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Wrestling
UNI Wrestling Recruiting Class Ranked No. 9 in Nation by InterMat
InterMat has released its Division I Wrestling Recruiting Class Rankings for 2007 and the University of Northern Iowa is ranked No. 9 in the nation.
"Four-leafed clovers, a golden horseshoe, seven or eleven? Regardless of what (UNI head coach) Brad Penrith did to land his class, it surprised even himself," InterMat's Jason Bryant said. "Junior College transfer Jon Jones is ready now for Division I, but high school standouts Jamal Lawrence of Indiana, Christian Brantley of Illinois and Pat Mahan of Minnesota all put UNI's class one notch higher. Cruse Aarhus was the top-ranked 103-pound senior and by the time season rolls around, will be a decent sized 125. Brett Rosedale and Jase Thompson are seasoned Iowa natives, while Trenton Washington could be the right compliment for Lawrence, who won Senior Nationals and his first state title this season. Tolly Thompson will have plenty good upper weights to groom with this class. One late addition that really jump-starts the class is the addition of JUCO runner-up Josh Baldridge."
Ohio State tops the list, followed by Missouri, Penn State, Virginia Tech and Minnesota rounding out the top five. Ohio State's recruitment of the wrestling programs in Ohio was crucial as it was a solid year in terms of depth among seniors in Ohio. Tom Ryan's first full recruiting class was aggressive and did well at addressing needs and building for the future. Missouri scoured the country and picked up some top-notch talent. Coach Brian Smith's momentum is high after the Tigers finished third in the nation at the NCAA Division I championships -- the highest in school history.
Penn State has another top three class, their second in as many years. Virginia Tech, like Ohio State, has a new coaching staff in place and the Hokies picked up seven seniors ranked in InterMat's Senior Top 12, including InterMat's #1 ranked recruit in the nation, Cody Gardner of Christiansburg, Va.
Minnesota loaded up again, most notably Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award winner Zach Sanders, a five-time Minnesota state champion.
Oklahoma State, Michigan, Virginia, Northern Iowa and Kent State round out the Top 10. Minnesota, Oklahoma State and Penn State have Top 10 classes for the second year in a row. InterMat's 2007 Division I Recruiting Class Rankings
There are several factors that go into a classes rankings. While depth of class, quality of recruits, impact on next season and impact on the future are still the focal points of the rankings, there also has been a mathematical elemet to it. Several ranking scores will be compiled: One is what's called simply the "Rankings Score" or R/S. To determine this score, each rank in the InterMat Senior Rankings (1-12) is assigned a point total, similar to many coaches polls that have a 25-1, 24-2, 23-3 voting format. In this format, a #1 recruit gets his team 20 points, a #2 recruit will gain 17, #3 will get 15 and they are staggered down to #12 scoring one point. The reasoning behind this is often the #1-3 recruits do end up becoming college All-Americans more frequently than the 9-12. While there's no statistical data to verify this claim, we consider it "a safe bet."
Once a school has compiled its number of points for its ranked seniors, it is divided by the number of ranked seniors to come out with a ranking average per recruit. That number is then multiplied by the "Impact Score". This impact score is on a base-10 system and the max a team can receive is 10. What is the impact of the class on a team? They're ranked accordingly, again, based on how the recruits fit in the lineup and the projected impact. With the R/S x IMPACT, then that's multiplied by the percentage of the Top 12 seniors that have been signed. There are 168 seniors ranked, thus, more ranked seniors provide more of the overall percentage.
This is just one score used, and just evaluates the high school talent brought in. Other ratios/formulas used to sort the recruiting classes are: Percentage of the incoming class nationally ranked and percentage of wrestlers listed in the InterMat Top 250. A "MASTER SCORE" is also taken into account. This is the overall ranking of four categories, again, assigned point values from highest to lowest. Recruit Average Rankings Score, Percentage of recruiting class ranked, Impact score and then "R/S2" score, which is the Avg. rank X the impact X the percentage of the class that is ranked.
Intangibles that do not have a data value assigned can also play a role. This is usually going to give impact transfers a role in the recruiting class rankings.
While these ratios are used to put a score on the class, the number of signed recruits in the Top 12 senior rankings still has a strong ranking value, as does the overall size of the class. NOTES:
2. Wrestlers that have committed as of July 4 as reported by InterMat will only be counted. We do realize that solid kids are signed all summer long, but there has to be a legitimate cut-off point. With over 1,800 signings now reported, July 4 signings and prior are the cut-off.
3. Intangibles are also noted. Those are most notably, impact transfers.
4. 103 and 112 pounds are weighted slightly less than 119-275.
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