In the coming weeks, Athlon Sports will debut its 2010 Athlon Consensus 100. In an effort to make our readers experience more enjoyable, Athlon has totally redesigned the look of our AC100. We actually locked the web team in the basement for weeks and told them not to come out until we had created the single best top-100 recruiting list on the web. I have complete faith that this is exactly what they have done.

But first, for those who do not know what the AC100 is exactly, I would be happy to explain...

Each year, Athlon Sports takes the top recruiting experts from around the country and builds the Athlon Consensus 100. It is the single most complete — and accurate — top-100 list on the web. Every recruiting site has its own thoughts on a given prospect. Athlon allows college football fans to browse all the expert sites all in one location: The Athlon Consensus 100.

Scoring System

So how are the rankings devised? A very simple algebraic equation is assigned to each recruits rank in any given list and then added up to deliver a total. Players are ranked based on total points earned in the Athlon Consensus Rating system — which is calculated based on all six recruiting services. A No. 1 ranking is worth 150 points, No. 2 is worth 149...No. 150 is worth 1 point. Any recruit rated outside of the top-150 receives no points from that service.

In 2009, Matt Barkley was rated as the No. 1 player in the nation by ESPN and PrepStar. He receives 150 points for a first place vote. He was rated No. 2 by Scout and Offense-Defense. He receives 149 points for the second place votes. Barkley was rated 5th by Max Emfinger and Rivals. He received 146 points for each of those ratings. So using the Athlon Consensus Rating system: 150 + 150 + 149 +149 +146 +146 = 890 total recruiting points. No recruit scored more than 890 points and thus Barkley was the No. 1 player in the nation.

There is no better list of who the top-100 high school football recruits are anywhere in the world.

Now, it is the best looking list of prospects anywhere on the web as well.

The New Look AC100

To start, all the important personal information is still there. Name, position, hometown, height, weight, high school and AC100 ranking are all still clearly stated and located. This information is important for so many reasons and allows for recruiting fans to see which positions and states have the best prospects in the nation for a given year. It also allows for fans to compare players at the same position. Russell Shepard and Aaron Murray, for example, are much smaller players than a quarterback like Matt Barkley. This is the best place to get that information.

This section also allows for brief commentary on the player. "The Skinny" as we call it, is the most interesting and important tidbit of information on a given recruit. Is a recruit a legacy? Does he have family who played at a high level? Did he set state or school records? Does he play any other sports? All of these questions and more will quickly be brought to fans attention in this section.

Schools of Interest

Here is where the list starts to get good. The biggest change in the new look AC100 is the 'Schools' section. Every team that recruit has on his list of favorites will show up in this section. Whether it is three finalist or eight, the logos of those respective teams will show up here. While a prospect remains uncommitted, all of the logos will be in color. When a prospect takes the plunge and makes his verbal commitment to a particular school, the other logos will be grayed out. The 'winning' program's logo will then move to the far left of the list. This section of the list is constantly changing as recruits add and drop schools of choice so make sure to keep an eye on this section at all times.

If your school's logo is still in color, you still got a chance!

Rankings

Now, the really good stuff. This is where the term 'one-stop shopping' comes in handy. Instead of having to bounce all over the world wide web to find out where Russell Shepard is ranked by four, five or six different recruiting services, you can stop by the AC100. A vertical list for each prospect show the rankings of all six services right next to his name on the list. This is where the recruiting junkies can see the differences between the services. One site could have a player ranked in the top-20 nationally while another group of scouts doesn't even put him in the top-150. This is where the vast differences in opinion on prospects really shines clear. It provides us with an opportunity to dig deeper. Why is there such a differing of opinions on this kid? What makes him a great or overrated player? Athlon will dive into the issue and find out exactly why one service loves or hates a certain player.

Here is a list of the services we will be using for 2010 and beyond:

-Offense-Defense (O-D.com)
-Takkle.com
-ESPN
-Rivals.com
-Scout.com
-PrepStar

The 2010 AC100

We are proud to announce that for the class of 2010, Takkle.com — a partner of the National Collegiate Scouting Association — will be joining our search for the top-100 prospects in the nation. NCSA is the No. 1 employer of former NFL players and coaches and has been scouting recruits for years. Each year Takkle releases its top-200 and is powered by Sports Illustrated.

Currently, Athlon is building its 2010 list. Five of the six rankings have been released and as the final list comes out, so too will the first 2010 list. In a matter of weeks we will know if Minnesota lineman Seantrel Henderson, Duncan (S.C.) tailback Marcus Lattimore, Temple (Texas) runner Lache Seastrunk, Florida Gator commit Matt Elam or Ft. Worth wide receiver Darius White will end up as the No. 1 player in the nation for the class of 2010.

STAY TUNED!

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