PSU just had its 5th player declare for the NFL draft

[Turk]

Sanders, the RB made it 5.

This is where recruiting rankings gets skewed. We keep players for 3.7 years per scholarship. Thus we only have like 18-20 scholarships available. Other schools have players rob banks, flunk out of school, drug/domestic issues, or are 2 years and off to the NFL and have 25+ scholarships available which gives them additional points in the flawed rating structure. I usually click the 'ratings' and we fall within the top 40. But with the shelf lives of scholarships at 3.7 years for NU, that means our players know the system and eachother a lot better. Sorta like how suburban schools with solid pee wee leagues clobber city schools once everyone gets into High School.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

They won’t be nothing next year

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Sanders, the RB made it 5.

This is where recruiting rankings gets skewed. We keep players for 3.7 years per scholarship. Thus we only have like 18-20 scholarships available. Other schools have players rob banks, flunk out of school, drug/domestic issues, or are 2 years and off to the NFL and have 25+ scholarships available which gives them additional points in the flawed rating structure. I usually click the 'ratings' and we fall within the top 40. But with the shelf lives of scholarships at 3.7 years for NU, that means our players know the system and eachother a lot better. Sorta like how suburban schools with solid pee wee leagues clobber city schools once everyone gets into High School.

Good post. I like rational Turk. Almost forgot what he sounded like.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Penn State blows

 

[stpaulcat]

Perhaps there is a law of diminishing returns when you take mostly 4 star players.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Perhaps there is a law of diminishing returns when you take mostly 4 star players.

Not if they are NFL talent like theses guys declaring.

 

[DaCat]

At this point in the evolution of our program, we may get one or two players drafted, compared to the Blue Bloods who send a bunch of players to the league including several underclassmen. The talent gap is very obvious. That is why the success that Fitz has had is even more amazing. Now we need to take the next step and narrow that talent gap.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

At this point in the evolution of our program, we may get one or two players drafted, compared to the Blue Bloods who send a bunch of players to the league including several underclassmen. The talent gap is very obvious. That is why the success that Fitz has had is even more amazing. Now we need to take the next step and narrow that talent gap.

The logical progression to that is NU will eventually get some more early departures. Personally, I would welcome that.

 

[DaCat]

The logical progression to that is NU will eventually get some more early departures. Personally, I would welcome that.

I can only think of two players in the HISTORY of NU football who left early for the draft. That's gonna change, but I think we will be mostly a developmental program for a long time yet. I don't think it's going to easy to get to the level of Stanford, who are recruiting ready-made 4 and 5 stars, and getting kids drafted in the first round on a relatively regular basis.

 

[Turk]

The logical progression to that is NU will eventually get some more early departures. Personally, I would welcome that.

Didn't Anthony Walker have one more playing year left?

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Didn't Anthony Walker have one more playing year left?

Yes

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

I can only think of two players in the HISTORY of NU football who left early for the draft. That's gonna change, but I think we will be mostly a developmental program for a long time yet. I don't think it's going to easy to get to the level of Stanford, who are recruiting ready-made 4 and 5 stars, and getting kids drafted in the first round on a relatively regular basis.

I also don’t think we’ll suddenly get 2-3 players a year leaving early. However, I do think it will eventually increase. The real sign of improvement in talent will be getting guys drafted in the mid and late rounds. This will happen first.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

I also don’t think we’ll suddenly get 2-3 players a year leaving early. However, I do think it will eventually increase. The real sign of improvement in talent will be getting guys drafted in the mid and late rounds. This will happen first.

We have pretty routinely had guys drafted in the mid and late rounds. We had two guys drafted in each of the 2015, 2016, and 2017 drafts, including two guys who are now regular starters (Lowry and Walker) and other "sometime starters" (Siemian, Vitale, and Campbell). 2018 was the exception with only Jackson being drafted in the seventh round, though I'll go to my grave scratching my head as to why Lancaster neither received a Combine invite nor was drafted; guys that large and athletic just don't grow on trees... and no this isn't just because he's playing well with the Packers.

I realize that many "big time" programs have more guys drafted, but that record is nothing to sneeze at.

Thorson, Hartage, Thompson, and Hall have a very good shot to continue that momentum this year with a decent pipeline of legitimate NFL prospects behind them, especially Fisher, Gaziano, and Johnson; other guys like Brown, Slater, Samdup Miller, and others also have a legit shot if they continue developing.