I find the 2014 Louisiana class very interesting upon lookback accuracy of ratings

247 2014 Louisiana Recruti Rankings

Of all these guys, which Louisiana had 10 in the top 100 composite, I feel the best career of all these was Davon Godchaux who was rated around 200th best player in country.

Russel Gage was the lowest LSU Louisiana commit in 2014, a mid 3 star. He ended up putting up back to back 800 yard years in the NFL. Which is odd because he average 85 reception yards a year over 4 years at LSU. Ended with 340 total reception yards at LSU. He nearly tripled entire college output in 1 year in the NFL.

DJ Chark was near the very bottom 3 star of LSU commits on 247. 2nd round pick. Still in the league today. Had 4 seasons over 500 yards, and 1 over 1,000 yards.

Will Clapp started 14 games season before last on the Chargers I believe, and is one of lowest ranked recruits in that LSU class.

Cam Robinson has been an average OT in the NFL his entire career. That's still great to be a mid-grade starting tackle in the NFL. He's 29. OT can play longer into age. Does it match being rated as a Top 3 overall player in the class of 2014? Maybe not.

Fournette I'd say had a good NFL career. He had 6 solid years. I wouldn't say he matched a #4 pick expected production, but he finished top 8 in NFL in rushing yards 2 years, and then was an RB1 for the time. Just can't play more than that in the NFL at RB duration.

Most of these top Louisiana recruits didn't pan out. Even at the collegiate level didn't pan out. The lesson which I know is extremely hard to ignore, is that it's not just about ratings. Does a 5 star have a better shot at making the NFL than a 3 star? Yes. But it's not nearly as much as recruiting hawks put value in.

I do think that Transfer Ratings are much, much more accurate than high school recruit ratings because they have actual Power 4 level data to work with.