Mid-Major Majesty: Feb. 8, 2021
Recruiting rankings are obviously made up but I did not make these up I swear.
Let’s talk about ‘crootin.
We talk about the Power 5 and the usual suspects in college football who always finish with a chance at a title, and there are structural reasons for that because those five conferences run the whole damn infrastructure. But it goes deeper than that. Recruiting is a big factor in it.
Anyone who’s ever played the NCAA Football video games -- which are currently dead but, like Lazarus, are soon to be resurrected for those who save up their stimulus checks for one of three total next-generation console units worldwide -- has known the joy of starting out with, say, Idaho, and turning them into a dynasty. A lot of things make that happen: The game inherently equalizes talent if you’re good enough with the controller, the player can decide to stay at a rising mid-major team instead of taking a higher paid job at Florida State and fading into history, and you can actually get a five-star to go to Moscow.
That doesn’t happen in the real world. A willful coach at Texas State can’t suddenly recruit a top-tier quarterback just by repeatedly promising not to redshirt him. That player’s going to Texas or Oklahoma or LSU to ride the bench and yet still get drafted in the seventh round by the Lions.
College football is unlike American professional sports in this way. There’s no draft. The top new players end up at the top schools and everyone else fights over scraps. It’s more like European soccer, or Major League Baseball’s system of recruiting international players. Except in college football, a smaller school can’t even offer more money -- legally, at least: A Knoxville Happy Meal is always possible, but, as they say, that’s an ongoing investigation.
So let’s take a look at the recruiting rankings for the class of 2021. The rich certainly get richer: The top two teams played for the national title last month, and are followed by a bunch of teams that always seem to be in the hunt for it, and also Michigan.
A Top Ten of our teams:
Cincinnati
No. 42 in 247sports, No. 36 in Rivals
The Bearcats, the top mid-major team in the country last year, managed to sign one four-star recruit according to Rivals -- defensive end Chamon Metayer from Miami -- and none according to 247. One four-star recruit? That’ll do, apparently.
Memphis
No. 46 in 247sports, No. 46 in Rivals
The Tigers’ top recruit according to 247 is Roc Tayler, an athlete out of Oxford, Alabama, who had been recruited by Tennessee but was dropped after the coaching kerfuffle happened in Knoxville. That’s fine. There are other schools in the state of Tennessee. Including one that has actually been successful lately.
SMU
No. 52 in 247, No. 59 in Rivals
When people call the American Conference the “Power 6,” the recruiting is probably a big part of why. Sonny Dykes and the Mustangs managed to pull in a four-star quarterback out of Dallas, with the extremely Texas quarterback name of Preston Stone. That might be a name to remember given the offensive system they’ve got there in Dallas.
UCF
No. 55 in 247, No. 51 in Rivals
You wonder how much of the PAC-12’s recent trouble is linked to the fact that there’s a direct flight from Hawaii high schools to Orlando. UCF signed four-star Titus Mokiao-Atimalala out of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, the No. 324 player in the country according to 247.
San Diego State
No. 62 in 247, No. 58 in Rivals
Brady Hoke’s Aztecs landed four-star Josh Simmons, an offensive guard out of La Mesa, California. This just feels like a very Brady Hoke way to build a team, and I’m here for it.
South Florida
No. 63 in 247, No. 55 in Rivals
No four-stars here, but Jarren Williams comes in as the top pro-style recruiting prospect from the junior college ranks. The junior originally from Lawrenceville, Georgia, was at Miami in 2018.
Toledo
No. 66 in 247, No. 68 in Rivals
The top school in the MAC has three prospects in the top 1,000 from 247, led by Virginia athlete Trenton Adkins, who clocks in at 653.
UNLV
No. 67 in 247, No. 68 in Rivals
Stop laughing. Seriously. This is real. Sure, the Rebels were 0-6 in the fall, but they’re No. 2 in the conference in the spring. Yes, people have questions.
Every school has appeal. At UNLV, you can still play after eating sushi off of a partially clothed person on a reality show.
Appalachian State
No. 69 in 247, No. 78 in Rivals
The top team in the Sun Belt is led by two three-star offensive linemen: Jaden Lindsay of North Carolina and Colston Powers of Virginia. I have my biases and they are obvious but, yes, that is how you build a team.
Boise State
No. 70 in 247, No. 85 in Rivals
This is a team in transition, so perhaps it makes sense for them to be just third in the conference.