Rob's Rankings: Must-get prospects for in-state schools

There are prospects whose recruitment are larger than the tangible skill sets they bring to the table. Sometimes, landing them is about sending a message or preserving a pipeline. Other times it’s about positional need. Either way, in-state recruiting is vital to almost every successful program. Today, we rank the six most must-get prospects and the in-state schools that desperately need to land them.

ROB'S RANKINGS: Recruiting success of new coaches

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

After losing Patrick Surtain, who seemed like an LSU lock for months, down the stretch a year ago, the Tigers have been gifted another five-star cornerback to court. This time, the rare talent is in their own backyard. Stingley plays his high school football less than eight miles away from LSU’s campus, making landing the Rivals100 prospect a near necessity. Head coach Ed Orgeron can’t afford to let a truly elite corner walk out of Baton Rouge after squandering what seemed like a sure thing at the same position last cycle.

Last cycle saw Miami dominate Florida State – and everyone else for that matter – in South Florida. That’s something that needs to change if Willie Taggart is to achieve the success for which Seminole fans hope. That’s what makes Dent more important than his Rivals100 ranking. The top defensive back in the state, Dent was once committed to the Hurricanes and is currently pledged to FSU. Taggart needs to hold on to his commitment until National Signing Day to notch a recruiting victory over The U and prove that Tallahassee is still a desirable destination for top talent in the southern part of the state.

The deepest in-state class in years comes at a good time for new Ole Miss coach Matt Luke, who is tasked with rebuilding the program’s recruiting reputation following a scandalous stretch. There’s no better way to do such a thing than to land one or both of the state’s top two prospects. Dean already holds offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Florida State and others, so this will be no easy task. Black’s offer list isn’t much less distinguished, as USC, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Florida are all in pursuit. Luke is a player’s coach and should be in the mix for both. Finishing the cycle with neither would be a disappointment.

Ohio State watched the state’s top-rank player saunter off to the Southeast on National Signing Day 2018, when five-star tackle Jackson Carmen chose Clemson over the Buckeyes. Having history repeat itself this cycle would be blow to a program used to absolutely dominating its home state. Prior to last season, the Buckeyes landed the state’s top player in four of five years. Urban Meyer has a great chance to get back on track in 2019, but the competition for Harrison, a five-star defensive end, already includes Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Penn State and others

First-year head coaches are under a different kind of microscope and that extends to Jeremy Pruitt, who is attempting to set a tone in Knoxville. Regardless of how Pruitt feels about this year’s crop of in-state talent, he and his staff have identified Wilhoite as a top target and can’t afford to miss on his commitment. Few programs can be successful failing to recruit their home states, and missing on Wilhoite will likely mean slim pickings for Tennessee when it comes to the state’s top five.

As always, we focus on football in this space, leaving the hoops stuff to Eric Bossi and Corey Evans. We do, however, love and appreciate nuns, dogs and various other things at Rob’s rankings so, this week, we’ve dipped a toe into the NCAA Tournament buzz. This week’s overtime sees us rank the five most notable non-basketball performances of the tournament’s opening weekend.

1. Sister Jean

Loyola-Chicago’s most notable convent dweller lands in the top spot for being funny and charming, but also because nuns are not to be tried … ever. And that’s not due to any religious affiliation or karma. It’s because nuns will absolutely wreck you if trifled with. In one of the most humiliating experiences of my life, a nun at my Catholic elementary school sent fourth-grade me to a second-grade classroom for an entire week as punishment for misbehavior. Point is, don’t disrespect nuns if you’re into self-preservation.

2. Butler Blue III

If rule No. 1 is “never disrespect nuns,” then rule No. 2 is “don’t say anything resembling a disparaging word about dogs online.” Dogs are the sultans of the online world, and I know better than to rank a canine near the bottom of anything. NCAA rules against animals in the arena banned Butler’s live mascot from Milwaukee's Bradley Center, where the Bulldogs played their opening-round games but managed to steal the show by spending his banishment touring the city and taking photos with landmarks (and in bars):

Twitter, being a measured place full of stable people with rational opinions, handled this about how you’d expect:

3. The guy that runs the UMBC Twitter account

The dude that runs the UMBC Twitter account is polarizing. I get that. It’s why he’s close to the middle of these rankings. On one hand, he played up a historic upset and did it with the kind of voice that garners retweets. On the other hand, there was plenty of eye rolling to go around. This is mostly because nothing is good, pure or funny and everything is cursed or a sign of the apocalypse. The biggest upset of the entire situation is that he wasn’t outed as problematic via old tweets or a personal reddit account. So, you know, congrats on that, social media guy.

4. Dan D'Antoni’s wardrobe

Marshall’s head coach spent the weekend dressed as a loveable sidekick in an 80s television show. The t-shirt-under-blazer look is perfectly fine for chasing bad guys around Miami Beach in a Ferrari, but maybe not ideal for coaching a basketball game that an entire country will be watching. Then, this is coming from a grown man currently wearing Undertaker Edition Pumas, so maybe discard my fashion advice.

5. ESPN’s Myron Medcalf ‏

And in last place, this:

On one hand, oh my God. On the other hand, props to Myron. In an era of awful takes it takes skill to blast through the noise. This take managed to rise above all other awful takes to sit alone on the throne of insanity.