Like everyone else, I'm having fun today watching all of the college recruits officially choose their schools. It's always fun to hear the "rankings," I guess because I'm an LSU fan, and I know my school will be ranked high. I get to say things like, "What, Ole Miss won't ever be better than us!" and "Whoa, A&M will be even scarier." But I realize that ESPN's (and anyone else's) rankings do not really mean anything.
I was recently cleaning out a box of old football magazines. In addition to finding a great wager for our annual playoff game (a 2008 Athlon Sports with Vince Young on the cover will be handed over to @TheSpeedgeek soon!), I also came across a 2006 high school publication printed by Sporting News. I was pretty excited, and I flipped through the pages, expecting to see high school pictures of a bunch of young current NFL stars.
While quarterback Jimmy Clausen tops the magazine's "Hot 100," Arrelious Benn is the only name I recognize from the Top 10 as an NFL contributor. (Granted, I am more of a fantasy football fan when it comes to teams other than the New Orleans Saints, so defensive players may slip off of my radar.)
Aaron Hernandez (18), Eric Berry (21), Joe McKnight (26), and Martez Wilson (30) have all reached their potential, at least somewhat. But what about the lists full of guys I have never heard of? The wide receiver positional rankings, for example, feature Greg Little (6) and Leonard Hankerson (15) plus a bunch of players who may not even be real for all I know. I'm pretty sure some of the East Dillon Lions' players have seen more NFL action than Junior Hemingway. (Yahoo Sports says he's on the Kansas City Chiefs. But is he really? Really?)
The point is this: who cares about these rankings? Good college coaches are going to coach well, and their teams will compete. Still, it is pretty funny to hear them say Kentucky's class ranks 13th in the SEC, but they would be 4th in the Big Ten. #SECRULES
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