Rivals Rankings Week: Should disjointed summer limit five-stars?
The time has come to update the 2021 Rivals150. While preparing the rankings, one of the most heavily debated subjects was where to draw the line between five- and four-star prospects. After an unusual summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, the question was whether to be a little more lenient or strict in giving out that sought-after fifth star. National Analysts Eric Bossi and Corey Evans have Rival Views.
BOSSI'S VIEW
Over the years, we have never set a number for how many five-stars there can or can’t be in any class. If 50 prospects legitimately deserved five-star rankings, then we would rank 50 players as so. However, over the years I do feel that we have gotten a little lenient on handing out five-stars and due to the way things went down this summer, I felt that we needed to exercise some restraint.
One issue is that not everybody was playing and often times those that were playing, well they weren’t always playing the best competition. In deciding if somebody like a Daimion Collins or a Bryce McGowens has earned that bump, it is helpful if we have gotten to see them against top competition. Most ideally, we’d like to see them against other five-star talents.
However, at the end of the day if you have earned the fifth star, you have earned it so we didn’t put a freeze on elevating five-stars. But, I did feel strongly that we had to be 100 percent sure before giving anybody a bump because I don’t want us to have to go back through and take a fifth star away from somebody because we were too generous in awarding them.
EVANS' VIEW
We typically have around 30-35 five-stars in any given year, so why should the 2021 class be any different? Sure, I get that it is not the strongest class as a whole and that could even be said for those that make up the very top of the Rivals150, but that does nothing to take away from some of those that are on the fringe of a five-star ranking.
Take for instance Jalen Warley, who is currently ranked in the top 25. Very rarely would someone as highly-ranked as Warley not have the coveted fifth star next to his name. Bringing tremendous size to the backcourt, a rock-solid basketball pedigree, and heading to a program at Florida State that has produced a bunch of NBA talent, why should he not be a five-star?
The same could be said for tremendous two-way weapon Charles Bediako, arguably one of the best playmakers in the entire sport. I guess I can see both sides, but let’s not hold back those may not have been able to solidify their place as five-stars because of the pandemic and, instead, look at their path to this point and believe that they have justified their standing as a five-star prospect.