Rivals.com

Not to be confused with Rivals.ph, a sports news website based in the Philippines.

Rivals.com

Type of site	Sports recruiting information
Available in	English
Owner	Yahoo! Inc.
URL	www.rivals.com
Commercial	Yes
Registration	Depending on individual usage
Launched	November 4, 1998 (1998-11-04)
Current status	Online

Rivals.com (stylized as rivals) is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel.

History

Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckman in Seattle, Washington, with a cadre of outside investors. Heckman was once the son-in-law of Don James, the former head football coach at the University of Washington, where Heckman attended school and was later involved in a recruiting scandal. Initial deriving revenue solely from advertising, Rivals.com later employed a subscription fee of $10.00 per month to users for access to the latest recruiting news and to participate in various message boards dedicated to schools covered by the network. Rivals was funded by money from venture capital firms including the venture funds of Fox and Intel.

Rivals acquired AllianceSports, a regional network that primarily covered college sports in the Southeast of the United States, in January 2000. At its peak, Rivals.com employed close to 200 people, operated a network of 700 independent websites, filed for an initial public offering worth $100 million led by Goldman Sachs, and sponsored the Hula Bowl in Hawaii. However, economic troubles and the collapse of the dot-com "bubble" soon led the Rivals Network, the parent company of Rivals.com, to cease operations in 2001, though it never sought bankruptcy protection. Executives from AllianceSports purchased the Rivals.com assets and subsequently relaunched the website. Heckman, who had been fired as chief executive officer, later started a competitor network named The Insiders, which was later renamed Scout.com and sold to Fox Interactive Media in 2005.

Led by former AllianceSports executive Shannon Terry, Rivals.com became profitable. On June 21, 2007, Yahoo! agreed to acquire Rivals.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but several sources reported Yahoo! paid around $100 million.

Rivals subscribers automatically have their subscription renewed for a term equal to the original term upon expiration of the then-current term, and continually thereafter, unless the subscriber terminates the subscription by phone at least 48 hours prior to the renewal date.

Schools

The individual collegiate sites at rivals.com can be found here (viewable only from within the United States).

Schools featured at Rivals include all members of the Power Five conferences:

• ACC
  • Notre Dame, a football independent and listed as such by Rivals, is a full ACC member in non-football sports.
• Big Ten
• Big 12
• Pac-12
• SEC

Rivals also has sites for all football members of the American Athletic Conference (though not for incoming non-football member Wichita State).

Conferences that have sites for some of their schools include:

• 3 from the Atlantic 10. The schools featured all play Division I FCS football.
• 8 from the Big East (all except Butler and Providence). The featured schools include two of the conference's three football-sponsoring members (Georgetown and Villanova, which both play FCS football).
• 13 members of Conference USA (all except Old Dominion)
• 4 from the MAC.
• 8 from the MW.
• 7 from the Sun Belt.
• 3 FBS independents (all except UMass)
• One each from one FCS league, the Northeast Conference (Robert Morris).

High School Football Ranking Criteria

Rivals employs a tiered ranking system to evaluate football prospects:

• 6.1 = Five-star prospect: Elite player, typically among the top 30-35 in the country, with first-round NFL potential.

• 6.0-5.8 = Four-star prospect: High-tier player, usually in the top 300-325 nationally, with first-to-third-round NFL potential.

• 5.7-5.5 = Three-star prospect: Considered among the top 800-850 national prospects, projected as mid-to-low-end pro potential.

• 5.2-5.4 = Two-star prospect: Mid-major prospect with limited pro potential, expected to contribute for 1-2 years in college at best.

Factors such as physical and athletic measurables, regional competition, individual statistics, and overall potential play a role in assigning these rankings.

Both athletes and recruiters place immense value on star rankings. For athletes, high star rankings translate to increased scholarship offers, media exposure, and better collegiate opportunities. For recruiters, rankings serve as an initial filter to identify the nation's top prospects.

Rivals 100

Rivals100 is the system used to rank elite high school athletes across the Unites States in Football and Basketball. It uses the Rivals formula to provide an ordered list of the nations best high school athletes, as well as a tracking on their potential universities and official signings.

List of Rivals #1 Ranked Football Players

Rivals 2002, Rivals has ranked high school football athletes at a national scale. Each of the Nationally ranked players can be found below:

Year	Player Name	Position	High School
2002	Vincent Young	Quarterback	Madison HS (TX)
2003	Ernie Sims	Linebacker	North Florida Christian HS (FL)
2004	Adrian Peterson	Running Back	Palestine HS (TX)
2005	Derrick Williams	Wide Receiver	Eleanor Roosevelt HS (MD)
2006	Percy Harvin	Wide Receiver	Landstown HS (VA)
2007	Jimmy Clausen	Quarterback	Oaks Christian HS (CA)
2008	Terrelle Pryor	Quarterback	Jeannette HS (PA)
2009	Bryce Brown	Running Back	Wichita East HS (KS)
2010	Ronald Powell	Defensive End	Rancho Verde HS (CA)
2011	Jadeveon Clowney	Defensive End	South Pointe HS (SC)
2012	Dorial Green-Beckham	Wide Receiver	Hillcrest HS (MO)
2013	Robert Nkemdiche	Defensive End	Grayson HS (GA)
2014	Da'Shawn Hand	Defensive End	Woodbridge HS (VA)
2015	Byron Cowart	Defensive End	Armwood HS (FL)
2016	Rashan Gary	Defensive Tackle	Paramus Catholic HS (NJ)
2017	Najee Harris	Running Back	Antioch HS (CA)
2018	Trevor Lawrence	Quarterback	Cartersville HS (GA)
2019	Nolan Smith	Defensive End	IMG Academy (FL)
2020	Bryan Bresee	Defensive Tackle	Damascus HS (MD)
2021	Korey Foreman	Defensive End	Centennial HS (CA)
2022	Travis Hunter	Cornerback	Collins Hill HS (GA)
2023	Arch Manning	Quarterback	Isidore Newman HS (LA)
2024	Dylan Raiola	Quarterback	Buford HS (GA)
2025	Keelon Russell	Dual-threat QB	Duncanville HS (TX)

Rivals Football Camp Series

Beginning in 2012, Rivals.com has hosted a their 'Rivals Camp Series', which features assessment camps and athletic combines for athletes across the United States. Prospects at these camps are coached by former NFL talent and compete against highly skilled athletes across the United States. Alumni of the Rivals Camp Series include Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Saquon Barkley, Patrick Mahomes, Puka Nacua, Sauce Gardner and 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. Of the top 10 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, and 7 were former Rivals Camp participants.

Rivals Basketball

Rivals uses a similar formula to football when assessing the nations best high school basketball athletes.

• 5-stars: Considered elite prospects, among the nation's top players, with potential for a high-level college career and possibly the NBA.
• 4-stars: Top prospects, often among the top 250-300 players nationally, with significant college impact potential.
• 3-stars: Top 750 level players, with potential to contribute at the college level.
• 2-stars: Mid-major prospects, with limited pro potential.
• 1-star: Players not ranked.

List of Rivals #1 Ranked Basketball Players

Beginning in 2003, Rivals began ranking the nations best high school basketball players. Each of the years top ranked athletes can be found below:

Year	Player	High School
2003	LeBron James	St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, OH
2004	Dwight Howard	Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, GA
2005	Tasmin Mitchell	Denham Springs High School, LA
2006	Greg Oden	Lawrence North High School, IN
2007	O.J. Mayo	Huntington High School, WV
2008	Brandon Jennings	Oak Hill Academy, VA
2009	Lance Stephenson	Lincoln High School, NY
2010	Josh Selby	Lake Clifton High School, MD
2011	Austin Rivers	Winter Park High School, FL
2012	Shabazz Muhammad	Bishop Gorman High School, NV
2013	Andrew Wiggins	Huntington Prep, WV
2014	Jahlil Okafor	Whitney Young High School, IL
2015	Ben Simmons	Montverde Academy, FL
2016	Josh Jackson	Prolific Prep, CA
2017	Michael Porter Jr.	Nathan Hale High School, WA
2018	R.J. Barrett	Montverde Academy, FL
2019	James Wiseman	Memphis East High School, TN
2020	Cade Cunningham	Montverde Academy, FL
2021	Chet Holmgren	Minnehaha Academy, MN
2022	Dereck Lively II	Westtown School, PA
2023	Isaiah Collier	Wheeler High School, GA
2024	Tre Johnson	Link Year, MO
2025	Caleb Wilson	Holy Innocents Episcopal, GA

External links

• Official site