re: Bama and 5* Recruits

While I don't relish the idea of ever agreeing with NYCaub, I think the truth is in between and imo even slightly toward his point of view. I can see the argument that players who drop out of the program are "beyond our control" and shouldn't count against the stat. But the real message of the stat is that 5 star recruits (and their families) believe that at Alabama, the player is much more likely to make it to the first round of the draft. If a player drops out, it may be totally because the player is a lost cause, BUT it could also be because the support system in place was not effective with him. And in the latter case, that is relevant.

I see this similarly to a quarterback's INT stats. Some interceptions are completely beyond the control of the qb - tipped balls, screwed up timing routes, etc by the wide receiver. But we have to simply accept the limitations of the statistic and give the overall numbers, else we skew it even worse deciding which to include and introducing our own biases.