Final Recruiting Rankings

Where did the Razorbacks end up in the final rankings you ask? We have your answers.

It’s not entirely clear that all of the rankings listed below reflect the addition of Razorback signee Alex Collins (the internets, they hard y’all), but for what it’s worth, this is a list of the major recruiting services final rankings for the Razorback 2013 signing class.

Service Overall Ranking SEC Ranking
24/7 sports #22 #9
SBNation #22 #9
Scout #32 #10
Rivals #26 #11
ESPN #31 #12

If you average those rankings, Arkansas ends up with the #10 class in the SEC and the #27 class overall.

It is no surprise that most services have Alabama with the #1 class. Florida, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan round out what is pretty well the consensus Top Five in no particular order. The Scout rankings seem to be a bit of an outlier with a pretty different set of rankings from the others.

The surprise of the day was of course, Mississippi. How they managed to get a consensus Top Ten class is generating a lot of speculation, but it looks to us as if it is the result of a perfect storm of family, friends, dumb luck and yes, good recruiting.

At any rate, recruiting rankings are a fun distraction and can be indicative of on-field performance three years down the road – but not always. Going by the Rivals rankings, Rivals’ model performed as well or better than the preseason AP Poll on 46 of 100 teams.

Here is a little bit of relevant information on Bielema’s classes at Wisconsin:

Some of Coach Bielema’s classes at Wisconsin ended up with very good rankings 3 years after the class was signed. Andy Staples of SI.com re-ranks the recruiting classes after they have been on campus for three years.

The 2008 Wisconsin recruiting class was ranked as the #41 class in the nation at the time. The 2011 re-ranking put them at #7.

The 2009 Wisconsin recruiting class was ranked as the #43 class in the nation at the time. The 2012 re-ranking put them at #10.

We are heartened that the Razorback coaching staff seems to have averted what could have been an absolute disaster with so little time to operate. This Razorback recruiting class is ranked higher than any class ranking he received while head coach at Wisconsin.

Pulling in recruits from Florida to Hawaii to New Jersey to Oregon, the Razorback coaching staff has proven that the Arkansas program can be relevant nationwide, and with an ambidextrous punter signed from Australia, (Australia!) it looks as if the future for 2014 and beyond is bright.

If Bielema has proven anything during his time at Wisconsin, it’s that he can turn two and three star kids into NFL caliber players.  There appear to be 25 former Badgers on NFL rosters, 24 of whom, played for Bielema. That’s the kind of reputation that will go a long way in a recruiting pitch.

So, the Silly Season in college football is over. Now it’s time to go and prove it on the field.

UPDATE 2/08/13 12:09 PM

24/7 Sports has the Razorbacks listed No. 9 in its list of “Top National Signing Day Winners,” saying this about the Hogs:

Final national rank- No. 22 
Final SEC rank- No. 9

It wasn’t until Thursday when the nation’s top running back prospect Alex Collins faxed in his letter-of-intent to the Razorbacks that the finish was complete, but first-year head coach Bret Bielema and staff indeed won on signing day. Collins committed Monday night, but some drama involving his mother swiping his letter-of-intent and refusing to sign it delayed him by 24 hours or so. In the meantime, Arkansas landed four-star quarterback/athlete Damon Mitchell from New Jersey and four-star offensive lineman Denver Kirkland from Miami. While this staff was at Wisconsin, they recruited the Garden State and south Florida quite well and it appears they are going to continue that trend in Fayetteville. Winning.

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