The Worldwide Leader set the college football community ablaze yesterday with their ‘Position U’ rankings. ESPN tried to determine which schools deserved the moniker of QBU, RBU, and every other major position group, leading to a lively amount of banter a month before the start of the season.
Many schools claim to be the best at recruiting and producing talent at a particular position.
We did the math to prove who deserves the bragging rights: https://t.co/w3IYMCZzBz pic.twitter.com/1JLxM2VBQi
— ESPN (@espn) July 23, 2019
As with any list of this sort, the criticism was intense from the start. ESPN gave an overall view of the formula they used to determine which school was the best at producing talent at each position over the last two decades, but they didn’t provide an actual metric. That immediately led to some questioning the methodology.
Looking at the rankings themselves, it’s hard to argue against USC being dubbed Quarterback U. While Carson Palmer is the only quarterback from the school to achieve real success in the NFL, seven were drafted and four were first-round picks. Oklahoma did have four Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks this century, but Jason White is seen as a product of the system, and Kyler Murray only spent one season as the starter in Norman.
The title of Running Back U is more of a debate, and frankly, it’s laughable that Miami isn’t in the top three and ludicrous that Georgia isn’t in the top ten. The Hurricanes had an incredible amount of talent at the position in the late 1990s and early 2000s with Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, and Frank Gore all being selected to multiple Pro Bowls.
As for Georgia, Sony Michel, Nick Chubb, and Todd Gurley have all been seen as top running backs at the next level in the last few seasons, and Knowshon Moreno was a star in college.
My biggest gripe is when it comes to ranking defensive backs. While you can make a case for Ohio State to be No. 1, not seeing either Miami or Florida State in the top three is absurd. Both schools have a long tradition of producing some of the best talent in the secondary.
