A look at Big 12 Recruiting: Offense

*Posted on The Vicotry Bells blog on RedRaiderSports.com part o the Y! Rivals network 

As college football entered the new millennium, the Big 12 began to gain a reputation as a prolific offensive conference. This perception proved to be true throughout the 2011 season as the conference had six of the top 15 offenses in the nation, while no other conference had more than two. The Big 12 also had more offenses ranked in the top 15 than all five of the other BCS conferences combined. 

Let's take a look at the type of talent these Big 12 offensive juggernauts are bringing onto campus and how it translates to the gaudy statistics filling box scores across the conference.

Offenses in the Big 12 do not necessarily require elite talent to become unstoppable scoring machines. Teams like Baylor and Oklahoma State has recruiting rankings on offense were middle of the pack and they still managed to torture defenses in the Big 12 and Pac 12 this season.

The majority of spread based systems run in the Big 12 are designed to do more with less. This is unlike the SEC, which boasted six of the top ten offensive recruiting classes over the past four years, yet the league's offenses seem to be based around their field goal kickers.

Boom roasted (kind of).

From five-star kings to two-star bodies, some truly spectacular talent is mined from the fertile Big 12 recruiting soils that make these offenses run on all cylinders. Most of them begin and end with their signal callers.

If you follow college football, then you know the key to any capable functioning offense is the quarterback. If coaches insert any type of skillful player around an accurate signal caller most of the time things will run like clockwork.

For a school that primarily recruited two star quarterbacks from 2002-07, Baylor sure hit a homerun with their first four-star prospect.

Robert Griffin is the prime example of why the quarterback position is so important in the Big 12. The Heisman Trophy winner and future top five draft pick did not have the cream of the crop to work with at the skill positions (as you will see below). Regardless, Baylor was able to put together one the best offenses in the country and their best season in school history because they had a quarterback who could run a system that made the less talented more effective.

Oklahoma State did the same thing with an obscure transfer in Brandon Weeden. Given Weeden's Heisman-esque play this season, it would be a safe assumption for a casual fan to look at Oklahoma State's recruiting ranking and assume he was highly coveted.

That's not the case. Weeden came to campus as a transfer in 2007, which means Oklahoma State will have a good chance of replacing with a guy from the 22nd overall quarterback class and not lose a beat.
Texas, of course, is the prime example of how an ineffective quarterback can virtually ruin an offense. The Longhorns have the eighth overall ranking in quarterback acquisitions, but have been unable to translate said talent to the playing field for the past two years.

Five star prospect Garrett Gilbert struggled throughout the 2010 season trying to replace Colt McCoy and was later benched early in the 2011 season; the second-ranked quarterback in the 2009 recruiting class (behind Matt Barkley) transferred eventually transferred to SMU.

Connor Wood, a four-star prospect and third-ranked quarterback in the 2010 class, also decided to transfer prior to the beginning of the 2011 season, which left Texas with only two inexperienced three star recruits to pick up the pieces. I'm unsure of what's going on down at the capital, but it's very hard to miss on four different prospects of that caliber -- especially when you're Texas.

Unlike the Longhorns, the transfer of two Texas Tech quarterbacks won't leave the Red Raiders high and dry.

Tech is in a great spot with Seth Doege, who played his way into the upper tier of conference quarterbacks in 2011 and projects to remain there in 2012. Michael Brewer, a 2011 commit and three star prospect, is already drawing rave reviews from coaches and enters 2012 entrenched as the backup and quarterback of the future.

The transfers leave Tech a little thin for the moment at the quarterback position, but not without talent. They'll need to stockpile some recruits behind Clayton Nicholas in the 2013 class.

Similar to the NFL, running backs in college football can come a dime a dozen and from unexpected places.
As a two star running back out of high school, Baylor's Terrance Ganaway was hardly a blip on the recruiting radar. Still, he ended his senior season as the leading rusher in the Big 12, seventh overall nationally, and with an outside chance of being drafted in 2012.

Producing better numbers than the conference powerhouses filled with four and five star recruits is impressive. However, beating out those same four and five star prospects for playing time as a walk-on who couldn't get playing time at a NAIA program is nothing short of miraculous.

Walk-on Dominique Whaley emerged as the Oklahoma's lead running back before succumbing to a season-ending ankle injury. Despite missing the final six games, Whaley still finished as the Sooners leading rusher on the season after beating out highly rated recruits such as Jonathon Miller (four star), Brennan Clay (four star), Roy Finch (four star), and Brandon Williams (five star).

The underdogs were not the story for all the Big 12 programs. Some sought after recruits looked every bit as advertised.

Malcolm Brown (five star) of Texas was tearing it up as a true freshman despite battling an injury throughout the second half of the season. In College Station, Cyrus Gray (four star) and Christine Michael (five star) combined for nearly 2,000 yards rushing -- the best of any RB duo in the conference. Not far behind them were the a couple of four-star Oklahoma State running backs, Joseph Randle and Jeremy Smith, who combined for just over 1,800 yards rushing and 33 touchdowns.

Tech was also finding massive success with a four star prospect of their own -- Eric Stephens -- until the injury bug bit and kept on biting. When DeAndre Washington went down with a season ending injury in Columbia, the Red Raiders loaded running back position suddenly became a little hairy.

With guys like Harrison Jeffers (four star) unable to recover from an eventual career ending injury, Ronnie Daniels (three star) suspended, and Delans Griffin (four star) unable to qualify, the recruiting classes for Tech were now providing very little at the position.

True freshman Kenny Williams (four star) and fifth-year senior Aaron Crawford (three star) did a commendable job picking up the pieces. Tech finished last in the Big 12 in rushing, but without most of the recruits in the 32nd rated running back class, it's not a total shock.

The way Baylor's receivers torched defenses all season long, it's hard not be shocked at how lowly regarded their overall talent was coming out of high school.

The Bears -- equipped with two and three star receivers -- had the third most passing yards in the nation in 2011 and were able to do so with 159 less pass attempts than the fourth ranked Sooners (or 27% less). On top of that, the spread offense was able to produce 3 of the 6 top wide receivers in the Big 12 - including leading receiver Kendall Wright.

Wright -- a three-star recruit -- has probably played his way into the first round of the NFL draft after leading Baylor in receiving yards all four years on campus. His counterparts, Terrance Williams and Tevin Reese, were both two-star players who have immeasurably out-played their Rivals.com recruiting grades. After continuously burning Big 12 defensive backs in 2011, these two players proved to be great examples of spread offenses getting more out of less.

Another great example would be the second overall passing offense in the nation: Oklahoma State. Like Baylor, the Pokes have been able to get it done without four star recruits and have turned a three-star prospect -- Justin Blackmon -- into a first-round lock in the NFL draft.

Some three star guys may have stolen the show in 2011, but Oklahoma's Ryan Broyles may have had something to say about that had he not been injured. Despite missing the last four games of the season, the former four-star recruit still managed to finish the season as the Sooner's leading receiver. The scariest thing about the Sooners' sixth overall wide receiver haul is Ryan Broyles did not factor into it. He was recruited as a defensive back in 2007. Unfortunately for Big 12 opponents, this just demonstrates how loaded the Sooners are at the position.

Eric Ward is the lone four star commit to make any significant impact on the field for the Red Raiders in 2011. Marcus Kennard, Jace Amaro, and Derek Edwards -- all from the 2011 recruiting class -- have yet to make notable contributions for Texas Tech.

Instead, Neal Brown was able to utilize some not so highly sought after transfers in Darrin Moore and Alex Torres for a reliable consistency in the passing game.

With the infusion of two more four-star prospects from the 2012 class and only three seniors graduating in 2011, the Red Raider's two-deep should be able to provide explosiveness in the passing game, something they lacked in 2011.

They say there is strength in numbers and if there was one thing Mike Sherman did right as the Aggies head coach it was recruit offensive lineman to College Station. From 2008-11 the Aggies recruited 20 offensive lineman, including six four-stars.

In 2011, Texas A&M had the 23rd-ranked rushing attack and, more impressively, only allowed nine total sacks the whole season (third lowest in the nation). Four of the five starters on the offensive line were four-star prospects, with three of them coming from the 2010 recruiting class that had four linemen with four-star grades.

Highly rated recruits are not the only guys who can succeed on the offensive line. Over the past four years, only seven of the 45 linemen who received Big 12 first or second team accolades were four-star recruits or better out of high school. Over the past four years only six of the linemen taken in the NFL draft have been four-star recruits or better, which includes only one of the five selected in the first round from the Big 12.

LaAdrian Waddle earned a post-season award for Tech by taking home All-Big 12 second team honors in 2011. Waddle, Deveric Gallington and Terry McDaniel, all former three-star prospects, started all 12 games for Texas Tech at various positions on the offensive line. Lonnie Edwards, a former four-star prospect, was the other Tech lineman to start all 12 games for the Red Raiders.

Neither of the two four-star prospects recruited from 2008-11 have been able to capture any serious playing time for Tech thus far. Kyle Clark only appeared in two games in 2011 (his redshirt sophomore season) and Tony Morales took a medical redshirt his first year on campus in 2011.

Texas Tech's offense line had a positive season in 2011 by only allowing 19 total sacks (43rd overall) and ranking 27th in the nation in tackles allowed for a loss.


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An Overall Look at Big 12 Recruiting

*Posted on The Victory Bells blog on RedRaiderSports.com part of the Y! Rivals network

An attractive night sky is usually complimented by an enormous collection of stars. The same can be said for college football recruiting classes.

The recruiting scoreboard has become wildly popular for college football fans everywhere as media coverage now makes it easier for people to follow their favorite school's recruiting endeavors. Highly rated recruiting classes are celebrated by the thought that winning is now seemingly imminent. 

And just like the stars in the sky, some recruits will shine while others burn out. A three star recruit can become the Heisman trophy winner, while a five star prospect struggles to get playing time. While these cases are rare and recruiting analyst hit more than they miss, few guarantees can be made for any player.

It shouldn't be understated that acquiring top rated prospects on a consistent basis will generally allow a program to have steady success. During any given season, a team's core can consist of players ranging from fifth year seniors to JUCO transfers to highly touted incoming freshman. There isn't a set formula to figure out which players will be the most effective contributors on the football field.

In Big 12 country, Texas and Oklahoma tend to get their pick of the best recruits, a trend that continued with the 2012 recruiting classes. In fact, since Rivals began tracking and ranking recruiting classes in 2002, Texas and Oklahoma have ranked been the top two teams every season.
Over those 11 years, the two schools have combined for nine Big 12 championships which included seven in a row from 2004-10 and ten straight years of winning the South division -- a pretty good showing of dominance.

However, the 2011 season was one filled with unexpected results as Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Baylor finished top three in the conference. It was the first time since 1997 that neither Texas nor Oklahoma would finish top three in the conference.

Since this type of season was such a rarity in the Big 12, it made me wonder what type of talent these other schools had been acquiring over the past four years and if they were catching up to the likes of Texas and Oklahoma, resulting in a spike in the rankings.

Below is a chart that uses the "points" category on Rivals.com to quantify the quality of recruits each schools is getting. Rivals will assign certain point totals to the best player at each position, which descends as you go down the list of player rankings. Basically, the better the player, the higher the point total and vice versa.

This study looked at the recruiting classes for each Big 12 school over the past four years (2008-11) and tallied up the total of points they received for top quality recruits.

"Total" is the overall amount of points awarded for recruits by Rivals and "Overall" is where the school ranks nationally out of 120 FBS teams.

The perceived talent gap between Texas, Oklahoma, and the rest of the Big 12 the last four years has been huge. While Oklahoma had a bit of a down year, Texas is the one between the two that massively underachieved in 2011.

Texas put up monster recruiting numbers from 2008-11 ranking fourth overall nationally behind Alabama, USC, and Florida. Yet in 2011, the Longhorns were still unable to fully bounce back from their 2010 enigma of a season; UT posted a 4-5 record in conference play, despite having an extreme talent advantage on paper over their conference foes.

Excluding the Sooners, Texas has recruited more four and five star prospects (63) than Oklahoma State, Missouri, Baylor, and Kansas State combined (46) -- the teams that handed the Longhorns four of their five losses this past season.

Regardless of a combined 13-12 record over the past two seasons, the Longhorn finished 2012 with the No. 2 recruiting class and only two less four and five star recruits than the rest of the 2011 version of the Big 12 combined (excluding Oklahoma). The rich get richer.

Speaking of the rich, how about Oklahoma State finally giving billionaire donor T. Boone Pickens some return on his investment? Pickens has pumped over $165 million into Oklahoma State's football program for improvements to facilities and the stadium.ing for the national championship last season, it would be fair to assume the brand new facilities had the top rated recruits flocking to Stillwater similar to other national powerhouses.

That hasn't exactly been the case.

From 2008-11, the Pokes ranked fifth in the Big 12 and 31st nationally in recruiting and have greatly overachieved compared to their recruiting rankings.

Maybe one day Oklahoma State will recruit to the level of Texas and Oklahoma as desired by Pickens. For now, I think it's safe to say Mike Gundy has arrived as one of the nation's elite coaches rather than just some dude who's 40-years-old.

The list of coaches who have overachieved with lesser resources in the Big 12 does not stop with Gundy.

Art Briles and Bill Snyder both had their programs finish in the AP top 15 last season, which is extraordinary for two schools that ranked 49th and 56th nationally in recruiting the past four years. Baylor and Kansas State's combined fifteen four star recruits over the span of four years is the same amount that Texas had in its 2011 class alone (not to mention the Longhorns had a five star on top of that).

The amusing thing about these two coaches and their ten win seasons is that they both did it in completely opposite ways. Briles with high school recruits handpicked to succeed in his wide open passing system. Snyder with a heavy emphasis on transfer students to play in a possession control, protect the ball, run heavy offense.

It will be interesting to see if these two teams can build on their success going into the 2012 season. After all, one is replacing a Heisman trophy winning quarterback and the other will be hoping they can keep their He-Man quarterback in one piece throughout the entire season.

Despite the fourth-best batch of recruits in the Big 12 -- 28th nationally -- the Red Raiders are coming off the programs worst season in nearly 20 years. The insanely large amount of injuries on both sides of the ball surely contributed to the lack of results as did the program's extreme staff turnover on defense over the last three years.

Regardless of the reasons, Tech's 2-7 record in conference play has to be considered a major underachievement in relation to the talent (on paper) of the recruits brought into Lubbock. The Red Raiders will never be a recruiting behemoth like their rivals down in Austin, but they still managed to bring in as many four star recruits over the past four years (19) as Baylor, Kansas State and Iowa State combined - three teams they lost to in 2011 at home or on a neutral site.

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