I loosely follow recruiting, but have often wondered if we are really gaining ground on other teams when I see the individual recruit commitments. When CW was interviewing Joel Klatt, he mentioned that the middle of our roster is finally where it needs to be. Being a numbers guy, I went back to 2010 and averaged the last five 247 class recruit average ratings (2020 goes back to the 2016 class, 2019 to 2015, etc) to try and see where the 85 man roster talent was rated out of HS. I did this for the 10 teams we play each year and then threw in Clemson and Alabama for S&Gs.
Some observations:
-Next year (2020) ISU may pass Tech for 7th in overall team talent in the B12. That is the first time ISU, KSU, and KU weren't all automatically bringing up the rear.
-ISU has trended solidly up over the last half decade, 2020 will be Campbell's 5th class.
-The majority of the 10 teams we play every each year have been in the 0.84 to 0.86 range, and next year will be the first year that ISU has bootstrapped their way into the 0.84 and above level.
-TCU isn't going anywhere.
-**** Baylor
-KSU's past success with their mediocre talent is amazing.
-The 5 year period of recruiting leading into 2017 for the B12 wasn't great.
-Clemson has hit the NOS in recent years and won two NCs vs. far more talented Alabama teams.
-...Alabama, Roll Tide.
-I was surprised that in theory Texas has been a step ahead of OU in the talent department for the last 6 years.
I think it's too optomisitic to think ISU will ever get to the .88 average recruit level, which appears to be a pretty big delta between elite and solid power 5. If Campbell stays and we can get to a solid 0.85 to 0.86 score, I think we can win alot of games. ISU 2019 average = .8533 and 2020 average =.8528
I think Campbell has also stemmed some of the attrition that CPR struggled with, which is huge too.
*Without way more analysis, I don't think we can overlook that fact that the average recruit scores may be going up over the last decade. However, I think this still shows that ISU is gaining ground.


Some observations:
-Next year (2020) ISU may pass Tech for 7th in overall team talent in the B12. That is the first time ISU, KSU, and KU weren't all automatically bringing up the rear.
-ISU has trended solidly up over the last half decade, 2020 will be Campbell's 5th class.
-The majority of the 10 teams we play every each year have been in the 0.84 to 0.86 range, and next year will be the first year that ISU has bootstrapped their way into the 0.84 and above level.
-TCU isn't going anywhere.
-**** Baylor
-KSU's past success with their mediocre talent is amazing.
-The 5 year period of recruiting leading into 2017 for the B12 wasn't great.
-Clemson has hit the NOS in recent years and won two NCs vs. far more talented Alabama teams.
-...Alabama, Roll Tide.
-I was surprised that in theory Texas has been a step ahead of OU in the talent department for the last 6 years.
I think it's too optomisitic to think ISU will ever get to the .88 average recruit level, which appears to be a pretty big delta between elite and solid power 5. If Campbell stays and we can get to a solid 0.85 to 0.86 score, I think we can win alot of games. ISU 2019 average = .8533 and 2020 average =.8528
I think Campbell has also stemmed some of the attrition that CPR struggled with, which is huge too.
*Without way more analysis, I don't think we can overlook that fact that the average recruit scores may be going up over the last decade. However, I think this still shows that ISU is gaining ground.


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