Eleven Warriors

PHONE'S RINGING -- IT'S URBAN ON THE LINE

•Football Schedule•Basketball Schedule•Forum•About•Contact

No Love for Punters and Kickers

By OSU1995 -01 February 2013
8 Comments
- Recruiting

It's a slow news morning, so I thought now was the time for this topic. Why is it that Rivals, Scouts, etc. show no love to punters and kickers? Rivals has Johnny Townsend rated at 2 stars and Scout has him rated at 3 stars. He is rated the #2 punter in the country. The highest ranking Scout gives a kicker is 3 stars and the same applies for punters. The only conclusion that I draw is that rating punters and kickers utilizing their same system for other positions would skew overall team rankings. I.e. if a team signs a 5 star punter and/or kicker it would artificially inflate the teams overall ranking.

FROMTHE18 on 1 Feb 2013 - 11:29am #

I wondered this...to me the star system should be more based on how that player compares to others at THEIR POSITION rather than how that player compares to others at EVERY POSITION... For example: 5-star RB is a 5-star RB because he is either the best or close to the best RB in the nation...if a Punter is the #1 Punter, I think they should be considered a 5-star prospect because they will quite possibly contribute right away and have the potential to develop into the best punter in the nation at the college level.

d1145fresh on 1 Feb 2013 - 11:38am #

I agree with your larger point but I think that 5* should be saved for what analyist believe will be a special player. I don't like when 5* are given out to players just because they need to fill a quota of 'best players.' This also goes for kickers/punters. If they are good at their position they should be ranked accordingly (i.e. giving Townsend a 3/4* ranking). However if a kicker is a special kicker they could receive a 5* ranking based on that skill. Not to mention if you look at the top scorers they generally are kickers. I know they have the advantage of more opportunities to score but a great kicker will likely win you a couple games a year.

Notor on 1 Feb 2013 - 11:32am #

It's probably that they don't want kickers to be ranked highly in their Top 250 or 100 or whatever. If you have a 5 star punter, he's going to be ranked in the top 30 prospects on Rivals, for instance. Do you really think Johnny Townsend is a top 30 prospect nationally, as potentially impactful for a program as say a Vonn Bell or Mike Mitchell? That's where he'd have to be ranked if he was a 5 star under the current system.

FROMTHE18 on 1 Feb 2013 - 11:38am #

I think the overall rankings should reflect the top players regardless of position, I merely think that saying a punter is a 2-star prospect just because he is a kicker is a bit odd. The star system, at least according to ESPN's recruiting, is about the prospects potential to be an immediate contributor and later be a factor for national award honors. Star system should be more about how they view/when they view that prospect will contribute at the next level and overall rankings should be what they are: who are the top players in the nation regardless of position (i.e. you could theoretically/realistically have the top 10 be all defensive ends if they feel the top 10 defensive ends in the nation are better than any top player at any other position). However, when you say a DE is a 5 star DE, you are projecting that DE to be the top or among the top DE's in the nation, essentially inner-positional rankings based on a simple rating system of stars.

RBuck Mod on 1 Feb 2013 - 4:10pm #

Do you really think Johnny Townsend is a top 30 prospect nationally, as potentially impactful for a program as say a Vonn Bell or Mike Mitchell?

No, but Jim Tressel would.

"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)

UrbzRenewal on 1 Feb 2013 - 11:37am #

Star rating is based on the feasible (playmaking) impact a player could have, compared to ALL other players as a whole. A punter or kicker would not have that skilled impact. Ranking a kicker as a five star, over say, Jalin Marshall would be absurd. Although Townsend will probably start for four years, he is not one of the top ~30 players in the country.

TMac on 1 Feb 2013 - 11:57am #

Yet another reason why star ratings aren't worth a whole lot.

Certainly there are players any program would take if they could, but beyond those (10,20,50, whatever the number) there are another 600 players that if healthy and in the right situation and with the right coaching, are all conference or all americans.

Punters and kickers have real value - but it is fair to say they are only in for maybe 10 plays a game, and therefore have less opportunity to impact a game.