Recruiting Matchup: ISU’s Offensive Starters Rated Higher Than OSU’s In HS

The reason I love doing a weekly recruiting matchup — a look back at how OSU and its opponents’ starters were ranked as prospects — is to get a feel for how each team’s players were projected out of high school.

Many times you’ll see a four-star prospect stand among the rest, while other times, as is the case with OSU’s Taylor Cornelius, Britton Abbott and Landon Wolf, you’ll see former walk-ons who were unranked stand out as a starter.

I’ve come to learn that, while I still believe star rankings matter — (there’s a yuuuge difference between most three-star prospects and five-star prospects) — the system a team runs and the fit of the players within the system is of equal, or perhaps greater, importance.

Take OSU’s offense, for example. Its starters, on average, ranked 82.94 as high school prospects (factoring in a 70 overall rating for Landon Wolf, Britton Abbott and Taylor Cornelius, all of which were unranked in high school). ISU, by comparison, rated out higher.

But which offense would you pick?

Exactly.

This is not an analysis piece, and there is no extra weight added to players of higher value such as QB or RB, but merely a fun look back at the star rankings of high school players who are starters now.

Let’s have a look.

OSU’s offense on the whole is actually ranked lower than Iowa State’s by nearly a full recruiting point. Iowa State’s starting unit, on average, ranks 83.70.

So that means OSU’s offense is definitely less productive than Iowa State’s, right?

According to TeamRankings.com, OSU’s offense crushes ISU in nearly every category. OSU averages a healthy .569 points per play this season — good for 13th nationally. Iowa State, meanwhile, averages an unhealthy .276 in that same category. That ranks 108th nationally (out of 130) in 2018.

OSU also ranks 13th nationally in total offense, averaging 44.4 points per game. Iowa State? 123rd at 17.5 points per game! /puke emoji

Here is OSU’s defensive unit based off high school recruiting rankings. Note here that Darrion Daniels, who is out for the season, has been replaced with Enoch Smith. Calvin Bundage’s status is also unclear for this week and moving forward, but I kept him listed as the starter at LB.

Somewhat surprisingly (to me), however, was OSU’s far superior overall ranking on defense. OSU’s starters averaged 85.57 as high school prospects compared to ISU’s 82.58 average. Former walk-on Braxton Lewis, who enters college unranked, brings down the ranking a tad.

Oklahoma State allows only 4.9 yards per play in 2018, which ranks 34th nationally. Iowa State … three spots lower, at 37th nationally and also 4.9 yards allowed per play, per TeamRankings.com.

Oklahoma State is favored by double digits entering the weekend and with good reason, as OSU is 4-1 and Iowa State is 1-3 through five weeks. Based off both early season results and a look back at who should be favored, if only considering high school recruiting rankings, OSU should roll comfortably come Saturday.