One of the questions I get asked most about my job is how I come up with the state’s top 50 football prospect list.

I will admit it is an inexact science, one that requires not just
watching players live, but also on video. It’s also smart to talk with
as many coaches and analysts as possible and study lists on reputable
Web sites like Rivals and Scout.

And again, some will project players wrong, some right.

Lists are rife with numbers: 40 time, season yardage, height, weight,
etc. … But how many could tell you that Tim Tebow would end up
becoming quite possibly the best leader college football has ever seen?
You really can’t measure certain intangibles that some athletes may
have and others may not.

Our top 50 has changed since the one we produced in the preseason, and
I feel like it is better primarily because I’ve now had the chance to
take a really good look at more than 200 prospects.

I chose to put Andre Debose on top of the new list, and I might be the
only person putting together one of these that ranks him that high.

The truth is from all the games I saw he was the best player. My
opinion. Others went a different route, and it’s impossible for me to
say with full assurances that Debose is definitely better than say
Rivals’ No. 1, Trent Richardson.

We really won’t know answers to questions like that for a few years, but it sure is fun to talk about it, isn’t it?

You can see the Top 50 here: Gainesville Sun Top 50 prospects – Class of 2009