(Bumped up. Well worth a read)

INTRODUCTION: This past signing day, according to Rivals recruiting, Cal signed two five star and seven four star prospects. But what does that mean? Someone rated 5.8-6.0 is four stars, evaluated as an “All-American Candidate.” Here is the Rivals scale:

*6.1 Franchise Player; considered one of the elite prospects in the country, generally among the nation's top 25 players overall; deemed to have excellent pro potential; high-major prospect

* 6.0-5.8 All-American Candidate; high-major prospect; considered one of the nation's top 300 prospects; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team

* 5.7-5.5 All-Region Selection; considered among the region's top prospects and among the top 750 or so prospects in the country; high-to-mid-major prospect; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team

* 5.4-5.0 Division I prospect; considered a mid-major prospect; deemed to have limited pro potential but definite Division I prospect; may be more of a role player

*4.9 Sleeper; no Rivals.com expert knew much, if anything, about this player; a prospect that only a college coach really knew about

The rating is part projection of talent, part inflation to appeal to fan observers. While I’ll be pleasantly surprised if the nine Cal recruits rated four stars or better turn out to be All-Americans during their careers in Blue & Gold, I think reality will fall just short. On the other hand, I highly doubt all 20 four star University of Florida recruits will become All-Americans! How do we reconcile the hypothetical with reality? (Be warned: the very premise of this exercise will result in fewer four stars for our beloved Bears.)

OBJECTIVE:

The following research will be taking an objective, retrospective (pending, in the case of current players) look at a player’s contributions at the college level. Each player, as judged by their collegiate accomplishments, will then be awarded a star level and “Rivals Rating” score based on the scoring system employed by Rivals.com.

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