12-11-2013, 05:50 AM
Among the good points here, it's best to remember that our competitor's classes shrink and ours--relatively speaking--do not. So final class rankings are of limited value.
In addition, you usually will see an outlier class or two--this year it will be Alabama and LSU--and then good-sized clusters of teams with comparable incoming classes.
Given attrition and this cluster phenomenon, we can say that we will lose ground to those two SEC schools but are in the game with the next seven to ten. Once you get down to the 16th ranked class, say, you are dealing with rankings for the sake of rankings.
Another influence this year is selectivity. Six years ago, Stanford had to take good warm bodies with upsides. That has changed and it's apparent in this class and the next one, where we've already offered one in five of the nation's putative top 100. The coaches are now able to select for fit; it's apparent in the 2014 and 2015 DBs, all of whom are hitters. Six years ago, a 4.5 guy who could stay with nine in ten good Pac-123 receivers was a top corner
In addition, you usually will see an outlier class or two--this year it will be Alabama and LSU--and then good-sized clusters of teams with comparable incoming classes.
Given attrition and this cluster phenomenon, we can say that we will lose ground to those two SEC schools but are in the game with the next seven to ten. Once you get down to the 16th ranked class, say, you are dealing with rankings for the sake of rankings.
Another influence this year is selectivity. Six years ago, Stanford had to take good warm bodies with upsides. That has changed and it's apparent in this class and the next one, where we've already offered one in five of the nation's putative top 100. The coaches are now able to select for fit; it's apparent in the 2014 and 2015 DBs, all of whom are hitters. Six years ago, a 4.5 guy who could stay with nine in ten good Pac-123 receivers was a top corner