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Is talent down in CFB this year?

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C A N S said:
I was thinking about this the other day. Teams like Bama and UGA used to look like they were playing a different sport than everybody else, especially on defense, but this no longer seems to be the case.

I can't really articulate it but I agree, the game looks different than it 5 years back or so.
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Yeah, kids no longer get stockpiled at a few schools and go all over the country to get NIL and PT. The eight five stars that would be on defense for Bama now go to six different schools and they also don’t get pushed in practice vs other top level guys. Like the old Canes have said practice back in the day was harder and more competitive than the actual games.
 
OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
Everything you say is true. But there is still just as much talent, it’s just more spread out versus being highly concentrated in just a small handful of schools as it was during the bag era not that long ago.

If you just look at it from a statistical standpoint, the sample size is so huge that it’s nearly impossible for there to be any meaningful or statistical difference year
-to-year in terms of talent.

If there’s any (probably small) difference at all due to Covid years, then that’s what you would classify as an outlier. Vary atypical if you take the last 50 years into consideration.
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This has been reflected in recruiting. Don’t wanna make too many blanket statements but for years the top teams were hitting 95+ avg per recruit ranking and for a few years it slipped to more like 92-93 and more spread out
 
AlexCane said:
It may be more spread out, but do you see high-end talent this year? I'm not seeing it. Again, small sample size but I'm not seeing a lot of guys that you'd see and know he's a first rounder for example.
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Most teams have played at most three games, let’s revisit at the end of the year. Also, talent is expressed in many forms. There’s the splash talent, you know the Toney type talent or Cam talent, and then there’s interior lineman talent, which is not splash talent. Let’s just see what happens for the rest of the year
 
Plenty of talent in the trenches, especially at OT. QB and WR are down. Not many “top end” RBs. LBer and DB are to be determined.
 
Depends on the position.

QB - Talent is definitely down

RB - The same as always

WR - About the same as always with a few hidden gem/late risers that will surface by draft time

TE - Quite a bit of TE talent around the country

OL - The 2026 draft class is deeper than last year

EDGE - There will be some high impact DE's that go higher than expected

DT - Way down

LB - Probably the deepest LB group in 5+ years

CB - Always deep; the most abundant position on a yearly basis in every draft; Tons of good talent at CB

Safety - Top heavy like last year; 2-3 surefire prospects & the rest are toss ups.

Kicker - This seems to be a pretty heavy Kicker year; I'm seeing kids make 40+ yarders like it's nothing this season. When in season's past, any kick beyond 37yds was always a complete crapshoot in college.
 
AlexCane said:
It may be more spread out, but do you see high-end talent this year? I'm not seeing it. Again, small sample size but I'm not seeing a lot of guys that you'd see and know he's a first rounder for example.
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I agree that talent is likely very consistent over time. But, in the pre-Wuhan’s flu days, the vast majority of “elite” [NFL first rounders] played for a handful of teams and were on prime-time games every week. We learned their names. Now that same number of elites play for 25-35 teams. Some play on the CW and nobody hears their names………
 
AlexCane said:
So, in the middle of the 2nd quarter during the Dolphins game I was looking at 2026 NFL mock drafts to see what my Fins might grab in the top 5 lol. I didn't recognize a lot of players. Is talent down? There are some surefire studs (Smith, Downs, Love, Ryan Williams) but I don't see as much surefire NFL talent as I did several years ago. Am I alone in this assessment? I am sure some kids will rise to the surface as the season progresses but talent seems down this year.

Is there something underlying this? The game has lost Saban, Harbaugh, and Urban who recruited and developed talent. Then with the transfer portal maybe some kids aren't getting the development and coaching they need. Or is this just a down year and no actual reasoning behind it?
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Don't yall tank for Beck. That's what I want dallas to do
 
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C A N S said:
I was thinking about this the other day. Teams like Bama and UGA used to look like they were playing a different sport than everybody else, especially on defense, but this no longer seems to be the case.

I can't really articulate it but I agree, the game looks different than it 5 years back or so.
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I can. Everyone is allowed to pay players now, not just them.
 
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This QB class is complete trash. Going to be multiple GMs who lose their job drafting some of these kids in Round 1.
 
C A N S said:
I was thinking about this the other day. Teams like Bama and UGA used to look like they were playing a different sport than everybody else, especially on defense, but this no longer seems to be the case.

I can't really articulate it but I agree, the game looks different than it 5 years back or so.
Click to expand...
The transfer portal is distributing the talent to more teams. The days of stacking 4 & 5 star talent on your bench is over.
 
Memnon said:
Depends on the position.

QB - Talent is definitely down

RB - The same as always

WR - About the same as always with a few hidden gem/late risers that will surface by draft time

TE - Quite a bit of TE talent around the country

OL - The 2026 draft class is deeper than last year

EDGE - There will be some high impact DE's that go higher than expected

DT - Way down

LB - Probably the deepest LB group in 5+ years

CB - Always deep; the most abundant position on a yearly basis in every draft; Tons of good talent at CB

Safety - Top heavy like last year; 2-3 surefire prospects & the rest are toss ups.

Kicker - This seems to be a pretty heavy Kicker year; I'm seeing kids make 40+ yarders like it's nothing this season. When in season's past, any kick beyond 37yds was always a complete crapshoot in college.
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Jeremiah Smith may be the best Pro ready WR ever, so he makes the guys above him look bad.
 
Lack of top QBs and the dominant teams from the past decade or more falling back to Earth make it look that way. Good time for Miami to go on a winning streak.
 
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At this time last year, Cam Ward wasn't R1P1. At this time in in a previous year Joe Burrow was not yet the greatest single season QB in college football history and not R1P1 yet.

This season lacks those top QB prospects at the moment, but they may emerge as the season goes on.

OL Class will be considered quite good with CiCi, Kayden Proctor, the Utah OL (Fanu and Lomu). Caleb Downs is one of the best safety prospects you'll see. EDGE and DL class going to be considered strong as well with DJU's brother, Bain, Clemson players (Parker and Woods).

WR is calm before the storm...next year with JJ and that group of WRs will be incredible, but this year...Carnell Tate I think is good and a safe bet to be a good WR in the NFL just like all of these Ohio State WRs in the league rn, but WR seems overall weak, like QB at the moment...but there are plenty of good players in this year's draft...2027 projects to be a real wild year with Arch with applicable starts under his belt, JJ, and others at the top.

Think this is a transition year for QBs with the next batch being a year or so away and having not really played yet. WRs as well. So it appears to be a weak class.
 
BoxingRobes said:
At this time last year, Cam Ward wasn't R1P1. At this time in in a previous year Joe Burrow was not yet the greatest single season QB in college football history and not R1P1 yet.

This season lacks those top QB prospects at the moment, but they may emerge as the season goes on.

OL Class will be considered quite good with CiCi, Kayden Proctor, the Utah OL (Fanu and Lomu). Caleb Downs is one of the best safety prospects you'll see. EDGE and DL class going to be considered strong as well with DJU's brother, Bain, Clemson players (Parker and Woods).

WR is calm before the storm...next year with JJ and that group of WRs will be incredible, but this year...Carnell Tate I think is good and a safe bet to be a good WR in the NFL just like all of these Ohio State WRs in the league rn, but WR seems overall weak, like QB at the moment...but there are plenty of good players in this year's draft...2027 projects to be a real wild year with Arch with applicable starts under his belt, JJ, and others at the top.

Think this is a transition year for QBs with the next batch being a year or so away and having not really played yet. WRs as well. So it appears to be a weak class.
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Beck chose a good year to go pro. He's the guy that's going to "emerge".
 
Memnon said:
Depends on the position.

QB - Talent is definitely down

RB - The same as always

WR - About the same as always with a few hidden gem/late risers that will surface by draft time

TE - Quite a bit of TE talent around the country

OL - The 2026 draft class is deeper than last year

EDGE - There will be some high impact DE's that go higher than expected

DT - Way down

LB - Probably the deepest LB group in 5+ years

CB - Always deep; the most abundant position on a yearly basis in every draft; Tons of good talent at CB

Safety - Top heavy like last year; 2-3 surefire prospects & the rest are toss ups.

Kicker - This seems to be a pretty heavy Kicker year; I'm seeing kids make 40+ yarders like it's nothing this season. When in season's past, any kick beyond 37yds was always a complete crapshoot in college.
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I'm fascinated by how Australian punters have taken over. It used to be a couple of guys; now they're everywhere. I was watching a game this past weekend the the announcer said, "they'll bring out the punter from, you guessed it Australia."
 
Memnon said:
Depends on the position.

QB - Talent is definitely down

RB - The same as always

WR - About the same as always with a few hidden gem/late risers that will surface by draft time

TE - Quite a bit of TE talent around the country

OL - The 2026 draft class is deeper than last year

EDGE - There will be some high impact DE's that go higher than expected

DT - Way down

LB - Probably the deepest LB group in 5+ years

CB - Always deep; the most abundant position on a yearly basis in every draft; Tons of good talent at CB

Safety - Top heavy like last year; 2-3 surefire prospects & the rest are toss ups.

Kicker - This seems to be a pretty heavy Kicker year; I'm seeing kids make 40+ yarders like it's nothing this season. When in season's past, any kick beyond 37yds was always a complete crapshoot in college.
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Do you think drop in QB play is a result of the emphasis placed on 7-7?
 
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