Bobby Burton
Hollywood, Fla., running back Derrek Cooper announces his decision tomorrow evening at 6pm CT.
Cooper, one of the nation's top players, has it all. From size to speed, from toughness to elusiveness, he has the makings of a special running back. He even has good hands out of the backfield.
Cooper says he is deciding among Texas, Miami, Georgia, Ohio State and Florida State. Of course, dozens of schools put their name in the hat before Cooper narrowed his choices.
With about 36 hours to go, we believe Texas remains in the pole position. However, things can and do change quickly in this era of college football recruiting, so we'll keep our ears to the ground to the very end.
And one more thing that is worth thinking about...
Cooper is one of those few recruits teams just aren't going to walk away from after he announces. He's just too good for that; he's viewed as a potential difference maker by multiple teams (including Texas, of course). So the teams involved with his recruitment aren't going to go quietly.
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Cooper's national recruiting ranking seems to be all over the map. Some have him a top 2 or 3 back in the country; others have him outside the top 5. Texas and other colleges clearly view him among the very, very best, or they wouldn't be after him this hard.
And that leads me to this...
Here's something I think the recruiting ranking industry misses in a major way:
If a player is so good that certain teams are going to stay on a player even if they have committed elsewhere, I think that says more about how highly college coaches view those recruits.
I'm not just talking about Cooper here. Think of Malakai Lee, who is committed to Michigan, of Jameion Winfield who is committed to USC, of Kendal Guervil who is committed to Florida, as well as others. None of those players are "ranked" among the top 50 in the country. Yet Texas and other schools with a great, recent track record of developing and identifying talent sure are recruiting each of those guys like they are.
Consider this scenario. When some recruits announce for another program, Texas and other schools just move on down the road. Yet for others, they're willing to fight to the brutal end.
To me, that aspect is more telling of just how highly viewed a prospect is than any recruiting "rankings" list.
Simply put, if national recruiting powers who are producing draft picks like Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, etc., are fighting to the very end on guys, it speaks infinitely more to the valuation and ranking of those players than any third party recruiting service who doesn't have their job on the line with a ranking.
The recruiting ranking industry ignores that, or at least attempts to. And I think it does a disservice to the players and coaches it is discounting.
Instead, it is more like a stock market that irrationally undervalues certain fundamental aspects.