Future Rankings 1-126

[ASUchipman]

App at number 59 unfortunately GSU at 52.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal ... rojections

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

Not surprised. The way they handled BGSU, top Sun Belt recruiting class, and returning Upshaw and Breita. We play @Southern this year too. Just imagine us pulling off an undefeated season. That be one hell of an accomplishment.

[kiddbrewer]

Not surprised. The way they handled BGSU, top Sun Belt recruiting class, and returning Upshaw and Breita. We play @Southern this year too. Just imagine us pulling off an undefeated season. That be one hell of an accomplishment.

In more ways than 1 (3 actually).

[MDaniels84]

If we could somehow finish 11-2 with our schedule next season, I definitely think that we would break the top 25.

[appstate77]

Not impressed with GaSo. We return Lamb, Cox, Moore and most of our Oline and plenty of defensive experience. As to their bowl game. Both BG and Gas, were in hybrid situations with patchwork coaching staffs. Not a good metric to predict the future. As to recruiting class, stars tell us nothing except potential and even that is faulty depending on how 18 yr old kids make a transition to college life. (ALSO, Armanti had no stars....what a rut roh moment that turned out to be for some folks). What is important is what happens on the field, character, heart, and a sheer hatred to lose.

[MDaniels84]

Not impressed with GaSo. We return Lamb, Cox, Moore and most of our Oline and plenty of defensive experience. As to their bowl game. Both BG and Gas, were in hybrid situations with patchwork coaching staffs. Not a good metric to predict the future. As to recruiting class, stars tell us nothing except potential and even that is faulty depending on how 18 yr old kids make a transition to college life. (ALSO, Armanti had no stars....what a rut roh moment that turned out to be for some folks). What is important is what happens on the field, character, heart, and a sheer hatred to lose.

Totally agree with '77 on this point. I would rather take some of our 2 star kids and coach em up and see where we are in two years. Work ethic can have an amazing effect on how a young man transitions to college football and school life.

[ASUchipman]

Words of encouragement from a 2 Star Recruit.

[APPdiesel]

Where's a Rodney Dangerfield "can't get no respect" when we need one.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

[S.Lewis15]

If we could somehow finish 11-2 with our schedule next season, I definitely think that we would break the top 25.

Outside of Miami and Tennessee the rest of our schedule is weaker next season than it was this past season. The only way we break top 25 next year is if we finish 12-1 or better.

However, if Akron turns out to be a good team next year, a win against them may boost our resume even with an 11-2 season.

[hapapp]

I think an argument can and has been made that the star system has flaws. However, it is the only measurement available to analyze all FBS recruiting classes. Based on that measure, GS has an outstanding recruiting class. That is not to diminish the quality of the folks we signed. But, to refuse to acknowledge that they brought in a good group, one rated higher than ours, seems silly to me. We have no idea how things will pan out but at this point in time they deserve the ability to crow a bit. If the shoe were on the other foot, I have no doubt we would be pointing to the number of three star recruits we secured.

[EastHallApp]

We have no idea how things will pan out but at this point in time they deserve the ability to crow a bit. If the shoe were on the other foot, I have no doubt we would be pointing to the number of three star recruits we secured.

Recruiting is the means, not the end. The only thing that's worth crowing about IMO is what happens on the field, and we kicked their butts last year by every measure and have been handling them for a while now. These "future rankings" are no different than the preseason polls that predicted they'd win the Sun Belt and we'd finish 4th.

[firemoose]

I've been doing this for a while. Crow all they want. On paper they have a great class. There are many variables that only time will tell how that translates onto the field. However in doing this all these years for me personally there were three red flags that jumped out. And before anyone says it the same flags would and do apply to any class that App or anyone else signs. And I also know that there are many variables that play into a recruit's decision. These flags are overall and not specific to one recruit or one school for that matter, even though these posts have been about Southern's class.

One: Mid to High 3 stars showing multiple P5 offers choosing to sign with a G5, regardless of the program. You have to look when those P5 offers were actually extended, where they were geographically in relation to the recruit, and whether they were committable offers or not on signing day even though they are factored into the ratings.

Two: Any player rated from a high two up that only shows one offer, especially those that are from farther away areas where there were plenty of schools that had to have passed on offering the player (ie for us or Southern; a recruit from areas like TX, AL, LA, etc, where there are plenty of both FBS and FCS schools that could have offered).

Three: Any class that has a high turnover within the last two-three days, given it's always a dead period. Are the last second players taken ones that fit the program and system or are they just taken to fill spots?

We knew we had scholarships available, even during the last visit weekend, and we had areas of important need, but even though there were players available in those areas we didn't take a body just to fill a spot.

In the end only play on the field will determine how any class pans out, regardless of rankings. And more importantly, given this is college after all, how many of those players graduate. To me APR and GPA numbers are more important than stars. And one final note. I'm not one who crows when a class is high and laments when it's not. I rarely say anything about it. Been doing this long enough to know that games aren't won or lost on paper.

[Saint3333]

If we could somehow finish 11-2 with our schedule next season, I definitely think that we would break the top 25. 8-)

Outside of Miami and Tennessee the rest of our schedule is weaker next season than it was this past season. The only way we break top 25 next year is if we finish 12-1 or better.

However, if Akron turns out to be a good team next year, a win against them may boost our resume even with an 11-2 season.

I'd say the 2016 schedule overall is tougher. Clemson, ODU, Wyoming, Howard, Ark St., USA vs. UTk, Miami, ODU, Arkon, Texas St. NMSU.

OOC is definitely tougher. UTk = Clemson (top 15 teams), all other OOC games will be tougher opponents. We do get a break in conference, but play GS, Troy, and ULL on the road.

[hapapp]

If we could somehow finish 11-2 with our schedule next season, I definitely think that we would break the top 25.

Outside of Miami and Tennessee the rest of our schedule is weaker next season than it was this past season. The only way we break top 25 next year is if we finish 12-1 or better.

However, if Akron turns out to be a good team next year, a win against them may boost our resume even with an 11-2 season.

I'd say the 2016 schedule overall is tougher. Clemson, ODU, Wyoming, Howard, Ark St., USA vs. UTk, Miami, ODU, Arkon, Texas St. NMSU.

OOC is definitely tougher. UTk = Clemson (top 15 teams), all other OOC games will be tougher opponents. We do get a break in conference, but play GS, Troy, and ULL on the road.

Have to agree, the 2016 schedule at this point looks significantly tougher to me. Three of our OOC foes played in bowl games in 2015. And as Saint mentioned, our SBC road schedule is going to be tougher.

[hapapp]

Been doing this long enough to know that games aren't won or lost on paper.

No disagreement there. It is all about filling needs and finding the right guys who can fit and mesh with the program. My only point is, I don't see the need to try and downplay their 2016 class or discount the 14 three star signees. We have no idea what they will do on the field or if they even stay in school. However, no matter how we spin it, we would be making hay about it, if we were the ones with the 14 stars. I don't understand why that is so hard to acknowledge.

That said, I'm not disappointed in our class. I think we signed a group that meets our needs and there are several individuals in this class that could be immediate impact players. Our staff has demonstrated an ability to find the folks that fit our system and our culture, and they obviously have shown that they can develop the talent. It will be interesting a year from now to see who among this class who had an impact on the 2016 season.

[asufan87]

Been doing this long enough to know that games aren't won or lost on paper.

No disagreement there. It is all about filling needs and finding the right guys who can fit and mesh with the program. My only point is, I don't see the need to try and downplay their 2016 class or discount the 14 three star signees. We have no idea what they will do on the field or if they even stay in school. However, no matter how we spin it, we would be making hay about it, if we were the ones with the 14 stars. I don't understand why that is so hard to acknowledge.

That said, I'm not disappointed in our class. I think we signed a group that meets our needs and there are several individuals in this class that could be immediate impact players. Our staff has demonstrated an ability to find the folks that fit our system and our culture, and they obviously have shown that they can develop the talent. It will be interesting a year from now to see who among this class who had an impact on the 2016 season.

We're doomed!! There's no way we can compete with Georgia Southern. DOOMED, I say. Feel better now that the "spin" has been dispatched?

[hapapp]

You fail at reading comprehension. You might have inferred that I said that but I never implied we are doomed.

[EastHallApp]

I've seen few, if any, saying Southern doesn't have a good class. What I have seen are some complaining that App's class is inferior, perhaps significantly so. That's what I take issue with, at least until we start to see it reflected on the field.

Also, we already had the discussion about 2016 recruiting, and this was supposed to be a thread on these "future rankings," so to me at least it's a little tedious that we're all rehashing our usual talking points.

[hapapp]

Fair enough. I think the point we can all agree on is that the quality of a class is determined by performance on the field and we have a pretty good track record there.

[Eagle22]

I'm also a fairly long time observer to recruiting classes and while we had some of our 'committed' talent move on late (to programs like Clemson, USF/FSU, and Indiana and MTSU, Tulane and yes App), our coaches did a pretty decent job in filling those losses with an equivalent player at a caliber that was close to or equal in what we lost. At every single position we lost a recruit, we have at least one player that was rated on our board higher than the one that jumped ship.

Of course, all of that is on paper and parsing the difference between a 0.790 2-star and 0.801 3-star is completely absurd anyways. Frankly, I'm pleased as punch with our recruiting given the late start and the questions surrounding exactly what our offense is going to "look like". It will be important for us in 2016 to have success on offense in order to keep our identity intact. If I were an opposing coach, I would have been throwing question marks at recruits about what we're going to do, I'm certain that Tony Franklin and the MTSU staff swayed Ty Lee with that very argument.

Our coaches anticipated some bigger programs would come calling and there is always going to be some flipping with competitive G5 programs who can offer specifically better situations in regards to playing time, location, team fit and the like.

APR and GPA is a huge deal. 21 of 21 signees from Fritz' 2015 February class enrolled and are still enrolled and in good academic standing. Expect most to stay, we redshirted 16 of those 21, one was a JUCO transfer. We still have 15 of 19 from Fritz' inaugural class, and a couple of those 15 were JUCO and they're done.

For us, just six of those 40 players have seen significant playing time. We'll find out how good our 2015 class is because we'll have to fill our entire secondary this year with rookies. Hopefully we'll have our act together by the time you guys roll into Statesboro but it is going to be a glaring lack of inexperience at the collegiate level that only game reps can cure.

I'm sure App's roster of 0.7999 rated players vs. our 0.80001 players will result in a continuation of some of the most enjoyable gridiron battles for the next few years.