HERO Sports is giving you a feel for all things FCS recruiting. We've received a lot of questions about the way HERO Sports ranks FCS recruits/teams (see criteria below) and how the star system at 247Sports or Rivals.com does it. I'll continue to say that I think the recruiting services do a great job evaluating the Power Five programs and prospects, but the star rating system doesn't work for recruits coming to the FCS level.
Yes, sometimes they have a prospect ranked just about right, but sometimes they don't even have a page set up for a recruit like Princeton's Mac Duda, who holds six FBS scholarship offers and 20 FCS offers, or Delaware's Jack Hall or Richmond's Zander Barnett — who are firmly within our national Top 150. We're not saying they're ranked too low as a 0-star or 2-star, we're saying they don't even have a page in the system. So how can a 247Sports ranking hold up when it comes to FCS recruiting? Answer? They're not really trying to be accurate with the FCS level, first of all. That's not their business model, so why would we use it to chronicle this level?
[divider]More FCS:
[divider]Quick rankings explanation:
- Only high school recruits are taken into account. Transfers are separate and will be evaluated much later this spring.
- Our system is based on school offers, not anybody's star ratings. Every level of D-1 (P5, G5, FCS) has a particular tiered point total. This method is meant to be reactive (to how coveted he was), not predictive (of what will happen next).
- This is meant to show how coveted a recruit was, a "reactive" ranking. This is not meant to be a predictive ranking, which in theory is what the recruiting services are doing (though they DO react to offers, too).[divider]
FCS TOP 300 COMPARISON
(comparing our ranking to what 247Sports has using the FCS recruits only)
| HERO Top 300 | 247 Top 300 | FCS TEAM | POS | FCS RECRUIT | 247 * | 247RATE | OTHER D-1 OPTIONS |
| 1 | 14 | STEPHEN F. AUSTIN | DL | Branard Wright | 3 stars | 0.8542 | 25 Power Five offers |
| 2 | 37 | FAMU | DB | Benjamin Onwuzo | 3 stars | 0.8471 | Minnesota decommit – 12 Power Five offers, 10 G5s |
| 3 | 7 | RHODE ISLAND | DL | Westley Neal | 3 stars | 0.8653 | 16 Power Five offers, 8 G5, 3 FCS |
| 4 | 63 | NICHOLLS | QB | Shamar Smith | 3 stars | 0.8356 | UTSA decommit – Kansas, Colorado, 18 G5, 5 FCS offers |
| 5 | 39 | EASTERN KENT. | DL | Jadyn Bost | 3 stars | 0.8438 | 8 Power Five, 7 G5, 3 FCS |
| 6 | 18 | CHATTANOOGA | DL | Jaquari Wiggles | 3 stars | 0.8505 | Ga Tech decommit – 9 P5, 13 G5 |
| 7 | 19 | SOUTH DAKOTA | LB | Vincent Starling | 3 stars | 0.8505 | USF decommit – 8 P5s, 18 FBS |
| 8 | 15 | SOUTHERN U. | OL | Antonio Smith | 3 stars | 0.8538 | Miami (FL) decommit – 5 Power Five offers, 11 G5 offers |
| 9 | 172 | COLUMBIA | TE | Dominic Busby | 3 stars | 0.8114 | Rutgers, Maryland, 12 G5s, 12 FCS |
| 10 | NONE | TENN-MARTIN | DB | Anthony Prospere | 0 stars | 0 | 7 Power Five offers, 6 G5, 1 FCS |
| 11 | 96 | YALE | OL | Michael Leone | 3 stars | 0.8295 | Maryland, Kansas, 8 G5, 18 FCS |
| 12 | 175 | HARVARD | TE | Tyler Neville | 3 stars | 0.8111 | Maryland, 10 FBS offers, 18 FCS |
| 13 | 59 | DARTMOUTH | QB | Devon Lingle | 3 stars | 0.8385 | 18 G5 offers, 6 FCS offers |
| 14 | 1 | JACKSONVILLE STATE | WR | Jayson Jones | 3 stars | 0.8784 | 6 P5s, 6 G5s |
| 15 | 176 | DELAWARE | DL | Fintan Brose | 3 stars | 0.8111 | Vandy, 11 FBS, 13 FCS |
| 16 | 60 | UC DAVIS | TE | Michael Ambagtsheer | 3 stars | 0.8376 | Utah, Bost Coll., 10 G5, 10 FCS |
| 17 | NONE | CHARLESTON SOUTH. | LB | Jevaun Jacobsen | 2 stars | 0.7953 | Illinois, 16 G5 offers |
| 18 | 21 | MORGAN STATE | RB | De'Andre Bulley | 3 stars | 0.85 | Akron decommit – 6 Power Five offers, 7 G5s |
| 19 | 130 | JAMES MADISON | OL | Tyler Stephens | 3 stars | 0.82 | 11 FBS offers, 14 total |
| 20 | 122 | LEHIGH | DB | Donovan Thomas | 3 stars | 0.8215 | 6 Power Five Offers, 8 G5s |
| 21 | 104 | GARDNER-WEBB | DB | Christian Miller | 3 stars | 0.8274 | Indiana, 10 FBS offers, 12 FCS offers |
| 22 | 36 | KENNESAW ST. | WR | Xavier Hill | 3 stars | 0.8477 | Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, WVU, Colorado |
| 23 | 45 | FAMU | DB | Jalil Core | 3 stars | 0.84 | Florida State, Iowa, 13 G5 offers |
| 24 | 215 | NORTHERN IOWA | OL | Gunnar Kilen | 3 stars | 0.8072 | 11 G5 offers, 13 FCS offers |
| 25 | 72 | WOFFORD | DL | Chuck Smith | 3 stars | 0.8315 | LSU, Mizzou, Kansas, 7 G5 offers, 8 FCS offers |
| 26 | 43 | FAMU | OL | Evan Webster | 3 stars | 0.841 | Florida State., Iowa State, Louisville, Virginia, 9 G5 |
| 27 | 76 | ALBANY | DB | Semaj Brown | 3 stars | 0.83 | 5 Power Five offers, 6 G5s |
| 28 | 166 | TENNESSEE STATE | DB | Jeshon Ingraham | 3 stars | 0.8126 | B.C., Minnesota, Mizzou, 8 FBS, 2 FCS |
| 29 | 123 | HARVARD | OL | Joseph Alexander | 3 stars | 0.8215 | West Virginia, 9 G5s offers, 11 FCS offers |
| 30 | 38 | RHODE ISLAND | WR | Zion Jackson | 3 stars | 0.8463 | 5 Power Five offers, 6 G5 offers |
| 31 | 22 | SEMO | OL | Phillip Wilder | 3 stars | 0.85 | 9FBS offers 7 P5 Bama, Texas, Oregon |
| 32 | 20 | MURRAY STATE | WR | Lawaun Powell | 3 stars | 0.8505 | 7 P5 offers, 1 G5, 1 FCS |
| 33 | 106 | JAMES MADISON | DB | Antonio Webb | 3 stars | 0.8265 | UVA, Pitt, Rutgers, 10 FBS |
| 34 | NONE | PRINCETON | OL | Mac Duda | no page | 0 | 6 FBS, 20 FCS |
| 35 | 182 | PRINCETON | TE | Tyler Picinic | 3 stars | 0.8104 | 6 FBS, 20 FCS |
| 36 | 217 | HOLY CROSS | WR | Byron Shipman | 3 stars | 0.8064 | Rutgers, 11 G5 offers, 6 FCS offers |
| 37 | 183 | HOUSTON BAPTIST | OL | Kendal Septs | 3 stars | 0.81 | 6 Power Five offers, Houston, New Mex, 3 FCS offers |
| 38 | 121 | DARTMOUTH | OL | Nicholas Schwitzgebel | 3 stars | 0.8225 | Louisville, 9 G5, 8 FCS |
| 39 | 77 | HARVARD | DL | Tyler Huenemann | 3 stars | 0.83 | 11 FBS offers, 9 FCS offers |
| 40 | 8 | YOUNGSTOWN ST. | QB | Demeatric Crenshaw | 3 stars | 0.8643 | BC, Ga. Tech, Indiana, Ky., Louisville, 4 G5 |
| 41 | 165 | NDSU | WR | Courtney Eubanks | 3 stars | 0.813 | 3 Power Fives, 8 G5s, 2 FCS |
| 42 | 70 | TENNESSEE STATE | WR | Gerand Turner | 3 stars | 0.8326 | Syracuse, 11 G5 offers, 3 FCS offers |
| 43 | 65 | IDAHO | QB | Caleb Jordan | 3 stars | 0.835 | Louisville, 5 G5, 15 FCS offers |
| 44 | NONE | ILLINOIS STATE | OL | Ben May | 0 stars | 0 | Liberty decommit – 10 FBS, 10 FCS |
| 45 | 13 | STEPHEN F. AUSTIN | DB | Tanner Hooker | 3 stars | 0.8559 | Kansas decommit – 3 P5s, 6 G5s, 3 FCS |
| 46 | 2 | SACRAMENTO ST. | DL | DeShawn Lynch | 3 stars | 0.87 | 6 Power Five offers, San Jose St, Fresno St. |
| 47 | 61 | PRINCETON | QB | Blaine McAllister | 3 stars | 0.8376 | N.C. State, 11 FBS offers, 5 Ivys |
| 48 | 23 | MCNEESE | DB | Raek'won Starks | 3 stars | 0.85 | UTSA decommit – Arkansas, 9 G5, 7 FCS offers |
| 49 | 107 | STEPHEN F. AUSTIN | RB | Ja'Bray Young | 3 stars | 0.8265 | 4 Power Five offers, 4 G5 offers |
| 50 | 24 | ALABAMA STATE | WR | Rishard Densmore | 3 stars | 0.85 | 4 Power Five offers, 10 G5s |
| 51 | 9 | SEMO | DB | Tyler Nelome | 3 stars | 0.86 | 10 FBS offers VA Tech, Louisville |
| 52 | 211 | CAMPBELL | TE | Caleb Perez | 3 stars | 0.8098 |
