SEC Commitment Comparison – 8/23/11

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The 2011 season is just around the corner and for the last few weeks our focus at MrSEC.com has been on preseason camps (as well as SEC expansion and way too many scandals to mention).  As a result it’s been a while since we took a look at our Commitment Big Board.  It’s been since July 11th, as a matter of fact.

At the request of a couple of readers this weekend, we’ve decided to go ahead and see what’s changed on the SEC recruiting landscape in six weeks time.  Below you’ll be able to see how your favorite school stacks up against its conference rivals in terms of total commitments and level of talent.

Now grading talent is far from an exact science, so there’s no need to email us to complain that your school should have more 4-star players than 3-stars and so on.  This stuff is just for conversation in the first place.  And — in order to keep things nice and even — we use Rivals’ star rankings.  So you can email their film-grading experts with your objections.

For each star Rivals doles out, we assign one point.  Knowing that all of the current 0-star players will eventually be given a grade, we go ahead and assign those guys a single point at this stage, too.

As of midnight this morning, here are the current commitment totals as listed by Rivals, broken down in simple table form by us.  That’s right, as General Buck Turgidson once said, you’re gonna see the Big Board!

Now let’s look at the caliber of talent each school is connecting with:

Before we get to our assessments of these numbers, here’s a table showing who’s been hot and who has not since our last Commitment Comparison back on July 11th:

So what’s it all mean?  If your program isn’t doing well right now, nothing.  As we said before, recruiting rankings aren’t scientific in the least.  Plus, there are still 23 weeks til signing day.

But if your program is doing well, go ahead and take these views as gospel.  They’re something to feel good about until the actual games kick off in about 11 days.  Plus, even if these rankings don’t mean much, wouldn’t you rather your school have good meaningless rankings than bad meaningless rankings?

All that said, here’s our take on the SEC’s recruiting battles to date:

Feeling Great:  South Carolina
The Gamecocks get the edge here because they’re just not used to doing this well in recruiting.  Make no mistake, Steve Spurrier has Carolina rolling on the field and off.  They’ve taken advantage of last year’s SEC East title and a star-filled 2011 recruiting class to create some real momentum for 2012.  Let’s put it this way: Even 23 weeks from signing day, recruiting at an even clip with LSU and Alabama is pretty dadgum good.  So go ahead and crow a little, Cock fans.

Feeling Really, Really Good:  Florida
The Gators are used to sitting atop the conference’s recruiting rankings.  Only last year, they didn’t.  New coach Will Muschamp had to concentrate on holding onto Urban Meyer’s commits rather than going out and making a big splash late in the game with his own recruits.  More than a few Florida fans were anxious about UF’s final numbers.  Legitimate excuses or not, Gator fans weren’t happy not being in the discussion for a recruiting “national championship.”  Well, allay those fears.  Muschamp and crew are bringing in plenty of bodies and plenty of talent.  Just as expected.

Feeling Really Good:  LSU, Alabama and Auburn
All three programs rank near the top of the league in total commitments, total points or both.  As has been the case in recent years, Gene Chizik’s group is a little slower when it comes to piling up commits, but they also grab a tad bit better athlete… at least according to Rivals.  Overall, these three programs are right where their fans want them to be — within striking distance of a Top 5 national signing class.

Feeling Good:  Vanderbilt
The James Franklin train has slowed a bit over the last six weeks, but the Commodores still have 15 commitments in August.  For Vandy, that’s a big surprise.  An even bigger surprise?  That their average points-per-player is a very solid 2.93.  When the average Vandy commitment is close to being a 3-star prospect, there’s reason for celebration in Nashville’s West End.  And don’t think VU fans aren’t also thrilled to see that Franklin’s class has more points-per-man than Derek Dooley’s class at Tennessee.  For the time being, Vandy leads UT in terms of caliber of athlete committing.  When’s the last time Dore fans could say that?

Feeling Okay:  Tennessee, Arkansas and Ole Miss
When last we looked, the Volunteers had just two commitments for a grand total of just four points.  But soon after that last look-in, Dooley and crew received commitments from about 10 players in the span of a week (which tells us they had a number of silent commits in their hip pocket all along).  Still, adding 14 commitments and 42 talent points in six weeks is hard to beat.  And even better news might be that Dooley has already shown a knack for closing fast in February.

Arkansas’ numbers are solid.  They’re close to ranking in the top half of the conference which is no small feat in the SEC.  There’s reason to feel satisfied.  However, after last year’s BCS bowl trip, you can be sure some Hog fans expected a bit more punch from this year’s commitment list.  The Hogs’ small homestate population must be taken into account, but of the league’s biggest up-and-comers, South Carolina seems to be creating more momentum in recruiting than Arkansas.  At least for now.

Houston Nutt is doing what Houston Nutt usually does in Oxford.  He’s grabbing a limited number of early commitments, but the ones he is landing are coming from high-caliber athletes.  That 3.20 average points-per-commit is nothing to sneeze at.  Especially if Nutt and Ole Miss close as they usually do — strong.

Feeling Queasy: Mississippi State
MSU won nine games, went to a January 1st bowl, and whipped up on rival Mississippi last season.  And Dan Mullen has created such a feeling of excitement in Starkville that season-ticket sales records are snapped each summer.  So why isn’t that carrying over to recruiting?  Mullen has bested Nutt on the field and at press conference podiums, but it’s Nutt who’s still the better closer in families’ living rooms.  To take the next step forward, State will need to correct that.

Feeling Bad:  Kentucky
UK has more commitments than any other program in the league.  That’s a positive, right?  If Joker Phillips and company were attracting a higher class of players, yes.  But they’re not.  The Wildcats have a better program now than at any point in the last 40 years (tossing out those solid Fran Curci and Hal Mumme seasons that led to NCAA probation).  Phillips said he put his staff together with recruiting in mind.  Yet a 2.15 points-per commit score is the result.  For comparison’s sake, Mississippi State has the next worse ranking in the SEC and the Bulldogs are all the way up to a 2.50 average.  Phillips had better hope his commits receive earn some boosted scores this fall or else UK football fans will have another reason to grumble.

Feeling Really Bad:  Georgia
Just as Carolina got an edge because they are not used to having things go so well in recruiting, Georgia gets an unwanted nod for the opposite.  Dawg fans aren’t used to seeing UGA rank 11th in total commits and 10th in points-per-commit.  Especially not after last season when Mark Richt put together a “Dream Team” of in-state stars.  If Georgia bounces back with nine or more wins this season, expect the commitments to start pouring in again and all will soon become right with the red-and-black world again.  But these current numbers reinforce the simple fact that Richt needs to have a good season in 2011 to get his program back on track.