Three Stars Or Five?

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NFL mock drafts list Washington cornerback Sidney Jones and wide receiver John Ross as first-round picks. They were three-star recruits. The mock drafts are not showing USC cornerback Adoree Jackson or wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who were both five-star recruits.

48 thoughts on “Three Stars Or Five?”

  2. Three-stars are absolutely a gigantic group of kids. Gotta be 750-1000 in that class. Five-stars are what – 30-50 guys?

    You obviously love five-stars if you can get ’em, even though 60% will disappoint in college. The ones you hit on are pure gold. How they do in the NFL is irrelevant.

    There’s lots of potential college AAs that will emerge from the three-star class.

    You need it all. Five-stars, four-stars, three-stars, two-star long snappers, elite guys – especially at QB, program players, depth, chemistry and solid coaches who can recruit, develop and game plan.

    SC’s looking good if the trenches get stocked big-time tomorrow. The other weaknesses can be addressed later, especially at USC where skill kids run to the Trojans like sharks to blood.

    • Every program is going to include 3-star recruits. You just hope the right ones were recruited. You said it all Jack B

    • Darn it Jack B. Please quit trying to apply logic and context. You are supposed to make vast generalizations only using the facts that fit your narrative. Don’t you know how a blog works? Jeez!

    • I agree with Trojan5, Jack. Logic? Analysis? Making sense? Get with the program, where’ve you been the past few years? That’s not how it works! I suspect the current class is going to be typical of a Clay Helton recruiting class — a lot of four stars, great guys but without some of the ego and baggage that goes along with 5 stars. Sam Darnold-type players. We may miss out on the occasional Reggie Bush, but I suspect we will be solid in all areas of the team. I’m okay with it.

  3. Peak NFL football has been reached. CTE’s the downfall of the league. No investor or municipality interested in putting big $$ in NFL franchises. Thus no Las Vegas Raiders. Yes for soccer franchises and soccer stadiums.

    • You may be right, but you may be wrong. I think Vegas has a good shot at a stadium, especially with it being financed by the tourism taxes. Citizens don’t see it as coming out of their pocket. Tourists don’t flinch about 50 cents added to their nightly hotel bill.

  4. If John Ross had gone to Long Beach Poly instead of Long Beach Jordan he would have easily been a 4 star recruit. The kid was special in high school, he just didn’t go to a school that was a football powerhouse.

  5. Seems like every year in the NCAA bb playoffs is a team full of three stars that runs deep. To me, three stars hold the team together, they stay four to five years, know the schemes, and help teach the younger five star players who sometimes have too much on their plates. To me, the right mix is invaluable.
    But I’d still take all the fives I could, most are faster, quicker, stronger, and usually more aggressive.

  6. So…what a guy looks like at 17 may not be how he looks at 21 and by extension how his NFL career will go. Lots of variables. Takes a Saban or Belechek to get the right guy and coach him up.

  7. So, now you contradict yourself. Because you can get in a dig at something USC-related, now the stars don’t matter because you can use them to show USC in a negative way. Hmm Mr. Wolf, seems you invented alternative facts before anyone in the present administration came up with that idea…

    • Have you been in a coma the last eight years? Here’s a clue, “If you like your health care plan you can keep your health care plan!”

      • Think you must have me confused with another poster as I was talking about Wolfe’s talking down the star system of rating and then talking it up and then down again. Can’t have it both ways.

  9. Twice a month we have this same 5 star conversation. Stars don’t mean a thing starting Thursday. I started out a 3 star blogger but now I am an nfl blogger. If I can do it, anyone can.

  10. If Helton doesn’t close the deal on these top recruits and maybe even lose some that have been committed a long time, will people here say it’s OK ?

    If he can’t close the deal and flip kids after the finish he had and all the hype that surrounds USC right now, is that acceptable ?

    Is a class full of 3 star and 1,2 to no 5 star kids acceptable ?

    Should this not be a top 5 class with all that happened last season ?

    Was last season just Fool’s Gold ?

    • The composites are varied in stars.. USC has 4 stars that are 5 stars on other recruiting sites .. So if you compare the 247 site vs Rivals and Scout we actually have more 5 stars.. The break is .. 000996 …for 4 stars and .000997 and up for 5 stars.. USC currently has 8 4 stars that are listed as 00099655..

      • So true. SC will end with Tuiloputo, Tufele, Carr, Jackson, and Lewis who are all 5-Stars by 247. We will have a nice bulk of top players in the 5-Star category.

      • You didn’t answer the questions.

        If this class falls apart and if the players people think are coming don’t ( Tufele, Lewis, Jackson and maybe Carr ), this will be a DISASTER.

        Will people care or will they ho hum it away ?

        Seriously, this is USC, shouldn’t this be a top 5 class after all the hype and late season success ?

        • From the intel and matching it recruiters blogging the class will be a top 5 .. Doubt the class or silent commits go south.. One may have decided already committed elsewhere so Falo is back in the fold.

    • Really?

      Isn’t excellence always a blend of ability, education/training, and effort in consistently applying what you have been taught consistently?

      I don’t think it’s really coincidental how Juju and Adore succeeded so well at USC.

      I’ll bet you’re excited about the prospective DL class. As you should be! I think being taught by BKU is really an exceptional opportunity, and I’m glad that recruits are agreeing. 🙂

      • I didn’t see great development. Juju has trouble separating, getting contested balls and drops more than he should. Adoree’ has great upside as a corner but seemed to play his best as a freshman where he often used the sideline (textbook technique) as a defender, pinning his man between him and the sideline. He was better this year than as a soph, but, the track thing probably hurt him. Marshall has better technique but gets too physical and gets a lot of silly penalties. I am hoping to see this staff, which I think could be the best staff at USC in awhile, be able to develop players.

        • I don’t dispute the importance of development or applying the best methods for that.

          In the not-distant past, USC has been late to adopt the GPS-devices to track the ups and downs of player fatigue and/or “distance run per play”, “speed”, etc.

          It has been late to adopt the virtual reality software that helps train QBs, and perhaps others. .

          Can anything else be done t reduce the kinds of injuries that cause starters to miss games, or underperform? I don’t know. Stanford has an approach, I know. I have never studied Stanford’s injury rate vs. that of USC.

          USC is now late to adopt the expanded non-coach assistant staffs to bear the burden of a lot of the more mundane recruiting tasks. I suspect there would be value in hiring the best teachers and stategists, and transferring those sorts of recruiting tasks to designated recruiting staffers.

          There is little reason for any of the above, at least, so far as what has come to light.

          The points you make about Juju or Adoree somewhat reinforce somewhat the importance of sheer talent. Which players contributed more than Juju or Adoree to USC’s success? You present them as not having fully realized their respective talents, for want of good teaching. First, did they “underachieve”? Second, if they did, there might be other reasons for that than teaching. Third, when a player has “5-star talent”, his 80% realization of that talent may achieve a better result than a less talented player can achieve at 100% realization.

          I think we would agree that it’s complicated. I also think we would agree that Scott just likes to provoke, rather than explore things more deeply. 🙂

  12. FWIW. USC currently sits at #9 by ESPN.

    FWIW. USC getting a lot of crystal balls today. Even Falo, who I think will be a Duck.

    ALSO…Levi Jones will announce at 5:50AM

  13. How about winning? The bottom line is winning, not stars. I’ve seen plenty of everything: 4 & 5 star “can’t miss” guys who were busts; 2 & 3 stars that developed into pros, and, of course, 4 & 5 stars who became stars and 2 & 3 stars who never became anything. Funny thing is, if you can teach (coach ’em up) you can win. USC’s classes pretty much are rated higher than Stanford’s every single year. But, Shaw gets the guys he likes and then they coach them up. I bet that he could get 10 wins a year out of USC’s talent easier than he has at Stanford. Just sayin’ as my friend Dan Weber would say

  14. Ben, you put all that very well. And, I can’t really disagree with any of it. I think that Adoree’ was an exceptional return man and also dangerous on offense and a factor to be noted even when he was a decoy. I also wouldn’t have anybody else on the team playing over him at corner where of course, he performed well most of the time-I just think that his foray into the Olympics impacted him at a crucial time since most coaches feel that a player makes their biggest leap between freshman and sophomore years. As for Juju, he is a warrior and I loved seeing him out on the field and was most definitely a man that defenses had to be aware of. But, he is sort of on that path that Marquise Lee and Nelson Agholor are on, that of not running sophisticated and fundamentally sound routes, having trouble getting separation unless they are thrown balls in the flat where they are already in space, etc., etc. I wouldn’t have traded Juju for Cal’s Hansen or Washington State’s Gabe Marks any day of the week, I love him. Just saying that looking back over it, with better teaching/coaching/development we would have gotten both the big plays and the more solid, steady play that goes with all that. Loved your well thought out response!

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