So I've seen some really cool analysis of recruitment ratings, but I have a question I'd really like to find out for myself.
In terms of draft status, is it better for a highly ranked recruit to go to a top school (where they could get buried in the depth chart, but will have more exposure/possibly better coaches) or to go to a lower tier school where they will almost definitely star. I have seen posts showing correlations between recruiting ratings and draft position, and between top schools and draft position - but not one that looks at the interaction between the two.
I can do the math myself to figure this out, but my question is - where do people get their data? Is there a public/paid API or downloadable database provided by the recruiting sites, or do people scrape their web pages/enter everything manually?
would love to see what you come up with. one problem you're going to run into is quantifying the number of college players that could have made the NFL with better development OR better exposure. think about it, tom brady was drafted in the 7th round. Arian Foster went undrafted. What if those guys fell through the cracks? Uncle Rico could have won state if he could just go back.
I'm working on the general theory of judging draft position only, because that is what a recruit hopes to get out of his college career - it translates directly into money and opportunity. If a player goes undrafted, but later makes a roster, that could be a separate and interesting analysis, but in many ways his college experience has failed him in his job-finding efforts. I guess I could try to correlate with "making a roster" in general... but I don't expect to be able to have good enough data to check against pro bowl appearances or years in the league or anything like that.
IMO if you have talent the scouts will find you, for example
Joe Flacco- Delaware
Jerry Rice- Mississippi Valley State University
Shannon Sharpe- Savannah State
Ben Rothisbuger- Miami Ohio
Matt Forte- Tulane
~Because we couldn't go for three~
^Chris Johnson - East Carolina
#Buckeyes
I have no idea if there is a database, but my guess is a multi-variable regression were run we would see a correlation showing that top talent does better in small schools where they have less talent to keep them from playing.
I think its too easy to say all the best players were found. Did the scouts get it right with tom brady? Arian foster? Ryan leaf?
Wow. This would be a very cool database to access. If you manage to scrape the data and you need some maps/GIS of it, let me know.
the idea is great but im not sure anyone has the time to pull this off
mark may wins douchebag of the year... again