10 top fcs recruiting classes of 2010

[kuntryboimike]

and AGAIN. we come to the point that the star system is crap.

[CatMom]

But right now in early Feb when Spring ball is a month and a half away

Spring ball starts here in 16 days

AHHHHHAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAA OOOHHHH MYYYYYY GOOOOOSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!!! i never saw that hit before. AMAZING!!!!! wuts more amazing is he got up. WHOOOO thank you for having that video. u made my night!

Missed the playoffs, did you?

[kuntryboimike]

But right now in early Feb when Spring ball is a month and a half away

Spring ball starts here in 16 days

AHHHHHAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAA OOOHHHH MYYYYYY GOOOOOSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!!! i never saw that hit before. AMAZING!!!!! wuts more amazing is he got up. WHOOOO thank you for having that video. u made my night!

Missed the playoffs, did you?

im deployed i had no choice but to miss this games. couldnt even watch online cuz the internet is so bad. BELIEVE ME if i coulda been at the games i woulda been!

[JohnStOnge]

I think the Montana guys make a good point. To my recollection Montana is never on lists of top recruiting classes that are constructed through use of stars assigned by recruiting services. But over time Montana is arguably the top I-AA/FCS program. If you take the last five years maybe #2 behind Appalachian State. If you take the last 10 I'd say it's the number 1 program. Certainly in the top 2 or 3.

I was looking back yesterday and saw that Rivals gave Armanti Edwards no stars when he was coming out. Started a post about it and somebody pointed out that Scout gave him two. The point, though, is that he was not somebody the recruiting services envisioned as being as good as he actually was. Rivals did not even consider him to be a quarterback. He was listed as an "Athlete." Another one I noticed was the Rivals rating (or lack thereof) of McNeese State quarterback Derrick Fourroux. Rivals gave him no stars but he ended up with nine McNeese records for passing and total offense after being a four year starter. I'm confident that if I looked I could find plenty of quarterbacks who came out that year with 3 or more stars that no McNeese fan would say they'd have rather had than Fourroux.

Also thinking of a recent thing. In 2006 the prize McNeese recruit was a Rivals three star running back. A guy named Champlain Babin who had no Rivals stars also signed. Well, the three star back is no longer on the roster whle Babin saw significant playing time as a redshirt freshman last year and looked very promising while averaging 6 yards per carry. Me, I was thrilled when McNeese got him stars or not because I'd seen some video of him and knew about how he was a man among boys in the Red Stick Bowl all star game...where he gained 191 yards on 12 carries. Javaris Murray is another young McNeese back/athlete that had no Rivals stars. My bet would be that as soon as McNeese fans saw him carry the ball in scrimmages, if they'd contempleted the "no stars" thing, would have to have wondered what the heck those Rivals guys look at in order to assign those stars.

[CatMom]

Spring ball starts here in 16 days


Missed the playoffs, did you?

im deployed i had no choice but to miss this games. couldnt even watch online cuz the internet is so bad. BELIEVE ME if i coulda been at the games i woulda been!

Somebody needs to get you tapes of the games

BTW - I believe that was one of ESPN's top 10 "hits" for 2009 and I think it was leading at one point. Anyone know how that turned out?

[Tribe4SF]

My bet would be that as soon as McNeese fans saw him carry the ball in scrimmages, if they'd contempleted the "no stars" thing, would have to have wondered what the heck those Rivals guys look at in order to assign those stars.

The point is that frequently they're not looking at anything. The vast majority of 2-stars, and many 3-stars, have no scouting report from the service rating them, or the scouting is exclusively at combines.

The list of great FCS players who were unknown to the services is extremely long. Every school on this board can list many of its top players who were unrated, or not even listed by the services. W&M's top graduating seniors had not a star among them in 2005.

The "no star" guys of 2005...

DE Adrian Tracy...All-American...All-CAA...four year starter...walk-on
DT Sean Lissemore...All-American...All-CAA...three year starter
QB RJ Archer...All-CAA...started one year at QB and two years at WR
TE Rob Varno...All-CAA...three year starter
SS David Caldwell...All-CAA...three year starter
C C.J. Muse...All-CAA...three year starter
DE C.J. Herbert...four year starter

Add to these guys So RB Jonathan Grimes and Fr. CB B.W. Webb who both won CAA ROY honors, and neither of which had any stars from anyone, and you can see why this Tribe fan pays little to no attention to the star system.

[BDKJMU]

and AGAIN. we come to the point that the star system is crap.

Kind of like the human polls and computer rankings, but this crap is all the crap we've got unless someone comes up with better crap.

Just imagine back in the good ole days a 15-20 years ago when there wasn't any online recruiting services. Course there wasn't the message boards either. You'd wouldn't even find out that much about your own recruits, much less anyone elses.

Course imagine back in the 90s with no message boards. We would all save so much time....

[Saint3333]

I think the Montana guys make a good point. To my recollection Montana is never on lists of top recruiting classes that are constructed through use of stars assigned by recruiting services. But over time Montana is arguably the top I-AA/FCS program. If you take the last five years maybe #2 behind Appalachian State. If you take the last 10 I'd say it's the number 1 program. Certainly in the top 2 or 3.

ASU was the best program of the 2000's, but I agree that stars mean little. I put more stock into the FBS and other FCS offers the recruits get. ASU got a lot of lineman with FBS offers, likely the best lineman class ever at ASU.

[CatMom]

and AGAIN. we come to the point that the star system is crap.

Kind of like the human polls and computer rankings, but this crap is all the crap we've got unless someone comes up with better crap.

Just imagine back in the good ole days a 15-20 years ago when there wasn't any online recruiting services. Course there wasn't the message boards either. You'd wouldn't even find out that much about your own recruits, much less anyone elses.

Course imagine back in the 90s with no message boards. We would all save so much time....

What do you mean imagine? We used TV, magazines and newspapers. Some of us were actually out of diapers at that time.

[BDKJMU]

I think the Montana guys make a good point. To my recollection Montana is never on lists of top recruiting classes that are constructed through use of stars assigned by recruiting services. But over time Montana is arguably the top I-AA/FCS program. If you take the last five years maybe #2 behind Appalachian State. If you take the last 10 I'd say it's the number 1 program. Certainly in the top 2 or 3.

ASU was the best program of the 2000's, but I agree that stars mean little. I put more stock into the FBS and other FCS offers the recruits get. ASU got a lot of lineman with FBS offers, likely the best lineman class ever at ASU.

2nd half (05'-09'). Not sure who was the best program from 00'-04'.

[JohnStOnge]

ASU was the best program of the 2000's

It kind of depends on how one defines "best program." Most successful in terms of numbers of national championships; certainly. But in terms of consistly fielding playoff caliber teams it was Montana.

Another little stat: During the 2000s, Montana was 2-0 against Appalachian State in the playoffs. Both games were played in Montana and both games were very close. But head to head Montana has the edge.

Now, you could say Montana didn't play Appalachian State during 2005 - 2007. But you could also say that Appalachian State didn't have to go to Missoula during those years.

As a very long term fan of a I-AA/FCS school, I can confidently say that Missoula, Montana is the place I LEAST like seeing the team I'm pulling for have to go during the playoffs. Absolutely no question. If you ask me if I'd rather see my team have to go to Boone North Carolina and play Appalchian State or go to Missoula Montana and play Montana, I'm taking Boone, North Carolina playing Appalachian State.

[Saint3333]

3 championships, 5 semifinals, and 8 playoff appearances in the 2000's. When we look back at each decade it goes 1980s - GSU, 1990's - YSU, 2000's - ASU. Championships define the programs of the decade.

[JohnStOnge]

3 championships, 5 semifinals, and 8 playoff appearances in the 2000's. When we look back at each decade it goes 1980s - GSU, 1990's - YSU, 2000's - ASU. Championships define the programs of the decade.

Well, regardless...the main thing is that Montana is certainly up there as a consistent long term quality program that's in the national championship conversation most years and has been since the mid 1990s, but they never (to my recollection) show up as one of the top I-AA/FCS recruiting classes in that Rivals star stuff.

[BDKJMU]

3 championships, 5 semifinals, and 8 playoff appearances in the 2000's. When we look back at each decade it goes 1980s - GSU, 1990's - YSU, 2000's - ASU. Championships define the programs of the decade.

Well, regardless...the main thing is that Montana is certainly up there as a consistent long term quality program that's in the national championship conversation most years and has been since the mid 1990s, but they never (to my recollection) show up as one of the top I-AA/FCS recruiting classes in that Rivals star stuff.

Apparently according to some of their posters they show up more in Scout than they do in Rivals:
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p= ... 81&yr=2010

Rivals showed only one of those seven 2 star they had in scout + 1 additional:
http://rivals100.rivals.com/commitlist. ... 2010#page1

Maybe Rivals has an east coast CAA bias!

[Ibanez]

ASU was the best program of the 2000's

It kind of depends on how one defines "best program."

Best program by comparing it to the shittiest team (Western Carolina).

[blueballs]

I was looking back yesterday and saw that Rivals gave Armanti Edwards no stars when he was coming out. Started a post about it and somebody pointed out that Scout gave him two. The point, though, is that he was not somebody the recruiting services envisioned as being as good as he actually was. Rivals did not even consider him to be a quarterback. He was listed as an "Athlete." Another one I noticed was the Rivals rating (or lack thereof) of McNeese State quarterback Derrick Fourroux. Rivals gave him no stars but he ended up with nine McNeese records for passing and total offense after being a four year starter. I'm confident that if I looked I could find plenty of quarterbacks who came out that year with 3 or more stars that no McNeese fan would say they'd have rather had than Fourroux.

Also thinking of a recent thing. In 2006 the prize McNeese recruit was a Rivals three star running back. A guy named Champlain Babin who had no Rivals stars also signed. Well, the three star back is no longer on the roster whle Babin saw significant playing time as a redshirt freshman last year and looked very promising while averaging 6 yards per carry. Me, I was thrilled when McNeese got him stars or not because I'd seen some video of him and knew about how he was a man among boys in the Red Stick Bowl all star game...where he gained 191 yards on 12 carries. Javaris Murray is another young McNeese back/athlete that had no Rivals stars. My bet would be that as soon as McNeese fans saw him carry the ball in scrimmages, if they'd contempleted the "no stars" thing, would have to have wondered what the heck those Rivals guys look at in order to assign those stars.

John you SOOOOOOOOOOO nailed it.

It doesn't matter how many stars a guy has it is how he grows and fits into a particular system at the collegiate level. The list of walkons sporting NC rings and who garnered all american honors from GSU is exhaustive, in fact some names that many here would recognize: Randall Boone, Earthwind Moreland, Dennis Franklin, Fred Stokes, among many others.

GSU dominated this division for 20 years by taking the too short too light kid, putting him in a system and giving him a chance to excel.


The last two Payton Award winners were given no stars and were considered "athletes" by the recruiting services: Jayson Foster and Armanti Edwards. At least they got the "athlete" part right...

[BDKJMU]

John you SOOOOOOOOOOO nailed it.

It doesn't matter how many stars a guy has it is how he grows and fits into a particular system at the collegiate level. The list of walkons sporting NC rings and who garnered all american honors from GSU is exhaustive, in fact some names that many here would recognize: Randall Boone, Earthwind Moreland, Dennis Franklin, Fred Stokes, among many others.

GSU dominated this division for 20 years by taking the too short too light kid, putting him in a system and giving him a chance to excel.


The last two Payton Award winners were given no stars and were considered "athletes" by the recruiting services: Jayson Foster and Armanti Edwards. At least they got the "athlete" part right...

Balls, that is not true. BOTH Foster and Edwards had 2 stars by Scout.com.

People keep saying this player or that player didn't have any stars, and they never bother to simply look it up.
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p= ... id=1789564
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=373750

[blueballs]

John you SOOOOOOOOOOO nailed it.

It doesn't matter how many stars a guy has it is how he grows and fits into a particular system at the collegiate level. The list of walkons sporting NC rings and who garnered all american honors from GSU is exhaustive, in fact some names that many here would recognize: Randall Boone, Earthwind Moreland, Dennis Franklin, Fred Stokes, among many others.

GSU dominated this division for 20 years by taking the too short too light kid, putting him in a system and giving him a chance to excel.


The last two Payton Award winners were given no stars and were considered "athletes" by the recruiting services: Jayson Foster and Armanti Edwards. At least they got the "athlete" part right...

Balls, that is not true. BOTH Foster and Edwards had 2 stars by Scout.com.

People keep saying this player or that player didn't have any stars, and they never bother to simply look it up.
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p= ... id=1789564
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=373750

Yup, they really nailed it with Foster at CB...

[BDKJMU]

Balls, that is not true. BOTH Foster and Edwards had 2 stars by Scout.com.

People keep saying this player or that player didn't have any stars, and they never bother to simply look it up.
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p= ... id=1789564
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=373750

Yup, they really nailed it with Foster at CB...

And he was listed at 5'10". Heck, the Ravens had him at 5'7"
Didn't Foster bounce around between WR, RB, and QB? Anyone who projects someone who is 5'7"-5'10" to play QB in anything other than the triple option would need to have their head examined. Projecting someone like him as a CB or WR was absolutely be the right call, because that's what he would have been if he went to a team that ran anything other than the triple option.

[mlbowl]

Isn't Chattanooga listed as one of the top recruiting classes in FCS nearly every year? One of these day's their team is gonna explode onto the scene.

Um, Chatty isn't a pushover anymore. I'd expect them in the playoffs in the next 2-3 years.

...says you

[Silenoz]

Um, Chatty isn't a pushover anymore. I'd expect them in the playoffs in the next 2-3 years.

...says you

It's like expecting Northern Arizona or Sacramento State to be in the playoffs in the next couple years. Supposedly improving every year, but in the end it just doesn't happen.

[Paladin1aa]

Recruiting rankings for FCS schools ??

Foolish waste of time.

[danefan]

Recruiting rankings for FCS schools ??

Foolish waste of time.

Welcome Paladin1aa.

Furman fan or just a coincidental name? Just wondering as you have YSU as your team of choice on your profile.

[DetroitFlyer]

It is fun to watch the "two stars" to see where they land. As I have been following recruiting this year, I have seen two stars sign with FBS programs and two stars sign with NAIA programs. I have not seen any that have signed with Divison III's but I'm sure it happens. Dayton has landed a grand total of one Rivals two star player. I guess we are doomed going forward....

[bpcats]

Best quote I heard during recruiting was from Bo Pelini who basically said that recruiting starts today (Feb 3rd) and it is the coaches job to help the athletes realize their potential. Teams like Montana, App State, Northern Iowa, and I think Southern Illinois with Dale Lennon do a great job of establishing a program where there is no drop off from one year to the next in the team's level of play.

If your coach can't develop the players it doesn't matter how many stars were next to their name.