HP’s Top 33 High School Running Backs from the Class of 2012

By on January 26, 2012 in HP Recruiting '12

Time for more recruiting.

Given that this is a site focused on the Heisman Trophy, we thought it appropriate that we focus on the positions that can actually win the award. And, so, we’ve endeavored to rank the top quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers from the 2012 class on a scale of 1 to 5. At the end, we’ll rank all 99 prospects regardless of position. Later, we’ll rank the top classes overall and list the fastest players in the country. I’m confident that these evaluations will be the best you’ll get anywhere on the internet.

Earlier this week, we published HP’s top 33 quarterbacks for 2012.  Now, it’s time to reveal the top 33 running backs for this year’s recruiting class. Full list after the jump…

Texas is getting the nation's No. 1 back

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HP’s Top 33 High School Quarterbacks from the Class of 2012

By on January 23, 2012 in HP Recruiting '12

Cyler Miles is HP's No. 1 QB for '12

Recruiting is the mother’s milk of college football. Simply put, you need good players combined with good plays to make a good team.

There are a lot of recruiting services out there that do admirable jobs in keeping tabs on the top prospects. It’s probably physically impossible to keep track of all of them. Keep in mind that over 2,000 student-athletes will sign letters of intent on or around February 1 and most of the recruiting services have only bothered to rank, at most, the top 250 or so. That means that fully 80 percent of the players who sign are unknown to some extent.

The problem is when you get into misevaluations of the prospects that we do know about. Unfortunately, not everyone is good at evaluating talent, or ranking them accordingly and that’s why, outside of the obvious freaks who jump out at you, mistakes are made.

No one is perfect in evaluating players, but some are better than others and that’s why HP has brought aboard famed scout Lannie Julias to help with creating our first ever ranking of high school players. Lannie is one of the legendary names in scouting and recruiting circles. A native of Los Angeles (and a Dorsey High grad), Julias has had coaching stops at Utah State (under Bruce Snyder), Southern, New Mexico and Colorado (under Chuck Fairbanks) among others. It was at Colorado where he gained the reputation as being the ‘best recruiter in college football’ according to Blue Chip Magazine. Julias also is a long-time professional scout who has been very influential in how teams evaluate talent. We’ll hear more from him before and after signing day.

Given that this is a site focused on the Heisman Trophy, we thought it appropriate that we focus on the positions that can actually win the award. And, so, we’ll be ranking the top quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers from the 2012 class on a scale of 1 to 5. At the end, we’ll rank all 99 prospects regardless of position. Later, we’ll rank the top classes overall. I’m confident that these evaluations will be the best you’ll get anywhere on the internet.

Without further ado, HP’s top 33 high school quarterbacks from the class of 2012 are after the jump:

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Baylor’s Social Media Heisman Campaign

By on January 18, 2012 in Heisman News

Here’s a great look at the campaign run by the Baylor media relations staff on behalf of Robert Griffin III from the National Sports Journalism Center. It should be required reading for those who think Heisman campaigns are a waste of time.  If too much Heisman talk in January gives you a headache, try Canada Online Pharmacy for relief, otherwise here’s a key snippet from the piece:

While Griffin took many by surprise, a small cadre from Baylor’s sports information staff had planned for this possibility. Almost a year ago, they began brainstorming the best way to promote RG3, as he is called.  “We knew we had to do something,” said Brad Sheffield, Baylor athletics’ coordinator of new media. “We decided to do something cost effective. The best thing about social media is that can be free.”

My philosophy has always been that it’s better to do something than to do nothing. Kudos to Baylor.

And in case you missed it, here’s my interview with Baylor media relations director Heath Nielsen following the Heisman ceremony:

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HP’s Top 10 Teams, Pre-Spring Edition

By on January 18, 2012 in The HP Top 10 Teams

The quest for the national championship is really just the Heisman Trophy race writ large, so I would be remiss if I failed to provide the proper, bigger-picture context for my views. For instance, a commentator asked me below “Why not Keith Price for the Heisman?” To which I responded that I do not think that Washington will be good enough for Price to warrant such attention. Which really means that, as good as Price is–and I think he’s very good–he’s probably not good enough to elevate his team to the level that, say, Robert Griffin III elevated his team. Which means he ain’t going to win the Heisman.

That all said, it’s time to put in my two cents on how the team race is shaping up. A lot will change between now and September. Knees will blow out, arrests will be made, tests will be flunked and recruiting classes will be added, thus ensuring that this list changes down the road. But for now, here’s how I see it:

1. USC – The Trojans have the best combination of elite talent and favorable schedule in 2012, so they nab the top spot for now. The roster features the nation’s finest collection of skill players (including what I think is the most talented receiving corps in college football history), plus four returners on the offensive line, a four-year starter and Heisman front runner at quarterback and everyone from the defensive back seven. Add in the likelihood of being favored by double digits in 11 of 12 regular season games and it all points to the kind of season that even Lane Kiffin can’t screw up. Right?

2. Georgia – The Bulldogs return perhaps the SEC’s best quarterback in Aaron Murray. They’ve got perhaps the best defensive player in linebacker Jarvis Jones. The combination of sophomore Isaiah Crowell and freshman Keith Marshall at tailback should be lethal. This is a team that hit its stride toward the end of last year. I think it will carry over into 2012 and, more importantly, there’s no early-season matchup with the likes of Boise State.

3. Clemson – To all those who think that Clemson’s Orange Bowl disaster has any bearing on how it will do in 2012, I say pshaw! Clemson’s 2011 squad was loaded with young and inexperienced talent and managed to win the ACC anyway. I don’t buy the ‘oh, it’s Clemson and Clemson always messes up’ line. The old Tiger choke squads wouldn’t have won the ACC with a first-year starting quarterback and a bevy of freshmen all over the place. Most of those players are back and saltier from the experience. Quarterback Tajh Boyd had a huge year as a sophomore and he’ll be even better as a junior. All the top rushers return. Rising sophomore Sammy Watkins is the nation’s best wide receiver. The defense returns most of its key performers. This is a team ready to move up in class and challenge for the national title.

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Heismanpundit’s Pre-Spring 2012 Heisman Watch

By on January 17, 2012 in Heisman Watch 2012

We now know who’s leaving early for the NFL, so it’s time to cobble together our list of the players who currently have the best shot of winning the 2012 Heisman Trophy.

Too early? Too bad. We’ve got another seven-and-a-half months to go until the season starts and we know you all can’t get by on recruiting and spring football alone.

This is just the first rollout of a series of lists. We’ll have revisions after spring ball and then a final Watch List heading into the season.

1. Matt Barkley, USC – Barkley returns for his senior year as the front runner for the 2012 Heisman. He’s got perhaps the best receiving corps in the history of college football catching his passes, so you know his numbers will be stellar. However, he must beat the expectations game or voters could eventually turn on him like they did Andrew Luck.

2. Denard Robinson, Michigan – Four of the last six Heisman winners have been dual-threat quarterbacks and it is this style that has the most potential to wow the voters. The story with Robinson will be how he turned around a storied program. If the Wolverines challenge for national honors, he’ll be a strong Heisman candidate.

3. Montee Ball, Wisconsin – Ball is the leading returning vote getter from last season, when he took fourth in the Heisman balloting. Because of this, it is very tempting to just make him the front runner, but one has to take into account the tremendous standard he set for himself last season by scoring 39 touchdowns. He’s bound to have a drop off of sorts and just how much he drops off will determine his eventual standing in the race.

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Welcome to the new HP

By on January 17, 2012 in HP Asides

While I liked the look of the last site quite a bit, I sort of missed the old blog style where one could scroll down and read without clicking on everything. Blogs should be snappy reading and I hope to get back to that. This format is clean, loads quicker and is easier to read.

Hope you enjoy and I do appreciate any feedback.  Thanks and let’s get rolling.

HP

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Coming Up On HP

By on January 10, 2012 in Heisman Watch 2012

The college football season is over, but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop covering it here at HP.

Besides our usual commentary here and on Twitter, look for the following:

January
The 2012 Pre-Spring Heisman Watch
The HP Skill Position Recruiting Rankings — our ranking of the top QB, RB and WR talent in the current recruiting class, featuring legendary scout Lannie Julias.

February
The top recruiting classes of 2012 — the real rankings according to the relevant criteria.
Future Heisman candidates from the class of 2012 — always a popular item.
Fastest recruits from the class of 2012

March
Spring profiles of 2012 Heisman candidates

April
The post-spring 2012 Heisman Watch
NFL draft preview: HP ranks the top prospects for the 2012 draft.

So be sure to check back here on HP in the coming months. Also, look for a new site redesign as we try to improve your reader experience here. It’s going to be an exciting offseason!

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