Football Recruiting: Ranking West Virginia and the Big XII Classes
By Ken Durbin
December 1, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; A general view of Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium before the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and West Virginia Mountaineers. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Now that the 2013 football recruiting classes are all but set, we can take an early look at how the West Virginia Mountaineers class ranks amongst their Big XII peers. We will take a look at how the Big XII schools rank according to both ESPN and Scout rankings.
*Note: Both ESPN and Scout list WVU’s recruiting class at 27 commits, including RBs DeShawn Coleman and Jacky Marcellus. Neither player has sent in a LOI to WVU, so they are not yet Mountaineers. But for the purpose of the class rankings, we will include them (since the scouting services do in their rankings).
First up, how the Big XII ranks according to ESPN:
15. Texas; Top recruit: C Darius James, 15 recruits (11 x 4-star, 4 x 3-star)
16. Oklahoma; Top recruit: RB Keith Ford, 24 recruits (9 x 4-star, 14 x 3-star, 1 x NR)
27. Oklahoma State; Top recruit: WR Ra’Shaad Samples, 23 recruits (8 x 4-star, 14 x 3-star, 1 x NR)
28. Baylor; Top recruit: WR Robbie Rhodes, 25 recruits (6 x 4-star, 16 x 3-star, 3 x NR)
32. West Virginia; Top recruit: WR Shelton Gibson, 27 recruits (8 x 4-star, 17 x 3-star, 2 x NR)
49. TCU; Top recruit: RB Kyle Hicks, 22 recruits (2 x 4-star, 16 x 3-star, 1 x 2-star, 3 x NR)
54. Kansas State; Top recruit: ILB Nick Ramirez, 24 recruits (1 x 4-star, 16 x 3-star, 2 x 2-star, 5 x NR)
55. Kansas; Top recruit: DT Marquel Combs, 25 recruits (1 x 4-star, 21 x 3-star, 1 x 2-star, 2 x NR)
56. Iowa State; Top recruit: OT Shawn Curtis, 25 recruits (1 x 4-star, 22 x 3-star, 1 x 2-star, 1 x NR)
57. Texas Tech; Top recruit: ATH Devin Laurderdale, 24 recruits (4 x 4-star, 16 x 3-star, 1 x 2-star, 3 x NR)
Surprisingly, Scout has the Mountaineers class ranked higher nationally than ESPN. Scout ranked the West Virginia commitments lower than ESPN, but tends to favor the Mountaineers class more than ESPN.
15. Oklahoma; Top recruit: RB Keith Ford, 24 recruits (1 x 5-star, 7 x 4-star, 14 x 3-star, 2 x 2-star)
23. Texas; Top recruit: OT Kent Perkins, 15 recruits (1 x 5-star, 9 x 4-star, 4 x 3-star, 1 x 2-star)
24. Oklahoma State; Top recruit: WR Marcell Ateman, 23 recruits (4 x 4-star, 16 x 3-star, 3 x 2-star)
25. Baylor; Top recruit: WR Robbie Rhodes, 24 recruits (1 x 5-star, 3 x 4-star, 15 x 3-star, 5 x 2-star)
26. West Virginia; Top recruit: MLB Darrien Howard, 27 recruits (2 x 4-star, 19 x 3-star, 6 x 2-star)
48. TCU; Top recruit: RB Kyle Hicks, 22 recruits (1 x 4-star, 17 x 3-star, 3 x 2-star, 1 x NR)
54. Texas Tech; Top recruit: WR Dylan Cantrell, 24 recruits (1 x 4-star, 11 x 3-star, 12 x 2-star)
55. Kansas; Top recruit: DT Marquel Combs, 25 recruits (2 x 4-star, 11 x 3-star, 12 x 2-star)
64. Iowa State; Top recruit: OT Jake Campos, 25 recruits (1 x 4-star, 8 x 3-star, 16 x 2-star)
68. Kansas State; Top recruit: DE Tanner Wood, 18 recruits (1 x 4-star, 9 x 3-star, 8 x 2-star)
Looking at these rankings, the overwhelming disparity is Kansas State. Scout seems to think that 6 of the players ESPN reports as commited to Kansas State are not headed to Manhattan, KS. It is expected that there will be disparity between the recruiting services, but not this much disparity.
That being said, it appears consistent that the Mountaineers recruited a middle of the pack class in the Big XII. That is a far cry from the Big East where the Mountaineers were routinely in the top 2-3 of the conference for recruiting.
As West Virginia continues play in the Big XII over the years, expect the Mountaineers to gain traction in Texas recruiting and become a routinely top 25 recruiting school.