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Wake Forest Football Recruiting

Have to echo the thought that if Clawson is getting the guys he wants, that is good enough for me (without regard to rankings compared to our in-state rivals). Lest we forget that Claw took an injury-depleted lineup of players recruited exclusively by his staff and won on the road against teams exclusively recruited by both Doeren and Cutcliffe. They can have the star rankings. I’ll just be satisfied with the victories.
 
Have to echo the thought that if Clawson is getting the guys he wants, that is good enough for me (without regard to rankings compared to our in-state rivals). Lest we forget that Claw took an injury-depleted lineup of players recruited exclusively by his staff and won on the road against teams exclusively recruited by both Doeren and Cutcliffe. They can have the star rankings. I’ll just be satisfied with the victories.

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The difference between having the third-best and the 11th best recruiting class in the ACC is such a thin margin that a couple of underrated recruits could more than offset it
 
The difference between having the third-best and the 11th best recruiting class in the ACC is such a thin margin that a couple of underrated recruits could more than offset it

Exactly. A top 50 class at Wake is a huge accomplishment.

Based on the 247 class calculator, if we had a 21st commit on par with an above average player in our class, we'd be ranked as high as Duke.
 
Pulling Groulx and Greene was an absolute coup. Whoever our QB is next year is going to have some weapons
 
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I know it has been discussed and don’t want to open the stars don’t matter convo, but in reference to the N.C. ACC recruiting rankings, UNC got multiple commits from players with no P5 offers in the last week. Most of them were not ranked at the time of their commitment, but magically became mid three stars a few days later, which dramatically increased UNCs ranking. If those same players committed to us, they would be ranked low three-high 2 star range. If anyone would like examples, I’ll gladly give you them, but I follow this stuff pretty closely. Don’t worry too much about the difference between our class and UNCs.

Too much trouble to do but would be good to see some examples of STAR INFLATION post commitment to UNC.
I suspect it is real.
 
The class is ranked 10th in the ACC and 46th nationally.

State - 26th - 22 commits
UNC - 36th - 19 commits
Duke - 40th - 21 commits
Wake - 46th - 20 commits

I love Clawson, and trust his recruiting approach, but it would be nice to not finish last for once compared to our in state rivals.

Clawson and staff are recruiting superbly! Can’t say enough. I’ll take the post game stars over recruiting stars every time.
I really do not invest much in the UNC ranking (way too much ebullience over Mack Brown at the moment). Only thing that matters is how well the players develop and play.
 
I'd hazard to guess that Clawson's success rate in evaluation has had something to do with this, but there were many Wake commits unrated that earned 3-stars after committing. CJ Elmonus didn't get a fourth start, but he did climb nearly 2,000 spots in the 247Sports rankings in the last couple months, which is pretty extraordinary.

I'm not at all saying the playing field is equal, but I think it's 'starting' to become more balanced.
 
Les, I agree that wake does get the star bump on occasion with our recruits, just to a lesser degree than other larger schools. For example, Kenneth Walker got a .77 2 star to a .8 3 star. However one example of larger schools getting bumps is with the TE Brenton Strange. He was I believe a .81 three star when wake offered. The second Ohio State and Penn state offered, he jumped to a .87 high three star. Then he committed to Penn State and jumped to a .89 4 star. I doubt that would have happened if he committed to wake. I’m not putting blame on any one site, as all recruiting sites do this, just pointing out how the big schools seem to get inflations with recruit rankings. Clawson has an eye for talent and I think it will show on the field in the years to come.
 
I’ve always thought the exact same, but it could also be affected by bigger schools offering/recruits committing to bigger schools actually making the analysts scout the kid thoroughly for the first time. This could result in a more accurate rating, but likely results in a somewhat inflated one.
 
I'd hazard to guess that Clawson's success rate in evaluation has had something to do with this, but there were many Wake commits unrated that earned 3-stars after committing. CJ Elmonus didn't get a fourth star, but he did climb nearly 2,000 spots in the 247Sports rankings in the last couple months, which is pretty extraordinary.

I'm not at all saying the playing field is equal, but I think it's 'starting' to become more balanced.


I would invite anyone here to go look at CJ's film. Alot of Michael Oher "type" of blocking his opponent "to the bus Coach, it was time for him to go."
 
I'd hazard to guess that Clawson's success rate in evaluation has had something to do with this, but there were many Wake commits unrated that earned 3-stars after committing. CJ Elmonus didn't get a fourth start, but he did climb nearly 2,000 spots in the 247Sports rankings in the last couple months, which is pretty extraordinary.

I'm not at all saying the playing field is equal, but I think it's 'starting' to become more balanced.

Outside of top players (Greene and Groulx for instance) most of our players aren't reevaluated after their initial ranking. 247 probably looked at CJ's senior film so that's why he is rated much higher there than on the other sites. I wouldn't be surprised if that was at least in part due to the public interest by Miami.

For the lesser known recruits the initial ranking from the services often comes after they commit. I won't say that there is or isn't a bump depending on which school someone commits to but there will usually be more volatility in rankings because new data points are part of the composite calculation.

Above all, I trust our staff's eye for talent. Some players will work out and others won't, but nothing about this staff leads me to believe they are settling for players.
 
Alright, CJ has the physical tools to be the best LT EVER at MSD. What he does with it, we'll see.

Just watched some of his film. This guy has a HUGE frame and moves really, really well for a HS kid that size. Excited to see him continue to develop.
 
Just watched some of his film. This guy has a HUGE frame and moves really, really well for a HS kid that size. Excited to see him continue to develop.

If Herron is healthy, CJ will get his 4 games next year and then have a chance to anchor LT for 4 years after that.
 
From Clawson's comments yesterday, you could tell that he was particularly excited about CJ. WF was on him first, and then lots of big boys tried to get involved late, but CJ stayed firm. Clawson said something to the effect that if CJ had re-opened his recruitment late, many big time offers would have followed.

Understandably, recruiting rankings depend on a player's offer list. If I ran a recruiting website, and Bama, Clemson, LSU, Texas and OU offer the same guy, that guy would receive a bump in my rankings too; it's just natural to be influenced by multiple confirmed offers, but because of the dynamics of the offer and commit process, the number and quality of confirmed offers is not always an accurate method for ranking players. For guys that WF offers first and the recruit does not waver, other schools are going to be less likely to offer, which means that player with a WF offer and interest, but no formal offer from big-time Power V schools is not going to get as big a ratings bump as compared to a player that is willing to flirt with other schools and receive offers in response. Also, finding out who a school offers (and the conditions of the offer) is not an exact science. Schools can't make their offers public, so a player's offer list is largely dependent upon the recruit timely and accurately communicating offer info. Not always the case.

Even though WF was ranked 11th in the ACC recruiting rankings for the most recent signing period, there are far fewer than 10 other ACC recruiting classes that Clawson would trade this recruiting class for (guessing the number is 5 or less). The WF staff evaluation of recruits is the ranking that actually translates to results on the field.
 
Some good examples of recruit ratings not being the end all be all that are right in front of us, Darrell Henderson for Memphis was a low 3 star with 4 D1 offers (none P5) and is leaving a year early for the NFL. Though he is more obvious to the NFL at this stage, our own Jessie Bates was a 2 star with one D1 offer. Hunter Renfrow is a fun example that we've seen in our division as he is a key component to Clemson's offense. He walked on there and with 4 D1 offers and no stars. Don't know if Hunter has a legit shot at the NFL but he's proven to everyone that he can play at the highest level of college football. The rankings are good for finding elite athletes as mentioned, but discipline, heart, integrity and a love for football are hard to rate from a distance.
 
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