College football fans know recruiting is the lifeblood of their program. Evolving transfer rules<\/a> increase emphasis on the transfer market, but prep and Junior College recruiting retains prime importance. Despite its centrality to rosters, however, fans often misunderstand the nuances. As a result, we look to provide a brief history of West Virginia\u2019s modern era of recruiting.<\/p>\n The \u201cmodern era\u201d of recruiting encompasses 2002 through the present. Today, three major recruiting databases remain; Rivals, 247Sports (after its 2017 merger with Scout), and ESPN. 2002 is the earliest season featuring reliable, wide-reaching rankings for Rivals and 247Sports. The networks use nuanced variations in their individual and team grading scales.<\/p>\n All three services rate players from zero through five stars. The zero-star designation is reserved for players who never received grades from those services. No players receive one-star designations. Two-star designations have become less common for FBS recruits over the years.<\/p>\n Four- and five-star players are \u201cblue chip\u201d recruits. Because we do not write for any of these three services, we define blue-chip players based on whether they earn a four- or five-star designation from any of these three services.<\/p>\n To further distinguish the quality of players, each of the services grades players according to its own system. Rivals, for example, grades players between 5.2 through 6.1. Four-star players grade out between 5.8 and 5.9. Five-star players grade out between 6.0 and 6.1.<\/p>\n 247Sports grades players between 70 and 110. Generally, four-star players grade out between 90 and 97, and five-star players grade out between 98 and 110. 247Sports assigns its own rankings and maintains a \u201ccomposite\u201d system by which it weighs the ratings assigned by each of the major services.<\/p>\n ESPN grades individual players between 60 and 100. Other players receive no rating. Four-star players grade out between 80 and 89. Five-star players grade out between 90 and 100.<\/p>\n Each service fixes a team\u2019s recruiting ranking at the conclusion of the week of National Signing Day. These rankings do not include NCAA transfers, and they exclude late signees. Each team earns a total score, and the teams receive their ranking based on this score. Each service uses a different formula to calculate the total score.<\/p>\n On Rivals, each recruit earns points based on his player score.\u00a0 The top 250 recruits also earn a bonus score based on their respective rank. Because team score is the sum of each signee\u2019s point total, teams with a higher number of recruits\u00a0<\/em>can earn a higher score than teams with a better average quality<\/em> of recruits<\/em>.<\/p>\n 247Sports bases its team rankings on composite ratings. It uses a bell-curve distribution formula where a team\u2019s best recruit earns 100% of his individual score, and its worst recruit earns a much smaller fraction. This places slightly<\/em> less emphasis on the total number of recruits while providing a bonus to teams yielding multiple top-ranking recruits.<\/p>\n ESPN bases its team rankings on a formula weighing the relative value of individual player scores. Accordingly, ESPN\u2019s formula places more emphasis on the relative quality of recruits and how well a team fills its existing needs than on the quantity of recruits. We do not generally rely on ESPN\u2019s team rankings.<\/p>\n As one can see, the team ranking system is far from perfect. A number of factors influence that ranking, particularly the number of recruits. We tend to think that the quality of recruits matters more, especially when we compare current classes to previous West Virginia recruiting classes. Why? Over the past few years, the NCAA imposed a hard cap of 25 new scholarship players per season. Before that, each FBS team (except for the military schools) only had to worry about the total maximum scholarship count of 85. As a result, teams would recruit volume and see who stuck.\u00a0 In 2003, for example, West Virginia had 45 total recruits.<\/p>\n As a result, when comparing the classes in West Virginia\u2019s modern era of recruiting, we find it useful to include several data points: the number of commitments, the team ranking on Rivals and 247Sports, and the average score for recruits for each of those services. We also identify the Head Coach (either Rich Rodriguez<\/a>, Bill Stewart<\/a>, Dana Holgorsen<\/a>, or Neal Brown<\/a>) responsible for each class, and the preceding three-year average of wins (not including the year in which the class was recruited).<\/p>\nExplaining the Rules<\/h3>\n
What is the Modern Era?<\/h4>\n
How are Players Measured?<\/h4>\n
How are Classes Ranked?<\/h4>\n
West Virginia\u2019s Modern Era of Recruiting<\/h3>\n
Team Recruiting Ranking History<\/h4>\n
The Data<\/h4>\n