Five Takeaways: 2023 Spring Rankings Update

Every rankings update, there are a few narratives that establish themselves throughout the course of the season and this update, we decided to bring those to the forefront. When I used to write for Rivals, I’d run a weekly five takeaways column that was heavily opinionated, but aimed to provide insight into what I see as a scout. I hope this fulfills a similar role, with a few broad observations buoyed by one or two "hot takes" that I simply want to send into the internet. I feel like it should be obvious which takes fall into which category, so without any other fanfare, let’s jump in. 1. The Process I realize that while we’ve alluded to it before, we’ve never actually explained our process for rankings and updates. I’ll take some time to explain that here. Throughout the months leading up to our updates, we add and edit player rankings on the back end of the site, where only we can see them. We have an idea of who will move up and down when we go live. Then, we do a final check the week before each update where we re-order the players in each position (Do we think this player is a better prospect than that player?) before looking at the overall rankings. Our goal in rankings is to be as accurate as possible without stressing about the tiniest details. For example, we (and the recruiters that use our rankings) see little difference between player 65 and player 70. Instead we aim to put players in "buckets". The top 15-30 (depending on the depth of the class) are guys we give a Power Five grade, the next 20-30 have G5 grades, then FCS and so on. We don’t particularly care to "match" or follow other services (Although these often match up based on a consensus opinion in the industry) and have no problem ranking a player with fewer offers above players with more. For example,  Luke Rector Luke Rector 6'4" | 300 lbs | OL Draughn | 2023 State NC ,  Connor Clark Connor Clark 6'5" | 225 lbs | QB Cardinal Gibbons | 2023 NC , and  Jayden Shotwell Jayden Shotwell 5'9" | 195 lbs | RB Seventy First | 2023 State NC are ranked above some guys with Power Five offers. It’s just how we see them. Any time there is a disagreement between Ed Brooks and I over a particular player, we jump on a call and make our case. He often convinces me that certain players that I am not as high on will develop into top prospects and he’s often correct. I’ve been right about players before as well. And we’ve both definitely been wrong. The beautiful thing is that we can adjust in three months, if needed. 2. Shakeup at the Top Sometimes we rework the top of the rankings when our previous number one stumbles or has a weak couple of months. This isn’t one of those cases. Rather,  KJ Sampson KJ Sampson 6'4" | 285 lbs | DL New Bern | 2023 State NC  -- already a guy that keeps a low profile -- committed early to Florida State and quietly went back to work.  Noah Rogers Noah Rogers 6'3" | 185 lbs | WR Rolesville | 2023 State NC  shot up our rankings on the backend and furthered his cause with some strong camp performances and a few validating Power Five offers to boot. As we approach Signing Day, we begin to weight positional value more and more heavily. Given the growing significance of impact receivers (Source: 2022 NFL Draft) we gave the tiebreaker to Rogers. Let’s be honest, there’s typically little difference between 1 and 10 (We rank in "buckets" anyway) and you can’t go wrong for either guy. Watch out for early frontrunner  Rico Walker Rico Walker 6'4" | 215 lbs | LB/TE Hickory | 2023 State NC  and receivers  Nathan Leacock Nathan Leacock 6'4" | 200 lbs | WR Millbrook | 2023 State NC and Christian Hamilton Christian Hamilton 6'0" | 175 lbs | WR Hickory Ridge | 2023 State NC . I’ll also go to bat for  Connor Drake Connor Drake 6'6" | 315 lbs | OL Providence | 2023 State NC  any day, even if he doesn’t have the offer numbers of the other top players. He’s Power Five through-and-through and whichever big program prioritizes him is going to get several years of quality tackle play. 3. Are we really saying no based on a few pounds? One of the privileges I have in being a third-party scout is that I get to pick the brains of college recruiters, often getting their thoughts and opinions on specific prospects. One of the most common phrases I hear from college coaches is "we really like him, but we’re concerned he’s too small". I will respectfully disagree sometimes but it’s a conversation I’ve had enough to publicly gripe about it. I’m not talking about Power Five schools turning down 230-pound linemen or 140-pound running backs. The point of this is to question why it’s so difficult for 190-pound linebackers or 175-pound running backs to get the offers they deserve. Yes, I’m talking about guys like  Jre Jackson Jre Jackson 5'8" | 175 lbs | RB Terry Sanford | 2023 State NC  and  Stephan Zayachkowsky Stephan Zayachkowsky 5'10" | 200 lbs | LB Porter Ridge | 2023 State NC . Both are absolute standouts on the field, finishing among the state leaders in most statistical categories but are being slow-played by a lot of Division 1 schools. For both, it’s a matter of 10-15 pounds, an insignificant amount of weight, if you ask me. I’ll add  Josh Iseah Josh Iseah 6'3" | 240 lbs | DL Independence | 2023 State NC  to that list too as another guy I’ll absolutely go to bat for as a future D1 star, even if some thing he’s *a bit* too small. 4. Wide Receivers, Wide Receivers Everywhere Each class seems to have its position or positions deeper than the rest. For the 2023 class, it seems that the wide receivers have taken over as the leaders. We have eight receivers ranked in the top 49, including four in the top 9 and six in the top 17. We’ll have some superlative articles with the top speedsters, route-runners, high-pointers and maybe some others. We’ve already mentioned Rogers, Leacock and Hamilton and  Jahreece Lynch Jahreece Lynch 6'2" | 185 lbs | WR North Surry | 2023 State NC ,  Kevin Concepcion Kevin Concepcion 5'11" | 165 lbs | WR Chambers | 2023 State NC  and recently converted running back  Que’Sean Brown Que’Sean Brown 5'8" | 150 lbs | WR East Forsyth | 2023 State NC  are right behind them. It’s easy to see how all of them are being courted by a host of big-name programs. 5. Ranking the 28 Quarterbacks So much goes into creating the rankings, especially at quarterback. This 2023 quarterback class is one we’ve really liked for a while but it has been a difficult one to rank. It seems that this class had more freshman starters than most others and some of the guys have years of experience under their belts. Based on how the summer goes, we could see massive shakeups in the quarterback rankings, but for now I’ll talk about a few of my favorites. I’ve been a huge fan of Connor Clark Connor Clark 6'5" | 225 lbs | QB Cardinal Gibbons | 2023 NC , Cameron Enos Cameron Enos 6'0" | 180 lbs | QB Parkwood | 2023 NC and  John Mark Shaw John Mark Shaw 6'5" | 205 lbs | QB Leesville Road | 2023 State NC  for a long time and  Tad Hudson Tad Hudson 6'3" | 205 lbs | QB Hough | 2023 State NC  has turned hype into talent in recent seasons. Those four have been at the top in some order for a while. That being said,  Joshua Jones Joshua Jones 6'1" | 190 lbs | QB Westover | 2023 State NC ,  Amari Odom Amari Odom 6'4" | 175 lbs | QB Panther Creek | 2023 NC and  Jack Mercer Jack Mercer 6'2" | 190 lbs | QB Northern Guilford | 2023 State NC  have come out firing this offseason. Mercer, in particular, went from the high 100s to 52nd thanks to some really strong camp showings. This class is unique in that there’s a group of smaller-framed quarterbacks that just keep impressing on the field.  Tyler Mizzell Tyler Mizzell 6'1" | 160 lbs | QB East Lincoln | 2023 State NC ,  Anshon Camp Anshon Camp 5'10" | 165 lbs | QB Chambers | 2023 State NC , Trey Shearer Trey Shearer 6'0" | 170 lbs | QB RS Central | 2023 State NC  and Andrew Frazier Andrew Frazier 6'0" | 190 lbs | QB Havelock | 2023 State NC keep growing after being lower in the rankings due to lack of size. The arm talent is undeniable for each one and as they continue to grow, their stock will continue to increase. It’s a good quarterback class and one that I think will come on very strong near the end of teh recruiting process.