Just how important is it for a program to get five-star recruits? The question is always discussed when recruiting season reaches a crescendo. Fans will always debate it and wonder just how much it really means to pull in players with specific ratings and scores.
When you look at programs such as Iowa that do more with less, and which take two- or three-star players and develop them into NFL-ready defensive players, the value of star ratings can be inflated and overemphasized. Yet, there are a few clear ways in which star ratings do matter.
It’s less about one individual five-star prospect, more about the accumulation of five-star prospects.
Individual prospects can turn out to be busts, but when programs such as Alabama and Clemson bring in bumper crops filled with five-star players, the odds of having several great players on the roster increase.
If a program brings in eight five-star players in a class, four might be total busts, but four might be home runs. That’s four elite players on a roster, four roster spots the coaching staff can count on. The depth and breadth of quality in star recruitment make programs better.
Where USC really needs a five-star presence is on the front lines, offense and defense. If the Trojans collect several five-star guys, some of them could be busts but the Trojans could still walk away with two or three players who are going to be beasts up front for multiple seasons.
Stars aren’t everything in recruiting, but they do generally correlate to top performance and results in some self-evident ways.
We talked more about this on our USC call-in show at The Voice of College Football:
Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.