Class of 2022 Rankings Update: The Preview

Nate Wahl January 17, 2022 @ 05:30 PM

As we lock in to our Class of 2022 rankings across the Dakotas there is a lot of things to take into consideration. These will be the final rankings for the Class of 2022 so we plan on going out with a bang when it comes to content too! The Rankings Scale We have now developed our own rankings scale when it comes to ranking prospects, one that is simple to understand: Division I: 1-25 Division II: 25-80 NAIA/Division III/JUCO: 75-150+ Of course with these scales there will be some overlap, but on average from the last two seasons we have been doing this we have seen approximately 25 players from the Dakotas go to the Division I level from Power Five to FCS. The Dakotas is a massive mecca for Division II NAIA, and Division III talent, so you will see that number go up significantly on that scale above. The point of drafting up this scale is to just show off how much talent there is across the Dakotas and no matter where a prospect ends up, we as a staff get just as excited no matter where they end up Division wise, because playing college football anywhere is pretty special. Another process we never follow is the offer-counting, as there is always prospects (especially in 2022) that are under the scale they would be in a normal recruiting year. The Final Grade You might see more fluctuation in the rankings due to this being the final countdown of the Class of 2022. Some prospects we graded ended up at higher levels than we projected which we love to see, as we don’t aspire to be 100% perfect as it is impossible in the world of recruiting. We also saw the opposite, some prospects are playing under where we projected and some that we thought would have more opportunities are still in pursuit of their first college football opportunity. To keep this in perspective, we are grading every prospect not on how many yards they had in a season, but where we see them standing a college football prospect which is a much different element than the standard team or player rankings that looks at stats and ranks players off of that scale. By the Numbers For those that love to look at the analytics, the Class of 2021 had 51% of the rankings go on to play college football or another college sport. Unfortunately, due to the lack of scholarship opportunities all college football programs are having this year, the Class of 2022 will see a significantly less number than that percentage. That does not diminish how excellent this Class of 2022 is in the Dakotas. Here are some strong numbers to look at: -This class matched the Class of 2021 in Power Five opportunities with two, as #1 overall prospect and Top 20 linebacker of Harrisburg both committed to the University of Minnesota. -The choice to stay home or local was more intriguing to this year’s prospects. #2 overall prospect of West Fargo made a huge splash by choosing to commit to NDSU after a slew of FBS offers. Others like teammates and committing to Minnesota State-Moorhead, and Fargo Shanley WR staying home and joining Hegerle in the Bison receiving core at NDSU. We also saw a ton of prospects in South Dakota going to play in Brookings or Vermillion which will be fun for their families to watch and have not a bad drive on game day. Players like of Sioux Falls Roosevelt, and of Harrisburg, of Sioux Falls O’Gorman, of WWSSC, and plenty more. By the Numbers Pt. 2 Which schools grabbed the most prospects off of our rankings? This will be a growing list over the next month or so! Division I: North Dakota State (7) South Dakota State (5) South Dakota (5) North Dakota (5) Minnesota (2) Division II: Minnesota State-Mankato (3) Mary (3) Northern State (3) Minnesota State-Moorhead (3) Sioux Falls (3) Augustana (2) Bemidji State (1) South Dakota Mines (1) NAIA: Dakota Wesleyan (2) Briar Cliff (IA) (1) **These numbers will certainly program especially at the Division II and NAIA level in the next month or so.