Oregon Ducks football recruiting: Ducks add pair of 3 stars with big upside

Just like early top 25 rankings, early recruiting rankings don't mean much.

They are more conversation starters than anything else. They're done because they generate pageviews and because recruits commit earlier these days than ever before. When a player commits early, no fan of a college football program wants to see a player who hasn't been ranked yet. They want to know how good he is and how much he can help "us" even if that prospect won't suit up for their school until a year and a half later.

And when fans see a player commit and he's a 3 star player, it's easy for them to be less than excited. Everyone would rather see 4 or 5 stars beside a player's name. At this point though, it's way too early in the recruiting process to worry about stars.

I'm sure Oregon fans were happy, but not overjoyed, to land two players like cornerback Troy Warner and guard Jacob Capra over the last few days. Both are composite 3 star players, even though Warner is ranked as a 4 star by a couple of services. That's pretty similar to another Oregon commit, wide receiver Dillon Mitchell, who is also a composite 3 star player that has a 4 star ranking by at least one site and has already earned an invite to The Opening finals in July.

Even if Warner, Capra, or Mitchell don't end up getting that bump up to composite 4 star status, it doesn't change their potential as prospects or how they will fit into Oregon's scheme.

Warner is a big corner (6'2" 185) with great ball skills. He's more fluid with his transitions than a lot of players his size and could possibly end up at safety one day for the Ducks. Capra needs to add weight and get stronger once he gets to the next level, but he's the type of athlete with the right amount of nastiness as a run blocker to develop into a multi-year starter down the line for Oregon. He's an awesome fit for their offense.

The Ducks have been recruiting at a high level for awhile and the talent on the roster shows it. They land their share of 4 and 5 star players that has helped get them to where they are currently as an elite college football program. When you supplement what they are doing with the 4 and 5 star players by landing 3 stars with massive upside like Marcus Mariota, Hroniss Grasu, Jake Fisher, and Charles Nelson, it becomes even more obvious as to why they are where they are in terms of the Pac-12 football hierarchy.

I don't know that Warner is going to make the kind of early impact at player like Nelson did or if Capra is going to become an all-conference player as an upperclassman like Grasu. I do know that they have the ceilings to accomplish those things at Oregon.

I understand they are both 3 star recruits right now, but they both have the tools to develop into so much more than what they are thought of right now.

Scouting report on cornerback Troy Warner