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Washington Husky Recruiting Distinguishes Good Class From Good Show

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:29 p.m. ET

Fansided, Bret Stuter/FanSided via The Husky Haul

Washington Husky Recruiting Class of 2017 Makes Distinction Between Good Class from Good Show

Snowboards, Helicopter rides, Eiffel Tower, Stacking tee shirts. In the end, each player had a distinctive personal style they wanted to convey as the officially aligned with the college football program of their choice. Of course, the national media was more than happy to go along for the ride, the headliners, the drama. The Washington Husky recruiting class of 2017 offered no such parade of technology, sleight of hand, nor parlor tricks. They simply arrived and signed as a group.
They didn’t even parade around as many programs do.

But this parade is the beginning of the journey, not the end. This is the moment young men formally announce their hopes of becoming part of something great, not the accomplishment of it.

And there’s the rub.

If you don’t understand what I mean… check out the 2016 NFL Draft grades. A perfect example of this is the 2016 NFL Draft grades by ProFootballFocus.com. The two Superbowl teams? The Atlanta Falcons (11-5) and the New England Patriots (14-2). The Falcons class was rated D+ and the New England Patriots scored a B-. And yet, they are competing for the cup. Just as an exclamation point, the Cleveland Browns (1-15) received an A.

Recruiting Class Correlations Are Exaggerated

After flirting with a top 20 nationally ranked recruiting class, the University of Washington Huskies recruiting class landed in the top 25 nationally. But before we wrangle over the placement of the 2017 recruiting class (we’ll have plenty of articles honing in on this group of young men, and why the sum of the whole is far greater than the sum of the pieces), let’s focus on the true trajectory.

More from The Husky Haul

The 2017 Washington Husky recruiting class is the highest ranked class for head coach Chris Petersen since his arrival. Keep in mind that the 2014 recruiting class was ranked 37th while USC was ranked 10th. The 2015 recruiting was ranked 27th while USC was ranked second. In 2016, the UW recruiting class was ranked 29th while USC once more was ranked 10th. Finally, in 2017, the Washington Huskies recruiting class lands at 22nd while USC lands at four. So what has that meant to the PAC-12 standings?

In the 2014-2015 football season? UW was 8-5 to USC 9-4. The following year, the Huskies were 7-6 and USC was 8-6. Last season the Huskies landed at 12-2 to USC’s 10-3. In the end, one would assume that the USC team would naturally deliver 3-4 more wins per season than that of a UW Husky team. It doesn’t work that way.

December 2, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Washington Huskies linebacker Psalm Wooching (28) hoists the championship trophy after the Pac-12 championship against the Colorado Buffaloes at Levi

A Team Is Cohesive, A Group Is Individuals, A Show is Selling A Group As A Team

I also spend some of my spare time covering professional sports teams. Invariably, I find myself in a discussion over a free agent, or a “star” on another team that must be sought in trade or free agency.

I seldom endorse such “mortgage the farm” beliefs in one player. You see, the top stars are the “playmakers”. Those are the stars of the team in terms of tackles, touchdowns, receptions, and yards carried. If the game was a non-contact sport, it would simply be a matter of choosing the top stat-getters and run with them.

Team Play

But quarterbacks and running backs know the importance of solid blocking. As you know, receivers know the value of an accurate quarterback. Along the same lines, pass rushers and linebackers know the value of guys who can take on multiple blockers and clog the line.

Much of what scouts and coaches see from a player is relative to the play of those around them. A defensive line who makes significant numbers of quarterback sacks may get extra help from a defensive backfield that quarterback no passing options. A running back who scored the winning TD needed the offensive line to block and open the hole.

It is a team sport after all.

No Correlation

And so, the college teams like USC, who ride the top of the college recruiting rankings year after year, simply go after the brightest and shiniest prospects. Does it automatically translate into a better college football team?

Well, there are three reasons why it does not:

I – Well Run College Football Teams Seldom Start Freshman

If you have a solid football program, your coaches add to the skillsets of your players each year. A season of college coaching should be greater than a year of high school coaching. And so, the difference in success in college football is based less on WHO you attract as it does on Who coaches them up.

This team went to the NCAA playoffs with “inferior” recruits. Or were they? Perhaps they needed an extra year to come into their own? Perhaps they simply flourished with stronger coaching?

Freshmen usually sit, giving coaches time to understand and develop their talents. After a year of college coaching, the “quality” aspect of raw recruits is nullified.

II-Do Elite “Stars” Remain Hungry In College?

The path to success in NCAA college is a huge climb. A climb in that is requires dedication, training, discipline, focus, willingness to learn, repetition and more training.

And to have incentive to see that through, you must fail.

Let me explain. Learning happens when we try something and fail. Athletes who rank near the top of their nation got there without the benefit of competing against equally talented adversaries. Talent wise, the deck was often, if not always, stacked in their favor.
In the NCAA, they will frequently encounter superior talent . To succeed, they must outsmart, outlast, or outhustle their opponent. And to this point, they haven’t had to learn how.

Backpack

Another way of explaining is to use a backpacker as the example of a new player. Hiking rules when I was a daily backpacker? Don’t take the pack off unless you plan to rest awhile. That’s because a heavy pack is awfully challenging to remove and set back onto your shoulders for the occasional breather.

Ultimately, top Rated recruits have already reached their plateau. They can rest now, and take their packs off. They have attained high ranks. Now they want to enjoy the moment and relax.

Relax at your own peril

Lower rated recruits know they must work harder. And so, the pack stays on. They have more incentive to train, to focus, to try to get better. UW recruits are hungrier. They have further to go, and so they do not take off their packs.

III-Only Finite Number Of Starters.

There are 22 starters in a college football game on a team. While that number can increase for special team assignments. So the class ranking system which rates the total class overextends the true impact on the team. How many positions are truly up for grabs?

How many new starting roles will be decided in training camp?

If a team with 25 new recruits believes all 25 will start, they’ve ignored the basic premise of the game. It just so happens that the Washington Huskies lose approximately eight starters this season. Those roles will likely be filled by players on the roster. Incoming freshman will, for the most part, fill those reserve roles this season.

No Stew At UW

To be fair, I trust a sophomore rated “average”, but who had a solid year of coaching from Coach Petersen than any freshman coming in this year.

In conclusion, the Washington Husky recruiting class of 2017 is a solid bunch of players who were not tossed into a pot like vegetables to a stew. On one hand, each player fits a targeted role that will open up as the season progresses into next year. On the other hand, each young man was brought in, not for who they are, but for who Coach Petersen believes they will become.

As a matter of fact, not many college programs can do that. In fact, most college programs run on the WYSIWYG system (“what you see is what you get”). The Huskies do move for their players, because the team and the coaches believe that they deserve more. By choosing the UW Huskies, they have proven that they do.