re: should it matter how big of a high school a recruit goes to

For measures like height, weight, speed, bench, etc....no, it doesn't matter.

However, if you're evaluating film or looking at stats, yes it does matter in most cases. There are 1A stars who dominate on tape, but when they transfer to a 5A+ school, they're just an average player. That's b/c the bigger schools have a greater population/pool of students to select from to build a team.

Of course there are some guys in 1A or 2A who could still be a stud in FL 8A, but it's not like every 1A or 2A stud could dominate the same way at higher classifications, b/c they're going up against greater pools of talented athletes.

IF there were two DE's, one in 1A NC and one in 8A FL, who had identical measurables, (6'6", 250 lbs, 4.7 40yd, 350 lb bench, etc...) and stats, (85 Tackles, 25 sacks, 38 TFL's) I would be much more impressed with the 8A player in FL, b/c the quality of opponents he achieved those stats against was most likely much better.