JUDGE FARRELL: Issuing verdicts on early entry decisions by five-stars
Twitter Tuesday makes its return this week, as does Southeast recruiting analyst Woody Wommack as the man answering your questions. To have your question included in future weeks, follow Woody on Twitter and tweet him your queries.
This is a fascinating question and one that really made me think. Last year I pitched in with the basketball staff at Rivals and had a chance to watch Zion Williamson up close and personal at the McDonalds All-American Game in Atlanta. Because he was such a popular guy I don’t think I ever actually go to talk to him or interview him, further proof of just how much of a celebrity he was as a high schooler. As a college player I think he’s actually exceeded the hype, if that’s possible, because he continues to show on a weekly basis that he’s more than just a dunker and any concerns about his position have been put to sleep as well.
I know it’s the easy answer considering the last month’s events, but the answer here has to be Trevor Lawrence. There have been plenty of players billed as the next big thing in college football, but because of the nature of the sport it often takes them a while to get up to speed. As we saw with Lawrence, that really wasn’t the case. From midseason on it was clear that he was living up to his billing and while he wasn’t quite the household name that Williamson was coming out of high school, it’s clear he is now and will be going forward.
I’m a big fan of the new transfer rules and I like the fact that players can alert coaches they are on the market for a new home, instead of the previous back-channel communications that used to take place. However, I do find it a bit odd that the portal isn’t accessible to the media and/or public. If every player that enters the portal is going to get leaked to the media anyway, why not have an accessible database that fans and/or media can access? I’ll be curious to see if a media organization challenges the NCAA in an effort to can access in the future, especially because most of the schools in the NCAA are public universities subject to open records laws.
I’m no draft expert and I think both players will likely spend two more years in college before moving onto the NFL, but it’s hard for me to see a scenario in which Feleipe Franks is drafted higher. Dating back to their high school days, we always thought Franks had a ton of physical gifts but it was clear he would need quite a bit of development in order to reach his ceiling. He got much better in the 2018 season under Dan Mullen, but Jake Fromm has already played for a national championship as a true freshman was nearly back in the College Football Playoff this year. It’s hard to say if Fromm will live up to his five-star billing in terms of being a first-round NFL pick, but unless Franks makes a huge leap, I don’t see him getting picked ahead of Fromm when the time comes.
This has been a popular question from South Carolina fans over the past month, as the Gamecock faithful aren’t happy with Cam Smith being ranked as the No. 191 prospect in the Rivals250 and the No. 2 player in the state of South Carolina, behind only five-star Gamecocks signee Zacch Pickens. I’ve always been a fan of Smith, dating back to when he made the top performers out of the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp presented by adidas event in Charlotte. After that, Smith was bumped to four-star and even earned an invite the the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge presented by adidas in Atlanta. I’ve always seen him as a Rivals250-type player and the fact that he jumped 60 spots after an impressive week in San Antonio at the All-American Bowl only re-affirms that position. But the answer on why a player is ranked where he is always has the same answer. Because we think there are 190 players better than him in this class.
The Rivals 3 Stripe Camp Series is just a few weeks from kicking off and any player is welcome to attend a free and open combine event for a shot at earning a spot in the Sunday camp events. The full list of events and dates can be found at RivalsCampSeries.com.
