High School Football in Virginia: The Class of 2010

I spoke with Virginia Preps.com's Football editor Rod Johnson recently about the overall impression that the Class of 2010 might not be as loaded with talent as Va fans are accustomed to. Here were Rod's thoughts on the topic

In recent years, as Virginia's national reputation has grown as a state producing a number of top notch Division I college prospects on an annual basis, expectations have grown that each year's class will match the previous season's talent output. As recruiting analysts study the Class of 2010, the early word on the street was that the annual crop was not as strong as year's past and certainly not as strong as the insanely deep Class of 2011.

Sometimes, when something is said often enough, the opinion seemingly becomes fact. However, upon closer inspection, maybe the problem with the Class of 2010 isn't that the talent is not on par with previous seasons, it might just be that the talent is not at the 'sexy' positions.

A quick survey of the top fifty prospects in the state (as ranked by VirginiaPreps.com) reveals that there are only three quarterbacks, three wide receivers, and four wide receivers -- a scant 20% of the list. Of those top ten 'sexy' position players, only four rank among the top thirty prospects which is generally near the point where the list drops from BCS prospects to mid-major level talent. Both the total number of offensive skill players and the number ranked among the best in the state are lowering than in years past and much lower than next season's expected rankings.

But, does that mean that this class lacks the depth and talent of seasons gone by?

I say no.

The Class of 2010 is stacked with in-the-trench players like few before them. Nearly half of the top thirty (fourteen!) prospects play on the line of scrimmage and that's not counting the consensus top-ranked player Ego Ferguson who had not transferred into Hargrave at the time our last rankings were completed! Heck, five of the top seven players are hands-down kids including Zack McCray, Mark Shuman, Evan Hailes, Quentin Spain, and Nick Acree and each of them held dozens of BCS offers!

The problem with the in-the-trenches prospects is that the average fan is willing to acknowledge the importance of having studs on the line but few understand what it takes to be a great lineman. Face it, few of us watch the line play during a game and, with no true statistics available to help us compare one guy against the guy next to him, there's no quantifiable way to say that Player A is better than Player B. Most coaches, even at the college and pro level, are hesitant to say which lineman played well in a game until they break down the film to see who missed which blocks or assignments.

It's easy to look at a 6-foot-6, 300-pound prospect who runs a 5.0 forty and attempt to project him as a top player because he is already bigger, stronger and faster than most human beings we encounter in our daily lives. Surely, a guy that size can routinely throw around an average citizen. The problem is, they won't be blocking someone that size, they'll be matching up with the rare players who match them in size, strength and speed. There's a scant few people who can accurately project how well a player will play under those circumstances.

Without handy statistics to point to and without having constant video input of a player's performance (like we get from QB's, RB's and WR's), it's tough to get excited about that big guy who your college signed. Thus, a class replete with big men is less 'sexy', less exciting, and less quantifiable than those loaded with skill players.

But that does not necessarily mean that they are less talented.