Of Stars and Ratings

An e-mailer has pointed out that Rivals.com has Dartmouth quarterback recruit Cole Marcoux at No. 45 nationally among "pro style" high school quarterbacks. Marcoux has a Rivals Rating of 5.6.

OK, so what does it mean? Thanks for asking, but that's the wrong question.

The better question: What is it supposed to men? Here's your answer, directly from Rivals (emphasis is mine):

A five-star prospect is considered to be one of the nation's top 25-30 players, four star is a top 250-300 or so player, three-stars is a top 750 level player, two stars means the player is a mid-major prospect and one star means the player is not ranked.

And ...

6.1 Franchise Player; considered one of the elite prospects in the country, generally among the nation's top 25 players overall; deemed to have excellent pro potential; high-major prospect

6.0-5.8 All-American Candidate; high-major prospect; considered one of the nation's top 300 prospects; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team

5.7-5.5 All-Region Selection; considered among the region's top prospects and among the top 750 or so prospects in the country; high-to-mid-major prospect; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team

5.4-5.0 Division I prospect; considered a mid-major prospect; deemed to have limited pro potential but definite Division I prospect; may be more of a role player

4.9 Sleeper; no Rivals.com expert knew much, if anything, about this player; a prospect that only a college coach really knew about.

Rivals lists its top 50 "pro style"quarterback prospects here.

The five QB's listed below Marcoux are going to Kansas State, SMU, Colorado, Duke and New Mexico State. All of the quarterbacks listed above him are going to FBS schools except for No. 38, Trett Hardman, who is going to Samford. Hardman also has a 5.6 Rivals Rating.

While Marcoux has gone up on the Rivals list, he dropped from No. 69 to No. 70 on the Scout.com recruiting list in the past week. It's not like that means much, but it is curious how the rankings change when players haven't, um, played.

Marcoux is the top FCS quarterback recruit in the Scout listings. Of the schools having quarterbacks ranked higher, probably the one that, to borrow an old SAT-type question, seems less like the others is Buffalo, which has QB recruit Rudy Johnson come in at No. 64.

Interestingly, while Scout.com ranks 135 quarterbacks it does not have a ranking for Samford-bound Hardman.

Speaking of Cole "Page Views" Marcoux, a Tennessee message board hasn't let completely go. A poster writes of the hiring of Derek Dooley:

Glad he's our coach. What happened with Cole Marcoux after Army game? Did he get some offers outside of Dartmouth?

On the subject of coaches, it you are to believe The Sports Network, of the 42 Division I openings this year, 40 have now been filled. The two that haven't? Cornell of the Ivy League and Bucknell of the Patriot League. Should we ready anything into this? Sure, Princeton was filled relatively quickly, but that is Princeton.

One that got away: Kyle Aberton, a defensive back from Utah, is heading to Yale. The Deseret News reports, "He also received offers from Navy and Dartmouth."

Thanks to a regular reader for a link to a Washington Post piece on NFL kickers struggling in the playoffs that quotes former Dartmouth and NFL standout Nick Lowery. Lowery scoffs at the idea that increased accuracy by kickers should be countered by narrowing the goal posts or widening the hash marks to increase kicking angles. From the story:

"That's funny," said Lowery, who also kicked for the Jets and briefly for the New England Patriots during his 18-year NFL career. "When Dan Marino threw 48 touchdown passes (in 1984, then a single-season league record), they didn't say, 'Let's make the ball bigger and heavier. Let's have one pass rusher go unblocked every time, just to make it harder.' "

Teevens to the Hall of Fame? It's happening Saturday night.

That would be the Silver Lake Regional High School Hall of Fame in Massachusetts. And that would be Moira Teevens Nobili '87, who still holds the all-time Dartmouth record for best time at the Heptagonals Cross Country Championship for running 17:27.3 in 1985.

The Patriot Ledger mentions Moira's induction in a column about the Silver Lake Hall of Fame ignoring former NHL standout Kevin Stevens. From the story:

Among the inductees headlining this year’s group is my senior class president and my friend Moira Teevens – a state class cross-country and track athlete who went on to set running records at Dartmouth College that still stand today. Moira is one of the finest and most genuine people I have ever known and she belongs at the head of every class … including this Hall of Fame group. I am fortunate to have known her.

One of the suggestions I have heard (from someone not affiliated with the athletic department) should Dartmouth feel the need to cut intercollegiate teams as it addresses budget issues, is turning those teams into club programs. It wouldn't be anyone's first choice, but there are clubs that have enjoyed success and none as much as the Dartmouth figure skating team, which is the subject of a story in the Daily Dartmouth. From the story:

With five National championships under its belt and a third-place finish last spring at the U.S. Intercollegiate National Championships, Dartmouth’s figure skating club has attracted nationwide attention.

To learn more about the figure skating team, click here.

Last day of finals for those two certain Hanover High students. Whew! I don't know if I could take any more pressure. ...