The last I checked, the teams at the top of the recruiting rankings are the ones winning the national titles. Blue chips are kinda important.
TCU, Cinci, Michigan, Washington didn’t need them all within the last five years. FSU, Ole Miss, Louisville all flirted with the postseason, and they haven’t exactly been super high in the recruiting rankings.
Now have they won it all? No, other than Michigan. UGA/LSU/Bama/Clemson talent (plus good X’s and O’s from a OC like Joe Brady and Esminger or Todd Monken, or a DC like Venebles/Smart/Saban) trumps all else, it’s the perfect pairing. They know what to do with their talent and their schemes are elite.
Blue chips = success for sure, there’s tons of data on it. Proud star ***** here…but you gotta do something with that talent. You have to develop that talent, you have to put them in advantageous situations to maximize their skillset and create mismatches on the field in order to succeed.
So far, it remains to be seen if Mario can develop his stars, and it certainly remains to be seen if he can out-coach his opponents considering he has a sizable talent advantage based on stars. Now if you want to say those stars weren’t good players, then maybe his ability as an evaluator comes up…but that’s a different discussion down the road.
