Vols WR Commit Josh Malone Drops In Latest Rivals Rankings

Nov 10, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; A general view as the Tennessee Volunteers enter the field prior to the game against the Missouri Tigers at Neyland Stadium. Missouri defeated Tennessee 51-48 in quadruple overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Five-star wide receiver Josh Malone, who committed to the Vols in December, dropped seven spots in the latest Rivals rankings.

The full Rivals top 100 will be released on Monday.

Who knows what caused Malone to drop in the rankings, but I wouldn’t put much thought into it at all. Recruiting rankings mean very little and often-times there is much more than a player’s actual talent that goes into the ranking of recruits.

Recruiting rankings, while a good tool to help evaluate talent, is only a small part of the equation. Typically coaches don’t even use the recruiting rankings to evaluate a player, but rather they rely on their own eyes to evaluate. Most players are ranked by folks that have never coached or played, which could put the legitimacy of the rankings in question.

Malone is still one of the top wide receiver recruits in the nation and his ranking of 27, instead of 20, does not change how important Malone will be for the Vols.