A Look at 247Sports 2023 Big Ten Football Recruiting Rankings


Gophers #7, Badgers #12, Hawkeyes #5

Tough to put much stock in these team rankings when you consider that our #7 2023 class is nearly identical to our #14 2022 class.

As for Wisconsin, the primary difference between this class and their classes from the previous few years is that they don't have any high rated 4* in state offensive lineman. The majority of their really highly rated guys have been in state offensive lineman in recent years.
 





Many of us look at these "mathematical" differences as if one school has an entire class better than the entire class of lower rated school. But the truth is that these differences, even very significant seeming differences, often come down simply to getting or losing one top player. Iowa this year, per 247, has a class currently rated at 206.28. Minnesota's class is rated at 187.23. Seems like a big difference. But our overall classes are actually quite close save for one player.

Iowa kept in state its top rated player, a 5* OT, 0.9948 (Kayden Proctor). Let's say Proctor decided to attend LSU: Iowa's class drops from 206.28 to 190.11.

Minnesota didn't keep its top rated in-state player, 4* Edge, 0.9522 (Jackson Howard). Had we kept Howard, our class rating would increase to 198.70--quite a bit "better" than Iowa"s without Proctor.

My point is that the difference in Iowa's class and ours basically comes down to a single player recruited by each team. That's how weighted, aggregate ratings work. Bring in a single, extremely-highly rated player and your class value skyrockets; lose one and your value drops meaningfully. Yet we play 30-40 players in a game. It is rare in football, or any team sport, that a single player can dominate an entire game.

Still would have been nice to keep Howard, though.

Fitz has quietly put together a highly-rated class.
 

Many of us look at these "mathematical" differences as if one school has an entire class better than the entire class of lower rated school. But the truth is that these differences, even very significant seeming differences, often come down simply to getting or losing one top player. Iowa this year, per 247, has a class currently rated at 206.28. Minnesota's class is rated at 187.23. Seems like a big difference. But our overall classes are actually quite close save for one player.

Iowa kept in state its top rated player, a 5* OT, 0.9948 (Kayden Proctor). Let's say Proctor decided to attend LSU: Iowa's class drops from 206.28 to 190.11.

Minnesota didn't keep its top rated in-state player, 4* Edge, 0.9522 (Jackson Howard). Had we kept Howard, our class rating would increase to 198.70--quite a bit "better" than Iowa"s without Proctor.

My point is that the difference in Iowa's class and ours basically comes down to a single player recruited by each team. That's how weighted, aggregate ratings work. Bring in a single, extremely-highly rated player and your class value skyrockets; lose one and your value drops meaningfully. Yet we play 30-40 players in a game. It is rare in football, or any team sport, that a single player can dominate an entire game.

Still would have been nice to keep Howard, though.

Fitz has quietly put together a highly-rated class.
Some good points, and certainly agree that Gopher and Iowa '23 recruiting are generally in the same tier. But not sure it is accurate to say "that the difference in Iowa's class and ours basically comes down to a single player recruited by each team." According to the 247 Composite, which are the numbers used in your discussion of Proctor and Howard, Iowa has 4 commits in the national top 500 (Proctor, Raphael, Lauck and Mota) and 3 more in the top 600 (Kueter, Jones and Lainez), while the Gophers have 1 commit in the top 500 (J. Williams), and 2 more in the top 600 (Taylor and M. Williams). Of course, the idea of sequential ranking of the top 1000 recruits is somewhat absurd. But if the discussion is about Minnesota vs Iowa in the '23 247 recruiting rankings, the difference is not just Proctor.
 

Some good points, and certainly agree that Gopher and Iowa '23 recruiting are generally in the same tier. But not sure it is accurate to say "that the difference in Iowa's class and ours basically comes down to a single player recruited by each team." According to the 247 Composite, which are the numbers used in your discussion of Proctor and Howard, Iowa has 4 commits in the national top 500 (Proctor, Raphael, Lauck and Mota) and 3 more in the top 600 (Kueter, Jones and Lainez), while the Gophers have 1 commit in the top 500 (J. Williams), and 2 more in the top 600 (Taylor and M. Williams). Of course, the idea of sequential ranking of the top 1000 recruits is somewhat absurd. But if the discussion is about Minnesota vs Iowa in the '23 247 recruiting rankings, the difference is not just Proctor.
The idea of sequentially ranking the top 1000 recruits in football is more than just somewhat absurd.

You can kind of make a case for ranking guys against each other in basketball but even there it is tough because how do you rank a point guard against a center? In football it is beyond stupid to put any stock in a top 500 or top 1000. Too many positions, systems, levels....Anything beyond a top 50-100 or so is just a crap shoot.
 




Many of us look at these "mathematical" differences as if one school has an entire class better than the entire class of lower rated school. But the truth is that these differences, even very significant seeming differences, often come down simply to getting or losing one top player. Iowa this year, per 247, has a class currently rated at 206.28. Minnesota's class is rated at 187.23. Seems like a big difference. But our overall classes are actually quite close save for one player.

Iowa kept in state its top rated player, a 5* OT, 0.9948 (Kayden Proctor). Let's say Proctor decided to attend LSU: Iowa's class drops from 206.28 to 190.11.

Minnesota didn't keep its top rated in-state player, 4* Edge, 0.9522 (Jackson Howard). Had we kept Howard, our class rating would increase to 198.70--quite a bit "better" than Iowa"s without Proctor.

My point is that the difference in Iowa's class and ours basically comes down to a single player recruited by each team. That's how weighted, aggregate ratings work. Bring in a single, extremely-highly rated player and your class value skyrockets; lose one and your value drops meaningfully. Yet we play 30-40 players in a game. It is rare in football, or any team sport, that a single player can dominate an entire game.

Still would have been nice to keep Howard, though.

Fitz has quietly put together a highly-rated class.
Which is why being in the right neighborhood is more important than specific rank. 2-4 players working out or not separates 20 from 45

But if you’re trying to play with teams from 20-30

You’ll have a really hard time if you recruit in the 60s-70s
Because that’s more like 5-6 players each year.
 




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