I'd like to throw this out here in reference to recruiting "diamonds in the rough"...
Let's play some fantasy and say that only FBS schools can recruit. Let's further that by saying each high school football player can only be evaluated by one FBS school. That one school's evaluation is what will be used for all FBS recruiting.
There are 129 FBS teams.
There are 1.1 million high school football players, according to the latest numbers I could find.
According to my math, that would be close to 8,500 players, per FBS team, if only one team scouted each player.
Let's say that each FBS team has 10 scouts. That's 850 high school football players per each scout. If each of those 10 scouts works 365 days a year, nonstop, then they would be evaluating at least two players a day.
You think a couple of those 1.1 million players might have been overlooked?
IMO, star ratings are useful for those 'star' players that get press during high school and in camps. I would counter that by saying an overwhelming percentage of high school football players don't have the opportunity to be evaluated like the high press players, though they may have contributed to the other players' success.
If I'm a betting man, I'd say there are probably hundreds of players throughout the country that never got the chance to be properly evaluated and would rank as high or higher than the 4 or 5 star recruits from the same team.
Again, I'm no recruiting expert, but I'd say there are hundreds of legitimate 'diamonds in the rough' out there for the right evaluators.