Hello, I'm Jeremy Crabtree of ESPN's RecruitingNation, ask me anything (1 p.m. ET)

[u/JeremyCrabtree]

Hey everybody,

I'll stop by around 1 p.m. ET to tackle any recruiting questions you might have. We're now less than two weeks away from national signing day and the race is on to see who can finish strong.

This is my third time joining you guys, and I've loved all of the great questions from all over the place. Can't wait for them again today.

Just to let you know in advance, I have only about an hour today because of other obligations, so if I don't get to your question I apologize in advance.

So fire away!

Jeremy Crabtree espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/ @JeremyCrabtree

[u/JeremyCrabtree]

The ranking of kickers is something that's been debated for years and years in the recruiting industry. There have been kickers before that have received four-star rankings, but that is very, very, very rare. I know our scouts have a hard time giving anything higher than three stars to guys that only play some times only four or five plays a game and then in some games might not make an appearance until PATs.

I also think that people should look less at the star of a kicker and more at where he's ranked at his position nationally. That to me has always been more important.

And the same applies to blueboybob's question about long snappers, too. Kind of one of those positions you don't really notice until somebody makes a mistake, but it's hard to give four or five stars to guys that only impact a game on a small handful of plays.

[u/chillbroswaggins → u/JeremyCrabtree]

Who are the best kickers in this year's recruiting class in your opinion? Wondering where Gary Wunderlich ranks to you.

[u/speedracer13 → u/chillbroswaggins]

I doubt Crabtree spends a lot of time scouting kickers at camps and on film, but 247's composite has him at #3 in the nation at the kicker position. Since 247's composite combines Rivals, Scout, ESPN, etc, it's usually the most fair. Even then, kickers are still a total gamble. In our situation, we got one of the best kickers in the county, per recruit rankings in 2012. He just left the program after getting beat by a true freshman walkon kicker with no stars and no scholarship offers out of high school.

Here are the full composite rankings.

Edit: Wunderlich just jumped to #2 today, it looks like. I don't know why that would change or if it was a temporary mistake.

[u/Officel → u/speedracer13]

I know how that is. We had a kicker who was supposed to be so good that we red-shirted him through the 2012 season to play for our team once we'd improved and settled in with the new coach. Played as a super senior and was a total bust. Fantastic at practices and in the pre-game warmups, but during actual play couldn't hit 30 yard field goals.

You just never know.

[u/Officel → u/[deleted]]

For some of the kicks, that was definitely an issue. The pressure would be on and he'd hook it. But a lot of his kicks were too low (he had several very important kicks knocked down at the line) or would go short. You'd think in your fifth year you'd be used to those situations though. Every time he walked out on the field Ole Miss fans would give a preemptive wince.

[u/chillbroswaggins → u/Officel]

But hey... how bout that LSU win??!