This addendum to Inside the Numbers: Ranking the 2003 Recruits explains the SuperPrep, Rivals.com, and TheInsiders.com ranking systems, and how TSL blends those rankings into a composite ranking system for recruits. I will first describe all three ranking systems (SuperPrep, Rivals, and Insiders), and then I'll describe how they're integrated into a TSL composite ranking.

In 2001 and 2002, I used rankings for SuperPrep, PrepStar and Rivals.com, but this year, I dropped PrepStar in favor of TheInsiders.com. PrepStar is now heavily linked with Rivals in some way that I don't understand (PrepStar's magazines now have a Rivals logo on them), so I got rid of them and replaced them with the Insiders (I never could stand PrepStar's convoluted ranking system, anyway -- the Insiders is much easier to grasp).

Remember, this is supposed to be fun. Let's go.

SuperPrep can give up to three honors to a player, depending upon how highly he is ranked. They are as follows:

Elite 50: the top 50 players in the country, ranked from #1 to #50, without regards to position.

All-American: the top 288 players in the country, split up and ranked by position. Among the 288 AA's, SP ranks 26 quarterbacks from #1 to #26, 33 running backs, 9 tight ends, 37 wide receivers, 3 fullbacks, 45 offensive linemen, 48 defensive linemen, 35 defensive backs, 39 linebackers, 9 skill athletes, and 4 jumbo athletes.

All-State: the top 1042 players in the country, ranked in their state, without regards to position. For smaller states, SP will combine them into a region. Some examples: Florida has a Top 88 ranked from #1 to #88, Texas has a Top 124, Virginia has a Top 34, and there is a Mid-Atlantic Top 34 that is taken from Delaware, DC, Maryland, and West Virginia.

Note that a player in SuperPrep's system who is in the Elite 50 is also, by default, All-American and All-State. Likewise, every All-American is an All-State player.

Similar to SuperPrep, a PrepStar Dream Teamer is also an All-American and All-Region player. Every All-American is All-Region.

Rivals takes a lot of heat for the perceived accuracy of their rankings, but as a rating system, they're the simplest and easiest to understand. And, most importantly for this article, they're easy to cram into a mathematical formula. Rivals.com honors players in up to three ways (are you seeing a pattern here?):

Rivals 100: the top 100 players in the country, ranked from #1 to #100, without regards to position.

Rivals Position Ranking: Rivals ranks the top 50 "pro-style" QB's in the country, the top 35 dual threat QB's, the top 25 all-purpose running backs, etc. Rivals ranks 19 different positions, and each player in their system is ranked at his position, or is listed as "not ranked."

Rivals Stars: every player listed in Rivals' system gets ranked from 1 to 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best. The 5 star ranking is very exclusive, so exclusive that there are players on the prestigious Rivals 100 list who are "only" four-star players. Only a few dozen kids -- 25 this year -- out of thousands are given 5 stars.

TheInsiders.com has a very similar ranking system to what Rivals does. The Insiders used to rank a Top 101, but they changed it to 100 this year, and with that change, their system is identical to what Rivals.com uses:

The Insiders 100: the top 100 players in the country, ranked from #1 to #100, without regards to position.

The Insiders Position Ranking: Insiders ranks the top 104 QB's in the country, the top 120 running backs, etc. The Insiders rank players at 12 positions (much fewer than Rivals' 19), and each player in their system is ranked at his position, or is listed as "not ranked."

Example Link: TheInsiders.com Top linebackers

The Insiders Stars: every player listed in The Insiders' system gets ranked from 1 to 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best. The Insiders' 5 star ranking is not as exclusive as Rivals' -- The Insiders list 54 five-star players, compared to just 25 for Rivals.

Now that I've explained how SuperPrep, Rivals.com, and TheInsiders.com rank the recruits, the idea is to take the nine different ranking levels of the three services listed above and compile them into one composite ranking.

For each of the nine ranking levels, I'm going to award a player 0 to 5 points, for a total maximum composite rank of 45. Here's how the points are going to be awarded (please see the "Important Note" after I talk about the points system):

SuperPrep Elite 50: 0 points if the player is not in the Elite 50, and 1 to 5 points if he is. The #50 player gets 1 point, the #1 player gets 5 points, and those in between are awarded points on a sliding scale.

SuperPrep All-American: 0 points if the player is not an AA, and 1 to 5 points if he is. The player gets 5 points if he is the top-rated All-American at his position, and 1 point if he is the bottom-rated All-American at his position. Players in between are awarded points on a sliding scale. Examples: the #1 running back gets 5 points, and so does the #1 QB, etc., but the #41 running back (out of 41) gets 1 point, and the #25 QB (out of 25) gets 1 point.

SuperPrep All-State: 0 points if the player is not ranked in the state, and 1 to 5 points if he is. The player gets 5 points if he is the top rated player in the state, 1 point if he is the bottom rated player in the state, and those in between are awarded points on a sliding scale. Example: Ahmad Brooks (#1 in VA out of 39 players) would get 5 points, while Brenden Hill (#36 out of 39) gets 1.08 points.

Rivals.com "Rivals 100": 0 points if the player is not in the Rivals 100, and 1 to 5 points if he is. The #1 player gets 5 points, the #100 player gets 1 point, and those in between are awarded points on a sliding scale.

Rivals.com Position Rank: 0 points if the player is not ranked at his position, and 1 to 5 points if he is. The #1 player at his position gets 5 points, the bottom-ranked player gets 1 point, and those in between are awarded points on a sliding scale.

Rivals.com Stars: 1 point for each star. One-star players get 1 point, two-star players get 2 points, etc.

TheInsiders.com "Insiders 100": 0 points if the player is not in the Insiders 100, and 1 to 5 points if he is. The #1 player gets 5 points, the #100 player gets 1 point, and those in between are awarded points on a sliding scale.

TheInsiders.com Position Rank: 0 points if the player is not ranked at his position, and 1 to 5 points if he is. The #1 player at his position gets 5 points, the bottom-ranked player gets 1 point, and those in between are awarded points on a sliding scale.

TheInsiders.com Stars: 1 point for each star. One-star players get 1 point, two-star players get 2 points, etc.

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