See if I can write this in a clear way.... Looked up Rivals.com recruiting class ranking, and level of stars.
See what Coach Strong has been able to do with a few 4-stars, and no 5-stars.
And a look at Texas those four seasons.
Excuse if any of this data is flawed, mis-typed, or whatever. And for the length (as it has turned out).
Some of this data is staggering to the mind, so maybe I've made transposing errors.
2010
Louisville #48 -- 28 recruits. (0) 5-Star, (3) 4-Star, (18) 3-Star. Record 7-6
Texas ---- # 3 -- 25 recruits. (2) 5-Star, (19) 4-Star, (4) 3-Star. W-L, 5-7
2011
Louisville #29 -- 20 recruits. (0) 5-Star, (4) 4-Star, (15) 3-Star. Record 7-6
Texas ---- # 3 -- 22 recruits. (1) 5-Star, (15) 4-Star, (6) 3-Star. W-L, 8-5
Now look what those two years of recruiting do in the next two years, with levels of development:
2012
Louisville #42 -- 22 recruits. (0) 5-Star, (3) 4-Star, (16) 3-Star. Record 11-2, Sugar Bowl win
Texas --- # 2 -- 28 recruits. (2) 5-Star, (15) 4-Star, (10) 3-Star. W-L, 9-4
2013
Louisville #52 -- 17 recruits. (0) 5-Star, (2) 4-Star, (13) 3-Star. Record 12-1, Russell Athletic bowl win
Texas --- #24 -- 15 recruits. (0) 5-Star, (9) 4-Star, (6) 3-Star. W-L, 8-5 Mack Brown steps down
Louisville put 3 first round draft picks in the NFL, including Terry Bridgewater
Prior to Charlie's first season at Louisville, the 2009 class was #77. no 5-stars, three 4-stars, eighteen 3-stars.
Charlie had to work with a #77 recruiting class that would move through his first three seasons.
I'd like the recruits to try and imagine what Charlie is going to do with a Top 10 class that has a dozen 4-Star players, and one or two 5-Stars. And then repeat that level of recruiting for two or three seasons. As the top 10 classes tend to do.
Summarizing:
Texas went #3, #3, #2 and #24 into the final season that cost Coach Brown his job. That season would have had the backbone of those early #3, #3, #2 classes.
Louisville went #77 in 2009. After that season, hired Charlie Strong who went #48, #29, #42, #52, and a record of 23-3 his last two seasons with two bowl wins, one the Sugar Bowl.
In those four classes, Charlie Strong recruited a total of twelve 4-Star players. Just 12.
In those 4 seasons, Mack Brown recruited 58 -- fifty-eight 4-star recruits. That averages over 13 per recruiting class.
Coach Strong had 62 (sixty-two) 3-star recruits over that 4-year period.
The Top 10 classes in 2014 (Rivals.com) averaged 12.5 Four Star Recruits each (125 four-star recruits for the 10 classes).
Again, Coach Strong recruited a total of 12 four-star recruits over four years. Went 23-2 the last two seasons, finished with 3 first round draft picks.
A few top recruits are seeing the vision of what's possible. Recent leaders like Cherry and Malik Jefferson. Maybe more will.
By the way, it's amazing the string of recruiting class Mack Brown had after the 2009 Rose Bowl.
That 2009 Class was #5 -- THREE 5-star recruits, Eleven 4-Stars, and Six 3-Stars.
Again, the thing to look at is development. What can you do with the talent?
