First off, I apologize for the size of the picture above. You can download it by clicking on it. Feel free to download it to scan it much closer. For those that don't want to do that I'll give you a brief on what is included. I exported the ESPN Top 300 Football Recruiting lists over the last eight finalized classes (2013-2020) to see if I could find some trends.
Recently I completed my second class in R, which is a programming language for data scientists mostly. If you're interested in taking the class here is the one I took. The software R is completely free to download, but the price you have to pay is for the online course to learn how to use the data. Now that the shameless plugs are over, let's get down to what I found. To get on ESPN's Top 300 list you have to grade out as a 80+ prospect on a scale from 0-100. At a certain point in the high-60's or low-70's ESPN basically stops even giving a number, but throws the dreaded "NR" for not rated on you. So every QB prospect on the graphic above basically tested out as a 80+ prospects. They range from 5'11" all the way to 6'7" with weights ranging from about 160-250 pounds. Needless to say this is a super wide range of sizes. The thing I found really interesting is that no QB outside of 175-225 pounds has ever gotten a rating above a 87 during this eight year window. Why is that? Is it because a QB less than 175 is either considered too slight and is moved to a position demanding more speed such as WR or CB? Is it because they're too short and can't see over the line? How about on the other end of spectrum? Is a QB prospect over 225 pounds too big and lumbering to be considered mobile enough to buy more time to find a receiver? Maybe it is just a coincidence. Long story short, there appears to be a sweet spot when it comes to weight towards getting a 5-star grade. You better be between 175-225 pounds.
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About the AuthorAndy Rupert is a Penn State (B.A. John Curley Center for Sports Journalism 08') and a Southern Miss (M.S. Sport Management 09'). He has spent his whole career working in sports and tourism digital marketing and metrics. |