Kentucky Football: Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Who’s the Best Recruiter of them all?

Is recruiting an art or a science? It really doesn't matter because fans want to see positive results. We've had that with basketball for years, but Calipari has taken recruiting to another level. So has Mark Stoops and his staff with our football recruiting. Recruiting at Kentucky for football is reaching heights that no one could have imagined. As you will see below, there's still plenty of room for improvement. Can he take us even higher?

We tend to talk a lot about our recruiting and our recruits, and we believe that Kentucky has one of the best in Vince Marrow. The job he's done in Ohio is, for Kentucky fans, astonishing. He is one of the best, but he only ranks 28^th, according to 247 Sports.

247 Sports (247) is the only recruiting service that attempts to rate the recruiters, which is just one of the things I do like about the,. I also like their profiles, the fact that they provide a timeline for each recruit, and the way they show more offers than the other services. Unfortunately, I do not like their evaluations of players, their star ratings or their rankings for both the players and teams. Setting the dislikes aside, I want to give you what I've found in their recruiter rankings.

There are 513 recruiters listed who have bagged at least one recruit. Actually, there are more if you add in the ties, but I am just too lazy to count them. Vince Marrow's position at 28^th puts him in the top 5.8% of 247's top 30, and you will see that Kentucky is the only school represented as a conference cellar dweller. Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee are the only schools in the list that suffered through losing records last year. All three have new coaching staffs.

Here's 247'stop 30:

Recruiter Rankings	Top 30	7/22/2013
Name	School	Rank
Dameyune Craig	Auburn	1
Bryan McClendon	Georgia	2
Jeremy Pruitt	Florida St.	3
Mike Vrabil	Ohio St.	4
David Beaty	Texas A&M	5
Travaris Robinson	Florida	6
Chip West	Virginia	7
Kirby Smart	Alabama	8
Jerry Montgomery	Oklahoma	9
Clarence McKinney	Texas A&M	10
Tommy Thigpin	Tennessee	11
James Coley	Miami	12
Mike Elston	Notre Dame	13
Michael Barrow	Miami	14
Bob Diaco	Notre Dame	15
John Lilly	Georgia	16
Shame Beamer	Virginia Tech	17
Derrick Nix	Ole Miss	18
Tim Brewster	Florida St.	19
Ben Strickland	Wisconsin	20
Frank Wilson	LSU	21
Mike Sanford, Jr	Stanford	22
Robert Gillespie	Tennessee	23
Mike Bobo	Georgia	24
Kerry Coombs	Ohio St.	25
Reese Morgan	Iowa	26
Jeff Scott	Clemson	27
Vince Marrow	Kentucky	28
Matt MacPherson	Northwestern	29
Darrell Wyatt	Texas	30

You can see the complete rankings at 247 Sports.

Here’s the rankings for each UK coach (notice I said EACH):

# 28 – Vince Marrow

#52 – Neal Brown

#86 – Chad Scott

# 98 – Bradley Dale Paveto

# 106 - D.J. Eliot

#125 – Tommy Mainard

#141 – Jimmy Brumbaugh

#212 – Derrick Ansley

#459 – John Schlarman

All nine coaches have brought in at least one recruit. If you’ll recall, we had some coaches last year who simply didn’t and wouldn’t recruit. Rick Minter is the first who comes to mind. David Turner, Pat Washington and Mike Summers are the only coaches from last year who have one or more commitments. Turner, the DL coach at Mississippi State, is ranked #123 and has 3 commitments for the Bulldogs. Washington is ranked #139 with 5 commitments for Missouri and Summers ranks #288 with two commitments for Southern Cal. Joker Phillips has yet to get a commitment, so he’s not included in the 513. Maybe even more amazing is the fact that Florida has yet to get a commitment from a wide receiver either before or after Joker was hired as the wide receivers coach. Maybe wide receivers aren’t a priority for Florida this year.

Remember Tee Martin, who UK fans believed was a great recruiter? Not a member of the club of 513. I had to verify in the USC 2013 Media Guide that he’s still on the staff at USC. Yep, there he is on page 17. He’s still the Trojan’s WR coach. I remember the UK fan sadness when he left for USC. We thought we had lost something. Just for what it’s worth, Ed Orgeron ranks as #85 with 4 recruits. He’s USC’s recruiting coordinator, assistant head coach and the defensive line coach and is making $1.2 million per year.

So, how does the UK staff stack up in the SEC? I have you covered on that as well. (click here for the complete SEC rankings)

Recruiter Rankings	Top 30 SEC	7/22/2013
Name	School	Rank
Dameyune Craig	Auburn	1
Bryan McClendon	Georgia	2
David Beaty	Texas A&M	3
Travaris Robinson	Florida	4
Kirby Smart	Alabama	5
Clarence McKinney	Texas A&M	6
Tommy Thigpin	Tennessee	7
John Lilly	Georgia	8
Derrick Nix	Ole Miss	9
Frank Wilson	LSU	10
Robert Gillespie	Tennessee	11
Mike Bobo	Georgia	12
Vince Marrow	Kentucky	13
Matt Luke	Ole Miss	14
Doug Nussmier	Alabama	15
Mark Elder	Tennessee	16
Chris Wilson	Georgia	17
Jeff Banks	Texas A&M	18
Corey Raymond	LSU	19
Billy Napier	Alabama	20
Ricky Rahne	Vanderbilt	21
Brent Pease	Florida	22
Zach Azzani	Tennessee	23
Neal Brown	Kentucky	24
Sean Spencer	Vanderbilt	25
Shawn Elliott	South Carolina	26
Tony Hughes	Mississippi St	27
Greg Brown	Alabama	28
B.J. Anderson	Texas A&M	29
Brick Haley	LSU	30

There are 116 coaches listed in the SEC who have obtained commitments. Here's the Kentucky staff's rankings in the SEC.

#13 - Vince Marrow

#24 - Neal Brown

#34 - Chad Scott

# 39 - Bradley Dale Paveto

# 42 - D.J. Eliot

#49 - Tommy Mainard

#54 - Jimmy Brumbaugh

#74 - Derrick Ansley

#111 - John Schlarman

That's not too shabby. The fact that all nine coaches are actually working to bring in commitments is impressive. I'm willing to bet this is the first staff to hit the trail this hard in, like, forever.

As I said earlier, I don't like the way 247 rates and ranks players. The 247 recruiting rankings are based on those player ratings and rankings. In a future article (It will take time), I plan to convert the 247recruiting rankings to rankings based on Rivals and Rank By Offers. I am positive we'll see different results. Just as a reminder, you can see a snapshot of the differences in player ratings here.

If you take a serious look at these rankings, you will see some implications for the future. I think Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi State are in trouble. I've already shown in a previous article that Florida is on a slight decline since Urban Meyer left. Tennessee, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are on the rise, and Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, and LSU are maintaining their positions as SEC powerhouses. The jury is still out for Auburn and South Carolina. Take a look at the 247 team rankings and see if you agree. You can also look at a comparison snapshot at Rank BY Offers.

More from A Sea Of Blue:

• Kentucky Football: Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Who’s the Best Recruiter of them all?
• Kentucky Football: Analyze This or Analyze That?
• Kentucky Football: Another 4-star Yahtzee! for Stoops & Co.
• Kentucky's 2013 Football Roster - Not a Depth Chart Edition
• Kentucky Football: New Air Raid Video