Dan Weber’s Just Sayin’: RPI rankings rock for NKY teams but recruiting rankings do not

Ask any of the coaches of the top high school football programs in Northern Kentucky what they like in the schedules that have seen all the top teams – no matter the classes – playing one another and other than toughening their teams up for the rest of the season and district play, the answer is the same: “RPI points.”

Those are the statewide KHSAA strength-of-schedule rankings that determine who gets home playoff games the further the matchups progress. And that’s just what seems to be happening. A check of the first KHSAA RPI rankings after four games shows three Northern Kentucky teams topping their respective classes, something that if they hold up, would mean home playoff games all the way through to the state finals at UK’s Kroger Field.

Beechwood (4-0) leads Class 2A with a .98895 with perennial championship alter-ego Mayfield (2-1) trailing at No. 5 at .66592. The team to watch out for is No. 2 Owensboro Catholic at .92774.

In Class 5A, as expected state finalist a year ago Cooper (4-0) is No. 1 with a .79177. Conner (3-1) after its win over Newport Central Catholic is No. 5 (.68374) and Highlands (3-1), with its big district game against Cooper Sept. 27 is No. 10 (.65856) after dropping an overtime thriller to a Class 6A Ryle team in overtime last week after the Raiders had lost to Union-rival Cooper with 38 seconds left 11 days ago.

But that schedule has worked well for Ryle as the Raiders (3-1) are a surprising No. 1 in 6A over a number of Louisville teams – Male, St. Xavier and Trinity. Ryle is listed with an RPI of .72890 and leads six unbeaten teams in 6A. And that gives Union two teams ranked No. 1 in Kentucky. Not bad for the onetime sleepy little town on U.S. 42.

In Class A, four Northern Kentucky teams are in the top 13 in the state led by Newport (3-0, .78848) at No. 6, NewCath (3-1, .74696) at No. 8, Bishop Brossart (4-0, .70147) at No. 11 and Ludlow (2-1, .63233) at No. 13 as all trail No. 1 Hazard (4-0, .90334).

Lloyd Memorial (3-1) is the lone Class 3A program here and the Juggernauts are No. 4 at .72724 trailing No. 1 Rockcastle County (4-0, .82535).

And finally, there’s question about the best team in Class 4. It’s defending state champion Boyle County (4-0), ranked No. 14 in the nation after beating another national Top 25 team, Cleveland St. Edwards a week ago. In the early RPI rankings, however, Boyle County (.77704) is just No. 3 behind Franklin County (.87122) and Paducah Tilghman (.85510). Last year’s state finalist CovCath (2-2) is No. 14 at .60733.

Watching Cooper quarterback Cam O’Hara and Ryle’s Jacob Savage the last couple of weeks, we thought we’d check in with 247 Sports, the top high school football recruiting service in the nation, to see where these juniors were ranked.

And as we’ve seen for so long, Kentucky in general and Northern Kentucky in particular, remain overlooked. Just eight Kentucky juniors, with O’Hara at No. 5 and listed way too low as a three-star, are listed as prospects by 247 Sports. Compare that to Alabama, with 5.1 million population compared to Kentucky’s 4.5 million, where there are 39 junior prospects ranked. And where a prospect like Ryle’s running back/middle linebacker Savage, a 6-1/12, 220-pounder with 4.6 speed in the 40 who scored four touchdowns in the win over Highlands, is not listed.

If Savage were playing for a program like national No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), he’d probably be closing in on a five-star ranking for next season when he’ll be a prospect who can play for any big-time college program in the nation. And we haven’t even gotten into some of the big underclass linemen here.

JUST A REMINDER, NKYSHOF INDUCTION WEDNESDAY

At 1 p.m. at the Gardens of Park Hills Wednesday, seven new members will be welcomed into the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. They are: Bill Roller , Highlands football; Bob Boswell Jr. , Newport, baseball/basketball, coach/sponsor; Fred Geraci , Thomas More basketball/baseball/tennis; Heather Kruger Parsons, Highlands basketball; Kate Arnzen-Kruse, highlands/NKU basketball/volleyball/coach: Michael Zimmerman , Newport Central Catholic basketball; Steve Kruse, NKU cross-country coach.

Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com . Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dweber3440.

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