I can see how The Bluebloods would assume Kollock will start -- they're completely wrong in stating that '4 starting offensive linemen' return, we all know that's not true, so I think they're misinformed a bit. Looks like a full on battle at QB to start.

I like the Ags getting some hype, but I think it's a bit premature to pencil Kollock in as the starter let alone as a Jerry Rice favorite. He certainly comes with an outstanding pedigree, size, and athleticism, but we have no idea how it will translate to the college game.

I’ve only paid attention to college recruiting for a few years, inspired by your lists, but thats long enough to be skeptical about HS player rankings. Some of our best recruits have been highly rated, while some other highly rated players never play. The ratings are too influenced by whether a player has pro dimensions, which very weakly correlates to college performance. Whichever QB Plough choses is going to have the spotlight and they’re both redshirt freshmen, so have a good shot at freshmen awards.

yep I agree for the most part especially when we are talking about 3 star recruits. It's mostly a crap shoot at that level. Once you are talking about 4 and 5 star guys it's getting more reliable, but still definitely not perfect.

Is pinnick projected to start at wsu?

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.