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247 Sports updates Team Talent Composite; 4 SEC teams in top 10
By Keith Farner
Published:
Ten SEC teams made the top 25 in the latest 247 Sports Team Talent Composite that was released Thursday morning.
Barton Simmons, the director of scouting for 247 Sports, outlined several reasons for why certain teams were ranked where they were. There’s no surprise that Alabama led the way with 18 former 5-star prospects on its roster and totals out at 995.81 points, 13 points better than the 2016 Team Talent Composite score. Georgia has 11 former 5-star recruits on its roster, more than anybody outside of Alabama. Kirby Smart and staff added three such prospects this offseason.
The rankings of SEC teams are Alabama (1), Georgia (4), LSU (6), Auburn (8), Tennessee (12), Texas A&M (15), Ole Miss (17), Florida (18), Arkansas (22) and Mississippi State (24).
The calculation is based on the most talented current rosters based on recruiting rankings, but a lot of weight is given to retention. Simmons said despite Tennessee’s departures following last season, “Tennessee’s window isn’t closed. Per talent composite, this roster is actually more talented than last yr’s roster.”
Another understandable drop came from Ole Miss, which signed the nation’s No. 31 overall class last year, a steep drop from what Hugh Freeze did early in his tenure. The Rebels ranked No. 15 a year ago in team talent but are No. 17 this season.
Under the “underachiever” heading were Auburn and LSU.
“Despite a Top 10 talent-ranking each year, the Auburn Tigers have won eight or fewer games each of the last three seasons. Can Jarrett Stidham help Gus Malzahn turn things around?”
LSU sits at No. 6 overall, but “the Tigers also haven’t won more than 10 in a single season since 2011. Ed Orgeron impressed in his interim stint a year ago. Now it’s time to see if he can turn premium ingredients into a championship product.”
Georgia has no excuses not to win the East. Loads of talent, fourth most talented roster in the country…
— Barton Simmons (@bartonsimmons) August 31, 2017
Florida has the 18th most talented roster. Down from 16th last yr and 15th in 2015. Weird to see the Gators that low and something to watch
— Barton Simmons (@bartonsimmons) August 31, 2017
247Sports Team Talent Composite for 2017: @AlabamaFTBL leads the way (again) https://t.co/zpcayhtERj pic.twitter.com/Ncrwg7lSbD
— 247Sports (@247Sports) August 31, 2017
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
