FAYETTEVILLE – Recruiting rankings give me a headache. Maybe that sounds strange coming from someone who works for Rivals.com that invented prospect rankings almost 20 years ago, but it’s the truth.
Of course I understand why the rankings are enjoyable for college football fans. I’ll even admit to believing based on years of data, that the rankings offer a fairly accurate way of predicting how successful a team will be on the field. But there are times when the rankings do me more trouble than good, and Arkansas’s 2018 signing class is one such case.
A quick glance at this year’s final recruiting rankings might lead one to believe the Razorbacks had an awful go of it.
After all, most publications had the Hogs at the bottom of the SEC and somewhere between 49th and 60th nationally, while eight other conference members finished in the top 20. The problem is that a quick glance doesn’t tell the whole story, and to fully understand Arkansas’s ranking one must first understand how the rankings actually work.
For Rivals, each prospect is given a certain amount of points based on his individual rating. For example, a 5.6 three-star has a value of 75 points, a 5.7 three-star is worth 90 points, so on and so forth.
Rivals takes each team’s 20 highest-rated commitments, adds them up, and that point total determines exactly where the team falls relative to all the other 120-something programs in America.
But what happens when a team only has room for 17 signees, which was the case for Chad Morris and the Razorbacks this year? The three missing slots between 18-20 are given point values of zero, which obviously has a very negative impact on the overall ranking. Even if the 17 that Arkansas signed are quality players, the Hogs are penalized by Rivals for not having at least 20 signees.
In reality, Razorback fans should be more than happy with the class that signed last week. What’s lacking in quantity is more than made up for in quality, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The safety duo of Myles Mason of Trussville (Ala.) and Joe Foucha of New Orleans (La.) McDonogh 35 is arguably Arkansas’ best in two decades as both turned down elite programs to join the Hogs.
Cornerback Ladarrius Bishop became Arkansas’ second four-star signee from Ashdown (Ark.) in the last two years.
At linebacker, the Razorbacks landed a four-star in Lucas (Texas) Lovejoy’s Bumper Pool, who chose Arkansas over Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan and others.
Arkansas also landed New Orleans (La.) Wright linebacker Andrew Parker, who was curiously rated as a two-star prospect despite offers from Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Ole Miss and others.
Arguably the biggest addition to the class came last Friday when the nation’s top junior college defensive end, Dorian Gerald of College of the Canyons in California, picked the Razorbacks over Florida, Texas A&M, Auburn, Tennessee, Louisville and others. Gerald joins a defensive line class that already included defensive ends Courtre Alexander, Isaiah Nichols and Nick Fulwider, all of whom chose the Razorbacks over other major programs.
Defensive tackle Billy Ferrell of Fordyce (Ark.) had offers from Alabama, Wisconsin, Tennessee and others.
The offensive class highlighted by quarterback Connor Noland of Greenwood (Ark.), a standout JUCO running back in Rakeem Boyd, and a much-needed offensive tackle in Ryan Winkel of Memphis (Tenn.), among others.
Don’t misunderstand, Arkansas’s class is nowhere near what Alabama, Georgia or Auburn landed last week.
But look past the mathematical formulas on this one.
Morris and the Razorbacks landed a solid group.