Super Bowl Update

By Kshell

Last week I took a week off from my weekly rant instead to cover the NFL draft. This past week including today plenty has been going on that I would like to rant about. My main picture is of a sinking ship which can be confused as the Seattle Mariners current logo given their six game losing streak and how they have been a terrible product from the 2004 season until now. I also will talk about the NBA playoffs some in particular one player who has so far had a terrific playoffs. In this rant I'll address rumors by our local radio hosts to boost struggling ratings. This week has seen plenty and like usual I'll give my two cents on everything. So in this rant once again hope you aren't too offended and make sure to enjoy what one man has to rant about.

In year four of the Jack Zduriencik experiment the Mariners offense still looks pathetic and the team is experiencing a six game losing streak. Zduriencik's big trade acquisitions like Franklin Gutierrez and Justin Smoak are proving to be busts while his free agents Chone Figgins and Miguel Olivo are also terrible. Zduriencik is on his second manager Eric Wedge who doesn't appear to have the slightest clue on what is going on. Wedge is in love with veterans when the Mariners should be rebuilding and Zduriencik can't fire him or else he will have failed with both his managerial hires. Last year I suggested that Zduriencik isn't the guy to lead the Mariners to the promise land and unfortunately I'm right once again. Jack Z has proven to be a fraud so far and the Mariners 11-16 record and already seven games back in year four just further proves my claim. The fact that 22 of the 25 guys on this roster are a product of Zduriencik(Felix, Ichiro and Saunders are the three who aren't) just gives more evidence he doesn't know what he is doing to be a major league general manager. Time for Zudriencik and Wedge to pack their bags and move on.

This playoffs once again no player matters more than Lebron James. In this picture shows Lebron going up against Carmelo Anthony. I bring up these two because at one point they were both in the same breath. James will win his third MVP in the last four years in a couple of weeks while Anthony has made it past the first round just once in his career as he falls to 0-7 in playoff games with the Knicks. Lebron is killing the Knicks this series averaging 27.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 5.7 APG and 2.7 steals while shooting 50.9% from the field. While Anthony is averaging 21.0 PPG and 9.0 RPG but shooting just 34.4% from the field. Anthony appears to be this generations wasted talent a guy who can rack up stats but can't translate to wins. While James has had his problems in the playoffs he has never lost a first round series in his entire NBA career. James scored 17 of his 32 points in game three in the fourth quarter making a two point game into a 17 point victory. James is stepping up his game while Anthony once again is falling short. At one time Anthony falling short in the playoffs used to be a major story instead now it's a non story which speaks even further of Anthony's career in New York.

Today on his KJR show and on his twitter Dave Softy Mahler speculated that the Eugene register is sitting on a big story that will put the Oregon Ducks basketball and football on probation. Of course his source quickly turned into a rumor when he caught lying. Now Mahler can sit behind that he was just spreading a rumor but as the case he was just flat out wrong. Then on the Dawgman message boards fans were saying that writer from the Eugene Register is just a Ducks fan with an agenda. What fans don't realize is newspaper writers have to hold some sort of integrity while radio hosts like Softy or those who run Dawgman don't. Dawgman is a glorified fan site just like Softy's show is a glorified fan show. They never break any real news yet the fans in Seattle eat it up like it's the gospel. Use common sense people in today's era with bloggers, radio hosts, and other newspapers you really think a small-time newspaper is going to sit on a huge national story?!! Really?!! This was just a sad attempt by a KJR host hoping to boost his ratings and the fans ate it up. I've been hearing for a while the Oregon Ducks are going on probation but until it actually happens I'm sick of it. Right now these Husky fans are misrepresenting the true fans which is a shame. These hacks would rather see Oregon fail than see the Huskies succeed which is a shame. So in the future guys don't listen to anything this guy has to say because his "sources" are Hugh Millen, Kim Grinolds of dawgman  and Elderidge Recasner. Basically he has no real sources just guesses and hoping it sticks.

Well guys those are my rants for the week. Hopefully in football season I can be more positive although you guys don't read my blog for positive rants. The Mariners are a team that is in a sinking ship and we should be enjoying the NBA playoffs but our team was stolen. There isn't much going on in this city since the draft has just been completed so expect more rumors with no facts supporting them behind it. Anyways hope you enjoyed this post and make sure to read my Mariners weekly post this Monday.

By Kshell

Typically when an adult is texting a teen 40 times a day, messaging them on facebook non stop or tweeting to them all day that is something to be concerned about. What most people would think is that adult is a pedophile like former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky. Instead this is just your normal recruiting in today's era. With Facebook and Twitter plus back in the day myspace these site owners harass these kids 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year like clockwork. With twitter blowing up you also see so many sad fans trying to "sell" their favorite team to a recruit thinking that their opinion might actually matter. The saddest part in all this is that the stalking of teens during recruiting season has become too "normal" to most people since it has been going on for so long with no end in sight.

On twitter you'll see the Dawgman guys or Crazy Ruth Robbins especially stalking these teens. Always trying to break the story on where a kid is going. On Dave "Softy" Mahlers facebook page so many people are concerned about the mindset of a 17 year old kid that this time last year they had no clue who he was. I'll admit that the names Jordan Payton, Shaq Thompson, Cedric Dozier, Arik Armstread meant nothing to me as of three months ago. Then when LOI day finally arrives if that kid comes to your school he is the next great one, if he snubs your school then there must be something wrong with him. Adults don't care one bit about calling a 17 or 18 year old kid every name in the book behind a keyboard if he doesn't go to their particular school. Another thing these adults don't realize is there is a very good chance these kids are getting off on the attention. It reminds me of South Park where the kids are outsmarting the adults here. I'm sure these high recruits love to mess with these adults as it is just so easy to do.


Sometimes people forget what it was like to be in high school. Where all you cared about was sports, girls and how to steal alcohol from either your parents or a friends parents. They also forget just how immature these kids are and how their mind changes from day to day. That won't stop the adults from freaking out though if a five star recruit tweets "I had a cherry milkshake today" then everyone freaks out thinking oh he chose cherry because it's red then starts to figure out what it meant. These kids on twitter it's so obvious love messing with the adults and these sites like Dawgman, Realdawg and every other public figure who participates in this sad game eats it up every time. I just wish there was a hard rule stopping people from contacting recruits(I know there is a rule but never enforced) as I'm tired of people cluttering up my twitter feed with "@Stud5Star come to the dawgs(or cougs or ducks) and lead us to a Rose Bowl baby!". Try tweeting that to a 17 year old and CPS is all over your ass as you become the most popular person in your new "club" called Prison.

Social media has made the recruiting game into a giant joke and sadly this isn't going to stop. If you aren't reading up on the recruits you will be behind with old news and nobody wants to be left out. I just hope the adults stop badgering these recruits on facebook and twitter as it's super annoying plus pathetic. I'll be honest I want the stud recruits to come to Washington but I can care less about how they are as people. I don't want to "get to know" a high school kid seeing how I'm 26 years old. When we were in high school did we ever try to "get to know" a middle schooler? Hell no! I just think this stalking teens game is beyond sad and even worse most people have no problem with it. If you were doing that to any other high school kid you'd be in jail but hey he's good at sports so it must be all right.

By Kshell


Never in the history of media as a single "WOOF!!! WOOF!!! WOOF!!!" cause so much controversy but that was the case last night on twitter. When Washington Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian tweeted that tweet that typically means he just signed a new recruit. Per NCAA rules Sarkisian isn't allowed to say who. There had been rumors for a few weeks now that three-star(was a four-star last week) cornerback Brandon Beaver from Dominguez high school from Compton, California was going to commit to the Huskies soon. So without even talking to him first Crazy Ruth Robbins of Realdawg reported that Beaver was a Husky. After Dave "Softy" Mahler of KJR had retweeted that she quickly backed off that report which started a giant twitter war. Soon after Dawgman.com had reported Beaver was also coming to the Huskies. Beaver who is only 18 years old about to embark on his biggest decision of his life had his moment taken away from him. Now Beaver is going on his trip to Oklahoma Sooners and the Arizona Wildcats. The Huskies could lose out on Beaver when it is all said and done considering 20 years ago this wouldn't have been a problem Beaver would be a Husky now he might be just another cautionary tale of yet another recruit lost at the hands of crazy Ruth Robbins. So you have to wonder do these recruiting sites do more harm for their school they represent than good?

When crazy Ruth(you can see she has killed Huskies recruiting in the past with this picture on James Montgomery's page) tweeted that Softy Mahler retweeted that. A day after blasting me saying he would only quote a credible source he had no problem quoting crazy Ruth despite her being known for jumping the gun. Immediately after crazy Ruth had said she hadn't spoke to Beaver. Then Softy was upset(rightfully so as he looks dumb by default) with Crazy Ruth which then proceeded to be the most entertaining 15 minutes of twitter war I've seen. In this case Softy was 100% correct in questioning crazy Ruth who in returned pissed off the "Husky commit" Brandon Beaver. He actually tweeted about Ruth saying "Ruth is something else...SMH...sad to say". Beaver wanted to let his family and friends know first hand. He wanted to enjoy this special moment of his life that he'll forever remember instead it was all ruined by crazy Ruth who is only in the business to help herself and herself only. She can care less about the Huskies program and the damage she has constantly done to this football program. She isn't the only guilty one in this mess as her rival recruiting site Dawgman.com also reported this. Then Softy Mahler had Chris Fetters on as a guest today and Fetters unintentionally took heat off crazy Ruth and put it on his site instead.

Today on Softy Mahler's show Dawgman writer Chris Fetters was on there. Fetters did more damage than good for his site today. The most telling quote was him saying "I'm only in this business to put Dick's burgers in my stomach and shoes on my feet" translation I'm in this for me and me only screw the program. Dawgman in the past has sat on their hands on key information such as Tyrone Willingham knowing that had they came out to say he needs to go good chance he would have been let go heading into 2008. Instead they protected him and the Huskies went 0-12 in the process. Fetters and crazy Ruth are showing that these recruiting sites don't give a shit about the Huskies, the kids involved or the people they hurt. They are in this business about themselves and themselves only. Kim Grinolds the site owner did his best politician act on Mahler's facebook page today trying to clean up the big steaming pile of crap that Fetters had put on his fanbase as subscribers are being lost by the minute. That is the problem when you have two sites targeting the same material to the same fanbase and those two absolutely hate each other. In the end once again the program and the fans are the ones who are hurt the most. Their level of selfishness may have cost the Huskies a talented cornerback which this program has been starving for since the 2000 Rose Bowl championship team.

In conclusion, this town isn't big enough for two recruiting sites. One has to go and while Dawgman looks bad today that option is clearly Crazy Ruth. Husky booster Bill Fleenor has stated Steve Sarkisian and Huskies athletic director Scott Woodward aren't happy with crazy Ruth and her credentials might be finally revoked which is a move that has been long overdue. At some point these guys need to have a soul and let these kids celebrate the moment. Unless these kids personally say to them they are going to their school they should remain quiet. Like Mahler has stated and I believe him he has sat on key information for the better of the school.  Fetters and crazy Ruth showed their true colors today and last night. They showed they care about their own personal gain than the team they supposedly cheer for on Saturday's. Hopefully Beaver still comes here after the damage Crazy Ruth did today. Sarkisian will do his best to separate himself from these clowns and hopefully Beaver realizes those groups don't represent the Husky fanbase at all.

By Kshell

This past sunday when the Seattle Seahawks took on the Cleveland Browns there was an interesting choice as the color commentator. The announcer was former Seahawks head coach Jim L.Mora and he actually showed he still loves the city of Seattle. With the Washington Huskies defense still struggling under Nick Holt some fans have suggested Mora take over as coach. Of course some fans are against the move. You see due to the Tyrone Willingham fallout in 2007-2008 Mora to those fans is the most evil coach there is. He's on the same level as Chip Kelly and Rick Neuheisel to this fanbase. In this following post I'll explain why hating Jim L. Mora(he isn't a junior by the way) is simply stupid and I'll explain why some fans hate Mora.


The controversy all began with Mora in December of 2006. Mora two seasons removed from taking the Atlanta Falcons to the NFC championship game was on 950 KJR with Dave "Softy" Mahler and his old college roommate Hugh Millen. On air talking candily with two guys that he considers his friends Mora made mention that the Univeristy of Washington was his dream job. Mahler caught that statement and knew he had gold so he ran with it. To which Mora said "If I'm coaching Super Bowl week I'm quitting my job to be with the Huskies if they offered tomorrow." Those comments made some Husky fans very excited. Those comments also pissed off the Atlanta Falcons fanbase and some Washington Huskies fans as the Huskies had a coach in place in Tyrone Willingham. Willingham who took over a 1-10 mess saw his team go 2-9 in year one but then in year two saw progress going 5-7. The Huskies did lose six games in a row after starting off 4-1 as Willingham rubbed some people the wrong way with his "suddenly senior" game as the Huskies lost 20-3 at home to 0-10 Stanford Cardinal. At the end of the season the Falcons fired Mora after going 7-9 in a season which the Falcons started off 5-2. The Falcons lost three games in a row after Mora made those comments as well. Mora was hired though by the Seattle Seahawks to be the secondary coach and assistent head coach. That move was interesting as Mora would be in Seattle in 2007 which meant he was going to be the first choice if Willingham started to fail.

With Mora already in Seattle that made for an interesting 2007 season which divided up the fan base. You had your pro Willingham guys who defended him no matter what and felt you should never bash on your coach. You also had some fans who wanted Mora to be the coach. The season started off well for Willingham as the Huskies were 2-0 for the first time since 2001 under freshman quarterback Jake Locker. The Huskies then lost six games in a row and the tipping point was the final loss as the Huskies blew a 41-26 lead to the Arizona Wildcats losing 48-41. That is when some fans began to openly demand the Huskies fire Willingham and go with Mora. Mora took a position job for the Seahawks many felt so he can be right there in Seattle. There was some speculation that a secret behind the scenes deal was taking place for Mora to take over for Willingham. There was many arguments on the dawgman boards where it got to a point the Mora fans created their own website which could get pretty vulger at times but the content was generaly the right message.

 The Huskies finished the 2007 season losing the Washington State Cougars 42-35 and then blowing a 21-0 lead only to lose 35-28 to the Hawaii Warriors. This is where the University screwed up they chose to keep Willingham for the 2008 season knowing that an NFL coach was in their backyard in Jim L. Mora. In January of 2008 the Seahawks who had a 10-6 season named Mora the next head coach for when Mike Holmgren retires after the 2008 season. Willingham of course went 0-12 in 2008 and because Mora was already scheduled to be the next NFL head coach he turned down the Huskies out of loyalty to the Seahawks. The Huskies would hire Steve Sarkisian while Mora was fired after just one season for the Seahawks going 5-11 even though he inherited a team that had gone 4-12 the year prior.

Seattle has had plenty of failed coaches before and many who have failed worse than Mora did in only one season. Which is why it is so perplexing that Mora is so hated by so many fans in Seattle. For those who don't know Jim L. Mora's dad is Jim Mora the coach who once had the famous line of "Playoffs?!! I just hope we can win a friggin game" in a very high pitch voice. Well elder Mora earned his stripes as the Huskies defensive coordinator when Don James took over as head coach the first move he made was demoting Jim Lambright from defensive coordinator to linebackers coach. The Huskies won the Rose Bowl during the 1977 upsetting the Michigan Wolverines 27-20. Elder Mora then bolted to the NFL as he was successful for the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts but couldn't ever win the big game.

Younger Mora played for the University of Washington from 1980-1983 as he was a part of two Rose Bowl teams and a graduate assistent on the Orange Bowl team. Younger Mora went on to coach with his dad then later became an up and coming defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers before becoming head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. There is no reason to hate Mora as his dad has a big part of Huskies history and he himself played for the Huskies. He has stated several times that the Huskies job would be his dream and he even coached the Seattle Seahawks. Recently while announcing the Seahawks game he showed that he still loves Seattle as he grew up here, his wife is from here and he still lives in Seattle. If anything fans should root for a guy like Mora who has local connections. Instead, since nobody will ever admit to supporting Willingham the bitterness still remains. Many of the Willingham fans are easily detected as they go out of their way to hate on the "evil" Rick Neuheisel and will bash on Jim L. Mora even though he played for the Huskies.

Now the Mora bashers bring up the fact that why would any college team want him since he failed in the NFL twice? Well let's play a little game coach A won one division title and has a 31-33(.484%) record in the NFL and a 1-1 playoff record. He was given three years at one job where he had some success and at another job was fired after just one season. Coach B won one division title and had a 33-31(.515) record in the NFL and a 1-2 playoff record. He was given three years at one job where he had some success and at another job was fired after just one season. Both coaches were also defensive coordinators on successful 49ers teams. As you can see both coaches are eerily similar so if you haven't guessed by now coach A is Jim L. Mora and coach B is Pete Carroll. Yes the same Carroll who replaced Mora as Seahawks coach and more importantly the same Carroll who won two national championships, four Rose Bowl championships and two Orange Bowl's. Carroll like Mora is an energetic defensive minded coach who had no college head coaching experience at all prior to arriving at USC.

 In fact failing in the NFL doesn't mean much as most failed NFL coaches do quite well in the college game. Former Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson won two national titles at the university of Miami went to the Seahawks where he was 31-33 in four seasons. After being fired went to the Oregon State Beavers who hadn't had a winning season in close to 30 years. While at Oregon State Erickson went 31-17(.646%) including a Fiesta Bowl win.  Erickson went to the 49ers where he was 9-23 only to return to the college game with the Arizona State Sun Devils who are enjoying a 5-2 season as we speak. Steve Spurrier won a ton of games including a national championship at the univeristy of Florida Gators before leaving to the Washington Redskins. With the Redskins Spurrier was a failure going just 12-20 before returning to the college game. At bottom feeder South Carolina Spurrier is 50-34(.595%). Typically failed NFL coaches come down to the college ranks and dominate the college game just like major leaguers dominate triple A.

In conclusion, no fan in Seattle should have any reason to hate Jim L. Mora yet so many want him to fail. Just mentioning that a former NFL head coach should be the Huskies defensive coordinator and some fans will be outraged at the thought of Mora becoming defensive coordinator. You just know if Sarkisian were to be fired or leave and Mora takes over all those Willingham supporters bitterness would come through as they would ride Mora like no other. Facts are Mora was with the Seahawks for one season which isn't enough time to run a franchise into the ground like many portray that he did. Mora also isn't set out for the NFL but as a Huskies fan I fear that someday UCLA, Arizona or California will come in and swoop Mora up. I've never seen Husky fans turn on one of their one in my entire life. Sad that the fans will let an 11-37(.229) coach like Willingham be the reason for turning on a player whose dad coached the Huskies to a Rose Bowl win and a former player who was on a Rose Bowl championship team. Hopefully the animosity towards Mora will finally end as he appears to be a guy who loves this area. This is a guy we should be rooting for not against as there is no reason to root against Mora. If the Huskies are ever at point of searching for a new head coach(hopefully not for decades I might add) I would have no problem with Jim L. Mora being the head coach and neither should you.

By Kshell

The Washington State Cougars fan base is currently divided over head coach Paul Wulff. Some fans want him fired as they realize he isn't the guy. While others want to elect him mayor of Pullman because he leads the Pac-12 in "moral" wins the last two years. The boiling point came in a disappointing 28-25 loss to the UCLA Bruins despite winning the totals yards, first downs, time of possession and turnovers. The fan base who wants Wulff and his 8-34 record(3-26 in conference) gone are now being accused of not being "true" Cougar fans. While I must admit watching Cougar fans fight amongst themselves is quite hilarious it brings me back to a dark time period. When Washington Huskies fans were bickering about a certain losing coach. All the same bull shit excuses that are used towards Wulff were used towards Tyrone Willingham. From blaming the previous coach, the constant jealously of your rival(Husky fans towards Oregon and now Cougars towards Sarkisian), to be satisfied with just being competitive, and to not being a "true" fan for openly getting on your head coach. Yes I don't miss those days at all. In this following post I'll talk about the losing mindset that Cougar fans and how Husky fans had that same mindset just a few years ago.

During the 2007 football season the Huskies fan base was divided. You had two groups of people which had one side(the doogs) who were fine with Willingham and made every excuse in the world for him. Then you had another portion of the fan base that was sick of excuses and embarassing losses(like losing four of five to the Cougars!!!). The Dawgman boards were a war zone where if you blasted Willingham you were considered not a fan. The dawgman guys all supported Willingham despite an 11-25 record. On KJR Dave "Softy" Mahler publicly supported Willingham stating he needed more time. The only public figure was Hugh Millen who did a study showing coaches who have a winning percentage under .350 after three seasons have never succeeded at their university. Now everyone claims all along that they "knew" Willingham wasn't the guy. Mahler even went as far as saying he knew Willingham wasn't the guy during his second season after "suddenly senior" night. Just like I'm sure many of my Cougar friends who are being persecuted right now by many soft Coog(spelled wrong on purpose) fans will be the same fans that "knew" Wulff wasn't the guy. The problem is every fan base just accepts losing and in the northwest fans who want to win are the minority not the majority.

When you do fire a crappy coach the key is to hire the right guy. Which the Huskies failed to do when they fired Keith Gilbertson they hired Willingham. The Cougars did the same thing when they fired Bill Doba then hired Paul Wulff. Just like in 2007 so many Husky fans wanted Pat Hill who was an average coach at Fresno State. Today Cougar fans if they do fire Wulff will most likely want Robb Akey to lead them. Akey of course coached the Cougars from 1999-2006 so he'll never leave Pullman. As a Huskies fan I hope my rival school hired Akey as he is only 18-38 as head coach at Idaho. In his fifth season he is currently 1-5 yet the love affair for Akey is very confusing. The Cougars have always hired from the Cougar family so why change that? Well because you've only made it to 10 bowl games in 100 years, beat your rival only 31 times out of 103 games is why. Steve Sarkisian is in the process of controlling this state landing nine of the top 11 players in the state the last two years including all six last season. If the Cougars expect to compete with their rivals they are going have to find a real coach or be prepared to be stuck losing for a while.

In conclusion, watching history repeat itself with my rival school has been fun to witness. I do feel for my Cougar friends who actually have expectations for their program but they are fighting a losing battle. I experienced this battle as a Huskies fan for a year straight on Mahler's facebook page and the doogs/coogs will always have the numbers. Fans want to make excuses and believe in "hope" instead of hard factual evidence. If you ranked the Pac-12 coaches Wulff would rank either 11th or 12th including Mike Stoops who was just fired would rank ahead of Wulff. Those who support Wulff can't complain when their rivals(Huskies) are playing in a Rose Bowl soon because they helped that happen. The Cougars are no longer a threat and are fighting for their lives just to win five games in year four. The fact that the Cougars were so bad in 2008 and 2009 has made their fan base soft where they accept going 2-10 last year. Last year was a "success" as the Cougars were finally competitive and now in year four the Cougars are still getting blown away by mountain west teams. Still losing to UCLA whose own head coach Rick Neuheisel is on the hot seat. The Cougars fan base is divided and as a Huskies fan I hope the excuse makers get their wish as Wulff is given more time. For my friends who have expectations well I feel sorry for you guys. Don't worry though you guys are the true Coug fans because you actually expect wins unlike the soft fans who want a participation ribbon for just showing up.

By Kshell

The 2011 NFL Draft has come and gone which is time for NFL draft experts to break down who did what in the draft. Well before they were ever drafted they were evaluated by recruiting sites all across the country when they signed on to play for their schools. I always like to look back at previous NFL draft's and national championship recruits to see just how accurate this recruiting guys are. I'm here to settle the myth that recruiting stars don't make a difference. In fact recruiting stars do make a difference as you'll find out in this upcoming post. In this upcoming post I'll talk about the entire first round of the NFL draft this season breaking down the stars of each recruit. I'll also go over the top 10 picks of the 2010 NFL draft as well, then go over the national championship teams recruiting classes, and talk about how this is good for the Washington Huskies who landed two five star recruits this past season. Hopefully at the end of this post you'll be convinced that yes these stars attached to a kids name in fact do make a difference.


When LOI day comes and goes every fan base whose school didn't recruit well always quotes that one kid who was a two star recruit who was a stud. For Washington Huskies fans like myself you always hear about Steve Emtman and now Mason Foster both NFL players who were two star recruits. What the fans don't bring up are the hundreds of two star recruits who never saw the field for their school and ultimately washed out. I'm all for a kid trying to work his butt off and I know you can't measure a football players heart either. Look at the recruiting rankings the schools that depend on the overachieving athlete never win anything big. You always hear about how Oregon State Beavers win despite low recruiting numbers but I know at a school like Washington aspiring to be like Oregon State isn't an option. Oregon State hasn't even played in a Holiday Bowl and hasn't had a season where they lost fewer than four games since Mike Riley has taken over. While USC lands all the top recruits and guess what? USC has controlled the Pac-10 this past decade.

The recruiting game is very huge which is why you should listen to these recruiting sites. Recently I discussed the NFL draft and recruiting stars with dawgman.com site creator Kim Grinolds. Grinolds told me on average 2,500 players sign per recruiting class throughout America. Of those recruits only 50 are five star recruits, 250 are four star recruits, 1,000 are three star recruits and 1,200 are two star recruits. Of the five star recruits about 10% or 10-1 odds they are drafted in the first round. Four star recruits about an average of 5.2% which is 20-1 odds of being drafted in the first round. Then there is a huge dropoff as three star recruits are only 0.9% which is 111-1 odds of being a first round pick. Then a two star recruit is really low at 0.4% at 240-1 odds. This draft was no different especially the top 10 picks from the past two years.

I brought up those numbers because often you see more two star recruits drafted in the NFL draft than five star recruits. That isn't because these sites don't know what they are talking about. That is because as Grinolds of dawgman.com pointed out you have only 50 five star recruits a year compared to 1,200 two star recruits. In the 2011 NFL draft this past year in the top 10 you saw four guys who were awarded a five star drafted in the first round. Of those guys you saw A.J. Green who was the second ranked receiver behind Julio Jones who was the top ranked receiver. Both guys went in the top six along with other five star recruit Patrick Peterson who was the number one ranked corner. The other five star was Tyron Smith who went ninth and was rated as the number one offensive tackle out of highschool. Then you saw five guys drafted in the top 10 who were four star recruits while only Aldon Smith was the only top 10 pick who was a three star recruit. Overall the 2011 draft saw five guys drafted in the first round who were five star recruits, 14 guys who were four star recruits, eight who were three star recruits and five who were two star recruits. Then last year in the top 10 of the 2010 NFL draft you saw three guys who were five star recruits, five guys who were four star recruits and two guys who were three star recruits. As you can clearly see these guys aren't just throwing darts at a board they actually know what they are talking about.


Now getting guys to the NFL is great but ultimately every school's main goal is to win a national title. Well if you look at the recruiting rankings of the past national champions it will start to make sense to you why they are champions. I'll let you guys in on a secret the team full of hard working two star recruits they aren't winning national championships. Now I'll post the year of the national champion then talk about the rankings of their fifth year, fourth year and third year classes. First let's start off with 2010 Auburn Tigers whose fifth year class was ranked 9th in recruiting, fourth year players 6th and third year players 18th. That doesn't include two four star recruits Cam Newton and Nick Fairley( were part of the 6th ranked 2010 class) who are playing on Sunday's this upcoming season. The next national champ is Alabama who actually scored the lowest but still had ranked classes. Alabama's fifth year players were ranked 16th, fourth year guys 18th and third year guys 22nd. Alabama did have the 1st ranked recruiting class amongst their second year players and 2nd ranked recruiting class for their first year players. The next team is the 2008 Florida Gators whose fifth year class was ranked 8th, fourth year class was ranked 11th and third year class was ranked 2nd. The 2007 LSU Tigers fifth year class was ranked 2nd in the nation, fourth year class 2nd in the nation and third year class was ranked 19th. Then Florida again won in 2006 which saw their fifth year class ranked 20th, fourth year class 4th and third year class 8th. Then my final champion is the 2005 Texas Longhorns whose fourth year players were ranked 1st in the nation and third year players were ranked 14th. Recruiting rankings only go back to 2002 so I had no data on their fifth year classes.

For those who want to bring up Boise State well Boise State hasn't finished lower than second in their conference in recruiting since 2003. From 2004-2009 they have been first or second in their conference in recruiting. Like I said recruiting certainly matters and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.


If you are a Washington Huskies fan you have to be excited reading this post knowing that the Huskies are bringing in two five star recruits. The Huskies are bringing in five star recruits such as wide receiver Kasen Williams and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins. The Huskies also brought in three four star recruits and only three two star recruits is the key. The Huskies were ranked 23rd by scout.com for the year 2011. Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian did even better in 2010 when he brought in nine four star recruits and just five two star recruits. That class is ranked 11th in the nation by scout.com. Unlike the Tyrone Willingham era or even at some other schools the Huskies are bringing in top talent. As you saw in my previous post there is a positive correlation between recruiting and winning. So when I see Sarkisian bringing in top recruits unlike the naysayers who say "recruiting stars don't matter" I just laugh as the statistics show otherwise. So if you are excited about Huskies football just remember in the last two years Sarkisian has brought in two five star recruits, 12 four star recruits, 31 three star recruits and only eight two star recruits. Sarkisian will improve as a head coach in the next few years simply by having better players out there.

In conclusion, I'm hoping this post can finally answer the question of do recruiting stars really make a difference? I think it is pretty clear thanks to the help of Kim Grinolds of dawgman(who does a terrific job by the way) for giving me the statistics to back up my point. I think when you break down the first round picks, the percentage of each stars that become first round picks and the national championships you'd be a fool to think recruiting stars don't mean anything. These guys aren't just wasting their time as they actually know what they are doing. There is a reason why people pay money for subscriptions to these sites because recruiting does make a huge difference. Take a look at the Huskies for an example we finally have a pretty good offense. Well examine that offense and you'll notice Jake Locker, Jermaine Kearse, Devin Aguilar, and Chris Polk were all four star recruits. So hopefully this post did three things which is hopefully you appreciate the efforts of recruiting sites such as dawgman, the other is hopefully this makes you realize when your school signs a four star recruit or especially a five star recruit there is reason to be excited and finally hopefully this gets you excited for the Sarkisian era as he is bringing in top recruits. So next time someone tells you that recruiting stars don't make a difference link them to this post that will set them straight.



First Picture is of Cam Newton at his JC school. He was a four star recruit out of high school and out of his JC school. He was the #1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft. He also led Auburn to a national championship.

Second Picture is of Steve Emtman who was the #1 pick overall despite being a two star recruit. He is the poster boy for all two star recruits at the University of Washington. He led the Huskies to a 1991 National Championship.

The Fourth Picture is of Kasen Williams. Williams is a five star recruit Wide Receiver hoping to be like A.J. Green and Julio Jones. Both were five star WR's in 2008 who were picked in the top six of the NFL draft three years after committing to their school.