Not that this is new, but it's so upsetting

[Clockwork Orange]

I grabbed this list off of a thread on Volnation about recruiting services (the referenced article is this one, which supports what I think most of us suspect about how stars are assigned). These are UT's five-star signees over the last decade:

2002:
James Banks
Mondre Dickerson
Brandon Jeffries
Jonathan Mapu
Gerald Riggs

2003:
Robert Meachem

2004:
Jesse Mahelona
Albert Toeaina

2005:
Demetrice Morley

2006:
Walter Fisher

2007:
Eric Berry
Chris Donald
Ben Martin
Kenny O'Neal
Brent Vinson

2009:
Bryce Brown
Janzen Jackson

2010:
Da'Rick Rogers

Of those 18 players, how many were really five-star talents? I say Banks, Mapu, Meachem, Morley, Mahelona, Berry, Jackson and Rogers. Less than half. Of those, how many actually had five-star careers at UT? Meachem, Mahelona, and Berry. Rogers is TBD, but he should end up in this group too.

So of the 18, I think 8 of them had talent that justified their rating, and only 4 actually had (or may have) a career at UT that one could give five stars to. So many of these kids were derailed by one thing or another (off the field problems, or a 2-year hiatus from football in the case of Mapu) and a bunch of them were just overrated.

I don't have the time to look into it, but I'd be curious to see what the track record of other top recruiting programs has been in the last decade. Does USC have more successful five-stars? Florida? Alabama? I'd be shocked if they didn't.

[VinnieVOL]

Didn't realize Mapu was a 5 star.  I had several classes with him and he would greet me on the Vol walk.  Nicest guy you'd ever meet.

[Clockwork Orange]

Didn't realize Mapu was a 5 star.  I had several classes with him and he would greet me on the Vol walk.  Nicest guy you'd ever meet.

What's funny about his class (2002) is that none of the 5-stars really ended up as standouts (though Riggs had a productive career), but look at all the guys with 4 stars or less, many of whom had quite productive careers:

Greg Jones   ****
James Wilhoit ****
Chris Hannon ****
Parys Haralson ****
Justin Harrell ****
LaRon Harris ****
Heath Benedict ****
Jason Allen   ****
Aaron Kirkland ****
David Ligon   ****
Cody Douglas ****
Ruben Mayes ****
Jonathan Wade ****
Rob Smith ****
Omar Gaither ****
Gibril Wilson    ****
Antwan Stewart ***
Marvin Mitchell ***
Leon Pinky **
Jason Hall **

[Jedi Master]

To get a "5 star" career out of a player, you need to get both "5 star talent" and at least "4 star mind" in your recruit.  Just getting a 5-star talent, without the player having the proper mindset to go with it, leaves open the possiblity/probability that either the player will never get his act together enough to stay on the field for multiple years (i.e., attrition due to academics, negative off-field actions, losing love of the game, transfer due to disenchantment, etc), or you have a player that initially looks like tarzan and yet plays like Jane.

Recruits with a good mind have the ability to develop during their college career, and become a player.  Talent will ultimately get you only so far.  Recruits coming in with 5-star talent only could well have already peaked, and that may not be good enough to fulfill their college team's needs.  We all tend to be guilty of projecting our 5-star recruits as performing as they would once they are fully developed. 

Also, certain programs like UF (in past years) and Bama (in recent years) have built on success well enough that they can be selective on 5-star talents, trying to recruit mostly those players that are the total package (i.e., talent and mind), and when they miss on a player (i.e., not a 5-star mind), it is the exception and not that big of a deal.  Most other programs, including UT in its current state, are so anxious for 5-star careers that they have to take more risks.  That is, recruit 5-star talents that may not be the total package.  So, you still recruit hard, roll the dice and hope to get a bit lucky with your 5-stars.  At least until you can build your brand back on the field and can afford to be be more selective again.   

[BanditVol]

I think some of them had the talent, but blew it with maturity issues.   Morley might be one of those, among others, but the one that stands out for me is James Banks.  He was incredibly talented.   Personally I would have liked to have seen him have a better shot at QB, maybe he was a waste at WR, but probably could have done better if he put his mind to it, so to speak.

So it's not always just a question of talent or developing it, you have to weed out the one's likely to bust on maturity or discipline issues.  I have to say, Dooley does seem to do better at that.  Hopefully it pays off in the next couple seasons.

[ReVOLver]

Interesting thread. My only disagreement is with the assertion that JT Mapu had a 5 star career. Mapu and Riggs were similar... steady.

Fulmer's evals the last 6 or so years were based on the Rivals 250 rather than figuring out which of the Rivals 250 were "the total package" as Jedi put it.

[Clockwork Orange]

My only disagreement is with the assertion that JT Mapu had a 5 star career. Mapu and Riggs were similar... steady.

Talent, not career. I thought Mapu had 5-star talent based on his freshman and sophomore years at UT. When he game back from his mission he was never the impact player that I thought he was developing into. You're right that he did not have a 5-star career . . . and in the end that was disappointing.

[droner]

I think some of them had the talent, but blew it with maturity issues.  ..............the one that stands out for me is James Banks.  He was incredibly talented.   

The man just loved the weed too much.