Recruiting: The rest of the Big East ...

We've told you plenty about USF's recruiting class, but want to give you a little context to the rest of the Big East -- who had the best class, what the trends are across the league.

First, there's less of a Florida presence across the league, with a total of 17 Floridians signed by the other seven Big East schools, down from 25 a year ago. Rutgers and West Virginia continue to recruit the state the most, with the Mountaineers getting five and the Scarlet Knights four; a year ago, Rutgers had five and West Virginia four.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who had four Floridians each last season, had just one and two, respectively, this season. Connecticut reached into the Sunshine State for five players in 2007, but had just one in 2008. The only Big East team ramping up its recruiting in Florida was Cincinnati, which was the only Big East team without a Florida signee last year, but had three this time, albeit three two-star recruits.

If there's a trend I can spot, it might be schools protecting their own backyards. Pittsburgh's top three recruits are from Pennsylvania; West Virginia and Rutgers' only five-star players are from in-state, as are Syracuse's three four-star recruits.

Best class? Based on the national rankings, it's hard to argue with Pittsburgh, which had three of the Big East's four five-star recruits, according to Scout.com: defensive end Shayne Hale, receiver Jonathan Baldwin and tackle Lucas Nix are all rated among the top six nationally at their positions. Add in two quarterbacks -- Greg Cross is a four-star juco, Tino Sunseri a three-star from Pittsburgh -- and it's a well-rounded class. Remember, LeSean McCoy was a five-star last year and was huge for Pitt. If only Wannstedt were this good on Saturdays in the fall ...

West Virginia may have the single best recruit in the league in offensive lineman Josh Jenkins, rated by Scout as the No. 1 guard in the nation. Pat White's little brother, Coley, is exciting because he's Pat White's little brother, but he also made an official visit to Central Michigan last week.

Rutgers got a big lineman in 6-foot-8 tackle Art Forst, and Louisville got just one four-star in defensive tackle Tyler Jessen but flanked him with 14 three-star kids. The Cardinals also went heavy on junior college kids, signing nine; the rest of the league totaled 11, so it looks like Steve Kragthorpe wants immediate impact.  I was impressed the way Syracuse went into Pittsburgh's home turf, getting two cornerbacks from Harrisburg and a top defensive end from Pittsburgh.

Cincinnati and Connecticut had arguably the least impressive classes in the league -- Cincy got a 6-foot-4 quarterback in Michigan's Brendan Kay, and their class doesn't include quarterback Demetrius Jones, who transferred from Notre Dame last fall and would be their best recruit. Connecticut got a 6-foot-8 tackle in Jimmy Bennett and plucked a three-star cornerback, Dwayne Gratz, out of Piscataway.

With barely any classes registering in the top 25 nationally, it's something of a down year in terms of the Big East's national perception, especially when you consider the large number of underclassmen who left for the NFL Draft, leaving big holes at key positions. We'll have more on USF's class later today. ...

Comments

[Blake]

I'm not really going out on much of a limb here, but I bet that my buddy Dave "Dubya" is going to take issue with Pitt letting Cuse take players out its own backyard.

All in all I am quite happy with our recruiting class. I think with another successful year we could really make a jump in recruiting in the state. I also definitely liked seeing that Jessie Hester, Sr. is now a head coach down at Belle Glades. It is always nice to have friends at big time high schools like that. I also really think our recruiting could be aided greatly by another sub par year from Miami.

[DELdaBULL]

CJL must be the best coach in the league or our players are undervalued (since we are always placed in the bottom half as far as recruits go) and vice versa for Wanny.

[Dave W]

Blake, I'm more upset that top-notch guys like Beal this year and Gronkowski last year aren't even staying in the region, let alone the state. WVU couldn't exist without Pittsburgh and the WPIAL (Western PA Interscholastic Athletic League). Ohio St., Michigan, Iowa, and Notre Dame mine the area, but at least it's still the Big-10. The Big East is also acceptable. What is not acceptable is a guy like Beal going to UF. The first thing he'll notice is that he is grossly overrated compared to Florida LBs. Beal is tougher, no doubt, but also will be slower and less physically developed. USF's main problem is a lack of real football players from western PA (yes, I'm trying to start something here).

On the Big East as a whole, we're talking about 5 consistent winners, one school 2 years off of the BCS, and two others with great histories (even in the last 10 years both Pitt and 'Cuse have had some decent years). It's been several classes since the defections, and we've grown stronger as a league relative to the rest of the country with our low ranking classes. Basically, give the 5 best teams (WVU, USF, RU, Cincy, and UCONN) the benefit of the doubt when it comes to recruiting the unheralded guys. My general take is that a coach wouldn't give a kid a precious scholarship if he didn't think he could play at a high level. Pitt and Syracuse haven't hit the jackpot with a diamond-in-the-rough in a long time (Fitzgerald, Palko, McCoy, Revis, Bostick and others were very high profile guys. The McKillops even were offered by several schools. Pitt hasn't found a Selvie or a Moffitt yet). And we don't know about Kragthorpe yet, and still won't, as he has rounded up JUCO guys in his time (he must think that it worked out great last year).

Overall, in three 3 years, the Big East classes will compare favorably relative to other places.

I think that Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington did very well considering that recent history and geography aren't in their favor. Each stole several players from top-10 powers. Southern Miss got the 5* guy and other high profile ones, but they have the same problem as the schools above: can the coach actually win games? Wanny has had consistently highly-ranked classes, and so far, it has amounted to one great moment and lots of embarrasment and empty seats.

Recruits mean nothing. Development means everything.

[Blake]

:-D called it. And we don't need get into an argument about PA football vs. the rest of the world because despite my being right, you will likely out argue me and still find a way to win the debate...i really hate that by the way.