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College football

Recruiting analysts come in many forms

Some watch video. Some talk to players. But all of their rankings get plenty of attention.

By KEITH NIEBUHR, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 5, 2003

Bill Buchalter is old school.

The 62-year-old never watches player videos and prefers not to bother high school kids during the recruiting process, instead choosing to obtain most of his information from college and high school coaches.

Jeremy Crabtree is part of the new wave.

He, too, talks to coaches but also watches hours of video, attends practices and conducts player combines. Calling prospects is a big part of his job.

Both are well-known recruiting analysts, but their styles are as different as the offenses at Nebraska and Brigham Young.

Welcome to the world of recruiting.

"Today, when you click on the Net, you've got 50 new experts," Buchalter said.

For the record, Buchalter, a longtime writer for the Orlando Sentinel, does not describe himself as an expert. In fact, he laughs at the very notion despite the fact he has covered recruiting for nearly 40 years, the past 36 for the Sentinel.

"I was doing this before it became popular," Buchalter said. "It has really gone through an unbelievable technological jump."

Buchalter describes what he does as "tracking."

"I'm just a newspaper person," he said. "It's one of the things I enjoy doing."

Buchalter's lists of standout players have, for years, appeared in such publications as the Sporting News. This, of course, might lead one to ask: If Buchalter doesn't watch video, how does he rank players? "I talk to (high school) coaches and recruiting coordinators," Buchalter said. "Who is going to be better qualified to evaluate talent -- the football coach who does it full time or a sportswriter?"

Buchalter has used the same method for 40 years.

"Guys like us today are dinosaurs," he said.

Crabtree, a 27-year-old analyst for rivals100.com, is a former sports writer for the Kansas City Star who liked covering the subject so much he began following it full time. Like many in the business, he starts collecting data on prospects during their junior year. After talking to coaches and pouring through all-state teams, Crabtree and the rivals100.com team of analysts send questionnaires in January to players throughout the country to jump on the following year.

"We watch the tapes (of players) and go out in the spring to get a look," Crabtree said. "I spend more time in the spring and summer on the road than I do at home. It's a very difficult process. It starts in January and goes all the way through the following February."

Crabtree takes his job seriously.

"I've worked really hard the past four or five years at educating myself," he said. "I sat down with college coaches and said, 'What do you look at?' and 'Why is this guy better than that guy?' I take things they tell me."

Feedback from college coaches is positive, he said.

"It's funny how in the media a lot of coaches say, 'We don't believe in rankings,"' Crabtree said. "But when we talk to them, they're like, 'Gosh, you did a good job with this class,' or say, 'You have them ranked perfectly."'

A look at the rankings of Florida seniors by Buchalter and Crabtree's rivals100.com shows different methods yield similar results. Seven players are on the top-10 lists of both.

"Nobody gets everything right," Buchalter said. "Half of it is an educated guess anyway."

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