It sucks for the fan base who put way too much emphasis on rankings. Pure athleticism is all that's measured, and that at a high school level. Remember those walk-ons Nebraska is famous for? Yeah, guess how many stars they had. Now oodles of them are playing in the NFL.
I think stars are more for the fans than the coaches. A coach sits down and says, "Okay, we need player X so he can fit into system Z. The basic characteristics we're looking for are this, this, and this." Since speed and size are always a factor, the star rankings more or less will point to guys we're probably looking for, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a well-coached three star is any worse off than a five star blue chipper.
Also, the recruiting season is far from over. Those blue chippers with fifty offers have to see Nebraska on the field with a whiff of success before they starting thinking, "Yeah, that's the way to go."
well said mr turkey neck