It’s really 85 or below on the 247/scout metric where you don’t have real evaluations. Those would have been 2* players under the old system. And with the recruiting calendars moving up a lot of the players that slipped through the cracks of FBS will no longer have stars or evals since recruiting analysts are now aware so early of which guys will land at their subscription site schools.

That makes sense. I’ve noticed this year that somethings changed. There are guys who apparently have a lot of offers including lesser FBS schools, but no stars.

3 stars are usually big/tall guys who have a major flaw to their game or a really good, really small player. If we get a 6’2 cornerback, odds are he is slow/stiff or a 6’6 lineman with bad feet/hips. They would be fbs otherwise. The key is development.

who is the arbiter of said stars?

The primary source is 247sports.com . They rate players on a scale that goes to 100, based on their in house evaluation. 98 -100 are five stars, 90-97 are four stars.
3 stars are players rated 80 - 89, and vary a lot in perceived quality, Davis very rarely gets any in the top half of 3 stars.

https://247sports.com/article/247sports-football-recruiting-rankings-what-the-ratings-mean-when-they-are-released-what-matters-who-is-on-the-team--81574/

Very interesting. Thanks. It seems mighty bold to be giving NFL draft spot predictions to high school players.. Kollock was a 4 star in HS. Does the ranking stop once you graduate HS? Was he the 1st ever 4 star to Davis?

They update star rankings for notable players if they are transferring. 247 dropped his score from 89 as a prospect to 85 as a transfer. Doesn't seem much rhyme or reason to it other than he didn't start as a freshman at Minnesota and then transferred to a FCS program instead of FBS so clearly his grade should have been dropped... I guess?

https://247sports.com/player/jackson-kollock-46138251/

And no TE McCallen Castles was the first 4 star player to join the Aggies as far as I know.

Looking at our roster with respect who is coming back, coming up, or transferring in, I feel like this is the deepest the team has been on offense, defense, and special teams. Even with 3 freshman QBs, can anyone point out an area of concern?

Did find what I could for Pinnicks portal transfer NIL to wsu. One 2026 GMC double cab, long bed, all extras included. Donated by a local GMC dealer. So, Caden got essentially $61,000! I know, who could turn that down? And they should not. Note to pinnick: when things get going wrong up in wazzo land don’t drive the truck to Davis to see Tim……..

From what I understand of the "NIL world", those vehicles are loaners, not outright gifts. The athlete pays for fuel, maintenance, and insurance. It's a nice perk while one is in college, but I don't believe they get to take it with them. They return it if they transfer or their eligibility expires. At least, that's my understanding... Does anyone know of anything different?

In the NIL rules what is given has to have some relation to the value of the athlete’s name image and likeness. Is Pinnicks endorsement worth a new truck to a dealer? It might be if he starts and stars. Is it worth a loaner truck, probably. The NCAA reviews NIL deals now. Pinnick probably got some revenue sharing too which the school can do whatever they want with.

Man I love me some pre-season preview action. Doesn't matter if it's print or podcast, or if they are underinformed and inaccurate, it's just fun to read and listen to some football this time of year.

Kollock is going to be outstanding, but so is Cleeland. Nothing was really decided coming out of spring, but Cleeland will get the first reps, splitting some with Kollock, and Eason #3. "Kollock is going to run away with it" and "we can have the Jerry Rice ceremony by September 5th" cracked me up. No matter what happens, good to go at QB. The talking heads didn't watch a rep at practice this spring, and it is highly unlikely they spoke to either Plough or Shelton. They're looking at Kollock's high school recruitment and accolades. I actually agree with the "both have a higher ceiling than Pinnick" comment...

Going deeper into The Bluebloods episode, they bring up a good point regarding the run defense and defensive line. Not sure who they've spoken with, or if they have access to spring film, but it sure felt like we were pretty confident in the Defensive Line after spring ball. I think Few is a big time player, and maybe the next great one at DE. Goligowski and Madruga are back, then all those 90-number guys like Mayo and Fernandez, make it feel like we should be good to go.

Linebacker depth may be an area of concern. When will Porter be back and ready? Probably during camp. Him and Sievers the two starters to start the season, then what? 44 is back, signed a Juco guy, then the rest are young. Hopefully they keep the two LBs in the box on a fulltime basis, that will help some things when it comes to stopping the run.

I agree 100% with The Bluebloods take on the Griz. Holes on Offense, entire OL will be new, that will be an issue. But they went after it in the portal on D and the D will have to carry them. Sounds like some DL depth issues, as well as the need for a high % of these transfers to live up to their billing.

They do love them some Idaho State...

I like Idaho State too. Last year they easily could have been a 7-8 win team.

They can go 8-4 IF they win all of the close games in the middle of their schedule: at Southern Utah, home vs. NAU at Cal Poly, at Weber State. This being the Big Sky, that may not happen. Maybe they block a punt to steal a win against MSU or the Griz? Still f*&ing pissed about that one :rofl:

Got a really good feeling about Cleeland...call it a hunch!

I do too

The Davis defense is always going to be suspect until they put together a dominant year. They usually are in the upper third of Big Sky defenses, but not at the top, and they slipped some last year. They averaged yielding 30 points a game, Now they lose some major contributors like Psyk, Riddick, Rutchena, Stanley, Batson. They were victims of an inordinate number of injuries, but pundits aren’t going to look past last years stats completely despite the Connors twins.

Spot on. I think Psyk is the biggest (literally and schematically) one that will be missed, but I believe Few is a similar cat with tremendous potential. I'd put Riddick/Batson/Stanley in the "solid" category. Stanley really had a nice year filling in both on the field and as a leader it seemed. I think the Idaho transfer will fit well in one of the secondary spots. Big kid which will also make him available vs. the run game and opposing TEs. Rutchena was an outstanding pass defender but it never felt like he was a real presence vs. the run, especially thinking back to the Illinois State game. Some of that might have been schematic.

The guy who was most surprising judging by spring camp reporting was Julian Fernandez. Be interesting to see how he develops. As a HS prospect he looked like a guy whose athleticism hadn’t caught up with his size. Now a short year later he was making plays and 40 pounds heavier.

He has the potential to be a monster on the inside. I heard his name mentioned more during the first few weeks of spring ball than anyone on defense, and they all sounded surprised. That might be a case of recruiting on potential and executing the strength & conditioning program at a very high level. Those bodies don't grow on trees in California

Didn't he have a pick or fumble recovery in spring returned for a TD? I think I saw a video somewhere

week 1 needs to hurry up so we can see the new look aggies!

coaches posting very cryptic on twitter recently. look like recruit commitment posts. I have a hunch a lot of good recruiting is going on behind the scenes. probably better in this era anyways.

https://www.si.com/college/fcs/big-sky/2026-uc-davis-football-preview-are-the-aggies-ready-to-take-the-championship-step

FWIW I'm rooting for cleeland. I like the homegrown guys to emerge after being in the same place a while.

I’m rooting for them both to get a fair chance. One has been with the team about six month longer than the other. By the end of Fall camp that will be a non-factor.

NCAA just passed an age-based eligibility system which gives players 5 years of on-field competition vs 4 years. An extra year for some of our seniors will be huge.