Rivals.com Five-Star Club: Rolling the dice
Not every five-star is created equal.
In fact, some barely make the cut and a few years later can make us at Rivals.com look like geniuses or fools. Today we look at five former five-star prospects who ended up thriving in college and beyond -- but were not necessarily clear-cut superstars as recruits.
MORE RIVALS FIVE-STAR CLUB: Favorite Fives | Top quarterbacks
Newton is obviously a household name now, but back in 2007 he was heavily recruited but not exactly a slam dunk five-star to everyone in the industry. We saw Newton rise in the rankings up to a five-star and No. 28 nationally after an amazing week and game at the Offense-Defense Bowl while the more well-known Gators quarterback commitment, John Brantley, dropped down to 47 and out of the five-star ranks. That was a pretty good move as everyone in the industry had Brantley ranked ahead of Newton except for Rivals.com. Newton, of course, became a two-time five-star with his play at Blinn in the JUCO ranks. He's dominated on every level since.
Taylor was in the same class as Newton and ranked one spot ahead of him at No. 27. That was the year where Jimmy Clausen and Ryan Mallett were all the rage and we debated whether we should have four different five-star prospects at quarterback. Taylor didn’t have great size, but Hampton Roads was known for producing freaky athletic quarterbacks back in the late 1990s and early 2000s like Ronald Curry, Michael Vick and Allen Iverson (yes the hoops player) and Marcus Vick, and we felt Taylor would be the next in line. We also felt he was a better pure passer than any of them, throwing one of the prettiest balls I’ve ever seen. Things have worked out pretty well for Taylor, and this ranking was a good one.
Julio Jones and A.J. Green were the talk of the 2008 wide receiver class and guys like DeVier Posey, DeAndre Brown and Jonathan Baldwin were also five-stars at the position. With the addition of Baldwin as a five-star in our last cycle, there was debate over whether Floyd belonged as well and if six wide receivers in the national top 27 was valid. All these years later I’m happy we decided to add that fifth star to his profile, unlike some others in the industry, and his wide receiver class is still the best at the top I’ve ever seen.
Everyone gave up on Fowler Jr. as a five-star in 2012 after a very sub-par senior season, and we dropped him from five-star status to four stars as well. However, after a dominant week at the Under Armour All America Game, we debated and debated and finally bumped him back up to a five-star while everyone else kept him lower. His career at Florida and his first-round draft status proved us right, but trust me, it was a heated debate at the end.
“Duke” just made the cut as a five-star during the last round of evaluation after a dominant week at the Under Armour All America Game. Two other recruiting sites didn’t pull the trigger on him as a five-star and we debated it mainly because of his all-purpose status and lack of elite size. But it was his amazing ability in space and ball skills as well as his sneaky strength and power that convinced us to put him at No. 30 in the country, and we have been proven right.
