The Blue Board

I do like quite a few CA kids every year(west coast in general) but I completely agree with this post. Different mentality for the kids out there than in the southeast. Southeastern kids are good for a reason. They have a different type of hunger than kids from other regions do.(generally not in all cases obviously) Poverty, competition and drive. USC has been soft for years. Those Leinart, Bush, White years were so special because they had an incredible amount of transcendent college talents on that team. Those 3 teams were loaded all over(especially the one that actually won the BCS in '04).

I noticed you bumped Damion Terry up to a 92 from an initial 85 which went up to a 90 at one point.

I think he's excellent and deserves that ranking and more, but can I ask for a little methodology?
Obviously he had an excellent senior season with 48/8 TD/INT ratio and 11 more TDs on the ground, but there are many other candidates with excellent senior years that don't get much recognition. As much as recruiting services like to rank based on NFL potential, what changed enough to bump Terry? Same question with his teammate Delton Williams (87 to 91).

Would it be possible to get a biggest risers and biggest droppers story/list? I don't remember some guys scores/ratings prior to their moves. Always curious to see guys like Chris Jones move up. Fun part of following the rankings year round.

Very good idea. A story/list telling about some of the big movers, from where they started until the final list, would definitely be appreciated.

Where was that hunger against all of the two star Cali kids for Boise in the Georgia dome?

Must've been all the hunger for potatoes they had that blew the southern boys doors off.

"The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Willis remains one of the top safety prospects in the class, at a loaded position. We had considered Willis as a prospect that could play corner or safety, but he had the look of that of a future safety at the Under Armour All-American game and practices."

Interesting reasoning in dropping Priest Willis... doesn't sound like he did anything poorly just that his projected position changed.

Stop whining and be jealous of how much bigger college football is in the east on your own time and don't disparage this site. It is a fantastic recruiting source with the top people in this biz.

Yes. I would not rule linebacker out, but he looked very good in coverage at Semper Fi and is a head hunter against the run.

I agree. This is a constant source of curiosity and would make for great debate over what coaches are actually doing a better job of scouting/schools' bias/etc.

Dominated what? Class 2A football in the worst part of South Carolina for talent? He was a projection all along and it was more than his injury that forced him out.

Time will tell on all of these players, though.

In the past, kids from that high school have been tough to predict in terms of college destination.

Well, we reviewed his senior film, saw his size and arm and felt like he was better than those ahead of him, so he moved up the board so to speak. We also received great feedback from folks in Pennsylvania we trust on his abilities. Senior stats are great and all and do factor in a little (Ohio State commit Tracy Sprinkle got a one-point rise based on just that as his projection did not change) but if you are going from high school football anywhere in the country to FBS-level football, it should not come as a surprise that you put up big numbers. Conversely, lets say you are a quarterback on an awful team with no linemen or receivers, but you are a big-time talent. We should not downgrade you based on the fact you didn't.

These are not "top high school football player" rankings. These are prospect projections. What you are going to be weighs much more when differentiating the cream of the crop than what you are now. What you are now can certainly tell the tale, but that's not always the case. Our friends at USA Today that do the All-American team and the various newspapers that cover high school sports across the country can line up the "top high school players" just fine looking at stats and the like. What we do is a much deeper projection and that gets lost on fans more than just about anything else.

FYI- the 90 was temporary, getting him in position on the back end of our system to jump into the Top247.

With Williams, we had a chance to see him in person at safety in an all-star setting at the Chesapeake Bowl. We think his value is much higher on defense (much higher) and are banking that the Michigan State coaches and ultimately Williams will feel the same. Watching his defensive film is impressive.

We have a rankings history module coming for profile pages that will show where a prospect was ranked throughout the process. It will show both 247Sports rating/ranking and 247Composite in a line graph format so you can get an idea of risers and fallers quite easily.