When a scouting report comes back, there is always the last line telling you what level the dude could play at. I'm recruiting at Keuka this season (for the first time) and saw the guy I signed (the SF) was said to have the potential to be a D3 All American candidate.

I was just wondering:
a. Is this window dressing?
and if not:
b. How much weight should I attribute to it.
c. How many guys have this written in their scouting reports (i.e. is it common or rare?)

I don't think its window dressing. I think it is a reflection of the potentials that that player has. Lots of high-highs, he is going to have a better rating, bet a D3 All-American or a D2 solid starter, instead of D3 starter or D3 bench player.  I find it in probably 3 out every 4 or 5 recruits, not quanitifiable so thats just from my mind.

My two cents.

Okay, so it's not very rare, it just depends on how you develop them?

it is somewhere between mostly and entirely window dressing.

Is this message better  than saying "a DIII school would be lucky to get him, and he would thrive in a DII school?"

This message is good for a D3 recruit, however if you are a high prestige D3 school you can get the guy that says "would be a solid D2 player, a D3 school would be lucky to get him and he will get no interest from a D1 school"

Posted by salag on 12/27/2011 9:51:00 PM (view original):
I don't think its window dressing. I think it is a reflection of the potentials that that player has. Lots of high-highs, he is going to have a better rating, bet a D3 All-American or a D2 solid starter, instead of D3 starter or D3 bench player.  I find it in probably 3 out every 4 or 5 recruits, not quanitifiable so thats just from my mind.

My two cents.

Only problem is, this message has been around long before potential was introduced into the game.  Almost entirely window dressing.

Window dressing.

How can it be window dressing if the message is different depending on the skill of the recruit? 

I'll answer that by answering the OP's (b) and (c) question:

How much weight should I attribute to it?   None. It may mean that you've recruited a higher rating player from the D3 ranks, but its really about potential and his rating in categories that are important to your offense and defense. I've recruited 480 rated D3 guys with 80 durability and gotten this email. That means I recruited a guy with 400 rating for all the other categories. In the end, not that great a player.

How many guys get this email? I have no idea. But I can say, the guys I have recruited where I got this email, made no difference at all if they ended up AA or not.

To answer your question, How can it be dressing if its different? I believe it to be true that you will get this message for higher rated players. But see my answer above. In the end, it means nothing compared to where his rating is allocated and compared to your team needs. It makes no difference on his actual chances to be an all american. Therefore, IMHO, its window dressing.

sublightd touched on it, but I'll go ahead and say the message isn't window dressing.

It is window dressing for potential / chance to win awards.

It is not window dressing for the tier a player is on with regards to recruiting and what types of schools can target the player.

I'll go ahead and now contradict myself by saying that I think D3 All-American is window dressing.  I think those players are available to all D3 schools from the outset.  (Not sure, I haven't recruited a D3 C- prestige team recent enough to remember.)  The message tells you nothing.

Above that level, it can be pretty helpful.  Talent and potential wise there might not be much difference between "D3 All-American" and "decent Division II player - although he would probably sign with the right DIII school ".  In fact the D3 All-American might be better. But I know that the D2 player has dropped down to me but probably hasn't dropped down to all D3 schools.  If I'm looking to recruit beyond my backyard, it's less likely I'm going to find myself in a long-distance battle for the D2 player compared to the D3 player and all things equal I'm going after the D2 player because not every D3 team would be able to do the same.  Every now and then I can get players for my D3 team that are "solid Division II player. Can't see many of the big boys up in D1 going after him".  Those types of players are even less likely to be available to other D3 teams.

Same concept is true for D2.

So the messages are window dressing at the very low (D3 All-American) and very high (D1, likely to go early) but in between give you a good feel for how many other teams are seeing the player on their recruiting search results.

From a talent perspective, it's total window dressing. There is nothing to read into as far as how good the player will be.

kujay, as for your point in the "above that level" paragraph, it's interesting. Hadn't thought of applying it in that way -- not so much as a barometer of talent, but in a more interpretive sense. That said, I see some flaws there, and I'd further contend that the messages can be misleading if you try to interpret them in the way that you suggest.

Standard caveat that I don't know my opinion to be fact ....

My experience suggests this is true.  For example, those "solid D2" recruits that I target never show up on teams with B/C level prestige unless the 70 mile rule is in effect.  My sample size is only a few dozen players so I'm not going to say I'm 100% certain but all my anecdotal evidence suggests it does help give you an idea of just how far a player has (or will) drop.

kujayhawk, just to give you some more info, I have a B prestige. Does this change your thoughts on D3 All AMericans being window dressing?

caesari, the bottom line is that if you're making these messages anything but a potential strategic afterthought (ala kujay's suggestion), then you're giving them far too much credence and not focusing on the proper things.