April 22, 2015 - Greg Gabriel
Before they were Stars
I usually wait until after the draft to write this column, but I was having a discussion with some people about the accuracy of the college football recruiting services as to their accuracy. As many of you know, I am not a fan of these services. They sell themselves as being able to accurately predict a prospect's future, when in reality they are throwing darts at a wall and hoping that a high percentage stick.
For the purpose of this article I went back to see what players who have a legitimate shot at being a first round draft choice this year were rated when they came out of high school. There are more than 32 players on this list as we have no idea who will get drafted between 20 and 32. All of these players should be drafted in the top 45. What I found is that a high percentage of these players (over 50%) were rated 3 starts or less when they came out of high school in 2010, 2011 and 2012. While many weren’t highly rated three to five years ago, they sure as heck are now. If the recruiting services were accurate in their evaluations, a very high percentage of first round players should be 4 and 5 star players. That isn’t the case and has never been the case.
Quarterbacks
Jameis Winston – 5 stars
Marcus Mariota – 3 stars
Running Backs
Melvin Gordon – 4 stars
Todd Gurley – 4 stars
Ameer Abdullah – 3 stars
Tevin Coleman – 3 stars
Jay Ajayi – 3 stars
Wide Receiver
Amari Cooper – 4 stars
Kevin White – 0 stars
DeVante Parker – 3 stars
Jaelen Strong – 0 stars
Breshad Perriman – 2 stars
Phillip Dorsett – 3 stars
Tight End
Maxx Williams – 3 stars
Offensive Line
Brandon Scherff – 3 stars
Andrus Peat – 5 stars
La’el Collins – 4 stars
T.J. Cummings – 4 stars
Ereck Flowers – 4 stars
Cam Irving – 3 stars
Defensive Line
Arik Armstead – 4 stars
Danny Shelton – 4 stars
Leonard Williams – 4 stars
Malcom Brown - 4 stars
Eddie Goldman – 5 stars
Linebackers
Vic Beasley – 3 stars
Randy Gregory – 3 stars
Shane Ray – 3 stars
Bud Dupree – 3 stars
Benardrick McKinney – 3 stars
Eric Kendricks – 3 stars
Paul Dawson – 0 stars
Defensive Backs
Trae Waynes – 2 stars
Marcus Peters – 3 stars
Kevin Johnson – 2 stars
Landon Collins – 5 stars
Follow Greg on Twitter @greggabe