As some of you know, I am the parent of a female recruit who is considered in the top 20-25 of her class in the country, committed to UF, which is a clear top 5 program, maybe higher.  She got her offer as a freshman before her team's season started.  I realize it isn't football in the sense there's no NFL-equivalent one day, and boys are at least slightly different than girls (in general) in terms of motivation.  Still, I think the particular observation I am going to emphasize here is still relevant, regardless of gender or sport.

What no recruiter or fat old man chasing the kids around could ever know is the true attitude of the kid.  Does he really love the sport, or does he love what the sport can do for him?  Is he playing in college to maximize his potential or because his parents / family / peeps want him to do it?  Does he love the grind of competition, or does he only enjoy the game when it's fun and easy to dominate?  Does the player learn well, or does he only do what he already knows how to do?  I know these either-or propositions aren't mutually exclusive but are more on a continuum -- but they are very real issues.

Maybe one advantage of my daughter's sport is we get to know many of the top players in 2-3 classes very well, on a very personal level.  I guarantee there will be 5-star, "cannot miss" prospects who do not become elite in college.  They'll be good -- they'd be good if they were playing in college right now.  Why?  To summarize, they really don't care enough to be great.  I'm not saying they don't care -- they just don't care enough.  On the other hand, there will be athletes who aren't on the radar screen as "elite" who will play on Team USA in the middle of the next decade.

I could give very specific examples, but that isn't my point.  The point is to be careful about saying any one player will make or break the program.  Remember when Meyer did that early at UF relative to Tebow?  Well, we found out we got an even better QB than Tebow a few months later (even though we didn't play him, so he transferred).  The same is true about yesterday.  UF ended up with a lot of highly rated prospects -- and if they are all guys who love to work hard, play selflessly, and focus on their own improvement over being jealous of their teammates, UF will dominate.  If they are all guys who just like the idea of being called "the man" as a football player, then UF will struggle.  Same with all the other top programs.  Until we see how Mullen can lead and mold these guys, we have no idea how yesterday went.

Recruiting is way more than filling a roster with star ratings, especially when the purpose of those ratings is to sell product to fans who have never been a part of this process in any way.