When rankings high school football prospects, hindsight is 20/20 and you always have a few regrets. At the quarterback position, arguably the hardest position to rank, you would think there would be more regrets than at any position. However, it’s not really true when you talk about guys who were in our Rivals100 but never pushed into five-star status. That being said, here are five guys I do wish we could go back in time and slap that fifth star on.
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Luck was ranked No. 68 in the country in 2008 and was our No. 4 pro-style quarterback behind Blaine Gabbert, Dayne Crist and Mike Glennon. While I liked Luck out of high school and he had a tremendous career, something held me and the analysts back from pushing him up further. He probably could have been ranked as a dual-threat quarterback if we wanted after rushing for more than 2,000 yards in his high school career. He had size, mobility and a strong arm. Perhaps we put too much emphasis on his performance at the U.S. Army All American Bowl week, where he didn’t show the same pop in his arm we saw before and threw off his back foot too much. Whatever the reason, this is obviously the biggest Rivals100 miss when it comes to a quarterback who should have been a five-star as he was superstar at Stanford and the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. Ooops.
With Miller, now a wide receiver in the NFL, it was never a question about whether he was the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in 2011, it was about whether he was better than Jeff Driskel and whether he should be a five-star. He finished ranked No. 34 in the country, eight slots away from five-star status in the year we had the least amount of five-stars ever. This was a time where we were a bit too gun-shy in naming five stars at quarterback as we had none in 2010 and 2011 (call it the Garrett Gilbert effect if you want) and Miller’s lack of height was off-putting a bit. But when I look back and see guys like Tyrod Taylor and Russell Shepard as five-stars, then clearly we should have tabbed Miller as one as well. He played like a five-star at Ohio State prior to his injury and then re-invented himself as a dynamic wide receiver.
Manuel was hotly debated as a five-star prospect back in 2008 and landed at No. 43 overall and as the No. 2 dual-threat behind Terrelle Pryor. He was ahead of Luck that year overall and with his size, arm strength, accuracy and ability to extend the play he probably should have landed as a five-star, same as Luck. He had a very good career at Florida State and ended up as a first-round NFL pick, two of the big criteria for being a five-star prospect.
Russell was a five-star for us at one point and then lost his fifth star because of questions regarding his consistency. He ended up as the No. 6 pro-style quarterback behind some real duds and No. 79 overall and based on his college success and No. 1 overall NFL selection, we should have held tight on keeping him as a five-star. We all know about his failures at the NFL level, but being a five-star isn’t about an NFL career and Russell met all the criteria to earn the honor out of high school.
Freeman ended up as the No. 4 pro-style quarterback in 2006 behind Matthew Stafford, Mitch Mustain and Isiah Williams and was No. 92 overall, but with his size, arm strength and surprising ability to keep the play alive for such a massive signal-caller, we probably should have had him in the five-star range. He went on to solid career at Kansas State without many weapons around him and became a first-rounder. His NFL career started strong and then fizzled, but as a high school player who was 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds with a great arm, five stars would look nice next to his name. Nebraska fans of course won’t like this one as Freeman’s flip to Kansas State was one of the most dramatic in Rivals.com history, but the kid could play.
