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SALT LAKE CITY - The life blood of every program is recruiting.
That is a phrase that has been commonplace with the coaching staff up at Utah, mostly with head coach Kyle Whittingham.
As many college football fans have noticed, especially Ute fans with all the news of verbal commits from recruits in the last week, national letter of intent day is upon us.
For many football fans it is a time for the future of the program and is just as exciting as spring ball or the opening of fall camp. Other fans may shrug off the day and say, "Talk to me in three or four years." After all we are talking about kids that are yet to suit up for the team they sign with, and for a majority of them have not played any level of college football (minus JC transfers of course).
Websites like Scout.com (Fox Sports owned) and Rivals.com (Yahoo owned) have really been cashing in on the recruiting news for the last decade. A tool that they use to stoke the fire for fans is, of course, the star system, ranking a player anywhere from an unranked to five stars. The star system breads overall rankings and what many people in Utah have referred to as ‘the February championship' between Utah and BYU.
Perception among some of the national media is that you need to have more stars to be successful, and sure there may be some merit to that, especially considering who you see at the top of the recruiting rankings and season results - also draftees in the NFL. You always see the likes of SEC powers like Alabama, Florida, and LSU, as well as the Ohio State's and Texas' of the world. Those teams traditionally have success. Of course those teams have had three letters that helped - BCS. Those letters are new to the Utah program.
Now does having a lot of stars by your name guarantee you success? Let's look at some names of Utah past and present to look at that. There are three players that come to mind that were two star recruits (according to Rivals) that either Utah has put in the NFL or went on to have massive success at the U. They were the quarterbacks that preceded Jordan Wynn and Terrance Cain. In reverse order there was Brian Johnson, the all-time winningest quarterback in Utah history and Sugar Bowl MVP. Before him was Brett Ratliff, currently in the NFL and led Utah to two bowl victories. And not to forget before Ratliff, once again for emphasis - a two star rated quarterback, Alex Smith. That's right the quarterback that was taken number one in the 2005 NFL draft, national player of the year according to Sports Illustrated, and Fiesta Bowl MVP was rated as only a two star athlete.
Other two star rated athletes that committed to the U are as follow: Jonathan Fanene (Cincinnati Bengals), Eric Weddle (highest paid safety in NFL history), Paul Kruger (Baltimore Ravens), Zane Beadles (Denver Broncos), Brice McCain (Houston Texans), Sean Smith (Miami Dolphins), Stevenson Sylvester (Pittsburgh Steelers), Brandon Burton (Minnesota Vikings), and that's only a sampling of some of the most successful Utes that were rated low.
How about some four/five star kids? Well here is a sampling of four star kids that Utah signed before: Terrance Cain, James Aiono (five star), David Kruger, Joseph Faifilli, Marquis Wilson, and Paul Soliai. With those names on both lists you see stars don't always equal success at the college level or the next.
Looking at some contributors on the roster from this past season lets see how well the boys over at Utezone.com of the Rivals network did on their ratings when the players were recruited: Four Stars: Harvey Langi, Kenneth Scott, and John Cullen Three Stars: DeVonte Christopher, Conroy Black, Jordan Wynn, Dres Anderson, John White, and Brian Blechen. Two Stars: Derrick Shelby
Overall I'd say not bad, with the exception of Shelby. One thing that has been happening is the overall star ratings from the recruiting sites are climbing for the Utes. That can be attributed to the success of the program over the past decade as well as the entrance in the Pac-12 conference. Like I pointed out earlier, stars from a site like Rivals don't promise results on the field, or on the flip side determine failure - especially with so many factors that can go into a kid going to a school, such as coaching, atmosphere, support system, etc.
One thing I believe is that with the higher rated kids, especially now that the rating system seems to be getting more accurate with more summer camps and more time to evaluate, is that they are more polished going into the college game. Many of those names that I listed earlier that are now in the NFL were projects for the coaching staff that they molded into the player that they wanted and coached them up. They were not all ready to contribute from the get go, like a Sean Smith who was recruited as a running back, turned into a wide receiver, and finally converted into cornerback. Frankly, one, two, and three star kids were all that Utah had at its disposal being on the outside of the Pac-12. That is a practice that worked in the Mountain West Conference, but not something I want to count on in the Pac-12, unless to fill out the twos and threes on the roster.
This whole four and five star kids signing with the U is a new trend, and will help considerably going forward. Before 2008 the Utes were lucky to get one four star kid. As of now, since 2009, the Utes have had 14-four star or better kids sign - that's with five signed for this class so far.
With Utah having a higher profile nowadays they are getting into the doors of more kids and more high profile kids, something that is very crucial going forward to build depth. Because we saw how important depth is after year one of Pac-12 play, Utah needs more polished kids now. If you look at how many young kids that have played for the Utes in the past couple years as either true or redshirt freshmen or sophomores it shows that the kids they are recruiting are more polished and ready to play now. Jordan Wynn, Dres Anderson, Kenneth Scott, Brian Blechen, Eric Rowe, Nate Fakahafua, VJ Fehoko, and the Kruger brothers are turning into day one contributors once they get on campus. Many of those kids are three or four star kids. Utah will always find the diamonds in the rough that they have been known for. Now they are getting kids that are ready to play and contribute immediately, as well as be coached up by the coaching staff.
At the end of the day Ute fans should take solace in one fact - these coaches are really good talent evaluators, as evident from the success. Now that they have access to more resources, as it appears with the early returns of this 2012 class, watch out because now they can get the talent they want.
Shane Roberts is a producer/writer for the U Fan Cast on TheUFanCast.com, a Utah-centric podcast that gives a voice to the fan. Twitter: @Shane_U_FanCast
