This is an excellent analysis!!!
I often wondered at the difference in ego of the 2* vs. the 4* kids, and the sense of entitlement. As you said earlier, the kids coming in were often the best player on their team or nearly so. They were used to easily making the play or having the little bit of speed necessary to cover an error. Not so in College. Add in the Age of Social Media and you've got a real set of mental issues and sense of entitlement that simply didn't exist just 10-15 years ago.
How do you weed out the Ego Princes and the Locker Room Cancers before they poison your team? How can you tell beyond simple performance stats who will be a positive player for the future, and who will hog up a scholly and flame out?
It's a lot tougher in the transfer portal era.
People will point to the likes of Nick Saban, but its a lot easier to do what he does when your entire 3 deep is 4* and 5*. He doesn't fear having to put in a walk on or 2* depth player.
The fact of the matter we have a deck stacked against us being a small private school. Big state schools can afford to stockpile talent and process them later.
There are 3 types of coaches in college football
-The Phil Jacksons. I.E. Nick Saban, Bob Stoops
-The Motivators. I.E. Dabo Swinney, Ed Oregeron
-The Xs and Os Guys. I.E. Patterson, Bill Snyder
The problem is that only big state schools with large recruiting footprints and bells and whistles can hire Phil Jacksons and Motivators and succeed. It's an impossible coaching style at the small private school level like TCU.
Xs and Os guys also struggle at large state schools because they struggle to get their top tier players to respect them. Tom Herman is an Xs and Os guys. Lincoln Riley was an Xs and Os guy but he has had to learn to transition into being a hybrid motivator/Phil Jackson type.
