A player gets a five star ranking for his play in high school and that is it. It is a recruiting service for earmarking college players, but it isn't intended to predict college greatness. The fans who use it for that purpose are making a mistake. Some of these kids are just naturally bigger and stronger and faster than other kids their age, it's the five star player that is willing to work as hard as his 2,3 and 4 star teammates that is the sure thing. Unfortunately, some of these kids don't have the determination to work hard or have let the recruiting service hype go to their head. Give me 25 D1 prospects who are hard working-non quitters and I'll take it every time.
I agree to an extent, but I do think the star rankings take a lot of projection to the next level into consideration. Otherwise, why would Tyler Gabbert be a 4* prospect with the numbers he put up? Why wouldn't a kid like Godfrey who tore up Texas 3A ball be highly rated? It's not purely a ranking of the best high school players.
I said they get the ratings for their play up to that point, not the statistics. If a guy can throw a rope 40 yards downfield on a crossing route and hit the receiver in stride, that projects to possible success in college. If his high school team doesn't throw much and he doesn't throw for 300 a game should the same player not be as highly thought of? What about great players that play for pathetic high school programs? If they go 1-9 on the season, should they get two stars at the most? Yes, they are predicting their college greatness, notice I said predicting, by what they saw in high school and any camps attended during their h.s. careers. Actually, I believe their final ranking could be affected by who offers them a scholarship also. But in the end all they have to go by is how they have played up until that point, anything else would be guessing.
So are you saying the ratings are based off of their talent, and not necessarily the statistics, correct? If so, I'd argue that if you are basing ratings off of a player's talent (arm strength, speed, etc) then you, in essence, are rating them based on their projection to the next level. Talent is the best indicator of next level success, whether you want to believe that or not. Yes, the player must also be willing to work hard and have the right attitude to build upon that talent, but if the talent is there, that's one less hurdle to climb.