No excuses UM has/had*
Chick - 5 star
*Grimble - 5 Star
Hamilton - 4 star
Mccord - 4 star
Muhammad - 4 star
Porter - NFL bound
Green - NFL (Practice squad maybe)
L Robinson -
Elder - 4 Star
Howard - 5 star
Bush - 4 star
Burns - 4 star
Carter - 4 star
Gunter - proven cover skills
Crawford - 4 star
Rogers - 4 star
Jenkins - 3 star (Proven)
Perryman - 4 star
Kirby - 4 star
I mean, how many more stars does he need to at least field a top 30 defense?
Got to have defensive tackles to win games. Like all of those great Miami teams of the past. They had great DTs. If not, teams just run right at you like they have been doing for years. You can have all the 5 star DBs but how are they going to stop the run with out a good line. 5 yard gains every time.
If a QB has all day to throw it how are all the DBs going to stop that. Sooner or later someone will be open and if not the QB can just run it. No tackles in 2010 where even recruited that made the team. That killed us and the next year only Grimble and a two star not even ranked. Grimble was a 5 star from Vegas. Not saying much since who did he play high school in Nevada? A bunch of little Mexicans? He was no better than the three stars from south Florida. DT recruiting has been a bust for years.
Problem is that you're assuming Pierre, Robinson, Porter, et al are terrible players just because they get terrible results. Your whole premise is flawed. Take Pierre for instance. He had a nice year last year and looked like a guy who was going to turn into a really good player. This year he's been a ghost. Porter was way better his 1st two years here in limited playing time than he is now. Guys are getting worse instead of improving.
Look at a guy like Luther Maddy at VT. We didn't recruit him out of Delray Beach, FL. He was only 2nd team Palm Beach County. Had we signed him you'd likely be lumping him with the other purported JAGs and calling him a low-level low star recruit. At VT, he's become a really good DT.