Virginia Football: Analysis of the 2008 Recruiting Class

You might be wondering why I am writing this now when the signing day was months ago.  It’s mostly because after signing day, there are scores of articles on the subject, but now is a slow time where we can really reflect—and fans hungry for something to read in the off-season might actually read my article. 

Let me start with a disclaimer: I am not a recruiting guru.  If you are, then this article won’t contain much new for you.  I am not a subscriber at Rivals, Scout, or The Sabre.  I used to subscribe several years ago until I realized I was too obsessed and addicted. 

For example, not was it only very time-consuming, but I found recruiting was the first thing I would think about when I woke up in the morning, and my mood was controlled by the answers that 17-year old boys gave to insightful questions, such as: “How did your feelings toward UVA change when you took a dump in their locker room on your official visit?” 

So now, without the subscriptions, I follow it from afar and use the extra time to do things like spend time with my wife and kids.

Anyway…enough about me.  Everyone knows that UVA’s recruiting class was ranked among the lowest in the ACC.  The low ranking is based partially on the average star rating and partially on the fact that it was a small class (18 signees). 

We knew all along that it would be a small class because of the small number of graduating seniors, so that’s not a big problem. 

Now, fans often debate about the accuracy of star ratings.  There are those who think star ratings are everything and use USC as their example.  (USC has been the best team in the 2000s and regularly has the top ranked recruiting class, but it’s a question of the chicken and the egg: are they good because they get the best players, or do the best players want to go there because they are so good?) 

There are those who think star ratings mean nothing and use past UVA players Brandon Albert (who was completely unnoticed in high school but was recently drafted in the first round) and Michael Johnson (the five-star running back who did nothing in college) as their examples. 

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. 

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