Which teams do the least with the most?

[GwillMac6 20,671]

• 
  Tom VanHaarenESPN Staff Writer

Well, as you've guessed, it's Auburn... And Florida State and Tennessee

• Over half of our Top 300 kids transfer (52.1 %)
• "Of the 23 ESPN 300 prospects Gus Malzahn signed from 2015 to 2017, only two of them were drafted to the NFL."
• "Auburn signed three prospects ranked as five stars from 2015 to 2017 and had two NFL draft picks out of it (running back Kerryon Johnson and defensive tackle Derrick Brown). The other, Byron Cowart, ended up transferring."
• "Coaches can't just go out and land every top-ranked prospect in the class and expect that to be enough. Building a team and managing a roster requires a lot more than just signing star players, and that shows with these numbers."

Which college football teams do the least with the most in recruiting?
8:40 AM CT

Which teams did less with more, meaning which programs signed the most ESPN 300 prospects but did not get the full potential out of those recruits. For this exercise, we looked at 14 teams that signed the most ESPN 300 recruits from the 2015, 2016 and 2017 classes. We did not include players who are still on the roster, players who opted out of this season or players who medically retired when analyzing what has happened in the top-300 recruits' careers. We looked at the number of players selected in the draft, first-team all-conference and consensus All-American selections, as well as the number of recruits who transferred or left the program for whatever reason. It's one thing to land a ton of ESPN 300 recruits on signing day, but it's another to bring out the most out of those prospects.

Here's a look at which teams did the least with the most.

NFL draft selections
The ESPN 300 commitments from the 2015 to 2017 classes who were selected in the NFL draft. Any players who are currently enrolled on the team were not counted in the total number of ESPN 300 commitments for that team. Some of the prospects from the 2016 and 2017 classes are in their fifth and fourth years, respectively, so not all of them have finished their college careers.

% of eligible ESPN 300 commitments to get drafted for each team:

Auburn 8.6% (2)
Tennessee 11.1% (2)
Florida State 14.8% (4)
Oklahoma 22.2% (4)
Texas 23% (6)
USC 30% (9)
Michigan 33.3% (9)
Georgia 33.3% (11)
LSU 37.1% (13)
Alabama 37.8% (14)

Auburn had a total of 23 ESPN 300 signees that were eligible to be counted in these statistics and had only two players drafted from these three classes. There are still quite a few players on the roster from the 2017 class, so this number could go up, but as it stands, Auburn has the lowest percentage of ESPN 300 players drafted.

First-team all-conference selections
This category was a little bit harder to compare because it's not technically based on the same criteria. There are different talent levels in different conferences, so this category is looking only at first-team all-conference players to try to make it more meaningful.

First-team all-conference selections from the 2015 to 2017 classes:

Tennessee 0% (0)
Oklahoma 5.5% (1)
Florida State 7.4% (2)
Miami 10.5% (2)
Texas 11.5% (3)
Georgia 15.15% (5)
Auburn 17.3% (4)
LSU 20% (7)
USC 23.3% (7)
Alabama 24.3% (9)

All-America selections
Similar to the all-conference selections, we limited this to just consensus All-America players. This is about who did the least with most and a consensus All-American is a clear-cut look at a player and his accomplishments.

All-American selections for each team:

Miami 0% (0)
Tennessee 0% (0)
Florida State 0% (0)
USC 0% (0)
Michigan 3.7% (1)
Texas 3.8% (1)
Auburn 4.3% (1)
Oklahoma 5.5% (1)
Georgia 6% (2)
Ohio State 6.8% (2)

Five-star recruits
Auburn signed three prospects ranked as five stars from 2015 to 2017 and had two NFL draft picks out of it (running back Kerryon Johnson and defensive tackle Derrick Brown). The other, Byron Cowart, ended up transferring.

Transfers
% of ESPN 300 recruits from 2015 to 2017 who didn't finish their career with the teams they signed with:

Oklahoma 72.2% (13)
Michigan 62.9% (17)
Texas 61.5% (16)
Florida State 59.2% (16)
USC 53.3% (16)
Auburn 52.1% (12)
Alabama 51.3% (19)
Ohio State 44.8% (13)
LSU 40% (14)
Georgia 39.3% (13)

These numbers are pretty staggering to look at. All of these numbers are pretty shocking, considering the best percentage is 26.3%. There's more to recruiting than just landing ESPN 300 prospects, getting them to campus and unleashing them on the field. The chances that those recruits will finish their career at the school they signed with aren't very high outside of a few schools. It should be noted that these are the schools that signed the most ESPN 300 recruits in these three classes, and they're also schools that consistently sign a lot of talent. That means new prospects are coming in each class and the competition level is high.

Who did the least with the most?
These numbers don't tell the whole story, but they do help show which schools are landing ESPN 300 recruits but not capitalizing on the potential from those prospects, and just how hard it really is to build a team. Stars matter and rankings matter when it comes to predicting talent on teams, but evaluations need to be right with how players fit in the locker room, how they can be developed and ultimately what they can do for that team. Coaches can't just go out and land every top-ranked prospect in the class and expect that to be enough. Building a team and managing a roster requires a lot more than just signing star players, and that shows with these numbers.

[GwillMac6 20,671]

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Things aren't getting any better.

[AUwent 3,748]

Only so many VHT guys can just so happen to be busts before you have a fundamental problem. Which is why people should not be blaming Nix for our struggles!

[Zeek 16,649]

8 minutes ago, AUwent said:

Only so many VHT guys can just so happen to be busts before you have a fundamental problem. Which is why people should not be blaming Nix for our struggles!

UCF out performs us against similar teams in bowl games with a wayyyyyy lower recruiting level.

Bowl Games are supposed to be even matchups and the only teams we've been able to beat are Memphis and Purdue in no-name bowls.

He's gotta go. Some silly wins shouldn't save him.

[LKEEL75 2,566]

[1auburn1 1,110]

On the sunny side, since Tenn and FSU have stunk even more than we have, you could say AU has done the most, after doing the least with the most.     WDE!!!!

[tigerman1186 537]

The best way to improve our numbers are to sign 2-3 star players.....stay away from the Top 300...

[CR 2,442]

17 minutes ago, tigerman1186 said:

The best way to improve our numbers are to sign 2-3 star players.....stay away from the Top 300...

I think you're about to get your wish if the past week is any indication.

[PigskinPat 2,579]

Be interesting to see what those numbers would be if it wasn’t for Covid. Am I doing this right??

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

Of all of my gripes against gus, player development is very near the top!  We’ve been dreadful at developing players the last 8 years!

[TigerOne 1,140]

But we are ranked high, that’s good right?

oh-maybe not.

this is another damning recruiting tool for our foes and friends.

[woodford 3,655]

Gus playing 7-D chess out here 

[AUApostle 7,651]

2 hours ago, woodford said:

Gus playing 7-D chess out here 

Can't have any more 5 star failures if you don't get any more 5 stars.

[eaglenest 332]

Gus really should do Auburn a favor and step down.

[TieGrrrr 14]

Auburn is bad, but Georgia is the worst, they recruit at Bama and Clemson level, but are not in the same ball park.

[johnnyAU 3,630]

Sad, but true

[McLoofus 35,182]

25 minutes ago, TieGrrrr said:

Auburn is bad, but Georgia is the worst, they recruit at Bama and Clemson level, but are not in the same ball park.

They're very much in the same ballpark. 

[keesler 5,924]

That's article provides perfect ammunition for our rival recruiters.  The rivals don't have to say one word, just text/email/mail them that article and let the recruits & their parents make their choice.

[cole256 17,051]

I know we must rank high in this!

[leglessdan 1,934]

4 hours ago, TigerOne said:

But we are ranked high, that’s good right?

oh-maybe not.

this is another damning recruiting tool for our foes and friends.

Hammer meet nail. This is the most damning statistic. These kids have dreams of getting development in their craft to ascend to the NFL. Auburn's current coaching staff just isn't getting it done. 

[keesler 5,924]

21 minutes ago, leglessdan said:

Hammer meet nail. This is the most damning statistic. These kids have dreams of getting development in their craft to ascend to the NFL. Auburn's current coaching staff just isn't getting it done. 

Yeah, but our main rivals have known these stats for a few years now.  They'd be idiots to not have pointed it out to every 5* we are in head to head battles for on the recruiting trail.

Retention is an issue at Auburn relative to hauling in top 10 classes and overall development is a punch in the nuts when articles like this expose the issues in black and white.

[Win4AU 4,052]

2 questions 

1). I know Gus sucks etc but what does this say about Kevin Steele and the defensive staff?  Up until this season the defense has been pretty stout.  Do you judge the defensive coaches the same way as Gus?

 2) Wouldn’t you say the true indication of player development is the ability to make the NFL?  Auburn is tied for 10th as far as # of NFL players.  Based on the average NFL Id think most of these are Gus guys.  
 

This guy’s numbers are based on ESPN’s rankings.  I’d be interested to see other recruiting services numbers.

[Tiger Refuge 6,662]

3 hours ago, AUDevil said:

Can't have any more 5 star failures if you don't get any more 5 stars.

[leglessdan 1,934]

47 minutes ago, Win4AU said:

2 questions 

1). I know Gus sucks etc but what does this say about Kevin Steele and the defensive staff?  Up until this season the defense has been pretty stout.  Do you judge the defensive coaches the same way as Gus?

 2) Wouldn’t you say the true indication of player development is the ability to make the NFL?  Auburn is tied for 10th as far as # of NFL players.  Based on the average NFL Id think most of these are Gus guys.  
 

This guy’s numbers are based on ESPN’s rankings.  I’d be interested to see other recruiting services numbers.

I don't get why you guys fight so hard to defend this mediocre HC. It's just mind boggling. You deflect his failures to everyone else besides him. It's just silly. The defense is looking very suspect this year and that falls on Steele absolutely without a shadow of a doubt. Our recruiting issues,  in my opinion,  shed a light on an organizational structure issue that squarely points the the HC. Or....did you thing the D was just going to continue to carry the load? At some point with our massive inefficiency on offense,  the damn was about to break. Wouldn't you agree?