MAC Football

MAC Basketball

2002 Recruiting Analysis

Below is the 2002 MAC Football Recruiting Analysis. Data has been taken from several sources to bring together this in-depth compilation. These sources included several published newspapers such as the Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Toledo Blade, Cincinnati Inquirer, Columbus Dispatch, Chicago Sun Times, Indianapolis Star, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Buffalo News, The Herald-Dispatch, Orlando Sentinel & Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Also, I have subscribed to several "guru" publications such as Midwest Recruiting News by Bill Kurelic, Tom Lemming Recruiting Services and also utilized various Internet sources. Finally, I would like to thank the entire current 14 MAC sports information directors provided information who assisted in this analysis.

Like many recruiting forums, please keep in mind that most of these kids are anywhere from 17-years to 20-years old, so these rankings are very subjective. Many things can happen to a young man in his college-playing career like injuries, grades, personal issues, or lack of anticipated development that can hinder how a class may really pan out. And let’s not forget the late bloomers either who rarely show up on the recruiting radar screen and end up becoming all-conference players and sometimes even NFL players. The only way to know how good a class really has been is to look at them after they have graduated in four or five years.

I would like to make one general comment and that is this is by far the best talent I have ever witnessed coming into this conference! I cannot believe how good some of these kids are in terms or their accomplishments on and off of the field, and many had attractive offers from schools from the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big East, Big Twelve & Mountain West programs, so kudos to the coaches and their staffs for putting together some incredible recruiting classes across the board. Overall, I submit that the West division teams did a little better than the East division teams. As many as five schools from the West division had their best recruiting classes ever! The East did well also, but probably does not have as much fanfare as the West in my opinion.

Within the detail and listings of the recruits on the team’s analysis, grades are determined from the following summary; OUTSTANDING, EXCELLENT, VERY GOOD & AVERAGE. Last year, I had Western Michigan as my top class, and in 1999, I tabbed Marshall #1. So who is this year? Just take a look below, read, and enjoy. Again, much of this analysis is subjective, so post thoughts on the Message Board provided on this site, or talk about it on other popular MAC message boards. -Nick Gerogosian-