Many on this board are worried that our roster is getting filled without any of our top targets yet on board. In addition to the often stated reply about being too early for concern I would like to add the following:
When looking at the 2014 Michigan State Defensive 2-Deep (who Narduzzi both recruited and coached), the average Rivals rating out of high school was 3.1*. This unit was ranked 8th in the country in overall defense in 2014. By comparison, the 2014 Pitt defense had an average Rivals rating of 2.9 * and had an overall defensive ranking of 33rd in the country. If you instead look at average points allowed per game, the difference widens to Michigan State (12th) vs Pitt (56th). In addition, when looking at the relative age of each unit, the Pitt defensive 2-deep averaged 3.1 years out of high school (i.e., Jr. or Redshirt So.) and Michigan State averaged 2.9 years. Furthermore, Michigan State had the 55th toughest schedule compared to Pitt’s 74th toughest schedule. Finally, Pitt’s 5 current recruits have an average Rival’s rating of 2.8 (if I was a betting man I would throw down a few Shekels that the average would be 3.4* for the 5 recruits by signing day as I feel Garner, MacVittie and Butler will all get a bump by February).
My points in all of this are; 1) Narduzzi and his staff appear able to “coach up” players better than other staffs. I know this is only a comparison to Pitt but I suspect if I extended the analysis to other teams (especially the top ranked recruiting teams) that Michigan State’s defense has likely done the most with the least in the country, 2) If the quality of Pitt’s defensive recruits stay in the 2.8 – 3.0 average * range by LOI, that is no different than what Narduzzi coached to the 8th best unit in the country (and I fully expect the defensive average to exceed 3.0* by LOI), and 3) even if the * quality doesn’t improve, Narduzzi knows the type of player he wants and can coach up and in that case * are irrelevant . Come LOI, he may very well have a higher rated recruiting class than he proved effective with at Michigan State.
When looking at the 2014 Michigan State Defensive 2-Deep (who Narduzzi both recruited and coached), the average Rivals rating out of high school was 3.1*. This unit was ranked 8th in the country in overall defense in 2014. By comparison, the 2014 Pitt defense had an average Rivals rating of 2.9 * and had an overall defensive ranking of 33rd in the country. If you instead look at average points allowed per game, the difference widens to Michigan State (12th) vs Pitt (56th). In addition, when looking at the relative age of each unit, the Pitt defensive 2-deep averaged 3.1 years out of high school (i.e., Jr. or Redshirt So.) and Michigan State averaged 2.9 years. Furthermore, Michigan State had the 55th toughest schedule compared to Pitt’s 74th toughest schedule. Finally, Pitt’s 5 current recruits have an average Rival’s rating of 2.8 (if I was a betting man I would throw down a few Shekels that the average would be 3.4* for the 5 recruits by signing day as I feel Garner, MacVittie and Butler will all get a bump by February).
My points in all of this are; 1) Narduzzi and his staff appear able to “coach up” players better than other staffs. I know this is only a comparison to Pitt but I suspect if I extended the analysis to other teams (especially the top ranked recruiting teams) that Michigan State’s defense has likely done the most with the least in the country, 2) If the quality of Pitt’s defensive recruits stay in the 2.8 – 3.0 average * range by LOI, that is no different than what Narduzzi coached to the 8th best unit in the country (and I fully expect the defensive average to exceed 3.0* by LOI), and 3) even if the * quality doesn’t improve, Narduzzi knows the type of player he wants and can coach up and in that case * are irrelevant . Come LOI, he may very well have a higher rated recruiting class than he proved effective with at Michigan State.
