Fun with Rivals’ 2002 Football Rankings
College Football September 23rd. 2008, 4:00pm
Decided to take a look at the Top 20 players according to Rivals from the 2002 high school class. Realizing that recruiting is no exact science – never has been, never will be – and that 20 players is a tiny sample size, a few things jumped off the page. First: How awesome the Florida State class was supposed to be. The ‘Noles had four players in the Top 20, yet only three made it to campus, none became stars, and FSU never had a top 10 AP finish with them on board. Second: Only four of the Top 10 players are currently in the NFL (best we can tell). Third: My gosh this class was weak.
1 Vincent Young, QB – Won a National title at Texas, guided the Titans to the playoffs last year.
2 Haloti Ngata, DT – Nice career at Oregon and then became a first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens.
3 Lorenzo Booker, RB – College bust at FSU after spurning Notre Dame; role player with the Eagles.
4 Ben Olson, QB – Still suffering through an injury-plagued career at UCLA.
5 Reggie McNeal, ath – College career as a QB at Texas A&M was filled with extreme highs and bad lows. Was on the Bengals for a minute and now might be in the CFL.
6 Chris Davis, ath – Decent career at FSU; six catches in 14 career games with the Titans.
7 Ryan Moore, WR – Below-average career at Miami; no clue what he’s doing now.
8 Marcus Vick, QB – Never became half the star his brother was at Virginia Tech; had a tryout with the Dolphins before criminal activity did him in.
9 Leon Washington, DB – Decent career at RB for FSU, does a bit of everything with the Jets.
10 Ciatrick Fason, RB – After a stellar career at Florida, he left early, slipped in the draft a bit, was scooped up by the Vikings, and released after two seasons. The Jags signed him for five days in August before cutting him.
11 Kai Parham, DE – Solid three-year career at UVa before leaving early for the NFL, and he wasn’t drafted. No idea where he is now.
12 Gerald Riggs Jr., RB – Underwhelming career at Tennessee, no idea where he is now.
13 Rodrique Wright, DT – All-American at Texas was drafted by the Dolphins, has struggled through injuries, and is now a reserve.
14 Michael Johnson, RB - Speedy, undersized back never lived up to expectations at UVa.
15 Justin Blalock, OL – Standout lineman at Texas; now starts for the Falcons.
16 DiShon Platt, WR – Extremely highly-regarded prep star in Florida was at one point compared to Peter Warrick. Never made it to FSU due to academics.
17 Ricardo Hurley, LB – Bit of a letdown at South Carolina; no clue where he is now.
18 Nathan Rhodes, OL – Heralded get for the Huskies never played a down due to back problems.
19 Brandon Jeffries, OL – Ended up transferring from Tennessee to NC State, no clue where he is now.
20 Trent Edwards, QB – Starting QB, Buffalo Bills after a nice career at Stanford.
Notable players further down the list:
28. Devin Hester, DB
37. Maurice Clarett, RB
59. Tamba Hali, DE
75. Selvin Young, RB
28 Responses to “Fun with Rivals’ 2002 Football Rankings”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.

September 23rd, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Just more proof that Weis getting 4 star recruits means absolutely dick.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:13 PM
This is always a fun topic. The results from past years should be published more frequently to show just how absurdly ridiculous the recuiting rankings are.
I know Ohio State information better than others, which is why these 2 examples are used:
Nick Mangold was a 1 star recruit. He was a “last choice to fill a schollie” player. A 4 year starter at OSU and a starter for the Jets from day 1.
AJ Hawk was a 2 star recruit at fullback. Part of this was due to an injured knee as a senior, but no recruitnik anywhere could have placed this kid as a 2 time All-American and Pro Bowl caliber NFL stud at linebacker.
Recruiting is about filling needs and creating depth. If you recruit a TON of talent, some of it will pan out while others will not. If you recruit some good kids, you hope that each of these kids turn out great, which is highliy unlikely. There are very few Julio Jones/Terrelle Pryors that are gimme recruits. For every one like that, there is a Ron Powlus knocking at the door…
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:17 PM
there is a Ron Powlus knocking at the door…
Haha, he’s Notre Dame’s QB coach, I guess Rick Mirer or Jarious Jackson weren’t available.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:20 PM
I always am just interested in the other schools who pursued Ohio State’s commitments since recruiting is such a crap shoot.
Bobby Carpenter, Stan White Jr, and Mike D’andrea were all more highly touted than Hawk.
And of course Ohio State’s last scholarship went to Troy Smith his year.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Best post of the day.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:23 PM
why did i think i heard he pulled a Dan Enos and was the RB coach?
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Does not compute, error.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:26 PM
oh, ‘dem just boys…
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:30 PM
about time, right? I nearly went to the DMV today. Nearly. Lazy, I guess.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:32 PM
TBL, is it not something you can take of online?
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:32 PM
Anyone remember Beano Cook predicting 2 Heisman trophies for Powlus?
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:34 PM
wasn’t it 3?
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:42 PM
Anyone remember Blake Ezor for the Spartans? That was one awesome honkey running back.
The Dan Enos reference made me think of that
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:46 PM
Anyone remember Beano Cook predicting 2 Heisman trophies for Powlus?
Beano Cook is crazy. I wish I could find that post when hes talking about ND.
I liked TBLs Def Leppard post because it turned into a would you fuck an amputee post.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:47 PM
off topic but is there a worse name for a tv show other than “the mentalist”. they should have named it the really smart dude who solves criminal cases. talk about lame ideas the show wont last a year. whenever i see a commercial for it i just think that the dude who stars in it is also the homosexual actor who had his throat slit in l.a. confidential.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:51 PM
ooooh, online, never thought of that! It’s been so damn long. great idea.
OT – I’m disgusted with Maria Bartiromo right now. Huge fan, but she’s a cheerleader for this damn bailout. What’s her problem? Everyone is asking, ‘what about capitalism?’ and all these bailout cheerleaders keep saying, ‘this is an extreme case.’ Bullshit. Congress is standing up to them, and I applaud that.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:55 PM
I used to want to rail Maria Bartiromo. Not so much lately. But I’d still take Trish Regan out back.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Was Greg Paulus a number 1 QB recruit?
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:03 PM
Unless something is done there is a real chance of financial meltdown. Every single american taxpayer already on the hook for all of this. We need to find a way to take the pain slowly so there is no systemic failure. Put in exec comp caps, figure out a better auction process, whatever you want, but something must be done. And remember, the real cause of all of this, the actual underlying root cause, is that ordinary Americans borrowed money they cannot pay back. Wall Street did some major damage here as well, but until America owns up to the fact that it is as much main street as wall street and congress that drives the whole thing, we will never clean ourselves up.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:09 PM
And remember, the real cause of all of this, the actual underlying root cause, is that ordinary Americans borrowed money that was given to them by corrupt mortgagers who were looking for a payday before moving on to the next sucker who couldn’t understand the fine print.
/fixed
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Isn’t that the same argument as blaming McDonald’s for you being fat?
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 PM
No one put a gun to their head, Happy. If you don’t understand what you’re signing, especially when it is the biggest investment of your life, take a step back and find someone you trust to answer your questions.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 PM
Thats, the “royal” you, not you particularly Happy
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 PM
@1 happy… That is a part of it. However, a good number of people wanted to be like the Smith’s next door and get the bigger house and the bigger car and the bigger TV, etc… I don’t care what crook sold you down the river (and yes, there were crooks on every street corner), the customer needed to realize that the $300,000 house and the $40,000 SUV and the $4000 in credit card bills MONTHLY were going to have to be paid off some how and some way.
There are multiple ways to point the finger and they are all correct. The lenders should have known better than to give credit like it was sand at the beach. The customers should have known to not spend more than they could afford. The investors should have known not to invest in something that they couldn’t tangibly touch. It’s everyones fault and its going to take everyone to get out of it.
I HATE the bailout after reading more and more about it. It sounds like the Wall Street boys are trying to bail out the Wall Street boys again. This is going to be painful. I mean really painful. Credit will be gone for anyone who absolutely cannot afford it within 12-24 months. This will start to affect the businesses who expect to make money from the consumer. It will start a cycle that will continue long into the forseeable future. I hate to paint a bleak picture, but I see very little light at the end of the tunnel.
Here’s hoping that you have savings to dig into, because you will likely need it.
/Sorry for the Debbie Downer post to end a Tuesday. Things just don’t look promising.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 PM
Maxwell, yes. But I’m all about blaming the man. Blaming myself would require that I blame myself. And by “myself”, I mean the royal “myself”, not the myself “myself”.
John Awesome, I was just making a joke. And you’re right, nobody put a gun to their head. But people are stupid.
I’m with you Wally, but I don’t think we’ve seen the fallout yet from what you’re describing. So far we’ve seen the fallout from the sub-prime mortgage crises. What you’re describing is the prime mortgage crises, which hasn’t quite hit yet. The prime mortgage crises should be a lot more fun because it’ll be a lot more expensive. Woo Hoo!
/more Debbie Downer
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 PM
Wally:
Im going to pop on my 65″ LCD in the media room of my $700,000 crib and have a Grey Goose or two to ponder what you just wrote. But first, have any bullets for the revolver I have pointed at my noggin?
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 PM
god this post had so much promise. then it went and turned into a political post
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:30 PM
dont forget those overseas vacations are on hold for 5+ years now….the dollar is going to get killed (even more than it already is) i have hope….for 2012