This post is not strictly about how we're ranked but a bit of perspective about whether we're doing well.
I looked at RIVALS current 2014 listings. here is the lay of the landscape according to their numbers, and my spin on them:
There have been 1250 verbal commitments so far. Of those 201 are rated four or five star. This means than one of every six currently committed recruits might be considered blue chips, but five out of every six are not. The point here is that essentially everyone building football programs is taking guys that they think are potential rough gemstones.
There are many highly recognized programs around the country currently sitting with a single four-star recruit in stable. Nebraska, TCU, Louisville, UCLA, Purdue, WVU, Pitt, are examples. BYU has none. Cal, OkSt, VT, MSU, IA have two. Notre Dame is listed as 9 [2 "5s" and 7 "4s"]. Georgia is listed equal to us with nine [1+8] and Miami [all 4s] and Alabama has 10 [all fours].
The staff is kicking a$$.
Of those 4s and 5s, there are 21 QBs, 23 RBs, 25 WRs, 7 TEs, 29 OLine, 11 ATHs, 8 {only} DEs, 18 DTs, 25 LBs, and 34 DBs [these numbers are for the players already verballed]. As we know better than most fan bases, the game of football is decided by the QBs and the BIGs in the trenches.
Of the 21 QBs, Kelly has his. AL, FL, LSU, A&M, GA, TX, Miami, and Clemson also do. The big boys are of course paying attention, and we are one of them.
Of the 29 OLine, no one has what Kelly has in our four supermen. Miami has three, OSU has three, AL, LSU, USC have two. The staff is again kicking the nation's butt here.
Of the 26 DLine, as we know from our constant angst on this issue, we're not doing as well. GA has THREE DTs of this level. Miami has two DTs and one DE. ND has our wonderful Mr Hayes [thank goodness], but other programs aren't stellar in this area either yet. LSU has just one. USC one. Alabama none yet.
Kelly has loaded up the offensive side so far, and no team in the country can currently compare to us. We have eight potentially elite players over there. Now it's time to give Mr Hayes some more sparkling help [although, in my opinion, some of our three stars there are awfully underrated].
So, perspective gentlemen: we're Notre Dame and we're doing just fine.
.This is why guards are also consistently ranked lower than tackles.
