If you consider the higher the star, the quicker the impact...his classes pretty well fit their rankings. As I recall, he only had two, maybe three, on his starting 22 younger than their Jr. year.
I agree with some of that but let me make a counterpoint. You say that "kicker mentality" we shall call it can not be measured right? OK, how about hard work in developing your skills? How about academic work to keep yourself eligible? How about understanding the offense of the college you are to attend? How about character issues to keep yourself out of jail? None of those can be rated also yet they continue to rate players at all positions. Of course there are mental things going on...with every single kid at every single position. And BTW, you talk about "growth"...that is not a measurable nor do they try to measure it. What those "stars" are supposed to represent is the kid's current skillset. In fact, if your read the Rivals' rating numbers, they specifically say that this number means he will start in 3 years...this number means he will start next year, etc.
Great points throughout. That is why I don't pay for access to recruiting services. And you brought to mind one of my favorite recruiting quotes when you talked about camps, etc. Frank Wilson was questioned 2 or 3 years ago when LSU signed too many 3* for some people. He said "I know for a fact that these services who rated some of these kids low never went to a game of theirs, never saw them practice, never requested video of them in games, and never picked up the phone one time and talked to their coaches. So I guess I'm a little confused how people can rate prospects with 0 information about them." LOL!!!
Perhaps he deployed a bit of hyperbole. No way he could know if video was NEVER requested or NEVER talked to a coach. Let's say that's accurate, they can still read local articles written about the player, look to see if they attended a camp, follow which schools they get an offer from. And that's what I'm talking about....it can be done by anyone here in the same way.
For now....until I cross the SE border into Columbia County. And then I suppose I can blame the whiskey.
not hyperbole at all. Frank Wilson keeps in touch with the coaches, and one thing I can promise you is that coaches know how their kids get rated. I'm sure the next time that Frank talked to that coach, he was pissed off at Rivals or ESPN for rating his kid down. As far as articles, that is me is 100% worthless. I do agree about the offers deal which BTW is the main way along with watching videos I judge kids other than who LSU itself offers. If a kid has offers from 25 major schools, I don't care if he is a low 3*. The services missed on him. The only exception are the very early commits....at that time, the OOS schools haven't swooped down on most of those kids yet so the lack of offers means little.