...the ocverly subjective rating system in fact does take into account who is offering. Nick Saban is a great coach with a great staff and his player development abilities are astronomical compared with most other staffs. I point that out clearly, that certain staffs are awarded recruiting "star inflation" often because the players are expected to develop and perform better under those staffs.

By the way for any of you that wish to "argue" the minutia, your really just wanting to avoid the reality, that the star rating system is inherently flawed because it is based on evaluation of only about a third of all players offered scholarships. What makes it "accurate" is that the typical grade FOR EVERY PLAYER IS GENERALLY RELATABLE TO THE PROGRAM AND STAFF RECRUITING HIM.

As for opinions and buts, everyone has one. Having been an analyst of the college game for nearly 40 years now, I can tell you that the world is spherical, not flat. In other words, I am not wrong about my 9 points.

One last thing... I have associates that went to SEC schools. One played baseball and the other football. They do a lot of "jive talking" about how much better the SEC players are and bla, bla, bla. A few weeks ago, I asked them to set aside their prejudice and smack-talk for a moment and talk reality. I laid out a few simple hypothetical questions.

For example: Player A is 6'2" tall, 235, has a 35" reach, runs a 4.65 40 yard dash and agility of 4.375, comes out of HS with a 3.5 GPA, benches 250 x 20 reps, and is fairly well skilled, not many correctable remediations in his game. He has wanted to attend CSU his entire life. His dad was a Ram alumni. His mom was a Ram Cheerleader. All he has ever wanted was to go to CSU and help State beat the snot out of the Buffalos. He's a likely and at best rated as a 3* player. Maybe he attended a CSU boot camp as a HS Sophomore. His parents never spend a dime to get him to a Hudl or Sparq camp. But CSU is everything he ever wanted. Now imagine...

His mom has a twin sister who also has a son the same age, She married her sister's husband's twin brother. (Don't laugh I know this has happened in the past). Their son is nearly an identical cousin, same size, weight, maybe not even quite as fast. He plays at the arch rival high school. But his coach is pushy and sees in him potential to go far and so he sent inquiries to Notre Dame. The Irish are very interested having seen his tapes and the local Father of the parish sent letters to Coach Kelly, etc. This "near twin cousin" is getting offers from Notre Dame, and soon-after, Michigan, Ohio State and Alabama. Do you think he's a 3* as well, even if the two players are of identical physical and skill set attributes? The star rating should be the same, but it won't be. The cousin will get at least 4 *s. Swap the two players and the stars are swapped.

Both of my associates agreed that was reality and that just getting an offer in the SEC is one more star for every other player no matter what program they attend except maybe Vandy, SC and two Mississippi programs. They absolutely agreed with me that who recruits you matters a lot and the star ratings are a reflection of that. I know many coaches that would also concur.