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Welcome to The Crootletter (sign up to get this in your inbox every morning!). I'm Bud Elliott, SB Nation's National Recruiting Analyst, and in this space I'll be sharing news, rumors and musings on the world of college football recruiting.
It's interesting to break down the rosters of the teams in the Super Bowl and see how they were rated as recruits. What we found is that the Panthers are full of former blue-chippers, while the Broncos have a lot of players who weren't rated very highly at all. Last year I broke down how sleeper recruits still make the NFL.
Quickly
- The "Bama Bump," a process in which recruits ratings go up when Alabama offers them, is real. And Bill Connelly argues that it's justified. I agree. Four national championships in seven years means Alabama is identifying and signing elite talent. How much of a bump is up for debate, but Alabama signs very few scrubs, so if Alabama offers a prospect who has a very low rating, at the very least the service should go back and look to see if it missed something.
- I was a guest on "Podcast Ain't Played Nobody," an excellent production by Bill Connelly and Steven Godfrey. We discussed how rampant cheating is in college football recruiting, which positions are loaded or bare this season, which teams are on the come up and what is going on in Texas.
- I thoroughly enjoyed this hilarious take on National Signing Day by our Texas A&M site, Good Bull Hunting.
- Red Cup Rebellion put out a podcast preview in advance of Ole Miss' huge recruiting weekend. Kevin Trahan of SB Nation writes that Ole Miss is recruiting to sustain its current success.
- Who is still on South Carolina's recruiting board? Garnet and Black Attack has the answers in its recruiting mailbag.
- Urban Meyer is loading up Ohio State to keep the defense stacked for years to come.
- Dawg Sports runs down Georgia's top remaining prospects in Kirby Smart's first recruiting year.
- Florida's class is mostly finished and Alligator Army believes the massive number of early enrollees will have an early impact.
- Can Nebraska hold off Clemson for a four-star safety? The Cornhuskers have been on him forever, while Clemson has come on recently.
- Clemson is getting a visit from the No. 1 player in the country, Rashan Gary. I think it's Michigan No. 1, Ole Miss No. 2 for the superstar defensive tackle recruit from New Jersey.
- A Wisconsin recruit accepted a greyshirt offer. Some people believe greyshirting is inherently evil, but I disagree. It's all about the implementation. If the prospect is fully informed before he signs that his enrollment will be delayed, then it is an informed transaction. Asking a kid to greyshirt after he signs is unethical.
- As someone who covers recruiting and lives in Florida, I really hope this bill gets killed. It would effectively create unlimited and open transfer of high schools across the state. Keeping track of what schools kids attend is going to be a nightmare.
- Syracuse could be set up to surprise on National Signing Day. Syracuse is an incredibly tough job because you have to get kids to talent-barren upstate New York, and then play games against six or seven better ACC programs each year.
