http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/khalil-mack?id=2543463

2 stars and only one college offer to 6.7 combine rating. This follows last season's success of 2 star/one offer to first pick, Eric Fisher. Finding these types is what recruiting is all about.

I love bcat2's enthusiasm for two star guys.  It is true there are some gems that come in with two stars and go out top draft choices.  Problem is it is very isolated.  Perhaps one or two in the MAC each year for ALL teams. And, it is IMPOSSIBLE for ONE TEAM to have enough of them to win really big.  I remember looking at the Top 10 draft choices lasst year and i think except for the MAC lineman they were 3-stars or more.

There was an analysis done a few years ago comparing starts to draft potential. I don't remember the exact result, but if i recall, something like 70% of 5-star players were eventually drafted, 40% of 4-star players, 20% of 3-star players and 5% of 2-star players. The relationship was pretty dramatic. Of course, since there are a lot more 2-star players than 5-star players, it still means that a lot of 2-star players do get drafted.

As far as predicting which 2-star players will get drafted, in some cases they are just players that start with a little extra potential like speed or quickness, and who work really hard, and improve themselves, like a Landon Cohen or a Mike Mitchell. In other cases they are special cases, where they simply weren't rated correctly in the first place because they slipped under the radar, like Lavon Brazill or Carrie. Brazill was under the radar because he didn't play in high school until he was a Senior for academic reasons, yet by the end of his Senior year he was the MVP of the Palm Beach County all-star game (ahead of a 5-star receiver in the same game, if I recall). Carrie also didn't play until he was a Senior in High School because he needed corrective surgery, yet by the end of the year he was the MVP in the California State Championship game, if I recall. Neither would ever have been a 2-star recruit, had the rating services actually looked at them.

I would agree, and this is the Catch-22. Often the "3-star" recruit that ends up in the MAC are the ones that the AQ teams don't want, and that the ratings services perhaps have over-rated. As an example, there is Brogan Roback, a 4-star recruit last year to EMU. Even though he was a 4-star recruit, oddly, he had no-AQ offers at all, but only had other MAC offers. Will be be a sure-fire NFL player? A MAC star? Or just another MAC QB? Only time will tell.

So, is it better to recruit the 3-star players that the AQ conferences don't want, or 2-star players that might be under-rated, that the AQ conference might have missed? I think that if Ohio were to build a team of 3-star players that have no AQ-offers, the would be ending up with players that are known, and not-wanted by AQ teams, and that there would be little chance of beating AQ teams with those players. On the other hand, those are probably solid MAC players, especially if they have a lot of MAC offers. I'd say, and I'm sure that everyone would agree, Ohio should take chances on unknown/under-the-radar players that they think are exceptional, but that, unfortunately, there aren't enough of those to make a whole team - you only might find 1-2 of them a year, if that.

In the end the current strategy, and perhaps the best strategy, seems to be to:
1. Find as many hidden gems as possible
2. Compete with the AQ teams for the 3-star players, and beat them when you can
3. Fill the rest of the team with 2-3 star players that other MAC teams want

Who are the "hidden gems" in this year's class? To qualify, they need to be unrated by the services, and usually but not always they may be offers that were made late in the year, based on surprising Senior year performance, rather than early offers. Players that fit some or most of those would be Irons, White, Brunis, Washington, and Nelson. Hopefully a few years from now we'll look back at some of those and think "wow, I don't know how Ohio got those guys".

The main difference maker in recruiting will be more of the staff's first choices accepting. With this you should begin to see more of your 3 star recruits. I don't think there will be targeting of three stars, just, there will be a coming together of the staff's top of the board picks and higher ratings. I still believe there will still be 2 star recruits the coaches find and prefer over available 3 star athletes.

"nice little ride" and if some things had fallen differently in a MACC vs NIU the ride would all of a sudden become a Six Flags roller coaster? "nice little ride" really? State College, Shreveport, Boise, Pitt, becoming the second winningest program in the MAC since 2006, five consecutive bowls. Yes a nice ride, though, my description would be more generous than "little."

Anything that could be possibly be construed as another other than ebullient praise toward Ohio football is a personal affront to bcat2.