{"id":48567,"date":"2023-05-24T13:00:29","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=48567"},"modified":"2025-09-13T14:49:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T18:49:17","slug":"quinshon-judkins-reminds-us-that-recruiting-rankings-arent-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/05\/24\/quinshon-judkins-reminds-us-that-recruiting-rankings-arent-perfect\/","title":{"rendered":"Quinshon Judkins Reminds Us That Recruiting Rankings Aren\u2019t Perfect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recruiting services are generally good at what they do, which is finding and ranking high school prospects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But they aren\u2019t perfect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Every now and then we get reminded of this when someone unranked, or ranked really low, ends up breaking out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins<\/a> is a prime example of this. Virtually every recruiting service seems to have missed in a big way when ranking him coming out of high school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to 247Sports<\/em>, Judkins was a three-star prospect and was only ranked 29th in his home state of Alabama. He was also ranked as the 53rd-best running back prospect in his class.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Look at Rivals.com.<\/em> While they appear to be a little more accurate, they also seem to have underrated him. Rivals had him ranked as the 21st-best prospect in Alabama, and the 26th-best running back prospect.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN, Judkins didn’t come close to sniffing their Top 300<\/a> in the class of 2022.<\/p>\n

One reason for the lack of love from these services could have potentially been based on his size. Standing at 6-0, 205 coming out of high school, he was a bit undersized, especially when you look at other SEC running backs.<\/p>\n

Even with the slightly small frame, Judkins managed to put up 2,613 yards rushing and 41 TDs over his last two years at Pike Road High School (AL). This production, and leading his team to back-to-back 11-win seasons<\/a>, makes the miss from the services a bit hard to believe.<\/p>\n

While he wouldn’t be the number one recruit coming out of the 2022 class, he would certainly be ranked higher than he was.<\/p>\n

Judkins’ Freshman Year At Ole Miss<\/h3>\n

He’s only been at Ole Miss for one season, but he made certain to make a splash upon his arrival.<\/p>\n

During his freshman year in Oxford, Judkins led the SEC in rushing yards, piling up 1,567 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n

Now, it is also worth pointing out that he also had more carries than anyone in the conference, with 274. However, he still ranked in the top 10 in Yards Per Carry, averaging a little more than five-and-a-half yards on every attempt, which is more than respectable.<\/p>\n

He also did all of that while sharing the backfield with Zach Evans<\/strong>, a sixth-round pick in this year’s NFL draft.<\/p>\n

For his part, Evans carried the ball 144 times, picking up 936 yards, good for six-and-a-half yards per carry. That put him tied atop the conference, sharing the top spot with Arkansas’ Raheim Sanders<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

All of that is by way of pointing out that Judkins managed to lead the SEC in rushing while sharing the backfield with another one of the better running backs the conference had to offer.<\/p>\n

And he did it all as a freshman.<\/p>\n

That could explain this picture of Lane Kiffin<\/strong> at the Alabama 5A State Title Game in 2022.<\/p>\n

\n

this picture from last December of Lane Kiffin sitting alone in the cold metal bleachers of a high school football game watching Quinshon Judkins play makes a lot more sense now pic.twitter.com\/ISFtT8rUvv<\/a><\/p>\n

— We Run the Sip (@OMRebelNation) September 6, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n