2010 Rivals 250: Initial Reactions

Submitted by blueloosh on
First edition of the full 2010 Rivals 250 is up: http://rivals100.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=2303 Top 100 has been out a few days so I will focus more on 101-250. First, the ranks of obvious interest: 123 - Ricardo Miller 177 - Devin Gardner 238 - Jerald Robinson Also of interest: 112 - Brennan Clay 114 - De'Joshua Johnson 134 - Dior Mathis 162 - A.J. Cann 184 - Jeffrey Godfrey 234 - Robert Bolden Biggest Surprises (low): #239 - Nick Montana Everything I had been reading about this kid suggested he (along w/Heaps) was the end all be all of 2010 QBs. This is the guy OSU (admittedly great recruiters) is willing to sell out completely for. This is a very pedestrian ranking. I mean Saline's quarterback made the top 100, and I think we all know a thing or two about Saline QBs. On the same subject... #136 - Jake Heaps I thought this was the consensus #1 QB. I guess not. #99 - Marvin Robinson I think this is worse than the under-rankings of Gardner (#177) and Ricardo (#123), only because the visual of Gardner throwing a ball does raise some cautionary flags and there are a lot of very good, similar WRs to Ricardo (don't shoot me--not saying he isn't great). Robinson strikes me as a man among boys type, and an NFL talent type. Those guys are top 30. Those are 5 star guys. This is a much less enthusiastic ranking than his reviews to this point would suggest. Biggest Surprises (high): #18 - Kyle Prater I knew a bunch of schools liked him, but...wow. #44 - William Gholston Let me be clear -- I think he deserves #44. I'm not one of those fans that convinces myself a player is not good once I conclude they're unlikely to come to UM (pet peeve actually). I think this kid is fantastic, but I did not expect to see it reflected in the ranking right out of the gate. Gholston is always described as an under-the-radar guy nationally. (hard to explain with the last name, but...) Guess not. #66 - Latwan Anderson Same deal. I think he's great. I thought he was supposed to be an "underrated" type. A guy that would be at the end of the 250, but have comments attached to his profile that suggested he should be top 100. Well he is top 100 I guess. #81 - Joe Boisture As I said, Saline. Good for him though. Guy I've never heard mentioned who seems compelling: #210 Blake Lueders He's from Indiana (an Indianapolis suburb). A 6'5" DE reporting a 4.0 GPA and a 4.3 second shuttle (4.79 40). I admit that his picture makes him look slow (footspeed and otherwise), but those numbers are great. Has anyone heard of him before? Best Name: #220 Munchie Legaux Other thoughts: *No Jeremy Jackson. I am not entirely surprised or overly bothered. As mentioned many times, the offers speak loudly. He simply has not thrown himself into the process of proving himself and drumming up interest and I think that is shown in the recruiting services ratings. *Jerald Robinson gets a solid 4 star place. I think it's hilarious that he's in front of Montana.

Comments

Tim

March 12th, 2009 at 2:31 PM ^

There's no such thing as an "underrated" guy to the people who do the rating. They're just rated where they are. For the record, I think Gardner and Miller are a little too low (Miller especially, as he's been listed almost everywhere else as top 5 in the state of Florida). Heaps has been sliding, sliding, sliding for a while now, especially with a pedestrian performance at the Army(?) combine. I think Marvin's hype has been built up more by UM people who want to see him highly ranked, rather than an objective analysis. He might have the potential to move up to 5-star with a great senior year, but I think a mid-4-star is about right.

West Texas Blue

March 12th, 2009 at 2:41 PM ^

Heaps didn't perform that well in Junior Combine, as TimVB stated. Some of the big time schools are cooling off on him. He'll most likely end up at UDub, IMO. Latwan Anderson's ranking doesn't surprise me. The kid is an excellent free safety and excels as a kick returner. Some OSU people are saying he is as fast as Teddy Ginn. He may drop as the year goes along, but he's definitely a solid prospect that we need at FS. The biggest thing to infer from this top 250 list is that QB crop is weak. The top rated QB, Blake Bell, is #25. Every year there is at least one QB in the top 10. Things may change over time, but Rivals sure doesn't like the '10 QB class.

bronxblue

March 12th, 2009 at 2:56 PM ^

What surprised me was that they had an OL as the #1 recruit. While I admit to not being a recruiting savant, it seems that OL would be one of the toughest positions to extrapolate because it is a huge combination of talent plus technique plus competition, similar to a QB. Sure, a kid might look like a beast and grade out well, but when you are dealing with guys that big, that dominate in large part because of their size and pure athleticism, it has to be tough to figure out how they'll play out against better competition. I will likely be proven wrong, but that surprised me as much as a very early 2010 list can.

Seth

March 12th, 2009 at 4:24 PM ^

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/quicklist.asp?School=&Sport=1&DPos… That is about the weakest DT class I've ever seen, to begin with. Then note that HALF of the 16 DTs who make the Rivals 250 are already committed elsewhere, and that of the other half, NOT ONE has Michigan listed in contention. This in a year when we are desperate for DT help. MM and WC are great and all, but this is a hugely rotated position, and if one of those guys goes down for an extended time -- which, like, is hardly unlikely at that position -- we're falling back on converted fullbacks and (gasp!) defensive ends and tight ends told to eat pizza. It's Grant Bowman and Norman Heuer all over again. I think there isn't going to be much choice in the matter: we're going to a 3-man front permanently (likely with the extra safety as more of a linebackerish guy, a la Bell, than what W.Va. had). Lord help us if we ever let opponents near the goal line, or play Ohio State.