If freshman and sophomores are your best players then you you can base the teams future off wins and losses.
No you cannot. Freshman and Sophomores, regardless of rankings, are still way underdeveloped compared to Redshirt Juniors and Seniors. There is a plethora of reasons why the NFL does not let them play in the league until they are older. This is one of the reasons.
This is especially significant when talking about the Offensive Line. If your getting great protection, and huge running lanes, then those young kids can succeed more often than not. But they still will have a harder time staying on the field when getting hit by someone with 30lbs of more muscle than them.
Rankings are relevant for players. Wouldn't you be better off developing higher ranked players?
Of course. And by the opposite, if you are trying to develop lessor talented kids for 4+ years, it is going to put the program in a big hole. Here comes Lovie Smith's entrance
Bottom line is the team needs to start to win. College sports is not like pro sports in terms of rebuilding. College teams can turn things around much faster. Another 3 or 4 win season and Lovie is on the hot seat.
Yes college teams can, but this isn't "turning things around". This is taking a team from the American Conference in terms of talent and throwing them in the B1G. THAT cannot be done quickly.
1. You have to get rid on anything/anyone that is not going to help you move forward and toward you goal. (certain players/coaches shown the door)
2. You have to have facilities on par with the rest of the league (currently under construction)
3. You have to recruit high in talent away from beaches and national championships to the middle of Illinois and struggle. Anyone who thinks this is going to be a fast process is unrealistic. We have landed some pretty good players here lately and are looking at getting a top 30 class in the country this year.
It is still 1 year early in the rebuild process. But they will keep showing improvement, then more high end recruits will buy end.
Sorry for the length