A couple of caveats: I'm not saying Mason is the end all be all or I didn't love CJF when he was here. Second, i think this data is all publicly available, so sorry if I am posting something from another site.
I thought this was interesting. I dont know how to copy an excel page in or i would have done that (see data below).
Couple of takeaways. Mason, according to the services, definitely out-recruited Franklin during his first two years. The third year Franklin really took a jump up, but he also signed a whopping 26 players versus mason who will probably sign 16-18 this year. Per 247, Mason has recruited a higher rating (just barely) than Franklin including all three years (and I expect mason to get higher rated 2016 recruits as the class comes to a close). That was surprising to me. Basically, three years in, Mason is definitely recruiting at CJF's level or slightly better or slightly worse depending on your view. Mason certainly out-recruited over the first two years versus Franklin's first two years (His teams ranked higher than Franklin in both services on average over his first two years and had a higher rated class on average 247 Composite rankings). i.e., Mason's first two classes averaged 84.01 on 247 and Franklin's averaged 82.79.
Franklin’s best two years recruiting (2012 and 2013) are also somewhat of a mirage:
2012 players who didn’t finish (Kimbrow, Robinette, Corey Batey, Brandon Banks, Tip Mckenzie). 2013 Class who didn’t finish (Carlos Burse, Jordan Cunningham, Mitch parsons, Brandon Vandenburg, Gerald Perry, Chad Kanoff). That’s 5/22 for 2012 class and 6/26 for the 2013 class and we still have a couple years to go. That's a killer
A few of these players, never played a snap (Brandon Banks, Tip Mckenzie, Corey Batey, Carlos Burse, Mitch Parson, Brandon Vandenburg, Gerald Perry, Chad Kanoff)
Mason players who left the team (so far): 2014: (Hawkins Mann), 2015: (None). I realize Mason is earlier in his recruiting tenure, but Franklin had lost multiple players from his first and second classes at this point. And as i mentioned, 8 players from his best two classes never played a snap not to mention guys like Mitchell Hester, Jose Valedon, and Lafonte Thourogood from his first class who never played either.
Again, Mason appears to be recruiting in-line to slightly better than Franklin did. However, his players are sticking (thus far). It also looks like his highest recruits in his classes are going to be real contributors (see below)
Another caveat to the mason haters (as opposed to the mason on-the-fencers like me). Obviously he needs to win and recruit play-makers and get a QB and do something with Bankins--I just thought this data was interesting and it surprised me that Mason is basically recruiting as well as Franklin without star gazing and without signing guys who leave day 1 (meaning Mason's classes are definitely better classes to have). Also, it is completely obvious that Mason and Franklin recruited way better than Bobby Johnson ever did. Although CBJ caught lightning in a bottle somewhat with the 2010 class, even with the tragedy of Rajaan Bennett (Chris Boyd, Karl Butler, Andrew East, Chase Garnham, Andre Hal, Jonathan Krause, Kenny Ladler, Blades Matthews, Jared Morse, Jordan Rodgers, Carey Spear, Vince Taylor, Kyle Woestmann)--Talk about finding diamonds in the rough!
Data will be in this format Year-Recruits Signed-247 Composite Ranking-247 Average Rating-Rivals Ranking-Rivals average Star-Top 5 Highest Rated Recruits
CBJ Years:
2002-22-69-77.67-74-2.14 (Grant Brigham, Steven Bright, Richard Freeman, Antoine Morgan, Funtaine Hunter)
2003-22-65-78.48-78-2.23 (Marcus Dixon, Jonathan Loyte, Jonathan Goff, Antron Dillon, Elliot Hood)
2004-20-67-77.28-133-2.10 (Brad Allen, Hamilton Holliday, Jeff Jennings, Daniel Lee, Jared Fagen)
2005-24-86-75.87-88-2.08 (Earl Bennett, Mackenzi Adams, Jake Bradford, Justin Wheeler, Eric Hensley)
2006-25-60-79.43-62-2.24 (Jonathan Massey, Jared Funk, Adam Smotherman, Greg Billinger, Alan Strong)
2007-14-75-80.64-67-2.50 (John Stokes, Larry Smith, Kyle Fischer, Ryan Van Rensburg, Udom Umoh)
2008-21-82-77.31-91-2.19 (DeAndre Jones, Al Owens, Michael Bryant, Richard Cagle, Taylor Loftley)
2009-18-69-82.29-71.2.72 (Wesley Johnson, Brady Brown, Mason Johnston, Thad McHaney, Eric Samuels)
2010-24-52-82.78-61-2.79 (Rajaan Bennett, Vince Taylor, Kyle Woestmann, Jared Morse, James Kittredge)
CJF Years:
2011-15-50-81.18-71-2.71 (Dillon Van Der Wal, LaFonte Thourogood, Baron Dixon, Jacquese Kirk, Darien Bryant)
2012-22-48-84.39-29-3.14 (Brian Kimbrow, Andrew Jelks, Jacob Sealand, Patton Robinette, Adam Butler)
2013-26-26-86.04-19-3.15 (Zach Cunningham, Jay Woods, Jordan Cunningham, Ryan White, Johnny McCrary)
CDM Years:
2014-22-46-83.46-49-2.77 (Nifae Lealao, Emmanuel Smith, Dallas Rivers, Trent Sherfield, Cole Hardin)
2015-18-46-84.56-48-2.89 (Josh Smith, Donovan Sheffield, Kyle Shurmur, Caleb Peart, Nehemiah Mitchell)
2016-14-57-83.72-59-2.92 (JoeJuan Williams, Zaire Jones, Deuce Wallace, Devin Cochran, Braden Kopp)
I thought this was interesting. I dont know how to copy an excel page in or i would have done that (see data below).
Couple of takeaways. Mason, according to the services, definitely out-recruited Franklin during his first two years. The third year Franklin really took a jump up, but he also signed a whopping 26 players versus mason who will probably sign 16-18 this year. Per 247, Mason has recruited a higher rating (just barely) than Franklin including all three years (and I expect mason to get higher rated 2016 recruits as the class comes to a close). That was surprising to me. Basically, three years in, Mason is definitely recruiting at CJF's level or slightly better or slightly worse depending on your view. Mason certainly out-recruited over the first two years versus Franklin's first two years (His teams ranked higher than Franklin in both services on average over his first two years and had a higher rated class on average 247 Composite rankings). i.e., Mason's first two classes averaged 84.01 on 247 and Franklin's averaged 82.79.
Franklin’s best two years recruiting (2012 and 2013) are also somewhat of a mirage:
2012 players who didn’t finish (Kimbrow, Robinette, Corey Batey, Brandon Banks, Tip Mckenzie). 2013 Class who didn’t finish (Carlos Burse, Jordan Cunningham, Mitch parsons, Brandon Vandenburg, Gerald Perry, Chad Kanoff). That’s 5/22 for 2012 class and 6/26 for the 2013 class and we still have a couple years to go. That's a killer
A few of these players, never played a snap (Brandon Banks, Tip Mckenzie, Corey Batey, Carlos Burse, Mitch Parson, Brandon Vandenburg, Gerald Perry, Chad Kanoff)
Mason players who left the team (so far): 2014: (Hawkins Mann), 2015: (None). I realize Mason is earlier in his recruiting tenure, but Franklin had lost multiple players from his first and second classes at this point. And as i mentioned, 8 players from his best two classes never played a snap not to mention guys like Mitchell Hester, Jose Valedon, and Lafonte Thourogood from his first class who never played either.
Again, Mason appears to be recruiting in-line to slightly better than Franklin did. However, his players are sticking (thus far). It also looks like his highest recruits in his classes are going to be real contributors (see below)
Another caveat to the mason haters (as opposed to the mason on-the-fencers like me). Obviously he needs to win and recruit play-makers and get a QB and do something with Bankins--I just thought this data was interesting and it surprised me that Mason is basically recruiting as well as Franklin without star gazing and without signing guys who leave day 1 (meaning Mason's classes are definitely better classes to have). Also, it is completely obvious that Mason and Franklin recruited way better than Bobby Johnson ever did. Although CBJ caught lightning in a bottle somewhat with the 2010 class, even with the tragedy of Rajaan Bennett (Chris Boyd, Karl Butler, Andrew East, Chase Garnham, Andre Hal, Jonathan Krause, Kenny Ladler, Blades Matthews, Jared Morse, Jordan Rodgers, Carey Spear, Vince Taylor, Kyle Woestmann)--Talk about finding diamonds in the rough!
Data will be in this format Year-Recruits Signed-247 Composite Ranking-247 Average Rating-Rivals Ranking-Rivals average Star-Top 5 Highest Rated Recruits
CBJ Years:
2002-22-69-77.67-74-2.14 (Grant Brigham, Steven Bright, Richard Freeman, Antoine Morgan, Funtaine Hunter)
2003-22-65-78.48-78-2.23 (Marcus Dixon, Jonathan Loyte, Jonathan Goff, Antron Dillon, Elliot Hood)
2004-20-67-77.28-133-2.10 (Brad Allen, Hamilton Holliday, Jeff Jennings, Daniel Lee, Jared Fagen)
2005-24-86-75.87-88-2.08 (Earl Bennett, Mackenzi Adams, Jake Bradford, Justin Wheeler, Eric Hensley)
2006-25-60-79.43-62-2.24 (Jonathan Massey, Jared Funk, Adam Smotherman, Greg Billinger, Alan Strong)
2007-14-75-80.64-67-2.50 (John Stokes, Larry Smith, Kyle Fischer, Ryan Van Rensburg, Udom Umoh)
2008-21-82-77.31-91-2.19 (DeAndre Jones, Al Owens, Michael Bryant, Richard Cagle, Taylor Loftley)
2009-18-69-82.29-71.2.72 (Wesley Johnson, Brady Brown, Mason Johnston, Thad McHaney, Eric Samuels)
2010-24-52-82.78-61-2.79 (Rajaan Bennett, Vince Taylor, Kyle Woestmann, Jared Morse, James Kittredge)
CJF Years:
2011-15-50-81.18-71-2.71 (Dillon Van Der Wal, LaFonte Thourogood, Baron Dixon, Jacquese Kirk, Darien Bryant)
2012-22-48-84.39-29-3.14 (Brian Kimbrow, Andrew Jelks, Jacob Sealand, Patton Robinette, Adam Butler)
2013-26-26-86.04-19-3.15 (Zach Cunningham, Jay Woods, Jordan Cunningham, Ryan White, Johnny McCrary)
CDM Years:
2014-22-46-83.46-49-2.77 (Nifae Lealao, Emmanuel Smith, Dallas Rivers, Trent Sherfield, Cole Hardin)
2015-18-46-84.56-48-2.89 (Josh Smith, Donovan Sheffield, Kyle Shurmur, Caleb Peart, Nehemiah Mitchell)
2016-14-57-83.72-59-2.92 (JoeJuan Williams, Zaire Jones, Deuce Wallace, Devin Cochran, Braden Kopp)
