Prospects are rated from one to five stars. The five star prospects are the most highly rated prospects, while the one star prospects are the lowest rated prospects.
We only rank/rate prospects through mid-April of their sophomore year, when the college evaluation period begins. This is because our service is geared toward assisting colleges in identifying and evaluating high school underclass prospects, not in providing regular updates for fans until they sign with colleges.
You should note that the numerical ratings mean different things for different classes. This is because as the recruiting timeline progresses and more information is available for a prospect we are more easily able to discern his college potential. Please keep in mind that for the younger prospects, the ratings and rankings can be very fluid as new prospects are added to the database and players move up and down in their ratings based on this new information. Coaches should note that ratings are a “snapshot” summary provided at a given time but that “snapshot” could easily change, especially early in the recruiting timeline.
More focus should be given to the five stars who have a positional ranking. These are the players where we have already completed, at the very least, a preliminary evaluation. Five stars who have yet to receive a positional ranking have not yet been evaluated by us to an extent where we are comfortable to rank them but are in line to be ranked in the near future. Players rated four stars and below have been “identified” by us as players of interest however they have either not yet been properly evaluated or they have been evaluated as not being of five star caliber.
Many sub-five star prospects will therefore simply have placeholder ratings due to not yet being evaluated or lacking sufficient information to conduct a proper evaluation.
It should be noted that in our national player rankings a player will only be ranked at the position that we best project him as playing in college.
As prospects approach their junior year they are more narrowly tailored with respect to college potential. Here is a general overview of what the numeric ratings mean:
5 stars: A potential FBS prospect
4 stars: A potential college prospect
3 stars: A potential small college prospect
2 stars: On the radar
1 star: Worth a mention
The Recruiting Brain 