BYU only being able to sign a limited number of recruits. Look at the average ratings per recruit rather than the total score, and you'll see that the quality of recruit has not fallen. And, if you just use your own eyes rather than take the word of these services as gospel, you'll know that we've had some significant recruiting wins these past couple of years. These young recruits are still very young, or even still on missions. Give them a chance to spin-up a little bit, and you'll see that your view of the current state of recruiting is completely upside-down.

And really, you know that these "people who make a living reporting on recruiting" simply look at who has been offered by whom, and assign stars accordingly, right? There is very, very little real analysis going on. Sure, it's generally true that the better recruits will receive more offers, and therefore more stars. However, we all know there are always tons of exceptions. So, use your own brain.