Rivals or ESPN

With national signing day just around the corner (February 4th) I thought it would be fun to look back a few years and see how the top two websites have done in their rankings of highschool prospects. I’m going to look back from 2002 to present. The two main recruiting sites are Rivals.com and of course ESPN. The idea is to see how credible they are and the best way to grade them is to see how they have done in the past. So let’s review:

Rivals 2002
1. QB Vincent Young- Tennessee Titans 1st round pick
2. DT Hiloti Ngata- Baltimore Ravens 1st round pick

ESPN 2002
1. QB Ben Olson- Bust
2. RB Maurice Clarett- Jail?

Rivals 2003
1. LB Ernie Sims- Detroit Lions 1st round pick
2. RB Reggie Bush- New Orleans Saints 1st round pick

ESPN 2003
1. QB Chris Leak- Not drafted but had great college career at UF
2. QB Kyle Wright- Not drafted and was a bust at UM

Rivals 2004
1. RB Adrian Peterson- Minnesota Vikings 1st round pick and arguably best RB in the NFL
2. Tedd Ginn Jr.- Miami Dolphins 1st round pick

ESPN 2004
Couldn’t find

Rivals 2005
1. WR Derrick Williams- Projected as 2nd round pick in 2009 draft
2. WR Patrick Turner- He was a USC WR and is a Senior Bowl invitee for 2009

ESPN 2005
Couldn’t find

Rivals 2006
1. WR Percy Harvin- Has entered 2009 draft and is projected 1st round pick
2. OT Andre Smith- Has entered 2009 draft and is projected top 5 pick

ESPN 2006
1. S Myron Rolle- Would be 1st round pick if he entered but is accepting Rhodes scholarship in 2009- translation, the dude has a really high IQ
2. Percy Harvin- See above

Rivals 2007
1. QB Jimmy Clausen- Currently starting QB for Notre Dame
2. RB Joe McKnight- Currently starting RB for USC
ESPN 2007
1. RB Joe McKnight- See above
2. LB Chris Galippo- Still playing at USC and will be RS junior in 2009

Rivals 2008
1. QB Terrelle Pryor- Has made an immediate impact at Penn St as starting QB in his freshman year
2. DE DaQuan Bowers- Too soon to tell

ESPN 2008
1. DaQuan Bowers- Too soon to tell
2. Julio Jones- Looks to be the real deal and future NFL 1st round pick

So it looks to me that ESPN has some catching up to do but they also have partnered up with Scouts Inc since 2006 and their rankings seem to have improved. But Rivals has been pretty consistent the whole time. This year’s top two players are:

Rivals 2009
1. RB Bryce Brown- In my opinion Bryce Brown is the second coming of Adrian Peterson. He is a current University of Miami commit but has said right now he is leaning to Oregon. Regardless of who he plays for keep track of this guy because he will be playing on Sundays in 3 years.

2. WR Rueben Randle- There is a lot of buzz about Randle like it was last year about Julio Jones. Right now he remains undecided. His top 5 considerations are Alabama (yikes him and Julio Jones on same team), LSU, Miami, Ole Miss, & Oklahoma.

ESPN 2009
1. QB Matt Barkley- He looked impressive in the US Army high school all star game. He’s going to USC and seems to be the same mold of QB that has been at USC for the past decade.
2. LB Manti Te’ O- I honestly don’t know a lot about this kid other than he is from Hawaii and he is undecided to where he’s going to school.