ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class. updated

[UKvisitor]

ESPN just updated their top 25 recruiting class. At the bottom of the list is four more schools "on the cusp".
Princeton.edu defines cusp as:
1. point formed by two intersecting arcs (as from the intrados of a Gothic arch) {What?}
2. a thin triangular flap of a heart valve
3. small elevation on the grinding surface of a tooth

If you click the Kentucky listing it opens to a run down of commits and recruits considering UK and other info.

On the cusp in Dec:

* Kentucky
* Michigan State
* Mississippi State
* Iowa

With new update 1-28-11
* Kentucky
* Michigan State
* Mississippi State
* Iowa
* Texas Tech


This post was edited on 1/31 6:52 PM by UKvisitor

updated rankings 1-28-11 UK same, others not so

 

[How Blue Can You Get?]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

Top25 class after Joker's first year would say a lot about him regardless of his record. As long as this class gets better as opposed to worse, I'm looking forward to the future of UK football.

 

[TNCatfanforever]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

I am not going to throw a wet blanket on this but other places have us much lower and ranked 11th in the SEC. Also I have seen this before but by signing day other bigger programs come in and steal 3-4 of our better recruits and we wind up slipping to a out 60th. Hope I am wrong but have seen this play out too many times.

 

[TransyCat09]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

Originally posted by TNCatfanforever:
I am not going to throw a wet blanket on this but other places have us much lower and ranked 11th in the SEC. Also I have seen this before but by signing day other bigger programs come in and steal 3-4 of our better recruits and we wind up slipping to a out 60th. Hope I am wrong but have seen this play out too many times.

Umm we signed 2 4* on signing day last year who had offers from the big boys. And I am tired of the 11th on the SEC BS; we may be 11th in the SEC but the 6th or 7th ranked team in the SEC may only be 5-8 spots ahead of us. That gap is completely arbitrary as that is literally the difference between 3-5 of your recruits being 5.5 3* instead of 5.6 3*. At that level of differentiation it is on the coaches and their ability to scout talent. I will take our staff over many in that regard.

 

[ukmike22]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

We dropped in the Rivals rankings solely due to the fact that we lost three recruits over the last three weeks. We pulled the scholarships on May (2*), Terry (5.5 3*), and Bean (2*). If we finish out this class like many think we will, it will be the first time in history that all of our recruits are 3* or above and we would be somewhere between 25-30 in the rankings.

 

[Dr_Wildcat]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

It is entirely possible to be ranked in the 25-30 range and still be number 11 in the SEC. Our recruiting class two years ago (i believe) was like that.

 

[Optimistic Cat]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

I'm tired of hearing about this 11th in the SEC crap. We need to focus on getting to the the Top 25 nationally. If we do that, we'll have enough talent to compete in the SEC. The SEC recruits so well, that we could be 18th nationally and still be 9th or 10th in the league. What I'm concerned about is closing the gap. We used to finish 11th in the SEC and be ranked 75th nationally. That is a huge gap. Too much for coaching and talent judgement to make up for. If we end up 25th nationally and we're still 10th or 11th in the conference, I'm not near as concerned. I expect us to end up around 30-35 nationally this season. That will be an improvement, but still have room to get better. Once we get to consistently having Top 25 talent, we'll have enough quality depth that we'll be one special player (usually a qb) away from being a title contender.

 

[BlueRaider22]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

Bravo! Well said.

Folks need to be more patient. "Hey, let's get the #1 recruiting class next yr!" If it was that easy we'd be doing it.

We start by recruiting better, get more wins, get more recruits, get more wins.....then we'll get higher ranked SEC classes. It's a wonderful, but unforgiving cycle.

 

[wildcatfanintheville]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

It's also important to look at who actually makes it on campus and becomes a real contributor. 2006 was one of UK's best recruiting classes(#36 Rivals) but had Demetrius Goode, Josh Minton, Jamil Paris, Chris Drayton, and Lashun Watson as 5 of our top 7 recruits that year (#1 and #2 were Micah Johnson and Corey Peters). Bad luck regarding injuries is always going to happen, but recruiting the top kids that also have a good chance of making it to campus is something we are getting better at.

Hard to believe this class may be all 3-stars and higher. To put perspective on this, here are the number of 2-stars UK signed by year:

2010:8
2009:8
2008:11
2007:18
2006:17

That's progress, my friends.

 

[jauk11]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

Steady improvement, and it is a BIG jump form 8 two stars to zero, which is pretty likely where we are headed. Also those 8 two stars included some very promising players, several of them redshirts.

How about these two stars in our four current classe, Locke, Sr. Trevathan, Jr, Neloms, Soph, and Adams, Frosh (still expect big things from him, has the talent). That is just a partial list, and eight of our current starters on D are two stars.

But I expect more gems from a class of three stars than a class of two stars.

 

[ukfit]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

EIGHT SEC teams are listed on that list ahead of us.
But we are usually #12 so it is progress.
You see, as we get better, so does the SEC.
The trick is to out recruit, out evaluate, and out hustle the competition.
And it can be done. But Joker needs to really get after it, monitor who is doing what with whom. Then make adjustments-

I think Brooks could help us out WEst.

 

[mrbassky1]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

I could see us losing a couple guys or I could see us picking a couple more big commits late.

We should have a chance at Dawson and a couple other 4 stars not to mention some high 3 stars.

 

[UKvisitor]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

UK still there on the cusp as espn sees it in their update to the original post link.
Lots has gone down with UK football recruiting since the op but either espn sees UK is getting there (top25 class)in recruiting or they or not paying much attention to recent changes.

We will all know soon b/c when the sun rises tomorrow it will be Feb. and signing day is close.

When it is all said and done it will be a marked improvement of UK football recruiting if we can get a final Top 25 class ranking.
This post was edited on 1/31 6:49 PM by UKvisitor

espn 1-28-11 rankings of recruiting classes

 

[CJNVol]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

Originally posted by Optimistic Cat:
The SEC recruits so well, that we could be 18th nationally and still be 9th or 10th in the league.

Very true statement and one of the tough things to deal with as a member of this conference. It's a damn arms race. One bad class can literally set a program back a couple of years. I'm not directing this at UK either. That goes for all twelve programs.

 

[CJNVol]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

Originally posted by wildcatfanintheville:
It's also important to look at who actually makes it on campus and becomes a real contributor. 2006 was one of UK's best recruiting classes(#36 Rivals) but had Demetrius Goode, Josh Minton, Jamil Paris, Chris Drayton, and Lashun Watson as 5 of our top 7 recruits that year (#1 and #2 were Micah Johnson and Corey Peters). Bad luck regarding injuries is always going to happen, but recruiting the top kids that also have a good chance of making it to campus is something we are getting better at.

Hard to believe this class may be all 3-stars and higher. To put perspective on this, here are the number of 2-stars UK signed by year:

2010:8
2009:8
2008:11
2007:18
2006:17

That's progress, my friends.

Good post. People get caught up in these rankings too much in my opinion. Our board is full of "star gazers." That's the greatest disservice sites like Rivals have done for college football. Sign all the 5* players you want but if they don't qualify, get into trouble, or whatever, they never truly make an impact on a program and therefore, that nice ranking is merely a mirage. I would rather have a kid that isn't as highly ranked that will be a part of the program two years down the line. That's also a good display of the recruiting progress UK's had over the last five classes. I once heard one of the national Rivals guys describe their thoughts on star rankings on Rivals Radio. He described a 3* player as being a solid contributor and most likely a starter for the team he signs with. A 2* player is someone they see as a perennial back-up or someone that won't have too much impact on the program he signs with. So you've done away with ten perennial back-ups since 2007 and turned them into quality starters. Certainly good progress.

 

[UKvisitor]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

If the football program at UK is gonna move up the SEC ladder we must improve our overall recruiting the ole 1 step at a time. If we can finish this year as a overall top 25 class, We are getting there and Joker's focus is true.

Originally posted by CJNVol:

Originally posted by Optimistic Cat:
The SEC recruits so well, that we could be 18th nationally and still be 9th or 10th in the league.

Very true statement and one of the tough things to deal with as a member of this conference. It's a damn arms race. One bad class can literally set a program back a couple of years. I'm not directing this at UK either. That goes for all twelve programs.

 

[CJNVol]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

Originally posted by UKvisitor:
If the football program at UK is gonna move up the SEC ladder we must improve our overall recruiting the ole 1 step at a time. If we can finish this year as a overall top 25 class, We are getting there and Joker's focus is true.

Completely agree. We're in the same boat. We're so depleted of not just talent, but bodies in general, that last year's class and this year's class are really the foundation for what we Vol fans hope is a turn back in the right direction. It doesn't happen overnight when recruiting has fallen off. Heck, even Saban's turning of Bama can probably be attributed, at least in part, to the cupboard not being bare in Tuscaloosa when he arrived. Toughest part is having to do it year in and year out though.

 

[FHAZCat]

Re: ESPN implies UK football close to being a top 25 class.

Originally posted by Optimistic Cat:
I'm tired of hearing about this 11th in the SEC crap. We need to focus on getting to the the Top 25 nationally. If we do that, we'll have enough talent to compete in the SEC. The SEC recruits so well, that we could be 18th nationally and still be 9th or 10th in the league. What I'm concerned about is closing the gap. We used to finish 11th in the SEC and be ranked 75th nationally. That is a huge gap. Too much for coaching and talent judgement to make up for. If we end up 25th nationally and we're still 10th or 11th in the conference, I'm not near as concerned. I expect us to end up around 30-35 nationally this season. That will be an improvement, but still have room to get better. Once we get to consistently having Top 25 talent, we'll have enough quality depth that we'll be one special player (usually a qb) away from being a title contender.

Agree. And, since UK has ranked #11(according to Rivals)in SEC recruiting every year since the SEC was formed, an argument can be made that the football team has actually overachieved.