A comprehensive look at GT Recruiting from 2002-2013

I decided to take a comprehensive look at the recruiting data from 2002-2013. The analysis is based on Rivals data. I averaged the stars and the Rivals rating for the entire class and also based on offense and defense. CPJ is in orange and CCG is in blue in the following chart. I assigned the 2008 class to CPJ because he signed the guys. It is a bit difficult to attribute the class to him and was a judgement call. I wanted to answer a number of questions. So I'll tackle the analysis in a question and answer format.



1) Is CPJ recruiting worse than CCG?
I don't think so. Actually, I'd say that CPJ is recruiting better across the board than CCG. Look at any of the charts and it seems clear that CPJ is recruiting on par/better than Gailey. The Rivals ratings are especially telling.

2) Does the offensive system affect defensive recruiting?
Absolutely not. In fact, on the whole, I'd argue that defensive recruiting has been better than the offensive recruiting based on the graphs. We had a monster defensive class in 2010 (Four 4*s). Unfortunately for us, only one of them panned out. Denzel McCoy ended up having a heart condition and did not play a single down. Ryan Ayers transferred to some college called Liberty. Anthony Williams is still on the roster. Unfortunately, he is undersize to play DE in the 3-4 scheme. Louis Young is a starting CB for us today.

3) Even though Gailey was recruiting worse, was he getting a couple of difference makers every class?
In the past, this has been postulated as the reason that CCG did decently. If you look at the number of 4 stars in every class in the table below, it's clear that this is not necessarily true. Between 2004-2006, Gailey had just two 4* (Calvin and Jamaal Evans).

4) Is the recruiting trending upward or downward under CPJ?
Looking at the data, I'd say it's staying pretty flat. This is not necessarily a good sign. It could be, if were performing well on field. But, in the absence of on-field performance, it becomes hard to say it's all on coaching and not the Jimmies and Joes.

5) Was the recruiting trending upward under CCG?
I'd say yes. 2004 onwards, CCG upgraded recruiting significantly. Unfortunately, except the heralded 2007 class, even CPJ's worst class (2008) was still ranked higher than CCG's classes. Basically, CCG started from so down low that recruiting could only trend upward. If we consider that he signed the majority of the 2008 class (except 2-3 signees), I'd say that it is likely that the 2007 class was a fluke. But, if we give him the benefit of the doubt, I'd say that recruiting was trending upward under CCG.

6) Has CPJ recruited better offensively or defensively?
It seems about even, except the monster defensive class of 2010 (which unfortunately did not pan out). This means that we are significantly underperforming our talent on D relative to the O. This is great news, because it means that if he had as good a defensive mind as CPJ is an offensive mind, we should significantly improve. Ellis Johnson..................

That's about it. Please don't turn this into a debate about the Star system.