FanPost

Five star recruits, overhyped?

After the whole Jamarkus Mcfarland debacle, it got me thinking as to how a player's recruit rating transfers to success at the college level.

I decided to look at all the recruits that we have signed in the past few years and try gauge what they should level they should have been playing and comparing that to actual results. Let me say, I was surprised. Heres a quick glance at my results:

Class of 2004(notable names):

Brian Orakpo: 4 stars: we all know how good he turned out although it took him 3 years to show us his potential. Future NFL draft pick.

Frank Okam: 5 stars: NFL pick, played really well at Texas. Recruit rating and college success match.

Class of 2005:

Jermichael Finley, Jamaal Charles, Quan Cosby: Excelled on the college level. 4 stars. 2 are in the NFL now.

Colt Mccoy: 3 stars: looking at his performance from the last 3 years, he deserved much more than a 3 star rating.

Roddrick Muckelroy: 3 stars: Probably our best true LB(I don't consider Sergio Kindle as a LB) this year.

Class of 2006:

Eddie Jones/Sergio Kindle: Both 5 star recruits, although I don't think their success as of date relates to their recruit rating. Sergio was MIA until this year, and Eddie Jones is on the bench.

Class of 2007:

Tray Allen/Curtis Brown: 5 stars: still have not seen much of either of them as they come off the bench most of the time. We've seen flashes though.

Earl Thomas/Blaine Irby/Malcolm Williams: 4 stars: These three have shown us a lot more than the above two.

Class of 2008:

Blake Gideon(steal of the last decade): 2 stars: Just our second 2 star recruit in the last 4 years(the other being Tyrell Higgins(DT), who I have never heard of), this guy has a lot of potential and has proved a lot more on the field than a few other 5 star recruits.

Conclusion: From a Texas perspective, it seems to me that five star recruits are just as good as four star ones. With the exception of Vince Young and Okam, I do not think there is any 5 star recruit out there that we signed in the past 4 years, that deserves the amount of hype they got at the time of their recruitment. It seems to me that 4 star recruits and 3 star ones do just as well.

That being said, here a big thank you to all the non-5 star recruits that signed with us this year.

Tariq Allen LB 6-2 231 4.63 5.8 Irving, TX
Thomas Ashcraft OL 6-5 300 - 5.9 Cedar Hill, TX
Eryon Barnett DB 6-3 193 4.44 5.8 Euless, TX
Marcus  Davis DB 6-0 192 4.47 5.9 League City, TX
Trey Graham TE 6-5 230 4.62 5.7 Waco, TX
Calvin Howell DT 6-4 280 4.9 5.9 San Antonio, TX
Derek Johnson DT 6-3 290 5 5.8 Hoxie, AR
Dominique Jones DE 6-3 230 4.7 5.6   Kilgore, TX
Paden Kelley OL 6-7 270 5.1 5.8 Austin, TX
Kyle Kriegel DE 6-5 235 4.8 5.5 Elysian Fields, TX
Barrett Matthews TE 6-2 220 - 5.8 Galena Park, TX
Patrick Nkwopara LB 5-11 210 4.54 5.5 Grand Prairie, TX
Garrett Porter OL 6-6 308 5.2 6.0 Odessa, TX
Greg  Timmons WR 6-2 191 - 5.9 Aldine, TX
Kenny Vaccaro DB 6-1 197 - 5.8 Brownwood, TX
Mason Walters OL 6-6 290 5 6.0 Wolfforth, TX
Chris Whaley ATH

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