wanted? So ratings aren't everything. I would say, at most, it's half about ratings for ND.
-I think proper player identification like a JOK or an Ogundeji or Ademilola or many of the other diamonds in the rough we've found is equally important.
-I'd say player development is also incredibly important and we've all seen the difference Balis has made...an incredible difference (might be the most important guy on the staff).
-Lastly, the model we use is players staying longer and playing as Juniors and Seniors and Graduate Students. So, perhaps we can't reload with 5 star top 50 freshmen or sophomores, but our Sr's and GS's like an Adimelola taking over for Ogundeji can absolutely do the job of reloading at the CFP level.
So, while I completely agree and concede the point that recruiting is incredibly important and that we want to and can do better (and will do better if we continue to perform this way on the field), to simply say that we can't compete because they've got five stars and we got guys like JOK and Ogundeji and Ademilola is not exactly a complete or thorough discussion of the situation.
Let me take it one step further. Our front seven from last year:
Ogundeji - 3 star
Tagovailoa - 3 star
Hinish - 3 star
Hayes - 5 star
Liafau - 3 star
White - 3 star
JOK - 3 star
That is absolutely an elite and CFP caliber front seven. And 6 of the 7 players are 3 stars. So to say it's all about the number of stars a player has and the overall recruiting rating of our team is a ridiculous oversimplification of the situation.