New Recruiting Service: Signing Day

[IrishSpartan]

It was brought up in Nelson's recruiting thread but it does look interesting.

Signingday.com

"SigningDay is a revolutionary new tool in the college football recruiting process for players, fans, and coaches. SigningDay is the first site that allows players to control their own recruiting process by getting their information (including photos, videos, and recruiting updates) out to college coaches and fans. Additionally, SigningDay has taken the industry standard of a “base rating” a step further by using a proprietary, school-specific algorithm -- the SD Match Score -- that evaluates how each player will fit into individual BCS programs. Higher scores at a given school are predictors of an athlete's increased probability of success in that program.

At SigningDay, our goal is to provide users with the ultimate college football recruiting experience through our unique ratings system, cultivating the direct connection between fans, players, and coaches, and giving fans the ability to actively participate in the recruiting process like never before."

Player Scoring:
"-Base Scores for each recruit are generated by our staff of former college coaches and players through detailed film study based on the assessment of 15 position-specific attributes
-Range from 0 – 100 per player
-Players are given a star rating derived from the Base Score received"

SD Match Score:
"-SD Match Score is a revolutionary new concept that predicts how a particular recruit fits into every BCS school
-Quantifies how a recruit’s skill set fits with the offensive and defensive schemes, systems and playing styles of the various programs
-Derived by applying an algorithm to a player's Base score that weights how teams value the specific attributes"

The match score system interests me but the one problem is thier rankings because their are several questionable placements like Dallas Todd a five-star and Shaun Hamilton being the third overall player. Anybody know anything about them?

 

[RuntheBall]

Seems cool. Almost like a facebook for CFB recruiting... seems dangerous as well. And not necessarily in term of the NCAA.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

SD Match Score:
"-SD Match Score is a revolutionary new concept that predicts how a particular recruit fits into every BCS school
-Quantifies how a recruit’s skill set fits with the offensive and defensive schemes, systems and playing styles of the various programs
-Derived by applying an algorithm to a player's Base score that weights how teams value the specific attributes"

Recruit ratings are already horribly subjective, but this adds a whole new layer of arbitrary BS to the process. Looks like they're just trying to distinguish themselves by adding a "system fit" factor for committed recruits. I'm very skeptical their "expert staff" knows enough about each school's system and specific needs to add value this way.

 

[IrishSpartan]

Seems cool. Almost like a facebook for CFB recruiting... seems dangerous as well. And not necessarily in term of the NCAA.

they are approved:
NCAA Approval / College Coaches | SigningDay

And Notre Dame is an "Active Member"

 

[no.1IrishFan]

Recruit ratings are already horribly subjective, but this adds a whole new layer of arbitrary BS to the process. Looks like they're just trying to distinguish themselves by adding a "system fit" factor for committed recruits. I'm very skeptical their "expert staff" knows enough about each school's system and specific needs to add value this way.

Beat me to it.

 

[IrishSpartan]

Recruit ratings are already horribly subjective, but this adds a whole new layer of arbitrary BS to the process. Looks like they're just trying to distinguish themselves by adding a "system fit" factor for committed recruits. I'm very skeptical their "expert staff" knows enough about each school's system and specific needs to add value this way.

Their blog is actually very helpful


Here is their answer to your statement:
Base Score and Star Ratings | SigningDay

 

[ACamp1900]

eh, it adds another twist to the already Scout/Rivals styled world... more perspective the better for those who love following it all.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Their blog is actually very helpful

Here is their answer to your statement:
Base Score and Star Ratings | SigningDay

I appreciate the transparency here, and they're at least aware of the bias inherent in some of the major service rankings. But that blog post says nothing about the "SD Match Score", which was the subject of my comment above. If they break it out from the Base Score and keep it as a separate measure of "system fit", then it may be a valuable feature (similar to how 247 maintains their Composite Ranking), but if it's incorporated into their Base Score, it'll inject a lot of subjectivity which will undermine their credibility.

 

[arrowryan]

Had Jaylon Smith as only the 16th best player last year... smh

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Had Jaylon Smith as only the 16th best player last year... smh

That's still ridiculously high. I wouldn't worry about it, and we will find out in a few years if that was too high or low.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Seems dumb.

 

[GBdomer]

Basically it seems like they ranked the players by how cool there names were.

Lorenzo Carter at 33 EL O L

 

[Irish_irish]

Well their 3rd highest rated player this year (Shaun Hamilton) is 242nd on 247's composite while their 5th highest rated player (Bryson Allen-Williams) is 179 on the composite. So either their talent evaluators are way ahead of the curve, or they aren't very good at their job.

However if we want to believe they are good at their job, they have Mustipher as the 28th best player in the country. I think I'll remain sceptical for now.

 

[BeauBenken]

Like you guys, not sure I agree with some of their ratings, BUT I like some of the ideas they have.

Made a free profile so I could check it out.

I definitely like that it's free.

 

[wesjunior]

This made me laugh:

Steve Elmer
1217th best player
122nd best tackle

 

[Rhode Irish]

There is potential here in their ideas, but it has to take a while to get everything ironed out. I wouldn't put a ton of stock in their ratings if they are dramatically different from the established services at this point, but if they stick around then eventually the proof will be in the pudding.

As far as whiskey's point about the concept of incorporating a player's system fit into their scouting and producing a "match score," I share the skepticism about how much their "experts" can know about every single team's system. However, as an idea it isn't bad and I actually think it could be solid eventually. For instance, over time they can see what kind of skills lead to success in certain types of systems and use that information to make a (somewhat) objective adjustment to a player's score as a match to particular systems.

 

[IrishLax]

This made me laugh:

Steve Elmer
1217th best player
122nd best tackle

For real? #122 OT? Annnnnnd we're done here.

EDIT: literally all of our OL in the 2013 class are mid to low 3 star players... mind you, every single one played in an AA game.

 

[phgreek]

Recruit ratings are already horribly subjective, but this adds a whole new layer of arbitrary BS to the process. Looks like they're just trying to distinguish themselves by adding a "system fit" factor for committed recruits. I'm very skeptical their "expert staff" knows enough about each school's system and specific needs to add value this way.

yea...why do I know there is $$$ in it for these guys to spin the "fit" based on contributions from "boosters"...this is a cool idea about to be whored out beyond belief...

 

[IrishLax]

They still list Jamel James as an ND commit too LOL

 

[arrowryan]

They still list Jamel James as an ND commit too LOL

Did he EE into Notre Dame?

 

[aubeirish]

Haha, I see what you guys mean. I might dust up my old senior and make myself a profile. Maybe some scouts are interested lol.

 

[BGIF]

This made me laugh:

Steve Elmer
1217th best player
122nd best tackle

Obviously not "a fit" in ND's "system".

Probably won't fit in that 80 play a game up tempo game Kelly uses at ND.


Interesting that for the past three years we've had an ongoing debate on what Kelly's ND System is.

 

[koonja]

I just got off of the phone with the CEO of signingday.com, few things:

- They're really doing their homework. I told him how I was skeptical about the SDMatch (and still am a bit, but more so because of the work involved in doing it accurately, not the concept). He told me they've met with 78 D1 school's coaching staffs (yes, ND) and asked them to list the top 15 attributes for each position in their system. Based on the attributes required (consider 3-4 DL vs 4-3), they attached the SDMatch according to a recruit's tape (this is where it's sketchy, because you have to many different 'evaluators'). Also, since obviously there's more than 78 D1 schools, the SDMatch is irrelevant for the schools who have not met with signingday to give them their 'attributes'. He told me a story about a Big 12 school (didn't specify which) who they met with to go over the attributes for that school. Said they used their SDMatch for that school, and it showed a kid with one offer. The Big12 school thought it was awesome, because that kid had ONE offer but was their #1 target for the class. This is just one example, but they really believe in it.

- They plan to expand to marketing to D2/3 athletes as well, but they're not there yet. That will take about 2 years, give or take.

- He told me a story about 'star-rankings'. He said he could call up rivals.com, and tell them a made up kid, Joe Smith got an offer from Alabama, and later on that week the kid would get a 5-star rating on rivals. He wasn't picking on Alabama necessarily, but saying how biased the recruiting services are and how they short-circuit the ranking process.

- He CC'd me in an email to 4 of their ND 'scouts'. I'll share whatever I can if they give me anything.

 

[goldandblue]

damn... LOL go right to the top

 

[IrishSpartan]

curious to see if we ever start taking their rankings seriously

 

[ND NYC]

they do have a good logo

 

[Kak7304]

curious to see if we ever start taking their rankings seriously

My opinion of them will be directly influenced by their ranking of ND commits.