Mythical Recruiting National Championship: The Hype Is Over, It's Time To Work

According to Rivals.com, Alabama won the recruiting Crystal Trophy.

Scout.com on the other hand, ranks Alabama's class at No. 7, behind UGA, USC, Texas, Ohio State, Florida State and Auburn.

ESPN Insider lists Florida State as the best class in 2011, followed by Alabama, Auburn, USC, Texas and UGA. Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame and LSU round out the ESPN top ten.

What does it all mean? Does it mean anything at all? As with the pre-season and post-season polls, they will differ according to the measuring tools used by the different media services.

As far as having the best recruiting class in the nation, it does give a barometer of the potential for a team but it in no way will predict the outcome of a future season. The Top 10 classes in the nation are the best "All-Star" teams selected from the available high school seniors across the nation, and that is it.

As a "class" or "dream team", they will never play as a unit during their years together at their college of choice. They will be blended with ones that have come before and those who come after their class.

The classes from No.1 to 25 are "All-Star" teams as well, and each team, as well as individual players, will have a chance to influence the effect that their respective schools will have on the college football landscape within the next few years. They are certainly the stars of the future.

But the exceptional coaches can still take an average class of athletes and produce a champion.

Does it matter that Boise State came in at No. 65 according to Scout.com. It won't matter to Chris Petersen, that much is known. In 2010 Boise State came in at No. 97 and in 2009, at No. 60. Since Petersen took the helm for the Broncos in 2006, he has yet to produce a Top 50 recruiting class, but his teams have repeatedly ended up in the post season Top 10 polls. How does that happen?

Beyond the talent, what matters is coaching, stability in the coaching ranks and continuity from year to year. Moreover, with regard to the athletes, adapting to the change from high school to college, and development into a college player, mentally and physically. And that, in a large part is the responsibility of the coaching staff.

The individual programs are responsible for that transition, and the ones who do it best will have the best chance of producing a Top 10 team next year. The best programs continue to produce Top 10 teams year in and year out. Top 10 programs will feed high performance athletes to the NFL year after year. That is the goal after all.

There is only one team that has finished in every post season Top 10 poll since 2002. That is none other than Ohio State University, coached by the best in the business, Jim Tressel. He and his staff have produced the most stable, most productive iconic program in the game today. A decade of success is extremely rare. The Buckeyes are a symbol of success.

In the past five years, the SEC has had more teams in the post season Top 10 polls, and as everyone that follows college football knows, they have won every BCS national championship game. Four different SEC teams have claimed national titles - Auburn, Alabama, LSU and Florida (two). These are the teams that generally finish in the post season Top 10, as well.

Since 2006, each of these teams have repeatedly landed high end recruiting classes and have coached up these kids to become champions in their league. The league champions have the potential to compete for the national championship, depending on their season record and level of competition during the regular season, in and out of conference.

The recruiting results of 2011 are no different. Eleven of the twelve SEC schools landed a Top 25 recruiting class. Ohio State finished No. 7 according to ESPN. Texas and USC are also once again in the mythical recruiting Top 10. 

Look at where the Top 150 recruits played high school ball. Florida is the home state to 42 of the top 150 players, an amazing statistic in and of itself. Georgia high schools produced 15 Top 150 players, Alabama high schools produced six players. SEC region states totaled 74 of the Top 150 players - one short of half of the list.

The state of Texas populated the list with 18 Top 150 players. Most of the top talent in the Lone Star state will attend The University of Texas while the others left out of the most desirable in-state institution will sign with Oklahoma, Nebraska, Oregon and TCU. It happens every year. Now and then, an anomaly occurs.

Most of the California/PAC 10 footprint talent in the Top 150 will find their way to USC, year after year.  2011 was no different. Much of the top talent in the Big Ten was harvested by Ohio State.

But there is a reason for these trends and it's not a secret to anyone who follows the sport. These schools put a high priority on success in football and will settle for nothing less than championships.

If a premier program goes five years without a championship, there will likely be a change in the coaching staff, if not an outright removal of the head coach. A program such as Michigan is intolerant of mediocrity, as they should be. Rich Rodriquez was left for dead after four unacceptable seasons for the prideful Big Blue.

Boise State is an aberrancy. Maligned by many fans across the BCS landscape and beloved by the media, Chris Petersen can coach as well as anyone in college football and has proven it on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, his program is in a league that does not lend to much credibility on a national stage unless they are undefeated in consecutive years. One loss and they drop drastically from the National title picture.

Gary Patterson, Head Coach at TCU has benefited from the talent available in the state of Texas and has recruited the field well. He has developed the athletes and sold them on his system of offense and defense, producing champions along the way. He too is an unusual example of success, as was Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh parlayed his short term success into a chance to coach in the NFL.

At TCU success in football will be hard to sustain once Patterson leaves because the University is not  committed to winning championships as is the coach, they have yet to learn how to support a world class college football program. Patterson is the key as it Petersen for Boise State.

The Stanford's, California's, Oregon's, Iowa's, and Wisconsin's come and go, as well. The occasional championship by Tennessee, UGA and South Carolina are not the standard. Their championships come when the Iconic teams in the respective conferences are down and circumstances come together to allow that particular team to make a run for a special season. A season to remember.

For the occasional winners, the University is not committed to developing a program that will last. The administrations are completely clueless as to how to sustain success. The Dean of the school could care less about success on the gridiron.

The fan base for the University does not know what goes on between the head football coach and the administration and they become disenchanted with the head coach. After all, he is the representative for the university on the field. The coach becomes the target of criticism and the worst case scenario takes place; a head coach capable of winning is fired. The cycle of mediocrity is perpetuated.

So, in the end, 2011 is a repeat performance of years past. The winners are still winners, the middle range talent populates the rosters of teams that will be satisfied with 6 to10 wins and a bowl game.

But there might just be one team, that because of opportunistic circumstances, has all the right things come together for a championship run. One team, that in the end, becomes a giant killer and rises to the top of the heap.

One coach, prepared to take a group of average athletes to the top of the mountain. The next Jim Harbaugh is out there, working overtime to make it happen. That is indeed what makes college football so exciting. Oregon failed in that endeavor this year, but someone else may be given the opportunity in 2012. Time will tell.