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Urban Meyer has got 83 victories in eight years as a head coach, enough jewelry to fill both hands, strong graduation rates at Florida and maybe the best reputation in the game.

OPINION

By Dave Curtis

updated 10:46 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2009

Due respect to my buddies who pay the rent by analyzing high school football players, but recruiting rankings are poison. They're the results of sport's most inexact science — even coaches admit recruiting includes a fair amount of guessing and wishing and praying.

So the best recruiters must be judged by how their players exit college as opposed to how they enter. And that logic makes the question at hand a layup to answer. No head coach recruits better than Florida's Urban Meyer.

He's got 83 victories in eight years as a head coach, enough jewelry to fill both hands, strong graduation rates at Florida and maybe the best reputation in the game. He inked first-round NFL draft picks Reggie Nelson and Derrick Harvey, a list guaranteed to grow once the elite of these Gators start heading for the pros (Brandon Spikes, Carlos Dunlap, and maybe Tim Tebow, for starters).

Beyond the winning, Meyer has pocket aces in the recruiting realm. Florida's campus and climate, all located in the mecca of East Coast high school football, rank as huge assets (Gainesville over Ann Arbor is a no-brainer for most 18-year-olds). And he's hired a superstar coaching staff, one that's remained in the penthouse despite two seasons of turnover (so long, Doc Holliday and Greg Mattison).

Need more? From Paul Krebs to Chris Hill, from Kevin White to Jeremy Foley, athletic directors who interviewed Meyer for head coaching jobs insist that he made recruiting his top priority even before he landed the jobs. And once on the trail, at each of his stops, he's impressed far more folks than he's disappointed. Players love his offense and swagger, and their families like his honesty and charm. Everybody seems happy with his winning.

He's smart, too. Meyer rebuilt Bowling Green and spun Utah into a champion by taking and developing players nobody else wanted. He's scored some of the nation's most touted players at Florida, such as Percy Harvin and Dunlap and Will Hill. But he and the staff have won with overlooked players, too. Mattison spent months prodding Meyer to sign too small Brandon James, who became one of the nation's top punt returners. This list, like the draftees, will keep expanding.

Meyer sells himself as a workhorse, saying he admires the coaches he sees at high schools well before the day's first bell rings. He makes the calls and writes the letter and taps into the latest technology — he ended up ahead of the curve on now-banned text messaging, and said he has explored the video conferencing and web cams Nick Saban has utilized at Alabama. But those elements only make Meyer like most everyone else.

His staff and his school, for starters, make him the best. That jewelry, no doubt, helps a little, too.

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