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FOOTBALL RECRUITING A look at ESL Power 5 recruits from the past 13 years

the mighty yehti

Retired Number
Aug 30, 2001
5,938
7,469
66
So with way too much time on my hands today (kid is sick on a day when we were supposed to go to KC), I thought I would look through Rivals database and the East St Louis Recruits:
  1. 21 kids since 2004 committed to P5 schools... Roughly 1.5 kids per year.
  2. Out of the 21 kids, 8 either went to a prep school, Juco or I couldn’t find any stats on the kid post high school. Close to 40%.
  3. Mizzou offered 12 kids and had 7 commit. Close to 60%. The five who didn’t commit:
Terry Hawthorne
Kraig Appleton
Anthony Pierson (I realize he was committed and may have wanted to recommit but lost his spot)
Jeff Thomas
Kyron Watson
Going through each player, I was discouraged by the lack of success.. A lot of kids missed a golden opportunity to better their lives by making bad decisions. I categorized them as:
Good – Top tier players
Contributors – Guys who saw significant time or still with their original school
Busts – Failed to meet expectations
TBD – Still in high school or in the process of transferring​

Good:
Terry Beckner Jr, DT, 4 Star, 2015, Mizzou **Could be the best ever
Terry Hawthorne, WR/DB, 4 Star, 2009, Illinois **B10 All Freshman team Drafted 5th round
Stanley Green, DB, 3 Star, 2015, Illinois **Played in 10 Games as a True Freshman 5th on team with 62 tackles.

Contributors:
Natereace Strong, RB, 4 Star, 2014, Mizzou **Out of shape played sparingly
Anthony Pierson, RB/WR, 4 Star, 2011, Kansas **Senior stats (72 carries for 323 yds, 22 passes for 203 yds. Wasn’t drafted
Trevour Sims, OT, 3 Star, 2015, Mizzou **Played sparingly as a True freshman

Busts:
Glenn Faulkner, S, 4 Star, 2011, Kentucky **Played sparingly. Missed 2015 season with injury. Not on 2016 roster
Kraig Appleton, WR, 4 Star, 2009, Wisconsin **Played as a True Freshman, Kicked off team. Shot multiple times in 2011
Brandon Harold, DE, 3 Star, 2008, Kansas St **Freshman All American and then went downhill…. Pretty sure he quit by his Sr year.
Kyron Watson, LB, 3 Star, 2014, Kansas **Played as a freshman and left the team in 2015 to join Southern Illinois
Ty Phillips, DT, 3 Star, 2009, Mizzou **Ended up at Missouri Valley and was invited to a rookie camp with Cleveland Browns in 2015
Keante Minor, WR, 3 Star, 2011, Arkansas **Left in 2013 not sure where he went
Jerrell McDaniel, WR, 3 Star, 2007, Kansas St **Not on any roster that I can find
Tommie Hopkins, DB, 3 Star, 2009, Illinois **Red-shirted after being shot. Not on 2010 Illinois roster
Clint Tucker, DT, 3 Star, 2011, Illinois **No stats or evidence he ever made it to Illinois
Brian Harris, LB, 2 Star, 2007, Kansas St **No stats or evidence he ever made it Kansas St
Julius Denzmore, ATH, 2 Star, 2004, Mizzou **Never made it to Mizzou

TBD:
Jeff Thomas, WR, 4 Star, 2016 TBD
Treevon Prater, S, 3 Star, 2014 Still at JUCO I think.
Greg Taylor, S, 3 Star, 2014 Leaving after one year
Reyondous Estes, QB, 2 Star, 2017 TBD

Assuming the "TBD" kids are successful, ESL would have 10 out of 21 kids or 10 kids in 13 years considered solid contributors to their college program. As a reference Rock Bridge High School had the SAME number of players who could be considered "solid contributors" at P5 schools during that same time period (RBHS also had 16 kids commit to P5 schools). With 10 of their 16 players being solid contributors, RBHS has a much higher success rate.

Long story short.. ESL will continue to produce talent and I think Mizzou should continue to recruit the school, however I don't think they deserve any special treatment or even thought of as a D1 producing factory. My two cents....
 
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