Which programs best develop elite talent? A five-year deep dive
To provide a concrete measure of developmental prowess, 247Sports dove into Top247 data to see how top programs have cultivated their four and five-star talent. The examination covered a five-year period between the 2011 and 2015 classes, covering the full scope of a player’s potential eligibility – there are a few sixth-year holdouts remaining from the 2015 class that didn't factor into the data set.
To fairly access a successful development, 247Sports created a “Development Rating.”
It's a measure that takes into account the total number of Top247 prospects a program signed along with where/if those players were drafted (3 points for 1st rounders, 2 points for 2nd-3rd, 1 for 4th-7th), dividing the total number of prospects by the point total to create the rating. This removes any advantage created by a program’s ability to recruit an overwhelming number of Top247 players. It also rewards programs that produce more first- and second-day picks, removing a "quantity over quality" argument. We also limited this list to teams that recruited at least 10 Top247 players from 2011 to 2015.
Alabama is far and away the top talent developer nationally with a 1.22 development rating. The Crimson Tide’s 2011-15 recruiting classes produced 11 first-round picks. Only one other team nationally (Ohio State, 8) had more than five. 247Sports did a study a few years ago
that showed the Tide had turned five stars into first-round picks 48.3 percent of the time during Nick Saban’s tenure. The national average from 2008-15 was 17 percent.
The Crimson Tide have their "misses" like everyone else. Their percentage of Top247 draft picks produced is only 59.3, which is second nationally. There’s a reason Alabama defined the 2010s in college football. Saban recruited the best players. Then he did the most with them.
higher percentage (63.8%) of their eligible Top247 players into draft picks. Many of those prospects went off the board quickly. The Buckeyes had eight first-round picks from 2011 to 2015 – not including 2015 class member
Joe Burrow, who went No. 1 overall at LSU.
The Buckeyes don’t look to be slowing under
Ryan Day after producing 10 draft picks last week. Six of those were former Top247 players.
Meanwhile, ‘Little ol’ Clemson’ might have the best hit-rate of any school, producing five first-round picks with just 24 eligible Top247 prospects. That means 20.8 percent of Top247 prospects Clemson signed in that period who stayed the course – didn’t transfer or leave the program for a disciplinary reason – sprouted into a first-rounder. That’s a higher rate than even Alabama (18.6%).
Scary thing is,
Dabo Swinney is only now starting to recruit juggernaut classes. If Clemson’s hit rate stays even close to the same, the Tigers’ run in college football’s top tier shows no sign of slowing.
What team is gonna waste a 1st rounder on Mond?
