How We Rank

Our rankings exist to bring exposure to the maximum number of athletes pursuing the recruiting process, with a chance to play at the next level.

Our Scouts are tasked with filtering out players who haven’t shown traits that translate to the next level, but we don’t pride ourselves on exclusivity. We’re trained to recognize the potential and value that each player brings to the game. In fact, extending the list every update is a requirement for all Scouts. 

Our Scouts pride themselves on how well they know the game. We put a lot of time and energy into putting players in order and are as diligent as we can be to get it right.  

The most important guideline for our Scouts is that the rankings are a projection of someone’s future collegiate potential, not a reflection of their current ability. 

In the same way that the Heisman trophy winner doesn’t get picked first in the NFL Draft every year, the high school player of the year also isn’t always our #1 ranked player. We have plenty of room in our articles to recognize high school accolades and statistical achievements. The rankings, however, should give readers an idea of how players will perform at the college level. 

The standards above and in the links below outline the expectations. These expectations are shared with our scouts and championed by the editors. We will continue to do the best we can and work to improve areas where our credibility has been questioned. 

Finally, we owe it to our audience to explain what changed in each update, why players move down, and what we’re looking for in prospects. Please tune into your site post-update to see who the New Additions and Stock Risers are in each update.

We would never publish an article dedicated to the specific players who moved down in a rankings update. Our site is here to celebrate athletes’ achievements and skills. But the reality is that many players do drop on the list every update.

The question will inevitably arise, as it always does when we update the rankings: “Why did he or she get moved down?”

It’s a fair question, but in reality, almost nobody is moved down the list on purpose. Rather, they get bumped by newcomers who’ve made a big splash since the last rankings updates and kids who have raised their stock. We shouldn’t say it never happens, but players are only moved down in the rankings in the case of some extraordinary negative occurrence. For example, a player who leaves their high school team in the middle of the season for no apparent reason. A player who gets in some kind of serious trouble on or off the field – a fight on the field or an extended suspension, for example.

“Wait a minute,” you might say. “My daughter went from 75th to 85th. They were definitely moved down.” Actually, that’s not what took place. What’s happened is that she has been passed in the rankings by others who have done more.

How it works

Let’s use a hypothetical example. Say a player – let’s call them Sam Thomas – is currently ranked #75 in their class. Sam had a good high school season so far but hasn’t exceeded expectations, hasn’t cracked the starting lineup, hasn’t grown from 5’5”. None of this is unusual for a high-schooler. Given that nothing has really changed, shouldn’t Sam still be ranked #75? Not according to the math. Why? Because there are always newcomers who work their way into the rankings. And there are always kids who have exceeded expectations, who have cracked the starting lineup, who have grown two or three more inches and added 10 pounds.

If 25 new kids are added, and three of them are ranked higher than Sam, that now puts Sam at #78. If three kids have raised their stock enough to move into the Top 75, that means Sam is now at #81. In other words, by maintaining their current level of performance, Sam got passed by six other players.

Let’s review the math. First we’ll add the three newcomers with their rankings:

After these insertions, all in the Top 75, Sam’s ranking changes from #75 to #78. Now we factor in the three hypothetical players who raised their stock.

What does this do to Sam Thomas’ ranking? Unfortunately, Sam moves from #78 to #81. The numbers don’t lie.

Let’s face it: Athletes separate themselves all the time in every respect. For example, some kids develop. Some kids don’t.

A large number of kids tend to hit their stride in the 10th and 11th grade. Those whose development came a year ago frequently hit their stride. Kids who have invested in their skill development start to show the fruits of that labor against stronger varsity opponents. Others stagnate. Plateau. Level off. Whichever term you want to use, we often see early bloomers tail off and later bloomers take off.

So if a player on your team, or your own daughter, sees their ranking go from #88 to #95, this is why it happened.