cracked the top 25. And as I mentioned, this related solely to our offensive play. We were a top 10 team because of our defense, but we weren't a serious threat to a NC because we didn't have depth. Our offense couldnt move the ball down the field and relied on the defense/ST to get us the ball in opposing territory. Even then we came away with more field goals that touchdowns. Why would a highly rated offensive stud want to come play for us? For that matter, why would a defensive stud want to play for us if he's going to be on the field the entire game and frustrated with doing his job holding the opponent under 20 and having an offense that struggles?

As I said, if Fuente can bring back excitement to the offense and we can consistently move the ball and score against good teams, we'll see a pickup in recruiting. However, until we win the NC and consistently compete for it with what we've got, we'll never be in the same recruiting ballpark as blue bloods and destination schools.

You and I are Hokies through and through because we love the school and our experiences during our time there. We also know that the local attractions, weather, etc. are not a selling point for the majority of recruits. We've got to get the recruits with merit on the field, because we can't sell them on the limelight off the field.

Can we get to that 12-16 recruiting rankings eventually? Maybe, but it's going to take several consistent years of top 10-15 play with both sides of the ball putting up 'numbers'. Highly rated recruits will come to VT if we have legit shots at the playoffs. If we don't, then they'll go to a similar or 'lower' school for off-field attractions.

 

[ckhokie]

I disagree. Beamer's style of play hurt us on the offensive side of the ball, but a decent recruiter could overcome that. We signed Darren Evans, Ryan Williams, and David Wilson, 3 NFL calibre RBs when our offense was a joke. in the 2004-2009 span we had quite a few NFL WRs, and the second best QB in school history. Let's not confuse the ability to get talent with how to handle it. Our Offensive coaching staff was terrible, but that isn't indicative of our ability to recruit.

There are coaches who are great X and O guys, and coaches that can recruit. Which is why there are the occasions where Bud Foster can embarrass Urban Meyer in a game, but CUM can ride that talent discrepancy to a Natty.

We've not had good recruiters on our staff for as long as I've followed VT, and is one of my main beefs with Fuente. He seems to be a good coach, but he needs to augment his staff with recruiting closers to take us to the next level.

'Winning cures all' is BS. There are plenty of coaches who can recruit without winning.

Mississippi St recruits at a high level and their program is trash.
Texas A&M has had like 2 10 win seasons since the 80s and they recruit at a much higher level than Tech
UCLA, UNC, TCU, Michigan St, Arkansas, South Carolina, Maryland, Missouri, Louisville....Tell me why ANY of these teams should be out-recruiting us