This is a fun little study I fell into today. I was given a Sports Illustrated link (https://www.si.com/college/fcs/rankings/top-2024-fcs-football-recruiting-classes-247sports-on3-sports-houston-christian-north-dakota-state?fbclid=IwAR1U4aQ9hibjLR0-UHl5AuqEONenjsaW5sR2hkgaERft6hYxqwVkoWHTO44) on Facebook ranking FCS recruiting classes. Seems like fun, so I click. I immediately notice that Montana is not ranked at all in high school recruiting class. Seemed a little odd, but okay. I keep scrolling, and they have a list of HS recruits plus transfer portal.... MSU is ranked in the top 10, but Montana not ranked. That doesn't make sense if you compare the classes.
I see that they are using 247Sports recruiting rankings of college football teams. So I go to find the 247 recruiting ranks. And what do I find? They have Montana listed at 10 total recruits coming in. Furman is listed as having 2 total recruits coming in.
So, 247Sports puts out a "ranking" that is based on entirely incomplete information. That's fine, that is their right. But then Sports Illustrated pushes out an article to the world with the narrative "Montana has a worse recruiting class than dozens of other FCS teams." If you debate a friend, you might hear them say "Sports Illustrated says that (INSERT TEAM NAME HERE) had a better recruiting class, and I think Sports Illustrated is pretty reliable."
When it comes to the FCS, there aren't reliable rankings for things like this from ANYONE because there is no good source of complete data.
I see that they are using 247Sports recruiting rankings of college football teams. So I go to find the 247 recruiting ranks. And what do I find? They have Montana listed at 10 total recruits coming in. Furman is listed as having 2 total recruits coming in.
So, 247Sports puts out a "ranking" that is based on entirely incomplete information. That's fine, that is their right. But then Sports Illustrated pushes out an article to the world with the narrative "Montana has a worse recruiting class than dozens of other FCS teams." If you debate a friend, you might hear them say "Sports Illustrated says that (INSERT TEAM NAME HERE) had a better recruiting class, and I think Sports Illustrated is pretty reliable."
When it comes to the FCS, there aren't reliable rankings for things like this from ANYONE because there is no good source of complete data.