Best recruiting class ever?

D'uh.

It's Notre Dame.

1946.

C'mon, EVERYONE knows that!

Andy Staples of SI.com ranks the greatest recruiting classes of all time. Realistically, recruiting rankings that are assessed in HINDSIGHT are the only ones that matter.

Silly Season is Upon Us!

Recruiting is so fucking stupid. It makes my eyes bleed.

First though, is that seriously a Maryland hat at Joe McKnight's table over there? Are you kidding me? And what's with those cheesy rings on his fingers? Did he get one for every grade he passed?

I'll try not to belabor the point here but the amount of attention that gets paid to the recruitment of kids in high school is INSANE. Perhaps you can chalk it up as an extension of the entertainment we all get out of college football. It's just a way to keep score when there are no games being played. You certainly get the feeling sometimes that there are college football fans out there that pay more attention to the number of stars next to a kids name as they do the numbers in the win-loss column.

Is recruiting important to college football (and basketball programs)? Of course. It's vital in fact. You simply cannot sustain any success at the highest level without getting the best athletes. Is Pete Carroll a great football coach? It's certainly debatable. Is he one of the best recruiters of all time? I think so.

To reduce the whole process to some sort of mathematical formula is beyond ludicrous though. How many five-star recruits do you think Navy had on the field this year? If you count the hairs on my head you'll get the same number, ZERO. Guess what? They won TEN games this season and wrapped things up by kicking the shit out of Missouri in their bowl game. Oh, some of you may have noticed they took Ohio State to the wire in The 'Shoe earlier in the season also.

Did Navy play for the national title? No. And they're not going to anytime soon either. The point, that I will now pound into the ground, is that using some sort of formula to figure out if one recruiting class is definitively better than another is like saying red is clearly better than blue. Huh? Exactly.

The University of Cincinnati, Boise State University, and Texas Christian University all have what in common? No Top 25 recruiting classes four years ago at any of those schools. How many regular season losses amongst those schools last season? ZERO. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

And credit where credit is due, ESPN's Pat Forde discusses this topic in his latest column with appropriate candor.

In addition to highlighting the accomplishments of UC, BSU and TCU, Forde also gives us the following nuggets in reference to 2006 recruiting classes:

USC had the No. 2 class and just finished its worst season since 2001. Georgia was No. 4 and performed so poorly that Mark Richt had to shake up his staff and has himself edged toward the hot seat. Notre Dame was No. 5 and fired its coach. Florida State was No. 6 and got its legendary coach pushed into retirement.


My two favorite examples recruiting rankings and their relative lunacy in regards to Ohio State football are as follows; Mike D'Andrea, AJ Hawk, Justin Zwick, Troy Smith. Two of those guys were headline super-recruits, the other two were signing day afterthoughts. I probably don't need to point out that the afterthoughts turned out to be a Top 5 NFL Draft pick and a Heisman Trophy winner respectively.

Here's another blast from the past. Anyone remember Derek Morris? Another stud recruit that generated far more attention off the field than he ever did on it. A mammoth offensive lineman out of North Carolina, Morris committed to Ohio State, showed up in Columbus with a questionable academic record and then quickly turned around headed back home amidst much hand wringing and gnashing of teeth.

Mr. Morris wound up at North Carolina State, played three unremarkable seasons, left early for the NFL, went undrafted, and has never been able to make a training camp roster. So basically the high water mark for this guy was his senior year of high school, as it is for so many touted recruits.

There are just as many "busts" out there as there are heralded recruits that live up to the hype. Don't get me wrong here, recruiting is paramount to success. You bring in 20 studs, you're probably going to have a better chance than the team that brings in two. At the end of the day though, to split hairs amongst the top recruiting classes is a waste of time the likes of which we rarely see. Move along people...

And just because...

...it's such an awesome performance and because they pulled it off YouTube for some reason, here's the Beastie Boys performance on Letterman that I had previously posted. Flat-out, bad-ass.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=59286317

More Beasties, more Letterman

Some of the footage here is from the 'Awesome I Shot That' movie the Beastie Boys created by handing out video cameras to members of the audience (including in this instance David Letterman himself).

Is there a greater disconnect of cool and awkward/nerdy than Letterman and the Beastie Boys? Just watching Dave walk onto the stage after the performance makes me uncomfortable. "Nice job boys" is what he offers up, as if they just finished their piano recital.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer Dave Letterman over all the other late night douchebags combined (although I never watch any of them including Dave), but the dude is weird.

"In auto-parts, you're either growing, or you're dying, there ain't no third direction."

The same is true of the Big Ten.

A great look at potential Big Ten expansion by SI.com's Stew Mandel.

Very quietly...

Go Scarlet Knights.

Rock that St. Petersburg Bowl.

ANOTHER heartwarming tale!

We'll file this under, 'NOT SURPRISED'.

On a related note, here's some more USC mud-slinging. Wanna boost up your US News & World Report national rankings? It's easy. Just lie.

A heartwarming tale...

Of a bunch of shitheads that just got their doors blown off trying to get it back together.

Tim Tebow is a virgin.

As you were.

"The yo-yo's back!"

"These ain't yo grandma's eggs!"

Level 6 Pandemic Effect?

That's not Level 6 either...

Gleaming the cube?

Not Level 6 either...

Level 6?

Nope...

Often imitated...

Not Level 6...

ESS-EEE-SEEE!!

Best football.

Most STD's.

Check it.

STRAIGHT OUTTA LO-CASH!!

Here's the deal, the jackass Boise State player that decided to taunt 10 seconds after the game was over probably deserved to get cracked. You are flat-out asking for it.

That's where the excuses end.

First off, why isn't anyone pointing out that this tough guy, LeGarrette Blount, throws a punch and then runs backwards 25 feet while talking trash? That's like flipping someone off while riding a unicycle.

By the way, excellent punch. Good form. Good connection. Well placed.

Secondly, Mr. Blount was WEARING HIS HELMET while being a badass.

And then punching your own teammates? What's that garbage?

And then trying to pull a Ron Artest?

And then you're still acting like a maniac while players, coaches AND police officers are restraining you? Game over pal.

Nice stats, five carries, minus eight yards. Strong. Not only is that all he got for the game. That's all he got for THE SEASON.

Nice knownin' ya...